Those of you hoping for a bit of relief from your wallet being stretched so thin with all of 2011′s big game releases should probably look away now. Tecmo Koei America just passed along word that Ninja Gaiden 3 will release on American shelves on March 20 of next year. For those keeping score, that’s just about two weeks after Mass Effect 3 hits shelves.

We got our hands on Ninja Gaiden 3 during this year’s E3 show in June and thoroughly enjoyed our time sliding under cars and slicing off limbs.

During the pre-Tokyo Game Show festivities, Tecmo announced that Dead or Alive 5, the latest installment in the highly underrated fighting series will hit the PS3 and Xbox 360 sometime next year. Check out the first video below!

Team NINJA and Tecmo Koei announced this morning that its upcoming action slasher Ninja Gaiden 3 will feature full Move support when it launches on the PlayStation 3 early next year.

“We are really excited to announce this fantastic news at one of Europe’s most prestigious game events that is Gamescom”, stated the leader of Team NINJA Yosuke Hayashi in a press release. “Ninja Gaiden 3 is all about slicing and chopping through flesh and bone and PlayStation Move bring players even closer to the game’s protagonist Ryu Hayabusa.  The game will be compatible with all Move peripherals and it will feature full compatibility with this exciting new hardware.”

Ninja Gaiden is set to launch sometime next year on the PS3 and Xbox 360, no word has been given on Kinect support for the later.

Nostalgia is aptly named, for a few reasons. The idea of the game has existed for over a decade, though development of it on the DS did not begin until much more recently. As you play through the game, you will see a varied set of influences from an expansive and rich period of gaming in the genre–you may have played many of the games Nostalgia’s developers got their muse from, but you’ve probably never played them all together in one place. At times, this makes Nostalgia a special RPG, as it pays tribute to the past while using its own ideas to craft a memorable and long-lasting experience, but at other times, it makes the game feel like Dƒ©jƒ  Vu was a more appropriate title than the one on the box.

You play as Eddie Brown, the son of world-famous adventurer Gilbert Brown. You’re in search of your father, who has gone missing–the opening to the game finds you in control of Gilbert, so while Eddie isn’t aware of what has occurred, you, the gamer, are. You decide, using the same character traits that make Gilbert who he is, that you will go out on your own to find out what’s happened to dear old dad, and make a name for yourself as an advennturer while you’re at it. Your first task as an adventures involves clearing rats out of London’s sewers–the game uses real-life locales in the 19th century (with a steampunk twist)–and you meet your second party member there, Pad. From there you get your airship, find out a little more info about what happened to your father, and then spend the rest of the game exploring caves, dungeons, towers, ruins, jungles and the skies in search of your father and eventually, as the force capable of defeating an evil organization bent on world domination.

The characters are generally likable, though there are some issues. While there’s no groan-worthy character in your main party, none of them are particularly endearing either–this may have more to do with the dialogue than the characters themselves, as there isn’t that much talking in Nostalgia, or a least, not that much exposition to expand on the character’s personalities. This causes the story to have less of an impact on you, since you don’t have as much of a connection to the characters.

One thing I do enjoy is the fact that a fifth member of the party often joins, and it rotates among many of the game’s important NPCs. While you can’t control them, it’s just one more layer of strategy for your battles, as they either heal you (freeing up your healer for attacking) or are very powerful attackers, which helps you finish battles more quickly. There are stretches in the game where you will always have a fifth person, even if it’s a bunch of different people filling that role.

The story, while predictable at times given its obvious hat-tips to the genre, stands on its own two legs and succeeds, in spite of the lack of particularly interesting characters. Whether you like the characters or not, the game does push you to what to find out more about what is going on in the main story. You also get the chance to flesh out the main characters through side stories: Fiona has memories of a past life, Pad doesn’t know who his mother is, and Melody was an orphan in a village full of wizards–it’s up to you to learn more about them. These side stories open up brand new locations not available to you in the main story, and they also give you chances to take on some difficult bosses and earn loads of experience and money. What’s also nice is that you don’t have to do any of that before beating the last boss–the endgame allows you to continue with your save so you can complete Nostalgia at 100%, regardless of whether you’ve saved the world or not yet.

Setting is a strong point of Nostalgia. The use of real-world locations gives the developers more freedom than you would expect, as they can give their own steampunk version of London, St. Petersburg, or New York. While the cities themselves are not affected much by the steampunk elements, the locations near them–high-tech, secret bases, airships, magic and the like–make the surrounding areas that much cooler to explore. The developers also did a wonderful job with the music in this title. The soundtrack is great, from each city’s respective music that fits the setting–eastern-influenced tracks for Japan and India, fitting jungle tunes and desert songs for South America and Africa–to the battle, boss and dungeon music. It’s one of the highlights of the game, and one of the better RPG soundtracks I’ve heard in awhile.

