Namco Bandai today officially announced Splatterhouse, an action title based on the 1988 arcade hit.

In development for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 by BottleRocket Entertainment, Splatterhouse will have players assuming the role of college student Rick Taylor.

Faced with the common collegiate quandaries such as a missing girlfriend and "horrific other-worldly creatures," Rick does the only logical thing by putting on the "Terror Mask," transforming himself into a "juggernaut of pure violence." You can't make this stuff up.

A melee combat system that includes grapples and combos will provide the means to crush monsters. Weapons such as the classic 2x4 board, as well as the limbs and heads of enemies will serve to bolster Rick's arsenal.

The game will not feature a health bar--instead, as enemies literally rip Rick to shreds, the Terror Mask must be used to regenerate him, "allowing players to watch in gory detail as bones, veins, muscles and skin return to his body in real-time."

Splatterhouse is expected to arrive on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 sometime in 2009.

Update: Namco has confirmed to Shacknews that the Xbox Live Arcade edition of Soul Calibur will be based on the Dreamcast edition of the title, not the less-fondly remembered arcade edition.

Original Story: The first entry in the Soul Calibur series of fighting games is heading to the Xbox 360's online Xbox Live Arcade, Namco representatives announced at a press briefing yesterday.

Soul Calibur on Xbox Live Arcade will be presented in HD resolution, and feature all of the standard arcade, training, story and survival modes from the original.

Though online leaderboards will be available, only the original game's local offline multiplayer is planned for inclusion.

The downloadable title is expected to arrive this summer, most likely in advance of the July 29 release of Soul Calibur IV on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Namco Bandai yesterday announced a new downloadable game titled PowerUp Forever at its press event in San Francisco. The space shooter is set for a summer release on Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network.

While I didn't get my hands on the Stardust HD-esque title, I did get to see an alpha version of it being played. From what I saw, I would judge it as one of the most promising titles within the Namco lineup.

Players will steer a fractal-based ship around a procedurally-generated level, firing away at various enemies. The visual style was very impressive, featuring whispy fluid dynamic-based shield effects that swished around the ship and the various enemies. Combat consists of shooting standard space shooter lasers and triple-shot guns using the right analog stick, with a full 360 degree field of fire. Nothing too exciting yet, but wait--there's more.

In a fantastic twist, as the player takes down parasitic monsters and bosses, the fractal ship grows in size. And while the ship may... Read more

Namco Bandai has just delivered 19 new screenshots of Project Soul's one-on-one fighter Soul Calibur IV, which is slated to arrive on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 this summer.

According to the company, the new screens illustrate two new environments and reveal the return of veteran combatants Maxi, Mina and Yun-Seong as playable characters. Sadly, the media blast did not include any additional glimpses of Yoda and Darth Vader.

Team Ninja's upcoming Ninja Gaiden II (X360) will sport some type of downloadable content, studio lead Tomonobu Itagaki told Shacknews in a comprehensive interview.

"It'll be something that'll make you say, 'Whoa,'" teased Itagaki, though he refused to offer further details. "In the past, when I've said I've been thinking about something, there have been times when I haven't followed through. This time, you can rest assured that I'll follow through [with downloadable content]."

While discussing DLC, Itagaki noted his dislike for titles such as Namco Bandai's Beautiful Katamari, a game that includes locked disc content only accessible if users purchase a downloadable key from Xbox Live. "That's not very beautiful, is it?" he jested. "That's awful. Games like that should cease to exist from this planet."

He also touched upon Namco Bandai's recent revelation that Yoda and Darth Vader will appear in Soul Calibur IV, with one character exclusive to the Xbox 360 edition and the other exclusive to the PlayStation 3 version. "I think [the exclusivity is] a disservice to gamers," he said. "This is like saying, 'You gotta get both [versions] if you... Read more

What do spiky hair and giant balls of energy look like on new hardware? We're about to find out.

