Koei has send out word that Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 has just achieved gold status, and is now ready for shipping.

Unfortunately, there appears to have been a slight delay for the launch as BladeStorm's originally projected launch date of November 2 has been pushed to November 6. If it's any consolation, BladeStorm's demo for PSN and XBL has reportedly been getting good reactions, which will hopefully mean the full title is worth the wait.

The BladeStorm action-strategy title for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 will put players behind the controls of a mercenary soldier, as they reenact some of the bloodier battles of the Hundred Years War during the 14th century. Expect to meet famous personalities from both sides of this conflict, including Jeanne d'Arc from France, and Edward, the Black Prince, from England.


Buy: [BladeStorm: The Hundred Years' War (PS3)]
Buy: [BladeStorm: The Hundred Years' War (Xbox 360)]

When Koei promised us one heck of a hack n' slash party and being able to mow through hundreds (even thousands) of enemies in the form of Bladestorm: The Hundred Years War, we just know that we're in for a big surprise. Now that the Bladestorm demo is out on PlayStation Network, we're going to find out what it is we can expect from the game, compared to our own expectations.

The game starts off in the tavern where mercenaries get their contracts from. Surprisingly, the demo already lets players customize their characters...and it's not just merely choosing from an available stock characters, but one can choose to play as a male or female character, and even choose facial features. Of course, players can name their in-game avatar.

The tavern also offers other services and options, like accessing character inventory and status, listening to gossip, and even buy equipment. There's only one piece of equipment available for purchase in the demo, however. It should be noted that in the demo, the System menu is blacked out, preventing players from using the save function in the demo.

Now, customizing characters in a demo and getting access to all of the game's features save the System menu is nothing short of awesome, but why is it that we keep on grinning and laughing amongst ourselves instead of dropping our jaws in awe? Simply put, it's the voice acting. The barkeep's badly-mimicked accent just sounds too strange to be French, and is nothing short of chuckle-worthy. Even the voice of our custom female player has a cute accent as well. But its bearable, though a bit distracting.

In the game, players can choose to play either for the English or the French, then choose any of the available job contracts offered by either army. Contracts generally require taking over a certain stronghold, or base. Once fulfilled, you will be rewarded with equipment and a certain amount of Fame.

Read the rest of the review in the Full Article link!

Two new batches of screenshots have been released for Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War. It's quite a big batch; it showcases graphics from both the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 versions, although there's not much discernible difference between the two.

The screenshots from the Xbox 360 version show troops on foot and on horseback, basically mowing down everything that moves in neat, organized formations. The same goes for the screenshots from the PlayStation 3 version which shows cavalry, carpenter and royal lancer troops in action.

At first glance they all look the same but once you get familiar with Bladestorm the differences become more apparent. See for yourself: the demo is already out and still available on PSN and XBL. Check out the rest of the screenshots in the full article.

Xbox 360:

PlayStation 3:

Buy: [BladeStorm: The Hundred Years' War (PS3)]
Buy: [BladeStorm: The Hundred Years' War (Xbox 360)]

It's probably time for Sony PlayStation 3 owners to dish out a few bucks, because this week's PSN update comes with Go! Sports Ski. The skiing simulator that you can grab for US$ 2.99 headlines the list, but some will be delighted to find demos of Electronic Arts' The Simpsons and Koei's Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War.

Go! Sports Ski is one of the many indie games supposed to be available on PSN to give gamers a huge library to get budget games from. On the other hand, The Simpsons may be coming in a demo form, but a snippet of the game's 150+ characters (50 of which are new) sounds worth the download.

Another eye catcher is the demo of Bladestorm: A Hundred Years' War, an epic cross-over that combines tactical troop-based Kessen action with Dynasty Warriors hack-and-slash, which Koei promised and delivered.

Got it yet? We can't stress it out enough, this update is pretty hot. Here's the full list of downloadables to be made available at the U.S. PlayStation Netwok:

• Downloadable Games
• Go! Sports Ski (US$ 2.99)

• Demos
• The Simpsons
• Bladestorm: The Hundred Years’ War

• Videos
• NBA 08 key control play calling tutorial
  
• Eye of Judgement tutorial
  
• Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune BTS
• Haze Dev interview
• Tekkonkinkreet
• Surf’s Up BD trailer

Buy: [ Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War ]
Buy: [ The Simpsons Game ]
Buy: [ Uncharted: Drake's Fortune ]

  

Publisher Koei has just sent out a press wire announcing that the BladeStorm: The Hundred Years' War game demo will be arriving on both the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live this Thursday, October 4.

BladeStorm for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 will have players taking control of mercenary commander, as they fight for both the English and French factions. Expect to meet plenty of famous personalities in this upcoming Kessen III-style strategy title, including the likes of Edward, the Black Prince, and Jeanne d'Arc. Consider this demo a teaser of the title that managed to carve a place as the PS3's only game to hit the top ten in Media Create sales reports ending September 2.

