Today, NAMCO BANDAIi revealed it’s product lineup for E3. This lineup of 17 titles includes games for all major consoles as well as the Nintendo DS and PSP. “Our E3 2007 lineup highlights NAMCO BANDAI Games’ unparalleled commitment to delivering a collection of core franchises, licenses and original properties that will appeal to everyone,” said Genichi Ito, president and CEO of NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. “As our industry continues to evolve and captivate the next generation of gamers, we are prepared to meet this market change and engage those who enjoy interactive entertainment with appropriate high-quality content across all platforms and genres.”

E3 Lineup:

Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation
Release date: October 23, 2007
Platform: Xbox 360

Beautiful Katamari
Release date: Fall 2007
Platform: Xbox 360

Culdcept SAGA
Release date Q1 2008
Platform: Xbox 360

Digimon World: Dawn/ Digimon World: Dusk
Release date: Fall 2007
Platform: Nintendo DS

Digimon World: Data Squad
Release date: Fall 2007
Platform: PlayStation 2

Dynasty Warriors:GUNDAM
Release date: Summer 2007
Platform: Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3

Eternal Sonata
Release date: September 2007
Platform: Xbox 360

.hack®//G.U. Vol. 3: Redemption
Release date: Fall 2007
Platform: PlayStation 2

Namco Museum DS
Release date: Fall 2007
Platform: Nintendo DS

Namco Museum REMIX
Release date: Q4 2007
Platform: Wii

NARUTO: Ultimate Ninja Heroes
Release date: August 28, 2007
Platform: PSP

NARUTO: Uzumaki Chronicles 2
Release date: September 2007
Platform: PlayStation 2

Smash Court Tennis 3
Release date: July 10, 2007
Platform: PSP

SOULCALIBUR Legends
Release date: Q4 2007
Platform: Wii

Space Station Tycoon
Release date: Q3 2007
Platform: Wii

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology
Release date: July 2007
Platform: PSP

Time Crisis 4
Release date: Q4 2007
Platform: PLAYSTATION 3

Full Press Release after the break

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Pros: Gorgeous graphics with high attention to detail; Great storyline; Unique loading segments help keep you in the game; Darkness powers

Cons: Multiplayer

Story: The Darkness is a modern FPS developed by Starbreeze Studios, who are known for their amazing work with The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. In The Darkness, you take the role of Jackie Estacado, a mafia hitman who on his 21st birthday is suddenly possessed by “The Darkness”. These powers are both a gift and a curse since it gives Jackie some amazing powers, but at the same time The Darkness completely controls what Jackie does. The game has you fighting Jackie’s enemies as well as trying to control The Darkness.

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Bad news for fans hoping to hear some hands-on impressions soon for the next Smash Bros. game. Nintendo has announced that the game will not be playable at E3 this year. Don’t worry too much though, as they made a point of stating that the game is still slated for a 2007 release. Because E3 has been scaled back so much, Nintendo wants to use their limited time to showcase never-before-seen titles. Personally, I’m happy just so long as I end up playing Smash Bros on Christmas morning.

The fine folks at Infinity Ward recently opened the studio doors to allow community members a sneak peek Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the game that will be occupying our free time for years to come. We had all seen the trailer, and thought we knew what to expect from the Call of Duty masters, but what was delivered was far more than we could have hoped for.

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Last year, Microsoft for the first time brought videos that were being directly shown at E3 to Xbox 360 owners around the world with their E3: Bringing It Home. During that time, 1.5 millions Xbox 360 owners actively downloaded up to 5 million pieces of E3: Bringing It Home content.

Microsoft announced today they will be “Bringing It Home” again this year starting Tuesday, July 10th until Friday, July 13th. Here’s a rundown of the content Microsoft is expected to have available on the Marketplace:

• Microsoft’s E3 2007 press conference — beginning at 8:30 p.m. PDT on Tuesday, July 10 — will be available on Xbox LIVE Marketplace in high definition later in the week

Trailers, themes, gamer pics, and demos of from such titles as:

• “Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation” (NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc.)
• “Assassin’s Creed” (Ubisoft)
• “BioShock” (2K)
• “Blue Dragon” (Microsoft Game Studios)
• “Burnout Paradise” (Electronic Arts Inc.)
• “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare” (Activision)
• “FIFA Soccer 08” (Electronic Arts)
• “Guitar Hero III” (Activision/RedOctane)
• “Lost Odyssey™” (Microsoft Game Studios)
• “Madden NFL 08” (Electronic Arts)
• “NCAA Football 08” (Electronic Arts)
• “Need for Speed: ProStreet” (Electronic Arts)
• “Project Gotham Racing® 4” (Microsoft Game Studios)
• “The Simpsons Game” (Electronic Arts)
• “Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08” (Electronic Arts)
• “WWE® SmackDown® vs. Raw® 2008” (THQ)

D3 Publisher recently treated us to a preview of their upcoming Wii exclusive Dragon Blade: Wrath of Fire. Written by award winning author Richard Knakk (DragonLance, Diablo, Age of Conan) and developed by LAND HO!, Dragon Blade gives gamers the chance to play the hero and battle enemies using a mystical sword that holds the very soul of a dragon. With each boss kill you are granted additional powers and abilities that give you the ability to defeat even greater foes. Looking at Dragon Blade I quickly assumed that it was simply another arcade-adventure with a linear delivery and nothing new. What a found however was a blessing in disguise.

