July 7, 2009 - This marks the day of Namco Bandai's completion of purchase of Atari's global PAL distribution operation. And since there's new blood infused, it's just right to have a new name to go by: Namco Bandai Partners.

There were already a few signs hinting that Atari was having some trouble holding on to the Dragon Ball franchise. A couple of years ago, the publisher clashed with FUNimation over the game license. Namco Bandai announced last month that it had secured publishing rights to three new entries in the franchise. Today, Namco Bandai has announced that it's finishing what it started.

For the weekend directly leading up to the E3 event, it sure was jampacked with news, wasn't it? If you've been hanging around the industry for a while now, you'd know that the usual occurrence during this time of the year (or whenever there is an event, actually), is to have some kind of drought in news. But no, not this year. Everyone's just as pumped up about the upcoming event, it didn't matter if the news that came out were more on the rumors and speculations and "leaks" side. We don't mind. We know we're in for the big stuff. Are you ready?

Last year, Phil Harrison made quite a ruckus when he severed ties with SCEI as their president, and then jumping on board Atari's team, via parent company Infogrames,  to serve as President. Today, however, we receive word that he will be stepping down from the position, and will assume instead a non-executive Director role.

Almost every new Dragon Ball game gets international releases the days, and so the new PS3 and Xbox 360 title, Dragon Ball: Raging Blast, will be following suit. Namco Bandai Games Europe has announced that they will be bringing the game to PAL regions this autumn. This will be the first Budokai Tenkaichi game to be released on current gen consoles.

This is a rather unique position we are in. The E3 is nearing, and yet we've got just about the biggest surge we've had the past couple of months. Okay, that might well be an exaggeration, but still. You gotta agree with me when I say it was a busy past week, yes? Rumors, confirmation of rumors, and surprising - yet at the same time not-so-surprising - NPD results for this month all proved to be the cherry on top for this game-filled, fun-filled week. Hmmm.. imagine all those cherries on top.... Dig in, then.

Two years ago, Atari Europe was fortunately in the safe zone, despite the mother company's grim and disheartening financial report of Q2 2007. Back then, the problem was isolated only to the US offices, and the Atari branch was said to be unharmed by the restructuring overseas. Today, however, Atari Europe is no more, now having been officially acquired by Namco Bandai.

Aww, and I was so gearing up to see some Ghostbusters PSP action in E3! With a sudden turn of events (and to think it's so last minute, with only three weeks left before the actual event), Atari has announced that they're pulling out from this year's gaming event - and no, it's not really because of Swine Flu concerns.

A recent product listing on UK online retailer ShopTo indicates that the upcoming Blu-ray release of the original Ghostbusters movie will include a demo for Atari's game. Though the listing is for the UK version of the Blu-ray disc, we do have confirmation that this will not be the case for North America. Atari US has already blasted the rumor into itty-bitty ectoplasmic bits.

Talk of cancellation has sprung up around CD Projekt's The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360). While there has been no definite confirmation from the game's developers, Polish site Polygamia is reporting that sources indicate the game has quietly been shelved.