Atlus to publish upcoming Naruto Shippuuden Wii, DS titles in North America

Licensed Naruto video games have been making their way to North America alongside the wildly popular manga and anime series courtesy of a variety of publishers including Namco Bandai Games, Ubisoft and Takara Tomy. Now Atlus confirms it has tossed its smoke bomb in the ring as yet another publisher for Naruto games. Specifically, Atlus will act as publisher for Naruto Shippuden: Dragon Blade Chronicles for Wii and Naruto Shippuden: Naruto vs. Sasuke for the DS, both scheduled for release in North America this November 16th.

"We're very excited to work with Tomy Corp. and VIZ Media to present two new NARUTO SHIPPUDEN games to fans across North America," said Tim Pivnicny, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Atlus. "We're sure fans will have NARUTO SHIPPUDEN on their holiday wish lists as they do every year, and we're happy to bring them not only the games but also exciting bonus offers at retailers such as Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Best Buy, EB Games Canada, GameStop, and Toys 'R' Us."

The titles in question are not actually the latest import titles based on Naruto, but they've yet to see release outside of Japan thus far.  Atlus' press release teases even more Naruto Shippuuden games for the DS next year, so it looks like the Enthusiasts' Publisher will be sticking with Naruto for the long haul.  Don't worry, we're still going to see the Atlus touch with their Naruto releases; the publisher will be offering pre-order bonuses through select retailers.

Amazon Exclusive Pre-Order Bonuses

GameStop Exclusive Pre-Order Bonus (Wii & DS)

It's the first time we've seen Atlus tied to such a major anime license, so it will be interesting to see if the publisher has even more licenses for other anime series in its sights!