As the fate of a strange world hangs in the balance, gods and monsters clash in battles of unprecedented scale. Characters that wouldn’t look out of place in Street Fighter IV are rapidly propelled through set pieces that recall the epic delirium of anime. Quieter moments are rendered via elegant stills reminiscent of traditional Japanese illustration. Asura’s Wrath is, if nothing else, an astonishing spectacle. Read the rest of this entry »

Presented in glorious alphabetical order, New Media: Retail Roundup is your indispensible checklist of the home console and handheld titles arriving in stores this week. What will you be playing?

MICROSOFT Xbox 360 Armored Core V * Kinect Rush: A Disney Pixar Adventure * Ninja Gaiden 3 * Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

NINTENDO Wii Nothing 3DS BlazBlue: Continuum Shift II

SONY PS3 Armored Core V * Ninja Gaiden 3 * Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City PSV Nothing

VARIOUS PC Total War: Shogun 2 – Fall of the Samurai

New Media: Downloadable Digest is your handy reminder of the downloadable titles released during the past week.

MICROSOFT XBLA Shoot Many Robots Games on Demand Brink * The Gunstringer * Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

NINTENDO WiiWare Nothing Wii VC Strider (Mega Drive) 3DS eShop Nothing 3DS VC Metroid (NES) DSiWare Nothing

SONY PSN Journey * Shoot Many Robots * Warp Full PS3 Games BioShock 2 Complete Pack * FIFA Street PS1 Classics Nothing PS2 Classics Nothing Full PSV Games Nothing Minis Canabalt * Gold Medalist * Reef Aquarium

VALVE Steam All Zombies Must Die! * Bumbledore * Defenders of Ardania * ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron * Wizorb

Looking for more New Media? View previous instalments here.

NanoBITES captures those small but important morsels of gaming information that otherwise might slip between the cracks.

ITEM! Sony and CCP have revealed that forthcoming sci-fi shooter Dust 514 will be free-to-play. The PS3 exclusive will take place in the same universe as EVE Online and indeed actions taken in one game will affect the other.

ITEM! It’s the end of the worlds. Sony is pulling the plug on four of its MMO titles. Cosmic Rift, Infantry, Star Chamber: The Harbinger Saga and EverQuest Online Adventures (not be confused with EverQuest or EverQuest II) will go dark on Thursday 29 March.

ITEM! The seven month standoff between Bethesda and Mojang has been settled. As reported by Kotaku, the former will retain ownership of ‘Scrolls’ trademark while allowing the latter to publish its forthcoming strategy game under that name.

ITEM! Yukio Fatatsugi’s long awaited Project Draco will henceforth be known as Crimson Dragon, according to report published by Famitsu (via Andriasang). Announced at TGS 2010, the Kinect powered dragon riding sim is expected to arrive later this year.

ITEM! Here’s one for the motoring enthusiasts out there. Microsoft has confirmed that a new Forza is in the works. While Turn 10 has handled previous instalments, Forza Horizon is in development at Playground Games, best known for its work on Colin McRea: Dirt.

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There may be plenty of video game rabbits (Jazz, Max, Cream, etc) but only one bunny can lay claim to the title Prince of Hell. Ash is the protagonist in SEGA’s forthcoming Hell Yeah: Wrath of the Dead Rabbit. After a rival demon distributes intimate photographs of Ash throughout the underworld, he picks up his trusty drill and heads out for a bit of payback.

This will bring him into conflict with scores of original and bizarre adversaries, including Hot Gals (giant lips atop walking fingers) and Mad Cows (undead cattle featuring gargantuan human hands). Strangest of all are the multi-breasted starfish known as Patracks. Truly this game is the product of a disturbed mind.

While Parisian developer Arkedo hasn’t exactly been forthcoming about the game, the brief announcement trailer suggests that Hell Yeah may be a frantic side scrolling shooter.

Hell Yeah: Wrath of the Dead Rabbit is slated for release on XBLA, PSN and Steam in 2012.