naruto
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DS is the best handheld for the ninja in training
This new game could be hitting North Amercian shores sometime soon. How, you ask? Well, an ESRB listing for the game recently surfaced, calling it Naruto: Ninja Destiny. Sounds appropriate enough.But, it isn't exactly fact. The game name could pertain to another in the long-running series, but there's a good chance it could be a new Naruto game on the DS. Fighting game? RPG? Only time will tell ...
LttP: the Naruto PS3 game unveiled
How did we miss this? Somehow, the first images of the Naruto PS3 game from CyberConnect slipped past us. Please forgive us!We're really liking what we see here. The graphics look just as good as a hand-drawn anime. Who knows, maybe one day the anime will just use this graphics engine to render the entire show? What a dream.[Via NeoGAF]%Gallery-9942%
Worldwide PSP releases for the week of October 28
This week's big releases are the uber violent and highly criticized Manhunt 2 and finally Nippon Ichi's Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness. Unfortunately for our European and Asian brothers, there's not much in the way of new software this week.US Games Ben 10: Protector of Earth Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness Manhunt 2 EU Games Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes Asia Games No new releases While there isn't a lot to go around in any region, don't be sad because Silent Hill Origins and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops + will hit in a few weeks.
Saturday: ramen eating contest, Sunday-Tuesday: cleanup
In order to promote their new Wii game, D3 Publisher and Tomy will hold the Naruto Clash of Ninja Revolution World Ramen Noodle Eating Championship at the Nintendo World Store this Saturday. Apparently-well-known champion eaters will come to compete at the chopsticks-only event, including "Crazy Legs Conti, a man who once ate his way out of an 96-cubic foot box of popcorn." Tens of dollars worth of ramen will be consumed at this event, which is only part of the Narutosity taking place at the NWS.The store will also have stations set up for visitors to try out the game (the Naruto game, not the eating-a-bunch-of-ramen game) and play the Naruto CCG. In addition, special gifts will be handed out to 1500 people who dare to walk around New York City in those headband things. Perhaps most excitingly, a one-of-a-kind Naruto DS Lite will be given away. Will it smell like chicken broth? Probably!
Deal of the Day: Naruto for $30
Namco Bandai's PSP-exclusive fighter, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes is getting a one-day price drop on amazon.com. Although $30 isn't the best bargain, that's still $10 cheaper than the norm. PSP Fanboy reviewed the game, noting that it's a pretty solid game for fans of the popular Shonen Jump series. "Fans of the anime will appreciate the amount of characters and their unique moves, the ninja-y fun of using substitutions and special jutsus, and the use of the original voice actors from the anime. Is Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes a worthy purchase for Naruto fans? Believe it!"[Via CAG]
A ninja's path is full of treasure chests, random encounters
Releasing later this month, Naruto: Path of the Ninja should be a promising title for those fans of the series and manga. Actually, it's probably a promising title for fans of the genre, as well. We've never seen an episode or read an issue of Naruto (GASP!), so we can't really comment further than we think the play mechanics look solid.What say you?
PSP Fanboy review: Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes
Why is Naruto so angry? That's because he knows a certain percentage of people out there are thinking that licensed games are sloppily slapped together and serve no other purpose but to milk the cash cow. Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes, published by Namco Bandai, is surely using the license to its advantage, but the game behind it is no slouch either. This anime fighter is fast-paced, frantic and fun, but some design choices may leave serious fighting genre fans looking for something more refined.%Gallery-3241%
Massive Naruto screenshot and video update
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes is coming out soon -- real soon. In fact, it'll be gracing the PSP for the first time ever in two weeks. This US and Europe-exclusive game focuses on team battles between your favorite pre-teen ninjas. See brand new screenshots in our gallery below, and check after the cut for some videos of some of your favorite stars from the anime in action.%Gallery-3241%
Homophobic homebrew on the DS
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Presenting_the_first_piece_of_homophobic_homebrew_for_the_Nintendo_DS'; In our coverage of adult homebrew titles several months ago, we lamented the lack of projects that target or make an effort to include gay and lesbian gamers. Though there are a few releases that don't necessarily limit the player's gender or sexual orientation, they don't ever imply anything outside of a heterosexual hook-up. We've kept a close watch on the niche scene since, hoping to one day catch a hint of same-sex experimentation on the DS.Instead, we've come across what we believe to be the first Nintendo DS game to openly embrace bigotry. Huntercool's RanAway 1.0 immediately states its agenda with its intro message: "Avoid the gay people! Hit stylus to continue ..." It's a simple avoidance game, no doubt one whose mechanics you're already familiar with through dozens of equally flat Flash diversions, so RanAway doesn't delay too long before yelling out, "Ready, Steady, Go!!!!" and dropping you into its first level.