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Yesterday we spoke with Jeffery Steefel, Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings Online about Turbine’s reasoning and approach to content expansion, the MMO business model and why the area of Evendim was chosen as the base of the first expansion to the game.

Today we conclude the interview with information on the game’s new Raid, connections between the book and the game and a quick postmortem on the game since release – what he was most proud of and what he intends to change. Read the full article »

Recently Gaming Today had an opportunity to interview Jeffery Steefel, Turbine Entertainment’s Executive Producer on the recently released The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. Jeffery is an industry veteran whose past roles include Vice President of Programming & Member Services for There Inc. and Vice President of Programming & Production for Sony Online Entertainment where he guided the growth of Sony’s The Station web site

Jeffery is fresh off the development of the first free content expansion for The Lord of the Rings Online titled Book 9 – Shores of Evendim. This is the first in our two-part interview and we spoke with him about Turbine’s dedication to supporting its games after purchase and what makes this game different from other MMO’s on the market today.

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It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of Orson Scott Card. The “Ender’s Saga” series of novels is among my all-time favorites. Needless to say, when I discovered that Mr. Card was willing to sit down with me to answer a few of my questions, I was elated.

My elation soon turned into anxiety. How do I interview someone I hold in such high regard without sounding completely idiotic? My first instinct of screaming “YOU ARE SO AWESOME” would be the start, and end, of the interview. Luckily, Mr. Card was kind enough to indulge my fan-boy rantings to answer a few of my questions.

In this interview, Orson Scott Card reveals a progress update for the upcoming “Ender’s Game” film, brand-new information regarding plans for video games based on the beloved “Ender’s Saga” series of novels, and his thoughts on the current gaming industry. We want to extend our sincerest thanks to Mr. Card for taking the time out of his busy schedule to speak with us.

Gaming Today: While our readers certainly know your work from the acclaimed Alvin Maker and Saga series of novels, what they might not realize is how often your works have shown up in the gaming world. (Titles like Advent Rising, and smaller parts in The Secret of Monkey Island among others.) How did you get involved in writing for video games?

Orson Scott Card: The writing I did for projects with LucasFilm Games (as they were then called) began when I was invited to visit “the ranch” (back when they were still in the carriagehouse) and look in on some of the games. I loved what they were doing and learned a lot; I’m not sure of the value of my contributions, but I did come up with the insults for Monkey Island (with the help of my kids, who drew on their grade-school experience to create the lame starting insults).

Later, I was hired to write dialogue for two games, one of them “The Dig” and the other a side-scrolling shooter that I’m not sure was ever published, since it was coming out just when first-person shooters completely took over the genre. However, for that game I came up with the slang that I later used in battle school in the Shadow books and in the movie scripts I’ve written for Ender’s Game. Nothing gets wasted.

With Advent Rising, the creators of that game, then at GlyphX (now at Chair Entertainment) invited me to take part early on. The collaboration did not work as we had hoped – I ended up coming in too late to be part of the story development – but I wrote much of the dialogue and established the character relationships. It was a productive partnership, because I later wrote my novel Empire based on the situations created for their game of the same name (not yet finished).

See the rest of this exclusive interview after the jump.

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There’s a not-so-new kid on the block in the retail gaming business. They’re called Play N Trade. They have a new store opening every other day, and they’re quickly becoming a major player.

We wanted to find out what makes Play N Trade stand out from the crowd, so earlier today, I sat down to chat with the CEO of the up-and-coming franchise, Yuvi Shmul, about their business, their stores, and what sets them apart from traditional retail gaming outlets.

Q: For those readers who may not have heard of your stores, what would you tell them to say, ‘This is Play N Trade.’

A: “It’s a very simple answer, in two parts. We are the only franchise in the industry. Our customer service is a completely different experience. The stores are owned by gamers, and the employees are gamers. When you come to the store, the franchisees are out in the front of store, not stuck behind a counter. They greet you, learn who you are (if they don’t already know you), and ask you what type of games you like to play. They take a game, put it in the console, and they will start playing the game with you within minutes of you walking into the store.”

“You can try any game in the store before you buy it. When you go to the competition, you might be able to try 4 or 5 different games. Here, you can actually try any game you want. The concept of by gamers, for gamers; maybe it sounds a little bit like a cliché, but that has been the culture of this company since its inception. The company has been around 6 or 7 years.”

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