Slated for a 2008 release on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit will support "fierce online battles" within "realistic battle stages," according to publisher Atari.

The game is being developed by Namco Bandai, the studio that brought us the combat classics Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 2 (PS2) and Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai 2 (PSP). Check out some images below for an idea of just how extreme this game will be.

A new face voice joins the ShackCast this week, as Aaron Linde comes aboard from Destructoid. He and Chris Faylor visited Valve this week and checked out Turtle Rock Studios' co-op zombie shooter Left 4 Dead, as well as the upcoming Badlands map remake for Team Fortress 2.

Also on tap is discussion of Star Wars characters in Namco's Soul Calibur IV (PS3, X360), Valve's acquisition of Turtle Rock Studios, and David Jaffe's wishes for a one-console future. Nick Breckon also reflects a bit on the Consumer Electronics Show.

As usual, this is all capped off with reader mail (including one from sgtsanity!). Don't forget to send in your questions and comments about video games, the Shack, or the ShackCast to shackcast@shacknews.com!

Play or download the podcast now, or browse the episodes through iTunes, RSS, or Digg. (Digg experts: if you have any idea why our podcast isn't updating properly through Digg, please contact us! You're our only remaining hope!) ... Read more

We meant to show you guys this one earlier but it slipped by in favor of the other CES content. A few people did notice it showed up on the FileShack ticker over on the right side this morning though. Straight from Namco comes the CES 08 trailer announcing the boggling inclusion of Yoda & Darth Vader in the upcoming Soul Calibur IV.

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Update: Namco Bandai has released a trailer of Yoda and Darth Vader's in-game antics.

Original Story: Star Wars icons Darth Vader and Yoda are officially playable characters in Project Soul's Soul Calibur IV, with Darth Vader exclusive to the PlayStation 3 edition and Yoda exclusive to the Xbox 360 version. Yes, really.

Publisher Namco Bandai announced the news today and then proved it true by releasing pictures of the two squaring off against the ever-unbalanced Tira and the well-endowed Taki, both of whom are returning characters.

Even more inexplicable than the appearance of Darth Vader and Yoda in the fantasy-oriented historic fighting game is the suggestion that the primitive weaponry and armor of the other participants is somehow able to block lightsabers.

It's the first time the Star Wars crew has dabbled in the fighting genre... Read more

Cleveland-born director Dwight Little (Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid, Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home) has been chosen to direct the live-action film adaptation of Namco Bandai's Tekken fighting franchise.

"The film plays out as a science fiction story set in the near future, about a rebel who rises up against the Tekken Corp. to seize freedom for his people," Little (pictured left) explained to Variety. "It's a gladiator story, but the video game has a complicated enough storyline that it provides the template for a martial arts spectacular."

The Tekken Corporation has never been featured in any of the existing Tekken games, which revolve around the no-holds-barred King of the Iron Fist Tournament. However, the game's mythology does include a private corporate army known as the Tekken Force.

With a script written by Alan McElroy (Left Behind: The Movie, Spawn, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers), the movie enters production on February 4.

Namco Bandai released a flurry of new screens today for Project Soul's upcoming Soul Calibur IV (PS3, X360). The shots show off Astaroth's new look as he spars with Cassandra, and also feature a fencing match between prettyboy Raphael and the Joan of Arc-like Hilde.

Soul Calibur IV retails sometime in 2008. The Wii-only spinoff title, Soul Calibur Legends (Wii), retailed last month.

Nintendo has launched a new Wii channel called Minna no Nintendo (translated, Everybody's Nintendo), which allows gamers to check out videos and interviews of Nintendo games for various systems as well as send game demos to Nintendo DS systems via local wi-fi. Unfortunately, it's only available in Japan--so far.

