Ubisoft announces Naruto, confirms leaked 2006/2007 release schedule? @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on April 06, 2006

News: Remember that leaked release schedule from a few weeks back? Well Naruto was on it.

Today, Ubisoft announced they have licensed the rights to the popular anime Naruto and plan to release an Xbox 360 game based on the series in 2007. For those that don't really know about Naruto, here's what Ubi had to say:

"Naruto takes place in a world where ninja are the ultimate power. Infused with the spirit of a once fearsome Nine-Tailed Fox demon, Uzumaki Naruto is a ninja-in-training who is learning the art of ninjutsu with his classmates Sakura and Sasuke. The trio studies under the instruction of their teacher, Kakashi, who helps the group face a series of dangerous and daunting tests and challenges. Through their adventures, the young ninjas learn the importance of friendship, teamwork, loyalty, hard work, creativity, ingenuity and right versus wrong."

While this is all well and good, the more interesting aspect of this announcement is a possible confirmation of that leaked release schedule from a few weeks back.

If you'll recall, GamePro posted the following list on their website as Ubisoft's 2006/2007 release schedule:

July 2006: Enchant Arm (Xbox 360)
November 2006: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 5 (PS3, Xbox 360, Rev, PSP)
November 2006: Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (PS3)
November 2006: Rayman 4 (PS3, Xbox 360, Rev, PS2, Handheld)
November 2006: Blazing Angels 1.5 (PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox)
February 2007: Brothers in Arms 3 (Xbox 360, Rev, PS2, NDS)
February 2007: Brothers in Arms 2: Earned in Blood (PSP)
March 2007: Tom Clancy's Firehawk (PS3, Xbox 360)
March 2007: Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 4 (PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox, PS2)
March 2007: Naruto (Xbox 360)
March 2007: Assassin (PS3, Xbox 360, Rev, PSP)
Spring 2007: Game 5 (PS3, Xbox 360)
Spring 2007: Ninja Turtles (PS3, Rev, Xbox 360, Handhelds, current gen consoles)
TBA: Lumines 2 (PS2, PSP)
TBA: Alive (PS3, Xbox 360)
TBA: Dark Messiah of Might & Magic (PS3, Xbox 360)
TBA: Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter Mission Pack (PS3, Xbox 360, PSP)

Now, one of the major sticking points of the list was the fact that Ubisoft did not own the licensing rights to Naruto, so how could they be making an Xbox 360 game based on it?

Since we now know that part of the listing is real (along with Rayman 4, which was announced yesterday), I'd wager good money that this entire thing is real. Ubisoft had of course already denied the list's veracity back in March.

So with all that said, 2006 and 2007 looks to be two very nice years from Ubisoft.

We'll have more as we learn it.