At long last, Pele and Sam Fisher meet up in this story-driven soccer game.

Harry Potter meets soccer. It’s not a mental association most of us would make on our own, but Ubisoft Vancouver is more than glad to bridge that gap with its upcoming Academy of Champions Soccer, which is due for release on the Wii in September. This arcade-style take on the beautiful game sports a fleshed out storyline in which you build up a team at the titular Academy of Champions, a renowned soccer school headed by none other than Pele. We recently played through a few matches at a Ubisoft press event to see what sort of hijinks you can expect out of the game (Hint: Sam Fisher using night-vision goggles to score a goal is one of them).

Academy of Champions’ storyline starts with the basics: Pick a boy or girl, give that player a name, and start your quest for soccer dominance against rival academies. Because your school is headed by Pele, some of the biggest lessons you’ll learn are teamwork and selflessness. That mantra manifests itself in the talent meter, which is a gauge that you fill up during matches for successfully passing between players. Once you fill up this meter, you can trigger a special move for your player that, to name a few examples, will make you invulnerable to tackles or ridiculously fast. It’s one of the few advanced techniques in a game that features an otherwise simple, bare-bones control scheme.

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Ubisoft presented the first gameplay demonstration of this Wii MotionPlus-enhanced sequel.

At the company’s E3 2009 press conference today, Ubisoft’s Jason Vandenberg demonstrated Red Steel 2, offering a taste of how the game improves on its predecessor, with an emphasis on how the required Wii MotionPlus will benefit the experience.

The demo opens with our unnamed hero–a cross between a gunslinger and samurai–waking up in a desert to find a pack of vultures circling overhead. Unfortunately, that’s but the start of our hero’s problems, given that the sound of a revving motorcycle interrupts the moment and peels off across the sand. It quickly becomes apparent that our hero is along for the ride, as a rope tethering him to the cycle drags him across the harsh terrain…and we don’t use that word lightly. We’re talking being dragged across roads, through flames, and barely avoiding being crushed by an 18-wheeler. It was a visually arresting opening that helped set the stage for the action-packed sequences that followed.

Watch the Red Steel 2 Demo Trailer

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We brush up on our ninja skills as we fight with and against our favorite TMNT characters.

These heroes in a half shell are back and ready to rumble in the upcoming brawler for the Nintendo Wii, developed by Game Arts. The turtles are making a comeback and drawing in a whole new audience with their cartoon revival in the last few years, as well as the recent CGI movie. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up lets you fight as your favorite turtle in familiar locations for fans who have grown up with or who have recently begun to follow the series. We had the opportunity to stop by Ubisoft’s offices to get a feel for the game and spent some additional time with it at the company’s press event in Los Angeles a few weeks ago.

Check out the new exclusive trailer!

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There’s an all new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game coming out for the Nintendo Wii, and Ubisoft is taking a completely different approach. They are giving us a Super Smash Brothers inspired fighting game. I still remember playing Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64 when it was first introduced to the industry. The good thing about this new game being a melee fighter is that it’s done by members of the team who actually developed Super Smash Bros., so you can count on it being done to perfection. There’s no release date yet for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but here are a couple new gameplay videos for you posted below… Enjoy!

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Turn-based puzzle installment in Ubisoft’s long-running fantasy RPG franchise arriving on Nintendo’s handheld in August.

Ubisoft’s most recent installment in its venerable Might & Magic franchise–Dark Messiah of Might & Magic: Elements–turned out, well, less than great. Perhaps recognizing that it may be time to switch up the game’s formula, the publisher today announced Might & Magic Clash of Heroes, a puzzle role-playing game for the Nintendo DS.

Might & Magic’s new look.

Ubisoft did not detail Might & Magic Clash of Heroes’ gameplay mechanics, aside from saying that battles will be turn-based puzzles. However, the publisher did note that the game will offer five quest storylines, and will incorporate exploration elements in addition to battle sequences. Players will also be able to customize their army with a variety of fantasy archetypes, including knights, elves, wizards, necromancers, and demons.

According to Ubisoft, Might & Magic Clash of Heroes will also feature a two-player competitive mode. The handheld game is in development at Capybara Games, the Toronto-based developer behind the recently announced PlayStation Network puzzler Critter Crunch, and is expected to be released worldwide in August 2009.

Check out the source at GameSpot