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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After three retail releases of varying quality and the announcement of a contentious Kinect game, the Fable series is taking another detour.

Fable Heroes will bring a colourful blend of cooperation and competition to the fantasy world of Albion. Up to four heroes will be able to join the quest, which will see players cut down cartoon baddies, level up and accumulate loot. Lionhead has already issued a rather illuminating  gameplay video. Frankly, the game looks and sounds more like Castle Crashers than a traditional Fable release.

According to the Lionhead, a small team has been working on Fable Heroes since early 2011. Publisher Microsoft is yet to announce a release date for this XBLA exclusive.

In related news, Lionhead co-founder Peter Molyneux has confirmed his departure from the Microsoft owned studio. The famously ambitious creative force behind Populous, Black & White and Fable is forming an independent operation known as 22 Cans.