Namco Bandai's Bounty Hounds have kept us tied around its fingers since last year. Who wouldn't be? With its incredible images and gripping storyline, all the delays seem like coquettish games, planned to keep us all the more entranced.

Firmware 2.80 users will have the chance to take on the role of Maximilian, leader of the no mercy group of mercenaries, Bounty Hounds. The group is at war against an alien race called ETI (Extraterrestrial Intelligence) over the colonization of new interplanetary territories while trying to find habitable planets that humans can live in, with this downloadable demo for the game.

Maybe 2.80 users can fill us in on the good and bad points of this game. Submit a game review on MyPSPUpdates perhaps? But, before we get ahead of ourselves, click on the download link first to access the playable demo.

Download: [Bounty Hounds Playable Demo]

At the Tokyo Game Show 2006, attendees were asked to vote for games from a field of 650 titles not yet available in Japan. Tokyo University Professor Emeritus Takeshi Yoro headed the committee in determining the winners  and awarded 11 game titles that look promising:

    • Elebits (Konami) for the Wii
    • Gyakuten Saiban 4 [Phoenix Wright 4] (Capcom) for the DS
    • Gran Turismo HD (Sony) for the PS3
    • The Eye of Judgment (Sony) for the PS3
    • Heavenly Sword (Sony) for the PS3
    • Seiken Densetsu 4 [Dawn of Mana] (Square Enix) for the PS2
    • Tales of Destiny (Namco Bandai) for the PS2
    • Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops (Konami) for the PSP
    • Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom) for the PSP
    • Blue Dragon (Microsoft) for the Xbox 360
    • Lost Planet (Capcom) for the Xbox 360

From the list, it's clear that Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo are all winners. Check out the images from the awarding ceremony.

Robots in space nuking it out with each other over a 24-hour period in a fit of survival and desperation? Sounds like a Japanese movie we know (and a movie Quentin Tarantino oh-so recommends), but Gundam Battle Royale is hardly anything like the Japanese movie hinted at by the game's title. It's actually a follow up to last year's Gundam Battle Tactics, and lots of you Gundam fans are sure to find lots of familiar faces and robots here.

Despite this, there's going to be a heck of a lot more war bots, special attacks, high powered weapons, and customizable equipment to be had. And now it's on the PSP, gamers get to hook up via ad hoc mode and do co-op battles of up to four players. Sounds fun, yeah?

There's still not much info about it, even though Bandai Namco will release the game in Japan by October. Heck, no one even seems to know it it will be released for the US. So, we're sticking it out and we'll bring you more updates as they come along.

 

With all the excitement that has been brewing up as the Tokyo Game Show draws ever nearer, the organizers have decided to release a map which shows the general floor layout of the event. Fans who will be lucky enough to go there will know exactly where to look for that Square Enix booth (and hopefully find that Aeris cosplayer).

As the map shows, there will be eight entrances to the event area. Restrooms, the food court, the information counter as well as the medical emergency corner (for those who are bound to swoon over the new games) as well as the lost and found corner are indicated. Also, as the map shows, the main hall will be dominated by Sony, Square Enix, Capcom, Namco Bandai, Konami, KDDI Corporation, Sega and mobile service provider NTT DoCoMo.

Another thing to note is that sections have been set aside for game schools such as the Digital Entertainment Academy Corporation, the International Art and Design College, Yokohama Digital Arts and The Institute of Yoyogi Animation, so people who are thinking of studying in order to get into the game industry would probably find it a good idea to drop by that area. A section for development tools and middleware has also been allocated, where workshop space has even been provided.

A separate area has also been designated for shopping, and there will also be an area for children, as well as a video games museum.

For the lucky ones who will be flying to Japan by the end of the week, go forth and take these maps with you. Don't forget to bring your digicam and several extra memory cards.

View the Hall Map and additional Section Maps after the jump!

We previously released a file that contained the list of games that'll be making an appearance at the Tokyo Game Show. Unfortunately for most of us who don't have much Nihonggo skills to show for, looking through that list didn't do us any good. So, here's a list of the games for the PSP, DS, Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 in English. However, not every one of these games will be released in North America. It's just they're in English. Oh you know what I mean. Here's the juicy list.

PSP Games	Developer
Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception	Bandai-Namco
Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology	Bandai-Namco
Tales of Phantasia: Full Voice Edition	Bandai-Namco
Bounty Hunters	Bandai-Namco
Gundam Battle Royal	Bandai-Namco
Gunpey Reverse	Bandai-Namco
The Doko demo Gal Mahjong	D3 Publisher
Daito Giken Koushiki Pachislot Simulator Yoshimune	Daito
Blokus Club Portable with Bumpy Trot	IREM
Mahjong Fight Club National Competition Version	Konami
Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops	Konami
Metal Gear Solid Bande Dessinee	Konami
J League Winning Eleven 10 + Europe League 06-07	Konami
Silent Hill Origins	Konami
Valhalla Knights	Marvelous Interactive
Fish Eyes Portable	Marvelous Interactive
Pilot Academy	Marvelous Interactive
Homestar: 21st Century Navigator	Sega
Sony Computer Science Kenkyuushitsu Kenichiro Mogi Hakase Kanshuu Nou ni Kaiketsu Aha Taiken!	Sega
Ore no Dungeon: Desire and Adventurous Spirit	Sega
Lost Regnum	Sega
Metal Slug Complete	SNK
Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core	Square-Enix

The full list awaits after the jump!