According to hands-on reports from internet experts at the NeoGAF forums, Minna no Nintendo currently features an interview with Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto about the company's upcoming aerobic extravaganza Wii Fit, a DS and Wii release list, video previews of Wii games, and demos of DS titles including Namco Bandai's new Tamagotchi game, Brain Age 2, and a variety of other entries in the mass market-friendly Touch Generations series of games.

Also available is a feedback service allowing gamers to rate games they own in various categories. Areas of judgment include whether each game is well suited to single- or multiplayer play, its appropriateness for casual or hardcore audiences, its relative difficulty level, and overall quality.

Shacknews has sent inquiries to Nintendo's North American arm regarding future plans to make the channel available elsewhere.

For your last bit of pre-Thanksgiving content, Chris Remo shot his way through the console version of Namco Bandai's newest light-gun shooter, Time Crisis 4. How does this GunCon3-packed game fare on the PS3? Read on to find out.

Continues are precious in this game because, thanks to the IR-based aiming and lack of a reticule, regardless of how well you know a particular encounter, you are almost guaranteed to lose lives when you pop out of cover, see an axe hurling at your face, and lack the ability to sharpshoot it out of the air because the absence of a reticule means you haven't gotten your bearings yet.

In an unusual week of Japanese hardware sales, Microsoft's slow-selling Xbox 360 saw 475% week-over-week growth in unit sales to edge out Sony's PlayStation 3 by mere hundreds of units--17,637 to 17,434, according to tracking firm Media Create.

Microsoft's console was buoyed by Namco's exclusive Ace Combat 6, which slotted in at #2 on the hardware charts with 76,708 units. Unsurprisingly, Nintendo's marquee title Super Mario Galaxy topped the weekly list with 250,585 units. The debut was lower than some expected given the higher first-week sales of Super Mario Sunshine (GCN) and other flagship games from the Big N, but still outsold any other game by more than three to one during the week of October 29 to November 4.

Despite the bitter battle between the two high-powered consoles, both machines were outsold by the Wii, which topped Xbox 360 by about 20,000 units. Still, the release of Mario's latest outing didn't significantly bump Wii sales, and PSP came in #2 with 59,714 despite having no software in the top ten. In the least surprising news of the week, Nintendo DS trumped all by besting PSP by about 20,000 units.

Nintendo platforms dominated software, with two Wii titles and six DS titles. The other slots were occupied by Ace Combat 6 and a Banpresto-developed Super Robot Wars title for PlayStation 2 that slotted in at #4. Read on for the full list.... Read more

Namco Bandai just sent along a new batch of shots from the fourth entry in the fighting series known as both Soul Calibur and Soulcalibur, highlighting the game's sexually charged focus.

PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 owners will be able to experience everything Soul Calibur IV has to offer in 2008.

Appealing to a different crowd, the company also released new screens of the Wii-exclusive Soul Calibur Legends, showcasing the muscular Astaroth. The action-adventure brawler arrives in stores November 20.

The first Wii outing of the Soul Calibur franchise is complete and has entered replication, developer and publisher Namco Bandai announced today. The game, which is referred to as both Soul Calibur Legends and Soulcalibur Legends, is a Wii exclusive and arrives in stores on November 20.

Unlike other entries in the series, Legends focuses less on one-on-one fights and more on action and adventure. According to Namco, players will use the Wii Remote and nunchuck to "master orchestrated attacks to crush scores of enemies or large bosses." Over ten different stages are available in single-player mode, and the game offers both two-player co-op and versus.

The next fighting game in the Soul Calibur series, Soul Calibur IV, is currently in development for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and is scheduled to arrive in 2008.

In a timely celebration of Halloween, today's releases for North America's Wii Virtual Console feature all types of scary things that go bump in the night, including vampires, samurai ghosts, and magician lords.

The most prominent of the latest additions to the download service is Castlevania II Simon's Quest, the second entry in Konami's Castlevania franchise on the NES, the series' system of origin. Take control of vampire hunter Simon Belmont as he continues the family tradition of whip-based mystical murder and massacre for 500 Wii Points ($5).