Graphically, Nostalgia looks much like of Matrix Software’s other DS efforts (Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy IV) though sometimes it looks better or worse depending on your location. The 3D models are nice to look at though, and the art direction for the game–including enemy, dungeon and town design–works well. Some areas can be a little more boring or graphically behind than other parts of the game, but they don’t detract from the experience too much overall.

There’s not much you can dislike about Ninja Gaiden. You’ve got Ryu Hayubasa, arguably the most badass ninja around. You’ve got giant bosses, opposing ninjas that won’t wait around to attack you one at a time, beautiful ladies, and powerful weaponry to help you cut a path through anything that stands before you–you’ll need that help, because the action sequences are difficult (but satisfying).‚  There are problems though, and they keep Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 from absolutely-must-own status like the first title in the series and its revamped Playstation 3 edition.

The original has been kicking around for well over a year, so you may know the basics, but for the uninitiated, here goes. Sonia, a CIA agent dressed like a dominatrix and stacked like a porn star, is looking for Rya Hayabusa, and she’s kidnapped in front of him by the Dragon Clan’s nemesis, the Black Spider Ninja Clan. You eventually catch up to Sonia and get her to spill the beans about the crisis facing the world, but not fast enough to stop them from putting the plan into motion. Because of this, you have to take down the Greater Fiends and all of the ninjas, demons and giant puppet statues they employ along the way as you attempt to stop the awakening of the Arch Fiend.

As Ryu, you are trained in the use of a variety of weapons, most of which, while different in their use, find the same result: enemy dismemberment. Dismembered enemies (excepting those missing their heads, of course) will attempt to commit explosive suicide on top of Ryu, so you need to be mindful of them. Battles, no matter which weapon you wield, are fast-paced and frantic, and you need to be on your toes and blocking in order to survive the larger onslaughts. Thankfully, the camera, which was such a massive drawback in Ninja Gaiden II, has been fixed most of the way thanks to a camera reset that puts the view in the direction Ryu is looking. It can still be trouble on occasion if you are cornered, but it’s not something you’ll notice every step of the way.

If you like difficult action games with loads of enemies, then Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 is for you. The story is completely over the top at times, and it seems like it takes itself very seriously, but at the same time you know deep down that everything is very tongue-in-cheek. How else do you come to a scenario where a man with a sword is able to destroy gigantic and iconic statues that have come to life like they are made out of Play Doh? The story is actually more enjoyable because of its nonsensical nature, because you’re sitting around waiting to see what ridiculous idea the developers have come up with for your next epic battle.

There’s some new stuff for those considering diving in a second time, like new bosses, weapons and playable characters, as well as an online co-op mission mode. If you’re by your lonesome, the second character will be controlled by the computer, so you can still experience this even if you have no one to play with. The missions are also great for replay value, given you can go through them again and again with your buddies, using different characters and strategies to get by. Sigma 2 also did a great job of cutting out a lot of the excess fat from the Xbox 360 version–because of this, the pacing is better, cheap deaths are lessened and the game is an overall more satisfying experience because of it. Oh, and you can jiggle the ladies assets with motion control, but that’s not exactly a bullet-point addition, now is it?

At the same time, if you’re a Ninja Gaiden II die hard, you may be put off by some of the changes. The game is far less bloody–there are no more fountains of blood shooting out of the necks and bodies of your dismembered opponents. On the plus side, the game’s frame rate is very good, and things run smoothly the whole time. On the downside, your blood fountains are gone, and the pro-blood fountain demographic is sure to make noise about this blatant disregard for their needs. The higher difficulty levels are also different, as your enemies have more hit points and do more damage, but don’t seem to be that much more intelligent in their approach. Some of the additions also don’t make much sense–that Buddha statue that comes after you in the first level just sort of appears out of nowhere when you’re still fighting basic goons (the Fiends have not been awakened yet). There are also some annoying presentation issues–a few levels are very, very bland in their look (hello New York city) and the game does not account for your weapon of choice in cutscenes–Ryu apparently has time to sheath the weapon he was using to pull out the Dragon Sword he didn’t fight with after each and every boss encounter.

Blast Factor: Those who did not play the original because they do not own both consoles will most likely not notice or care about the omissions, because Sigma 2 is a smoother gameplay experience, just like Sigma was. Fans of the original are sure to be split down the middle–those who played it on all of the difficulties until their fingers cramped probably won’t mind giving this new version a go, but whether they enjoy it or not has a lot to do with their level of blood lust (or their love for polygonal breasts that jiggle on command). If you can deal without the blood, then you’ll be happy you picked up this more recent edition.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 is available exclusively on the Playstation 3, and retails for $59.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for review purposes.

