Resident Evil video game and movie franchise is taking on the world of card games.

Bandai has announced that is will release the Resident Evil Deck Building Card Game November 19, 2010. Unlike a collectible game such as Pokemon, a deck building game comes packaged with all the cards in the set.

This summer has been very good to the Tekken franchise. We saw announcements of Tekken X Street Fighter, Street Fighter X Tekken at Comic-Con now Tekken Tag Tournament 2 was just revealed at the Tokyo Game Show. Tekken Tag Tournament 2 will be released in arcades in Japan in summer 2011. Release plans for other territories will be announced at a later date.

Namco Bandai may torture gamers when it comes to releasing entries in the Tales RPG series outside of Japan, but perhaps Bandai Entertainment can help ease that pain. At the Bandai Entertainment Industry Panel held today (July 23, 2010) at Comic-Con International 2010, a North American release of the Tales of the Abyss anime series was announced…

Ah, Bandai. You don’t really think about it, but the company is everywhere. Toys, video games, models, animated series and more! The company even has its own museum in Japan, devoted to honoring famous Bandai characters. Now Bandai is known better by gamers as Namco Bandai, as the two companies merged together in 2006.

Bandai is quite influential, and has built quite a legacy around the world. You can’t really appreciate everything it’s done unless you step back and look at some of its biggest achievements. So this week, Important Importables is checking out Bandai’s endeavors in the world of toys, video games and mass media. It’s just a quick way to remind people of what the company’s capabilities…

Warner Bros. has joined forces with Bandai to resurrect (like Mumm-Ra) the Thundercats franchise.

Don’t lie, you know you’ve been waiting almost two decades for this.

There have been many handheld consoles released, but Bandai’s WonderSwan has the distinction of being fairly unknown. It isn’t too surprising though. The line of handhelds, which spanned three different systems, was only released in Japan and only between 1999 and 2003.

Despite that, the WonderSwan, WonderSwan Color and Swan Crystal were nifty little systems. They had some interesting hallmarks and even some worthwhile games released for them. The more you learn about them, the more you almost wish that Bandai had taken a chance and released it worldwide.

Dragon Ball may be one of the most popular anime series of all time. Its three main sagas, several spinoffs and movies have captured countless fans throughout the years and even more with its recent re-imaging, Dragon Ball Kai. The series’ success has also spawned a number of video games and two new entries are coming Fall 2010.

The weirdness that is the sticky ball Katamari game franchise is not easy to convey.

It’s wacky, mostly incomprehensible yet inexplicably enjoyable. It’s a game without being game like and fun without reason.

The most recent release, Katamari Forever, takes all that absurdity, bounds it in its own wad of graphical awesomeness and spits it back at you with high-def precision. Sure, it doesn’t make much sense but it sure is a lot of fun.

Every year I receive a bundle of holiday greetings from various game and entertainment companies usually in the form of a nice postcard signed by the PR staff.

In the past some some companies would include a little gift with their card (Sony) but, more recently, companies are opting for less expensive and more eco-friendly digital cards sent via email. Even in the less paper-y format, they often include characters from the company’s more popular games.

Here’s a collection of Christmas and Holiday cards I’ve received celebrating 2009…

This week’s the PlayStation Store is featuring the Namco Museum Essentials collection for $9.99 bringing those old arcade classics from the mall or game center right into your home with five games like Dig Dug, Pac-Man, Galaga, Xevious, Xevious Resurrection and Dragon Spirit. This game unlocks PlayStation Home rewards and trophies, and allows players to challenge their friends to beat their all-time high scores by posting the results to the net.

Also, this week for a limited time only the PlayStation Network Store will have a sale on the following selected titles…