Landing on our laps today is the first released gameplay trailer for Ubisoft's up and coming anime fighting game for the Xbox 360, Naruto: The Broken Bond. Yes, it's none other than the sequel to Naruto: Rise of a Ninja announced at the recently-held E3 2008. Check it out after the jump.

At E3 2008, Ubisoft announced that the sequel to Naruto: Rise of a Ninja, called Naruto: The Broken Bond, will be coming out within the year. To find out more about this, head on over to the full article by clicking on the "read more" link below.

Namco revealed its line-up of titles and their projected financial outcome for 2008 in a recently released financial report summary. Many well-known franchise titles are expected to hit above their expected sales marks and give gamers something to look forward to once they're released. You can read the details of the financial report summary in our full article after the jump.

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.

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!

Namco Bandai has announced that they'll be putting on quite a show in Germany from August 23 to 26 at the Game Convention 2007 gathering. Marquee titles such as Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation, The Witcher, Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3 and Naruto Ultimate Ninja 2 are all going to be demoed, while some announcements will be made.

Ace Combat 6 for the Xbox 360 is following the tails of its predecessors which have sold a combined number of 10 million copies worldwide. The graphics, of course, are more realistic than ever before and an online mode will be there so you can take your game to the Xbox Live skies and see who the top gun really is.

The Witcher, on the other hand, is a brand new RPG for the PC developed by Polish studio CD Projekt and published under Namco's banner. It sets you on a monster-stalking quest in the shoes of protagonist Geralt. Not a lot has been revealed about it, but GC 2007 will have the title seeing the light of day for the first time.

Because you asked for it, you got it. Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi is one of this era's most successful fighting game franchises. The third installment is coming to the Wii and now it carries an online multiplayer mode which players have been asking for. The game features the largest selection of characters from the series and is sure to please fighting game and anime fans everywhere.

It looks like Europe will be in for quite a treat. If youre from anywhere in the region, you can't pass up the chance to catch this big gaming event. We'll keep you posted for more updates.