Tecmo has just announced that that Family Fun Football will be released in September. The game, designed for the Nintendo Wii, is an arcade-style casual sports game that everyone can enjoy. ‚ The game is designed to appeal to all ages and with easy to use controls.

The game features are surprisingly simple. A coaching playbook allows everyone to learn and play the game, while power-ups enhance a player’s attributes. These allow for increases in speed, strength, passing and interceptions for a limited amount of time so that you can gain momentum in the game. You can even unlock and load your own Mii characters from the Wii console into the game so that you can make it a more personal experience. The characters available to choose from include animals, ninjas, pirates, aliens and robots, among others.

There are numerous ways to enjoy the game as well. If you want to just jump right into the game, there’s a Quickplay option which allows up to four players to play two-on-two football. There is also a Season option which allows you to play against various teams through a nine game season. There’s also a Tournament option which allows you to lead your team through a double elimination tournament to see who the best team is.

Family Fun Football will be released on September 29, 2009.

Even with just one of the Big Three holding their press conference yesterday, there was plenty to talk about, with Microsoft the first to unveil Hideo Kojima’s new multiplatform Metal Gear title, as well as their potential solution for motion control/bringing down society with Skynet application, Project Natal. Here’s a roundup of our first day of coverage, for easy perusal:

• The first 10 songs in The Beatles Rock Band are…
• Tony Hawk shows off Tony Hawk: Ride
• Left 4 Dead 2, Crackdown 2 announced
• Modern Warfare 2 DLC details
• Microsoft owned Big Park and Epic Games show their goods
• Forza 3 arriving this October
• Halo: Reach announced, ODST shown, dated, detailed
• Twitter, Facebook, last.fm, updated Netflix on the way to Xbox Live
• Halo 3: ODST branded Xbox controller first look
• Meet the case of Left 4 Dead 2
• Alan Wake is indeed alive and arriving spring 2010
• Final Fantasy XIII coming to Xbox 360 in spring 2010
• Halo 3: ODST is a full-priced game
• Ubisoft will reveal Red Steel 2, Avatar
• Project Natal, what we know so far
• The Old Republic MMO features all voice acting, no text
• Electronic Arts media briefing chock full of games
• Metal Gear Solid: Rising trailer
• Electronic Arts to publish All Points Bulletin
• What Tecmo is bringing to the show
• No More Heroes 2 to support MotionPlus?

Famed publisher Tecmo unveiled games to be shown at the company’s booth at E3 tomorrow and Thursday today and from the looks of the list, will have something for fans of all genres including the digital only XBLA/PSN contingency.

PS3- Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, Quantum

PSP- Undead Knights

Wii- Family Fun Football. We already know some about this one.

XBLA/PSN‚­-Fret Nice, Puzzlegeddon, NBA Unrivaled

Blast will be lurking around the show floor tomorrow, so stay tuned for our coverage!

It isn’t a Wii game without the words “family” or “fun” so it comes as no surprise that famed publisher Tecmo announced Family Fun Football for Wii today.

This isn’t the Tecmo Bowl revision maybe you were looking for, and is indeed a unique take on the gridiron game; it’s got mini-games.

In a dynamic Arcade style, complete with colorful football stadiums, the ability to play as one of the games’ characters, your Mii, a slew of animals, aliens, or robots, you’ll be able to tackle your friends in this stylized football experience.

To help out those not so astute when it comes to the somewhat confusing playcalling mechanic found in the Madden series, Tecmo is offering a very basic offensive and defensive playbook utilized by the very approachable Wii Remote control scheme.

Enjoy the vivid trailer for the game below.

Ignition Entertainment and Tecmo today announced NOSTALGIA, a brand new IP due out in September of this year for the very popular DS portable gaming system.

How can a new game be nostalgic you ask?‚  Well, I don’t really know, but the ambitious project aims to show us.

Nostalgia is set in an alternate-reality 19^th-century Earth where you’ll play as Eddie, a man from London who corrals a slew of companions onto his Zeppelin to traverse a world full of thrilling danger.

More specifically, you’ll explore mysterious locations; slay a myriad of uniquely interesting creatures, complete tons of quests, and save the world from an “unfathomable evil.”

Unfathomable evil?‚  I have a pretty imaginative mind capable of fathoming some very sinister and precarious situations, but hey, we’ll leave it up to Tecmo to truly frighten me.

Nostalgia is first and foremost an expansive RPG spanning the regions of London, New York, Cairo, Russia, and Africa via your high-flying zeppelin.‚  Nostalgia also offers two methods of combat.‚  The first is the close-combat turn-based style RPG fans are undoubtedly familiar with. ‚ However, the other takes place aboard your vessel and simulates large-scale skirmishes between you and enemy airships.

