Taiko no Tatsujin Wii is the latest installment in Namco Bandai’s popular rhythm game series known in the West as Taiko Drum Master. The game debuted at the top of the Japanese software chart for the week ending the 14th of December with 105 900 copies.

Taiko no Tatsujin Wii ships with a special taiko or drum controller as well as a pair of plastic drumsticks. The drum peripheral plugs into the Wii Remote with players controlling the game from the drum. The game features a 70 song track list including J-Pop and various gaming theme tunes such as Mario and Soul Calibur. The game also features a daily challenge dojo.

Still confused? Check out the Japanese TV commercial for the game below to get a better idea of what all of us non-Japanese gamers are missing out on.

If you are a Donkey Konga kind of guy, there’s another trailer after the jump.

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Atari will be bringing Namco Bandai’s Tekken 6 to Europe in Spring 2009. The next installment in the popular fighting franchise will be available for the Xbox 360 and PS3, the first time the Tekken series will be coming to multiple platforms.

Tekken 6 will feature major gameplay enhancements as well as the largest character roster ever seen in the series. King of the Iron Fist Tournament is also new, along with new features, environments and intense gameplay modes.

Each fighter will feature their own techniques and attack combos. Players will also be able to customize their characters and participate in multiplayer gameplay modes to take the fight online.

For more information head over to the game’s official website. More bone-crunching screenshots after the jump.

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Namco Bandai Games has announced Family Ski & Snowboard, the sequel to the popular snow sports game for the Wii, will be available across Europe in February 2009.

Family Ski & Snowboard will feature new high performance snowboarding, enhanced skiing functionality, two new mountains as well as an additional 10 000 vertical metres to conquer. The game will challenge skiers and snowboarders to pull off different aerial tricks in various environments (ranging from Mt. Angrio to the Jamboree Snow Resort) with rails, a half-pipe and fun boxes.

The game’s controls will be the same as Family Ski, with players using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk or the Wii Balance Board to hit the powder. Players will be able to create custom characters or use their own Mii before catching a chairlift to the summit or taking on vertical cliffs from a heli-drop.

Other activities include ski technique challenges, ski and board school, moguls, slaloms and even animal search & rescue, whether that be day, night or dusk skiing. The game supports four player racing and allows you to challenge up to three AI skiers.

More screenshots after the jump.

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Namco Bandai, co-publishers of the troubled PC title Hellgate: London, have announced that the game’s final day of online activity will be January 31st 2009. A statement on the official website reads:

“NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc., today announced that they will continue to support customers of PC game Hellgate™: London with online server support and play through January 31, 2009 despite the closure of Flagship Studios. In a further gesture of support, Namco Bandai Games will provide this server support free of charge to all fans and players of the game up until the shut down date.”

Developers of Hellgate: London, Flagship Studios, headed by ex-Blizzard veterans including Bill Roper, closed earlier this year after the title was released to critical dismay late 2007. Quality issues were cited amongst most enthusiast press as a reason for its poor reception. Flagship, as well as co-publishers Namco Bandai and EA Partners, continued to work on the title with several patches and updates - support that came too late, according to EA Partners’ David DeMartini:

“We thought it would have been slightly higher quality than it turned out to be, and I think the problem with the game was that by the time it got really good, we were four to six months post-release. That was too late; we’d lost the fanbase.”

R.I.P.

Thanks Gamasutra!

Namco Bandai today announced that Soul Calibur IV has shipped two million units worldwide since its launch on the 1st of August.

The latest installment in the popular fighting series features two guests from the Star Wars galaxy – Darth Vader appears in the PS3 version while Master Jedi Yoda is in the Xbox 360 version. Darth’s secret apprentice from LucasArts’ Star Wars: The Force Unleashed appears on both platforms.

Look out for our review of Soul Calibur IV soon.

Namco Bandai reported their 1st financial quarter net profits were at around $9.4 million compared to $25.5 million during the same period last year - a 63% drop. This is largely a result of the disappointing performance of their arcade and toy divisions, while their game division performance was up.

Game revenues were up to $234 million this quarter, up 3.8% from last year. 1.7 million games were sold in Japan, 1.39 million in Europe, 740, 000 in the US and 113, 000 in Asia, from a total of 13 titles. Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 sold 420, 000 units in Europe alone, making this their single most successful title this quarter.

Full-year net-profit is expected to be at $207 million, on revenues of $4.3 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31st 2008.