The Tokyo Game Show is coming up and Bandai Namco has announced what titles they'll be showing at Japan's biggest gaming event! Many of their biggest franchises will be at the show so there's a bit of something for everybody. Bandai and Namco are merged, but we'll list their titles by which company is developing it.

PlayStation 3
Mobile Suit Gundam: Target in Sight (Bandai)
Ridge Racer 7 (Namco)

PlayStation 2
Battle Stadium D.O.N. (Bandai)
.hack//G.U. Vol.2 (Bandai)
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 (Bandai)
Captain Tsubasa (Bandai)
JoJo's Bizzare Adventure: Phantom Blood (Bandai)
Naruto: Konoha Spirits (Bandai)
Digimon Savers: Another Mission (Bandai)
Rider Kabuto (Bandai)
Gundam Seed Destiny: Rengou vs Z.A.F.T. II Plus (Bandai)
Tales of Destiny 2 (Namco)

PlayStation Portable
Gundam: Battle Royale (Bandai)
Gunpey-R (Bandai)
Tales of Phantasia: Full Voice Edition (Namco)
Ridge Racer 2 (Namco)
Bounty Hounds (Namco)
Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception (Namco)
Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology (Namco)

Nintendo DS
Tamagotchi: Corner Shop 2 (Bandai)
Gintama DS: Yorozuya Daisoudou (Bandai)
Gunpey-R (Bandai)
Tales of the Tempest (Namco)

GameCube
Battle Stadium D.O.N. (Bandai)

Xbox 360
Culdcept Saga (Bandai)
Mobile Suit Gundam: Operation: Troy (Bandai)
The Idol Master (Namco)
Trusty Bell (Namco)

Took quite some time to get all that from Japanese into English! Bandai Namco is just churning out title after titles, especially titles with "Gundam" and "Tales of" in their names! According to this list, they aren't showing any of their Wii games. Weird considering the PS2 version of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi is being shown. Guess it won't make launch after all.

It seems like Bandai Namco is trying their best to make their most popular series more appealing. Avid players of the the Tales series might recall familiar faces from Tales of Phantasia and Symphonia when they get to play Tales of the World. And for fans of the game, it's like going on a trip down memory lane.

From Tales of Phantasia, Chester Barklight will reappear to help you in battles. For those who are not in the know, Chester Barklight is an archer who provides great support from a distance. Lloyd Irving and Raine Saige from Tales of Symphonia are also expected to make an appearance in the said game.  For Tales of Symphonia fans, Lloyd Irving is known as a great tanker who provides great attacks. Of course a team is not complete if it doesn't have a healer, thus you can expect Raine Sage to come to your rescue whenever you need healing during battle.

Of course, these are just the announced characters from the game. It is possible that you will also encounter other characters during your gameplay, so you might want to stay on a lookout for those. 

What is Gundam Battle Royale all about? Is this the story of the craziest Gundam pilots sent to some unknown planet and galaxy where they fight it out for twenty four hours until only one of them is left? As much as we'd like to speculate its ultimately catchy title, the only thing that Bandai Namco tells us is that we will be seeing familiar faces in this game as well as a new battle ability called 'Charge Actions.'

Charge conduct works a like a limit break. For those familiar with Gundam games, this is the moment wherein you maximize your power and do every charged combo that you can do with the amount of SP that you have. There are 4 charged attacks that you can do in the game. The first is SP Attack wherein you do a high powered attack, preferably something long-ranged. The next attack is the Charge grapple which lets you grab your enemy and throw him into space, a perfect way to begin an aerial combo. Charge Shooting strengthens your equipment, allowing you to shoot more with a larger range. The last attack is Charge Boost which lets you boost your speed as you follow your enemies in space.

 

Bandai Namco really loves its fans! First, they have the trailer to Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception. And then, they also added two new planes for players to dream about (Ace Combat fans are definitely having a riot right now, just rallying in anticipation for this lovely game). The planes are lovelier than ever and you can customize them (bet you fans just can't wait to get yourself inside that cockpit).

Let's begin with the trailer for Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception. The planes look lovelier now that we see more of the planes in motion. I don't know if some of the scenes here are actual real time combat or simply an FMV, but from the looks of it, attack formations will also be handled by the game. Again, the story stresses the never-ending battle that the soldiers of Ace Combat X face. They also begin to question who they trust in the service.

Two new planes have also been announced by Bandai Namco for Ace Combat X. These are the Gripen C and the Rafale M. The Gripen C is a more stable low-cost plane that has good upkeep. I'm not sure if this is your starter plane or if it will be like the Fregata or the Cariburn. The Gripen is great for reconnaissance and is effective in combat. It is named after the great beast Griffin. The second plane is the Rafale M. It is a well balanced carrier plane, designed to have great stability with it's heavy body. This plane is great for ground attacks.

There are two new modes available for this lovely Bandai Namco import, Taiko Drum Master Portable 2! And for this update, Taiko Drum Master gives us multiplayer modes that could connect 4 people together using the PSP's wireless capability.

The two new gaming modes are the Harmony Drum Classroom mode and the Communication mode. In the Harmony Drum Classroom mode, you can learn new techniques by practicing the stages that you have already cleared. While in Communication mode, you can play Taiko Master Portable 2 with 4 of your friends. You can either play songs together or a mini-game that puts the four of you in a tough competition against each other. The game also supports sharing, so even if your friends don't have a copy of Taiko Master Portable 2, all of you can still play the game together.