Most interestingly, Nostalgia is being developed by a think-tank of famed Japanese RPG visionaries with the intent of returning to the glory days of such Japanese titles.

Maybe now the name Eddie can lose its idiotic connotations primarily propagated as a result of hyena character in The Lion King.

This review originally appeared on Reviewcenter.com in 2002.

For us, it all started with The 7th Guest for the PC. We were indescribably intrigued by this game at the time.‚ The ability to journey through a beautifully rendered haunted mansion (as good as you could pre-render n 1993) via a first person perspective was something that, at the time, was unprecedented.‚ Bill Gates himself commented on the game saying something to the effect that it was “the future of multimedia.”

After 7th Guest, it was Mansion of Hidden Souls for the Sega CD.‚ It also featured an explorable mansion, and to our recollection, it too was haunted — with souls trapped in butterflies. What a concept.

When I heard that a sequel was in the works for the Sega Saturn I was giddy with glee, unfortunately the game never saw the light of day in America.‚ Then came Trilobyte’s 11th Hour, the sequel to 7th Guest.‚ While 11th Hour was technically superior to its predecessor in terms of a technological standpoint, it just did not hold the same sense of wonder and awe that the original game did.

Enter Fatal Frame, the most impressive 3D haunted-mansion explorer simulator known to man.‚ Tecmo has taken all of my favorite aspects from the past super naturally charged Mansion haunts and combined them with technology that would put the 33mhz SX computer I originally played 7th Guest on to shame.

Fatal Frame puts you in the role of Miku, a teenage girl who is in search of Mafuya, her brother.‚ Mafuya went to the mansion in search of Takamine, a famous novelist who ended up missing after doing some research for his book at the Himuro mansion.‚  Both Miku and Mafuya are cursed with the sixth sense; they can see ghosts, scarrrry.‚ Takamine helped Mafuya to cope with his ghoulish affliction through various books that he wrote on the subject.‚  Mafuya too ends up missing after searching for Takamine at the mansion.‚  Two weeks pass and Miku resolves to go searching for her missing brother, this is where you will come in.‚  As Miku you will uncover the secret, disturbing past of the mansion through clues you will uncover over a 4-night one-person manhunt for your brother.

The graphics in Fatal Frame are just short of astounding, for a system that can only render 1-pass bump mapping the visuals are surprisingly rich and detailed.‚ Interactive backgrounds, freaky grain-film filters, impressive Luigi’s Mansion-quality dynamic lighting effects.‚  Every object casts a realistic shadow on the background resulting in an almost frightening level of immersion.

Pre-rendered cut scenes are done up in a black and white, tattered film-like package that allows for both a realistic depiction of past events and an underlying documentary-ish feel.‚ The lighting in the game allows for a believable atmosphere that gives you the sense that anything could happen at any time.‚ The various apparitions that you will meet will be depicted in a terrifying flickering presence, usually contorted in positions that are painful just to look at.‚ Perspective is primarily represented via a third-person view, the multitude of camera positions adequately follow you around to the point where POV is rarely an issue.‚ The non-ghoulish characters in the game are rendered very well, with detailed, diverse clothing and realistically animated facial gestures that serve their purpose flawlessly.

The sound in Fatal Frame is composed mainly of an organic-ambiance and strange ritualistic chanting music that would scare your little brother to death if you were to record the samples onto a mini-recorder and put the device under his bed and hit play at full volume while he is sleeping.‚ Ghosts will scream in agony as you film them and taunt you in the instances when they have the upper hand.‚ Super-natural objects will resonate with a spooky hum as you close in on them, faint voices can be heard through long corridors, footsteps sound suitably different depending on the composition of what your walking on. All this equates to an audibly impressive, realistic experience that reverberates with resounding effect.

There may have never been a better football game — sports game — than Tecmo Bowl.

It’s been too long, but Tecmo is finally bringing us some real details on the upcoming Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff for Nintendo DS.

“Yes, it’s been a while since our last update on Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff. We figured you’d want to spend some time with Madden ’09 and kick off the NFL season with some friends “" and of course you didn’t want to miss that opening concert with Usher and Keith Urban, right? (Note to NBC and NFL: Football fans like Usher and Keith Urban..really???)” Tecmo said Thursday.

“And yes, EA has done it again with Madden NFL ’09 taking 3 spots in the August 2008 Top 10 sales charts with the 360, PS3 and Wii versions. But what about the DS version?” they ask.

Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff releases in November for the DS and they are banking on retro-loving players who remember the ultra addictive Tecmo Bowl.