In relation to this demo news, we're also reminding the gamer folk that BladeStorm: The Hundred Years is further expected to release for both consoles come this November 2.

Buy: [BladeStorm: The Hundred Years' War (PS3)]
Buy: [BladeStorm: The Hundred Years' War (Xbox 360)]

 

The weekly rankings in Media Create are in. For the first time ever (in this year, at least), Nintendo's best-selling handheld turned out a total number of sales that didn't reach past the 100,000 mark. Despite this, the Nintendo DS still remains king of the hill with 94,339 units sold for the week ending September 2.

The Nintendo Wii follows its handheld brother with 39,371 units sold, while the PSP sits with figures of 22,196 units sold at third place. It's the PS3, however, that showed some considerable spike up in the Japanese sales charts with 18,068 units sold.

This sudden rush of PS3 sales could be attributed to Koei's Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War, which debuted in the software charts this week straight up at the top two spot. Meanwhile, Microsoft's Xbox 360 is trailing after the pack from sixth place with 1,635 consoles sold.

Here's the full list of the Top 10 software sales in Japan:

1. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates (DS) - 78,572
2. Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War (PS3) - 58,996
3. Gintama Gin-San to Issho (PS2) - 57,084
4. Sengoku Musou 2: Moushouden (PS2) - 52,320
5. One Piece: Gear Spirit (DS) - 41,207
6. Mario Party 8 (Wii) - 39,019
7. Summonight: Twin Age (DS) - 27,692
8. Phoenix Wright 3 (DS) - 20,444
9. My Housekeeping Diary (DS) - 20,412
10. Wii Play (Wii) - 18,657

Koei is definitely going all out with their latest explosive title, BladeStorm: The Hundred Years War (PS3, 360). Hack-and-slash in the fame of Dynasty Warriors combined with the strategy that Kessen offers couldn't sound any better, but it may even exceed your highest expectations. The video below is sure to make you notice the big step up.

Eastern history is a thing in the past, as BladeStorm takes us to the west where massive battles went off between the English and French back in the day. The latest trailer is quite brief, lasting only less than a minute, but the epic scale of battle we see in it is overwhelming. When you're thrown into the shoes of a general leading his troop to face thousands of enemies, you know some serious mayhem will ensue.

Get your swords ready and prep up that battlecry, here's the trailer:

War may be hell, but it sure looked a bit more flashy and legendary during the good old days when everyone was wearing suits of armor and waving swords around. It's the same here in Koei's latest Dynasty Warriors-esque title, BladeStorm: The Hundred Years' War (Xbox 360, PS3) that takes place in early Europe rather than the oriental settings we've been used to. And this video update - featuring good old-fashioned war in its most epic form - shows just that.

Clank clank clank, smash, neigh, slash, cue death scream. While Koei has always been known to churn out great-looking titles that render gajillions of enemy soldiers getting killed onscreen, it's to note that BladeStorm: The Hundred Years' War not only looks the part of you being in a war, but also sounds like it. There's a lot of ambient noise that makes you feel that you're actually in the war, where a lot of things are happening at once.

The embed's below, you know what to do. Charge!

Dynasty Warriors-esque action that's visibly in a more epic and grander scale (as well as being set in a completely different continent) in this video update of Koei's Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

We get you up to speed faster than a whole contingent of enemy knights getting slaughtered by a single swipe of a hero unit's sword. In this video, we see massive armies of armor-clad knights being led into a brutal war, with the game's cinematics telling a story of a country torn apart by strife.

The gameplay bits are decidedly awesome, with the synchronized movements of your own battalion highly-reminiscent of the group dynamics yours truly has only seen with Leonidas and his 300 Spartans. The voice acting, while a bit hammy, does its job pretty well - it's certainly not the worst we've heard.

Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War may be sharing a lot of Dynasty Warriors' game mechanics, but if this trailer is anything to go by, it definitely stands out on its own as a title of its own right. Updates as we get them, so enjoy the video!

What seems to be the spiritual successor of Kessen, Bladestorm: The Hundred Year's War (Xbox 360, PS3), is also shaping up to be hottest next-gen title Koei is dishing out. We haven't heard much since the report that Japan will get the game's demo on their PSN, but we do know that the Bladestorm bundles will be accompanied with 60 GB PS3 units.

Kessen fans will jump in delight after seeing how far Koei evolved the formula of commanding hundreds of soldiers into battle, while loyal Dynasty Warriors followers will also find much to love from Bladestorm. As Koei breaks free from eastern culture and history, we expect the French and English wars to be recreated in a crazy way that none can mimic.

To those who have no idea what we're talking about, here's the latest gameplay video we found. It showcases everything the game has to offer, from deep character customization to hectic gameplay as hundreds of soldiers on screen battle it out.