Here is a Q & A with the games director of Soul Calibur IV, Katsutoshi Sasaki, to celebrate the recent release of the latest instalment of Namco Bandai’s popular fighting franchise.

Soul Calibur IV features an online versus mode for the first time in the Soul Calibur series. Players can also look forward to Critical Strike for each character as well as a new game system known as AMB (Active Matching Battle).

The game features new interactive stages, enhanced character creation mode and downloadable content. In addition the PS3 version features Sith Lord Darth Vader as a special guest while Xbox 360 owners should keep an eye out for Jedi master Yoda.

So without further ado, here is a Q and A with Katsutoshi Sasaki (games director for Soul Calibur IV). Want to know if Yoda and Darth Vader will be facing off in the near future? Then read on. Thanks to the Xbox Community Network for the interview.

• With 3D open-world games and First Person Shooters proving so popular on Xbox 360 do you think fighting games are as popular as they used to be, and how can Soul Calibur IV appeal to a wider audience?

Every genre has a peak of popularity. FPS and open world games are popular all over the world now, but it is because of a trend. The trend will get more people playing that genre, and those people will bring in more people, which will make for a good continual flow of players into the genre.

Even though the fighting game genre has been around a long time, I have to agree that the number of people playing the genre has decreased. So, we have made this attempt to collaborate with Lucas Arts to get new people interested in fighting games again. I am hoping this collaboration will be a trigger for people to play SoulCalibur, and we are also hoping more people will rediscover the fighting genre. Finally, I believe that fighting games will be more interesting as the number of people who play this genre increases.

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Namco Bandai Games has announced a new arcade compilation pack for Xbox 360, containing a host of classic Namco arcade games.

Namco Museum: Virtual Arcade includes Pac-Man: Championship Edition, Mr. Driller Online, the original Pac-Man, Galaga, Galaxian, Dig Dug, Xevious, Pole Position and New Rally-X, amongst others, some of which are Xbox Live enabled for on-line leaderboards.

If it’s at a bargain price, this will be a bargain.

Atari is bringing Namco Bandai Games’ Family Trainer to European Wiis this September.

Family Trainer sees players using their whole body in various fast-paced activities. The game includes the Family Trainer mat controller which encourages “total body game play.”

Players will be able to choose from over a dozen single and multiplayer outdoor challenges. You can expect to jump aboard a river raft or mine kart, test your skills in log jumping and keep up the pace in rope skipping. The game is set in various colourful locations including ruins in jungle forests, a zombie infested haunted mansion and even a fairytale world.

Players can challenge each other on the same mat or play cooperatively. The game allows you to track your progress and records.

The game is known as Active Life: Athletic World in the US and it is currently slated for a 2008 release date there.

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Namco Bandai Games has announced that We Ski has gone gold and will arrive in North American stores on the 13th of May. It will sport a $29.99 price tag.

Up to four players can hit the slopes with the Wii Balance Board or Wii Remote and Nunchuk in single or multiplayer skiing action. The Wii Balance Board comes bundled with Wii Fit, which will only be released across North America on the 19th of May. If Ski Slalom and Ski Jump in Wii Fit are anything to go by, this title looks set to include some addictive game play.

Wii Ski features a mountain resort with over a dozen runs ranging from bunny slopes to Black Diamonds. Players will also be able to enjoy races, slaloms, moguls, freestyle challenges, ski school and even night skiing. Players can use their own Mii, kitting him or her out in goggles, costumes and poles or create a customizable character.

“Namco Bandai has worked to create the most intuitive and responsive skiing game available, giving players a fully immersive experience,” said Todd Thorson, Director of Marketing and Public Relations for NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. “We want players to feel the fun and intensity of real downhill skiing from the comfort of their living rooms.”

We Ski is scheduled to arrive on European shelves on the 13th of June.

Head over to the game’s official website for movies and more information or check out El33tonline’s previous coverage.

The Ace Combat series has sold over 10 million units worldwide. According to Namco Bandai, “the series has remained a critical and commercial smash hit since its introduction in 1995” and attributed the series success to “consistently entertaining and accessible game play” and “cutting-edge graphics.”

The Ace Combat series debuted on the PSOne in Europe and currently spans eight releases across four platforms. If you are a fan of the series, head over to Namco Bandai’s website for a special wallpaper celebrating this event. Or you could pick up Ace Combat 6 for the Xbox 360 for 69.99 Euros.