If you're a big fan of the loud-mouthed, spunky blonde ninja, maybe this will something of interest. Amazon has just slashed off a hefty US$ 20 from the original price of Naruto: Rise of a Ninja for the Xbox 360. This will certainly be able to give you your Naruto fix.

Check out the new price in the full article!

Year 2007 is almost done, and Microsoft has expressed its brimming pride with how things went in the past 11 months. Powerhouse shooters like Halo 3, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, BioShock and The Orange Box have flexed the genre's muscles wider than ever, while Madden NFL 08,Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation, Mass Effect and more have provided additional firepower. If you own an Xbox 360 and missed out on some of these, the holidays could be a nice time to get them.

Japanese anime purists, rejoice. As announced just a few weeks ago, new downloadable content for Ubisoft's Naruto: Rise of a Ninja is now available via Xbox Live. The original (and official) Japanese voice acting cast for Naruto is lending their hand - err, voicebox - to the Xbox 360 title. Sugoi!

Video game publisher Ubisoft has announced that its Microsoft Xbox 360 exclusive title Naruto: Rise of a Ninja has been released and will ship in European stores this week. The fighting game-adventure hybrid is based on the popular Japanese manga and anime series and has been given a PEGI rating of 12+.

Read more in the full article.

Downloadable content has always been a mixed bag, especially in terms of how much you're getting from the DLC itself.

Well, to the overlords of the downloadable content world, you better listen up, because here's one form of DLC we've just heard about that really made us happy: original Japanese voices for Naruto: Rise of a Ninja for the Xbox 360.

Here's the deal: it was recently confirmed that Ubisoft will be releasing the Japanese voices as a post-launch piece of downloadable content available through Xbox Live. To add to that little bit of good news for the anime gaming purists out there, the Japanese voice pack is free.

Now that's something you can't beat, no matter how many Rasengans you throw at it. There's still no word, however, on when this Japanese voice pack will be out. But we'll be certain to keep you guys updated on this cool development.

In the meantime, we hope the developers out there are reading this, because this is basically the way we'd like downloadable content to be.

Just like your typical Naruto fan who'd run around wearing a head protector, the developers at Ubisoft behind Naruto: Rise of a Ninja for the Microsoft Xbox 360 also adore the franchise. "This game has been developed by fans for fans who really want everything to be perfect," said producer Sebastien Puel in an interview.

"We are focusing on finishing and polishing this game first," he continued. Puel stressed out how the latest Naruto game developed outside Japan will put players in the shoes of the yellow haired ninja, so devs made sure it'll be the best Naruto experience possible.

As fans themselves, the team's mantra was "if the result pleased us, it would please fans as well. " Puel seems confident with what Ubisoft folks have ended up making, saying they "had a graphically unique game and a never-seen-before mix of gameplay." That mix meaning Naruto: Rise of a Ninja's novel idea of putting a full-fledged fighting game and adventure together.

Speaking of gameplay, Puel reaffirmed that "it's not a beat them up like in one other Naruto game." According to him, inspiration for the upcoming action-packed title can be credited to Virtua Fighter or Soul Calibur. If you've been keeping tabs and saw the videos Ubisoft unleashed, you'll quickly realize what he's talking about.

There's more to Naruto: Rise of a Ninja aside from being a product of passionate fans who want the best for their beloved anime/manga series, but we'll have to find out what lies ahead when the game appears on shelves this October 30. For now, ogle at new screenshots.

   

More screenshots after the jump!

In Naruto: Rise of a Ninja, online tournament matches aren't just about killing your foes and moving on to the next kill like the game's Fight mode; it's about patience, skill and well, points that'll get you on top of the leaderboard. The online tournament has been designed in a way that everyone who wants to play will get to.

Instead of being limited to a bracketed style of competition that limits the number of players who get to participate, the tournament mode in Naruto: Rise of a Ninja is separated into levels of a sort. Players who've reached a certain number of victories in a level will move up and the ones who lost will go back to the very start.

