Namco Bandai held its annual, amazing, Level Up event in Dubai yesterday and tons of major announcements were made. Seriously, this news is easily E3 level. Not a bad idea really, considering it means everyone will be talking about all the Namco Bandai games now and they won’t get lost in the shuffle in June.

Since there’s tons of news to go over, let’s start by looking at some of the console games we’ll be seeing in 2011 and 2012…

It’s that time again – time for another Naruto video game. It’s Naruto Shippuden: Shinobi Rumble, an entry in Ninja Council series and localization of Naruto Shippuden: Ninjutsu Zenkai! Cha-Crash!!. On the plus side, it finally steps away from the Rescue Gaara Arc from the Naruto series, but it also has a very brief story mode with a limited character roster and no online multiplayer.

As the beta for NGames’ latest free-to-play, browser-based MMO draws nearer, the company has decided it’d probably be a good idea to reveal some details about it. I mean, it does want people to come and play after all. So “Project Ninja” has been officially dubbed Pockie Ninja! Those are some of the characters players will encounter on their own ninja adventure in the game. Wow – I’m experiencing some serious deja vu here.

Pockie Ninja will allow players to create a ninja character, learn lots of abilities and take on missions. As you play, you can change classes at any time. You’ll also be able to synthesis items and raise pets. It also looks like a lawsuit waiting to happen…

In a move that should surprise no one, Namco Bandai has announced that it is planning on bringing Naruto Shippuden: Kizuna Drive, the latest PSP Naruto game, to North America. Unfortunately, you’ll have to be patient and wait until Spring 2011 to play this action-adventure game. But it should be worth waiting for, since it’s not a fighting game, like most would expect. It’s an action game with a focus on cooperation between players and NPC characters…

Naruto is still an incredibly popular anime and manga series, so it’s not surprising to hear that another Naruto video game is headed to North America. Atlus and Tomy are going to release Naruto Shippuden: Shinobi Rumble, the seventh entry in the Naruto: Ninja Council series, on February 8, 2010. It’s a localization of Naruto Shippuden: Ninjutsu Zenkai! Chakrash!!…

It looks like Atlus is going to be the new go-to company for Naruto games. It has just picked up Naruto Shippuden: Dragon Blade Chronicles (Wii) and Naruto Shippuden: Naruto vs. Sasuke (DS). Both games will be rated Everyone 10+, be available on November 16, 2010 and have lots of preorder and special stuff associated with them…

When animated series are successful enough, video game developers and publishers will try to cash in and create games that fans of the series will enjoy. While many of these games can fall under the shovelware umbrella, a few attempts stand out as truly entertaining and worthwhile endeavors.

This week’s installment of Important Importables is devoted to the best of the best, the anime games that were so good, even people who are unfamiliar with the original series seek them out. A few of them may seem incredibly familiar, as they even received worldwide releases. Rest assured though, the following 10 games and series are so good, you’ll enjoy them even if you’ve never even heard of the animes they’re based on.

You will not believe what has been just added to the PlayStation Store – a Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3 demo! Yes! Hey, why are you looking at me like that? Come on, most of the video games based on Naruto, especially the Naruto Shippuden part of the series, are awesome. There’s a good chance this could be great too.

Anyways, Namco Bandai is releasing Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3 for the PSP on May 11, 2010 and wanted to make PSP owners more aware of it by releasing a demo. After all, you’re much more likely to buy a game if you tested out and loved the demo…

Good news for Naruto fans, another game is on the way to North America. Namco Bandai is localizing Naruto Shippuden: Narutimate Accel 3 as Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3. So soon you’ll have another, potentially epic, PSP fighting game in your hands. The only thing is, a release window has yet to be set.

One of the most attractive things about Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3 is its massive character roster. It has over 50 characters, including 25 Leaf Village ninja, 4 Sand Village ninja, 11 Akatsuki members (really, all of Akatsuki minus Orochimaru), 3 Sound Village ninja (two forms of Kabuto and Orochimaru) and Sasuke and his three assistant ninja…

Namco Bandai has announced its lineup of games that will be playable at its booth (#530) at the 2009 San Diego Comic Con.

NamBam, as I like to call them, is also hosting a four-day Tekken 6 tournament on July 23 through 26, 2009 in Mezzanine Room 17B at the San Diego Convention Center. Sign-ups being daily at 10 a.m. with multiple competitions taking place each day.

Click through for the full lineup…