New Naruto: Ninja Heroes trailer shows off Choji's attacks
Gametrailers has a batch of new Naruto: Ninja Heroes trailers showing off the moves of some of the playable characters. Above, you can see a match with Chiji beating the hell out of Kiba. The clip ends with Chiji pulling off a mega move with a nice little cutscene of him rolling around as a reward. The game is really looking pretty nice the colorful levels and nice amount of destructibility in the environments show off an impressive graphical flair. The gameplay looks true to the original PS2 game (which should be a good thing for fans). Naruto fiends won't have much longer to wait, the game pummels our PSPs on August 28th.
Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes: the story, or lack thereof
In a recent conference call with Namco Bandai, we learned new details about the upcoming PSP-exclusive Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes. We enjoyed our brief time with the game at E3, and wanted to learn more about why it's being exclusively distributed in the US and Europe. The decision to make a new game for the English language audience came about because the story of the Japanese anime had progressed too far to make the Japanese PSP game relevant.However, we're puzzled -- according to the localization director at Namco Bandai, "there isn't really a story" in the game. Beyond the fighting, there isn't much else to do, although he noted that there's Naruto's Room --a place where collectible images and videos can be viewed.Supposed "technical limitations" prevented the game from getting Infrastructure multiplayer, something that we would've loved to see in the game. However, the Game Sharing feature seems to be fairly advanced, giving players with access to the game "as normal."We're a little disappointed to see the game doesn't have a fleshed out story, as the original PS2 series. Hopefully, the gameplay will make that point irrelevant. For now, enjoy the new screenshots we've secured in our updated gallery below:%Gallery-3241%
Naruto pre-orders get bonus skin
Believe it!Naruto fans may want to pre-order the upcoming PSP-exclusive fighter, Ultimate Ninja Heroes. Gamers that pre-purchase the title from EB Games/Gamestop will receive a brand new red skin for their PSP. (Game Crazy is also offering a special blue skin.) We think it looks a little gaudy ... but it's a cool bonus nonetheless.We were pleased with the game when we played a little of it at E3. Hopefully, the final build will be even more impressive.
Ninja Council votes to lower its price
This discount for Naruto: Ninja Council 3 only two months after its release probably isn't a good sign, but if you're a fan of the blonde-haired ninja, you were probably planning on picking this game up anyway. Might as well do it now while Amazon has its price cut down to $19.99! The online shop makes a point to ship all orders totaling over $25 for free -- it's how they get you -- so try to muster up $5.02 worth of stuff to take advantage of that offer.Understanding that this anime/manga license has been around the block more than some of our ex-girlfriends, we've embedded a trailer for the game past the post break to jar your memory. Apparently, you can expect to fight a butt-ton of ninjas.
Joystiq impressions: Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes (PSP)
Any anime fan that's played CyberConnect's Ultimate Ninja series on PlayStation 2 will find themselves instantly familiar with the upcoming PSP Ultimate Ninja Heroes. This PSP-exclusive Naruto game transplants the fighting engine of its PS2 cousin in a game that's not quite a sequel, yet not quite a remake.For a PSP game, it certainly impresses. The cel-shaded graphics look quite remarkable on the PSP's smaller screen. Since the PS2 original didn't use the analog sticks for fighting, the controls have translated quite well on the portable. We were really surprised by the game's quick load times, which lasted for only a few seconds. In fact, we'd surmise that the game loads much faster than its PS2 counterpart.Although the fighting engine in the Ultimate Ninja series has never been celebrated for its depth, it does faithfully recreate the battles found throughout the Naruto series. Quick dodging, counters, and special moves are key to victory, and the PSP version is no different. We don't know if we were doing something wrong, but we found that the Chakra-based special attacks were limited in the PSP edition. While in the PS2 versions, each character could have up to 4 different attacks, we only saw one. Also, the "tag team" element of the game doesn't involve active switching of characters. Rather, each team of three sends out a single fighter, and when a character gets KO'ed, the next character in the roster jumps in. To be honest, we were hoping for more team-based gameplay.Overall, we were impressed by Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes. It offers a solid fighting engine that's faithful to the anime, and its quick load times, large character roster, and use of Game Sharing, make it potentially the best anime licensed fighter on the system.%Gallery-4985%
Hands-on: Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes
