Namco Bandai “Level-Up” Event News Roundup

Namco Bandai just concluded its “Level-Up” event in Dubai, where the publisher showed its line-up of titles to be released over the next year. They detailed several previously announced projects, and unveiled a few new games as well.

The event opened with a montage of Namco Bandai’s lineup, followed by a showing of new trailers for Ridge Racer: Unbound and Inversion, the latter of which was pegged for release on February 7th in the US and February 10th in the UK, on the PS3 and Xbox 360.

F1 2011 was dated for Septermber 27th, while Namdai will be partnering with Codemasters to release Bodycount in the summer.

From Software’s Dark Souls was dated for an early October release with reportedly “fantastic” pre-order content on the way for both PS3 and Xbox 360. Ace Combat: Assualt Horizon will follow with an October 11 release in the US and an October 14 launch in the UK. The publisher also revealed that an Ace Combat game is in the works for the 3DS.

The firm next announced they’re producing Tekken: Blood Vengeace — an aptly-named (if I do say so myself) CGI film; a make up of sorts for last year’s live-action Tekken film. The movie will be in 3D and the script will be written by Cowboy Bebop scribe, Dai Sato, with a release planned for this fall.

Tales of Graces F will be releasing in both US and UK territories at some point in 2012, and a remake of the PS2 title Tales of The Abyss is in development for the 3DS, with a release scheduled for this fall.

Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm is getting an entry on the PSP, and an unnamed Dragon Ball game is in the works for consoles.

Finally, Soul Calibur V was announced. The story takes place 17 years from current continuity, and unspecified improvements are being made to the game’s fighting mechanics. A release is planned for 2012 on PS3 and Xbox 360, with more details to come at this year’s E3.