From Software goes next-gen
With Tenchu and Armored Core.
From Software has announced plans to produce two new games for next-gen consoles.
From acquired the rights to ninja stealth action series Tenchu last year, after Sega published an instalment here in Europe. Developed by K2, it wasn't up to much, frankly, but ninjas and stealth action always sounds like a good combination to us - so here's hoping From Software will do something better with the franchise.
Tenchu 360 is out in 2006, as is Armored Core 4, which will be released on both PS3 and 360 - marking the first appearance of the mech combat series on a Microsoft console.
Armored Core probably isn't for the "casual gamer", or indeed any gamer who doesn't like spending hours fiddling round with millions and millions of mechanical components. (And the next PS2 instalment isn't looking much more user-friendly, as you'll know if you read our recent preview.)
But the series has been around for nearly a decade now, which means somebody must like it. The Xbox 360 version is out next summer, but they're keeping quiet on any kind of a release date for the PS3. Expect more news soon.