Namco's Samurai Ghost follows the post-death exploits of Kagekiyo and his undead nemesis Yoritomo. Though the characters may be dead, this TurboGrafx-16 side scroller still features all the sword-based samurai action one would expect and sells for 600 Wii Points ($6).

The last of this week's creepy, crawly offerings is Alpha Denshi's Magician Lord for the Neo Geo. Priced at 900 Wii Points ($9), the game allows one or two players to play as Elta, the last shape-shifting descendant of the fabled Magician Lord, and face off against Gul-Agieze and his minions in side scrolling combat.

Microsoft has officially announced the long-rumored and twice-confirmed Xbox 360 Arcade unit, billing it as the family-friendly console candidate in this year's holiday competition.

Replacing the Xbox 360 Core SKU, the only model of the console that did not pack some type of storage medium for saved games and downloads, the Arcade carries the same $279.99 price point and includes a 256MB Memory Card and a wireless controller as well as a a disc containing the full versions of five Xbox Live Arcade titles: Namco Bandai's Pac-Man Championship Edition, Carbonated Games' Uno, MumboJumbo's Luxor 2, Bizarre Creations' Boom Boom Rocket, and Sprout Games' Feeding Frenzy.

"As families gather together this holiday, it's the perfect time to launch a new low-priced, high-value Xbox 360 that plays games, TV shows and music for everyone to enjoy," Microsoft global marketing VP Jeff Bell said with a heartwarming seasonal grin.

The Xbox 360 Arcade is available in North America beginning today, and will hit the UK this Friday, October 26, where it will sell for £199.99. As with all Xbox 360 Elite units and recently manufactured Premium models, the Arcade unit supports HDMI output.

So a few days ago we asked you to create haikus that best speak of gaming. The responses were really great and you should take a stroll through the results. However, with prizes like Eternal Sonata (X360) and its Xbox 360 faceplate, Tenchu Z (X360), Project Sylpheed (X360), .hack//G.U. Vol.3: Redemption (PS2), Digimon World Data Squad (PS2), Namco Museum DS, and Digimon World Dusk (NDS), someone has to be the winner. This time around, we left it for you guys to vote for the top selection.

• Snagger exploits the advanced features of the laryn.x engine
• Andygoin brings a haiku expansion to retail
• Thing2kdeux was nearly banned for console warrioring :(
• Borzoi quantifies the Xbox Live experience
• Warlord48 run a Captain Lou Albano fan club
• Zehh summarizes shackhype 101
• Eldersveld strikes a tone, then a rock

A couple of really great entries I'd still like to call attention from SirX, Adodric and Saman. Thanks to everyone for participating, and stick with us for future contests.

Update: We're going to go ahead and wrap up the contest tonight. Get your last minute entries and votes in by 11:59pm CST.

It's contest time here again at Shacknews. We're going to throw something a little different at you, as recently there have been wonderful but intensive contests. To switch things up, how about trying to represent elegance, simplicity, and well, judgement of someone that isn't me. For this challenge, we have a smorgasborg of Japanese gaming: Eternal Sonata (X360) and its Xbox 360 faceplate, Tenchu Z (X360), Project Sylpheed (X360), .hack//G.U. Vol.3: Redemption (PS2), Digimon World Data Squad (PS2), Namco Museum DS, and Digimon World Dusk (NDS).

So your task is to write a haiku about gaming, and post it in the comments to this article. We're going to go with the popular haiku form here, consisting of three lines of five syllables, seven syllables, and five syllables respectively.

But we're not just asking you to post--you should also take a look at the other posts and give props to those you like the best. Why do that? Well, those with the most positive replies will be the winners. So feel free to post as many poems as you like, but make each one a fresh post rather than reply. Don't forget to tell us which of the prizes you would like to win, or you'll get one at random! You have until Sunday at 11:59 CST to submit, and the results will be posted the next day.