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With Pac-Man Championship Edition having just come out on the iPhone (and being, pretty much, Pac-Man Championship Edition), we're in a pro-Pac-Man frame of mind. So when we saw this European trademark for a game called Pac-Man: Battle Royale, we thought "Another Pac-Man game!" instead of "... another Pac-Man game?"

Adding further excitement was another trademark for "Drill Till You Drop," which sounds a lot like a Mr. Driller spinoff (and maintains the spelling error found in the title for the Dead Rising game on Wii). Now, all we know is that these trademarks are for games. They could very well be lame arcade redemption games, or Flash games, or any number of completely underwhelming things. But Battle Royale could also be -- though it probably won't, since this is too exciting -- something like a multiplayer take on Championship Edition.

[Image: The Arcade Flyer Archive]

Film blog Twitch has spotted the teaser poster for the upcoming Tekken movie on the official Warner Bros. Japan site for the film. We don't want to be overly cynical, but we've had our hearts broken so many times before that it's hard to get excited for any video game-based films -- no matter how spot-on Wushu martial artist Jon Foo looks as Tekken's Jin Kazama.

You know what else we're not fans of? The complete lack of Panda in the teaser poster (check it out after the break). We don't care if the character doesn't appear in the series until the third game, if we don't see an upright Panda punching someone in the face, there's no telling how upset we'll be.

[Via Kotaku]

We know, we know -- you've spent the better part of today searching the internet for all those Namco classics no longer playable on the futurebox of choice in your living room. Thankfully, Namco Bandai just this morning announced intentions to "increase its digital distribution presence," effectively eliminating your wasted time problem.

Aside from the news that two Katamari-based titles are headed to Xbox 360 and PlayStation Portable (Beautiful Katamari in "Q1 2010" and Me & My Katamari on December 22, respectively), today's communication did little for news on what else we can expect from the Japanese publisher on the digital front. That being said, the company specifically pointed out future titles heading to not just Xbox 360, but also a bolstering of titles in the PSone and PSP catalogs on the PlayStation Network. It appears as though we won't be hearing about other titles just yet, though, as the company said, "More titles to be announced in the coming months." But hey, at least you can stop all that internet scouring now, right?

'Tis the season for crazy sales on iPhone games from major publishers. Namco Games has joined EA and Konami with a temporary price drop on a wide selection of touchscreen titles, including the new Pac-Man Championship Edition. While the price of all the DLC hasn't dropped, it's cheaper to try the game now, with a starting price of just .99. Strangely, regular Pac-Man dropped not to .99, but to $2.99.

Another big Namco game, Ace Combat Xi, is available for its limited-time launch price of $4.99 once again, down from $7.99. See the list after the break, and just try not to freak out at the prospect of Mr. Driller for a dollar.

[Via App Advice]

Whoa, now. When we say "ugly," we're not talking about the visual fidelity of the aforementioned Clash of the Titans screenshots. Rather, we're talking about the subjects they depict -- horrible, nether-spawned creatures, covered in uninviting tusks, pincers and fangs. Where are all the beautiful, half-clothed goddesses? The scenic Grecian environments? The looming, meticulously built temples? We're not sure -- but we do know they're not in the gallery below.

Did we say January 5? You're actually going to have to wait a little longer for The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces on Wii. XSEED has informed us of a new release date for the Project Aces-developed flight game: just one week later, on January 12, 2010 [edit: Corrected the date.]

While that might not be the best news, the publisher also let us know the MSRP for the game: just $29.99. That's going to make it a lot easier for curious gamers to find room in the crowded Q1 for this somewhat niche game.

Namco Bandai is unsurprisingly working on a sequel to Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm. Revealed in the latest issue of V-Jump, the sequel will take place right where the first game left off, at the beginning of the Shippuden series. Not only will the cast of characters be older in the sequel, Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 is promising some big new features, primarily 4-player support and a multiplatform release. Yep, unlike the first game, Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 will be released on both PS3 and Xbox 360.

Details are slim at the moment, but with a planned 2010 release in Japan, we'll undoubtedly find out more soon. So long as CyberConnect 2 can expand on the game's depth while keeping its good looks, anime fans will want to keep an eye out for this one.