Any anime fan that's played CyberConnect's Ultimate Ninja series on PlayStation 2 will find themselves instantly familiar with the upcoming PSP Ultimate Ninja Heroes. This PSP-exclusive Naruto game transplants the fighting engine of its PS2 cousin in a game that's not quite a sequel, yet not quite a remake.For a PSP game, it certainly impresses. The cel-shaded graphics look quite remarkable on the PSP's smaller screen. Since the PS2 original didn't use the analog sticks for fighting, the controls have translated quite well on the portable. We were really surprised by the game's quick load times, which lasted for only a few seconds. In fact, we'd surmise that the game loads much faster than its PS2 counterpart.Although the fighting engine in the Ultimate Ninja series has never been celebrated for its depth, it does faithfully recreate the battles found throughout the Naruto series. Quick dodging, counters, and special moves are key to victory, and the PSP version is no different. We don't know if we were doing something wrong, but we found that the Chakra-based special attacks were limited in the PSP edition. While in the PS2 versions, each character could have up to 4 different attacks, we only saw one. Also, the "tag team" element of the game doesn't involve active switching of characters. Rather, each team of three sends out a single fighter, and when a character gets KO'ed, the next character in the roster jumps in. To be honest, we were hoping for more team-based gameplay.Overall, we were impressed by Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes. It offers a solid fighting engine that's faithful to the anime, and its quick load times, large character roster, and use of Game Sharing, make it potentially the best anime licensed fighter on the system.%Gallery-3241%
New Naruto video is ninja-fortified
So have you guys heard about this Naruto thing? Apparently there's this show about a bunch of ninjas, and they like hang out together but also totally fight and there's headbands and stuff. The absolute coolest thing about Naruto is that it's the basis for a series of side-scrolling brawlers, known as the Ninja Council series in the US.This officially makes the Naruto license awesome, because all side-scrolling brawlers are at least slightly awesome by default. Of course, it is already well-established that ninjas are cool (and by cool we mean totally sweet.) Jeux-France has a substantial gameplay video of the latest Ninja Council game, Naruto Shippuden Saikyo Ninja Daikesshu 5, as well as some magazine scans. We suggest checking them out even if you're not a fan of the series, because it is always life-affirming, in our opinion, to see a good old-fashioned beat-em-up.
Namco Bandai announces E3 PSP lineup
The new E3 is just around the corner, and that means that publishers are sending out lists of their E3 slate. Such is the case with Namco Bandai. On the PSP front, we can look forward to seeing the fan favorite RPG Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology, the tennis champ Smash Court Tennis 3, and of course the knuckle headed ninja in Naruto: Ultimate Heroes. There may of course be a few surprises, or behind closed doors presentations, but those three games are certainly heavy hitters. Which of these titles are you most looking forward to seeing more on at E3?[Via Gamespot]
Go ahead, Jump! Ultimate Stars sale
As if language barriers aren't enough to dissuade would-be importers from ordering Japan-only games, the pricing on these titles often border on lunacy when compared to what new releases usually cost in the states. So while Play Asia's Jump! Ultimate Stars sale for $29.90 might not seem like much of a bargain, keep in mind that the online fighter usually sells for a staggering $48.90.It's a great game though; many have even compared it to the Super Smash Bros. series, except in 2D and with twenty hojillion playable manga characters. Since Play-Asia will be honoring the reduced price until next Monday, that gives you plenty of time to consider whether or not this discount is deep enough to warrant a purchase. We think that it is!
CyberConnect2 announces development on a new PS3 game
CyberConnect2, the company behind the Naruto games and the .hack franchise on the PlayStation 2 have just announced that they are developing a new title for the PlayStation 3. The information comes from the latest issue of Famitsu, and unfortunately lacks any additional information about the project. Could we be getting a new .hack title? Eight games just isn't enough!
Ubisoft dates Haze, Splinter Cell, Raving Rabbids 2, more [update]
Ubisoft has revealed the release dates for all of its major 2007 titles, asking the majority of them to form a neat line in November and proceed to remove the contents of your wallet one by one. You're more than welcome to make a fuss about it, but having the sneaky men of Assassin's Creed and Splinter Cell: Conviction within grasp of your neck renders such action unwise. A more notable entry in the release schedule (as posted by Eurogamer) is Free Radical's sci-political first-person shooter, Haze, previously described as "leading on PS3" in a display of timed exclusivity: Haze (PS3) -- 23 November Oh, you'll be wanting the release date for the other platforms as well: Haze (Xbox 360, PC) -- 30 November [Update: Oh dear, Ubisoft has removed the Xbox 360 and PC versions of Haze from the current release list. We're waiting to hear back from Ubisoft on the matter.] Other key titles dated after the break include Assassin's Creed, Dark Messiah: Elements, Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, and Splinter Cell: Conviction.
