News: Sky Crawlers Wii Finally Landing in Europe Page 1

Sky Crawlers Wii Finally Landing in Europe

XSEED have announced that Namco Bandai and Project Ace's Wii-exclusive Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces is bound for Europe.

XSEED Games picked up Namco Bandai and Project Ace's Wii-exclusive Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces for the US market earlier this year, with the game scheduled for sometime before the end of 2009.

However, when people then turned to Rising Star Games for the announcement of a European release, sadly all that was received were blank stares and a wall of silence. The reason behind that, though, has now been revealed.

In its effort to strengthen its presence in Europe, the newly formed Namco Bandai Partners, hot on the heels of the release of Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, has confirmed that Sky Crawlers will indeed be self-published by Namco Bandai Games Europe across all PAL territories (including Australia) in February 2010.

The flight action game is based on the acclaimed 2008 Japanese anime feature film from internationally renowned director Mamoru Oshii. Developed by Project Aces, the team behind Ace Combat, Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces pushes the Wii hardware to the extremes of its capabilities, delivering an impressively hi-fidelity rendition of intense arcade-style aerial combat. The Wii Nunchuk is used as a joystick to control the planes in flight, and the high altitude action is supplemented with over 30 minutes of gorgeous anime cinematics. The brand new story has been created by the Project Aces team in close collaboration with the licensor, keeping faithful to the Sky Crawlers universe.

"The talented Project Aces team here in Tokyo have worked very hard to make the best possible flight game on Wii and we are very proud with what we have achieved. The control system lets players handle the game like a real aircraft using the Wii Nunchuk as a joystick, which is really a lot of fun for anyone who likes flight games."
- Daisuke Uchiyama, producer NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc.

In a world where there is no more war, corporations stage fictional war 'shows' on a massive scale to make people truly feel at peace. In Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces, the player takes the role of a top ranked pilot transferred from another base and newly enlisted in the Rostock Corporation, an enterprise of war that has recently welcomed a batch of intriguing new pilots into their ace squadron. Not even the officers at the base are able to hide their confusion at these new recruits who appear to be mere children. One girl, Maumi Orishina, stands out from the rest. In the sky reflected in her eyes, the dogfight begins.

Directed by Mamoru Oshii and animated by Production I.G., the film The Sky Crawlers was rapturously received in Japan and overseas, winning the Future Film Festival Digital Award at the 65th Venice International Film Festival amongst a brace of other awards. Following its release in the US, the DVD and Blu-ray of the film is coming soon to Europe and other territories worldwide.