[Thanks Fidoboy17; Via Siliconera]

It appears the recently unearthed Ridge Racer: Accelerated trademark pointed to an iPhone entry in the long-running racing series. The title is now available on the App Store (try iTunes if you're not finding it through your phone yet) for $2.99.

The initial reviews state that the game comes with two tracks and three cars, but observe a few instances of crashing (as in the game, not the cars). If you've taken a chance on Ridge Racer: Accelerated, why not share your impressions with other readers in the comments?

It seems Naruto is well on his way towards becoming a football announcer. Namco Bandai's games based on the anime franchise continue their proliferation. Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3 is coming to PSP and it continues Naruto's inability to save his friend Sasuke.

The big new features for this third iteration of Shippuden are four-player battles, a new story mode and an expanded roster of characters (Namco Bandai is promising over 50). In addition to the usual fighting modes, a new cooperative ad-hoc feature will let three players connect with each other and play through the adventure mode. While the enhancements sound promising, we wonder if fans haven't grown tired of these annual iterations yet.

Do you like airplanes? Do you like anime stereotypes? Then The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces is what you've been waiting for! XSEED released the above trailer, featuring lots of awesome planes, and lots of inexplicably young people flying them. Well, not inexplicably -- though the details may constitute a spoiler, there is a really weird explanation for everyone's age. Beyond "it's anime."

The Sky Crawlers will be one of the first Wii releases of 2010 -- it's due out on January 5.

Have you been hoping, nay, dreaming of snagging one of the Tekken 6 arcade stick bundles but have been hesitant to plunk down the $150 asking price? This post is for you then, as Amazon has positively slashed the price of the bundle on both PS3 and 360 version, knocking them down to a paltry $78. Seventy-eight bones! That's only $18 bucks more than your average game and it includes the Tekken 6 Hori arcade stick to boot.

If you, or the digital pugilist in your life, haven't picked this up yet, it probably won't get much cheaper than this.

[Via Dealzon]

click for Super Pac-Man sizeNamco Bandai has just released its fourth Pac-Man game to the iPhone/iPod Touch App Store -- but it's Pac-Man Championship Edition, so it's somewhat more interesting than the usual lineup of classic ports that flood every platform. And it's only $3!

The iPhone version of the revamped XBLA hit includes a time-limited Championship Mode with 5 courses, and a Mission Mode with 20 missions. DLC expands this to 15 Championship courses and 120 missions, and adds a third Challenge Mode. If you're interested in trying it out, we suggest picking it up with the kind of haste reserved for running from ghosts -- the $3 starting price is a limited-time sale. Might as well save your money for the DLC you know you'll be dipping into.

Pac-Man Championship Edition ($2.99):

[Via AppShopper]

In the near future, the Prince of All Cosmos may roll a Katamari at you! Or some blood in Splatterhouse may splatter at you! Mr. Driller may drill at you! Other Namco characters may perform their signature actions directly into your face! That's because Namco Bandai has licensed RealD's Stereoscopic Gaming API.

The software allows Banamco not only to render visuals in RealD's stereoscopic 3D format, but also to implement automatic camera movements for optimal 3D viewing, and head tracking with a camera peripheral. The software will be used in the development of "upcoming as yet unannounced NAMCO BANDAI Games titles," allowing us to continue thinking of things for the developer to make 3D. Like Metro-Cross! It would be like large soda cans are rolling at you!

If you're anything like us, you've had the upcoming Splatterhouse remake fresh in your mind ever since this week's positively terrifying reveal of Splatterhouse shoes. Thankfully, Namco also released a handful of fresh screens of the game, riddled with various creature parts and – shock! – gallons of blood. Sure, the 13-year-old in us is just about as stoked for a new Splatterhouse game as one could be. Unfortunately, the 25-year-old in us still needs a lot of convincing that the franchise is worth revisiting before next year's Q3 release.

If there's one thing Dragon Ball has, it's a giant, sprawling cast of unique characters. Namco Bandai understands this, so it will be offering new downloadable characters for Dragon Ball: Raging Blast every two weeks from now until April of 2010. Best of all, the downloads will be free. Each pack will include "customized versions of popular characters, each with different powered-up abilities." In other words, if the initial lineup of characters just wasn't enough, soon you'll have remixed versions on top of the current cast.

Check out the full DLC schedule after the break. Unless otherwise noted, the DLC will release simultaneously on XBLM and PSN.