The "levels" in tournament mode has a theme that's in line with the world of Naruto. The tournament is called the Forest of Death Exam, and is always in session for everyone who wants to take it. The first level is the Forest of Death itself where you need to win two consecutive matches before you move on to the Tower of Death.

In the Tower of Death you move up after a number of consecutive victories per level. One loss and you're out. This kind of process automatically matches you with players who are on the same level in the Exam as you are. Each battle won gives you points, but specific moves gives you extra points as well.

The leaderboards will also track the number of consecutive kills as well as the total points you get while climbing the tower. Good luck proving your ninja skills when Ubisoft Montreal releases Naruto: Rise of a Ninja on October 30. Meanwhile, here's a clip of the Tower of Death to get you going:

The last time we heard about Ubisoft Montreal's upcoming title, Naruto: Rise of a Ninja for the Xbox 360, we got an eyeful of what it would be like for the gang of the highly-successful anime and videogame franchise Naruto to be rendered on Microsoft's next-gen console. Now, from that wellspring of gaming goodness that is GC, bursts forth an entirely-new gameplay video of Naruto: Rise of a Ninja, featuring none other than Sasuke and Zabuza facing off with a lot of ninja trickery abound.

This gameplay video update starts off with protagonist Sasuke getting the what-for with Zabuza's giant sword, wielded with skill and extreme ninja-killing prejudice. We also get a preview of the game's unique jutsu execution system, and while it certainly looks cool, it does leave you horribly open to one-sided beatdowns that will have your character eating dirt. Ouch.

The visuals here are top-notch cel-shaded goodness, and it's probably the best sort we've seen being churned out by the Xbox 360. The animations here are smooth and fluid, the impacts painful and brutal, the special moves very cool. Fans and even non-fans of the franchise will definitely appreciate this title, if not for the visuals then for the solid fighting system.

Updates as we get them, so enjoy the video!

Cat whiskers and metal-braced headdresses aside, the E3 trailer for Naruto: Rise of a Ninja had quite a lot to offer. It encapsulated the whole game: an open-world RPG that will follow Naruto and his early beginnings leading up to ninja-dom.

That's something that a lot of fans have been clamoring for, mind you - something "new." Not to say that all Naruto games are fighting games, but man, if I had a dollar for every single one that is a fighting game, I'd have [calculates...] just enough money to buy a whole Naruto outfit to go cosplay with in the upcoming Comic-Con.

Today's trailer features a montage of gameplay clips. The good thing here is that it threads two important aspects of the game together: 1) the fighting, and 2) the free-roaming. Nice.

The guys over at Ubisoft Montreal developing Naruto: Rise of the Ninja exclusively for the Xbox 360 would pass as good shinobis, being able to keep info on the game under wraps. So far, we only know of the various gameplay modes and how the game will stay true to the series in plenty of aspects. It's a good thing that our ninjutsu worked, earning us a few more details.

Unlike previous Naruto games that mostly covered certain arcs in the storyline, players of Naruto: Rise of the Ninja will step into Naruto’s shoes from the series’ beginning. The game promises complete authentic missions that will take us back to the anime and manga experience.

As we've seen on the latest E3 trailer, also featured will be a massive rendition of Konoha - fully explorable with much NPCs to interact with. Of course, mainstays like Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, and other characters from hundreds that the series spawned will be present.

Gone are the days of plain 'ol dual-plane 2D fighting. This is the first Naruto game to combine action adventure gameplay, classic platforming battles, head-to-head fighting and in-depth character development.

RPG elements will still be involved as players will scramble for new taijutsus and ninjutsus, as well as pick up some new equipment along the way. Sounds like we'll actually be seeing Naruto grow from the troublemaker that he was, to a ninja that everyone loves.

What better dessert to this delicious serving of Naruto goodness than some art to feast our eyes on? We've got some high-res images of the gang, and they're right below.