Pulled in some nice swag this week with the arrivals of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, Beaterator and Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny at VGB HQ. Ninja Gaiden came with the 80-page CE book containing a prologue comic, mini-strategy guide and art gallery — and FYI, there’s an animated version of the prologue comic that plays while the game installs on the PS3 hard drive. Got another art book with Soulcalibur, which has some phenomenal pics of all the fighters and a 25-track “Best of Soulcalibur” soundtrack CD tucked in the back fold. Then with Beaterator I got quite the fetching T-shirt, which I was delighted to see in a vibrant yellow as opposed to the standard issue black.

Full gallery of this week’s swag haul is after the break if you’d like to take a closer look.

Soulcalibur games always have special guest characters tying into the platform their on, and Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny for PSP will be no different. Namco Bandai has just confirmed that God of War star and everyone’s favorite Blades of Chaos-wielding badass, Kratos will be Broken Destiny‘s guest character when the game launches this summer. It’s a no-brainer really. Kratos is such a perfect fit for Soulcalibur‘s weapon-based fighting style.

“In creating the Soulcalibur PSP system exclusive title, we knew Kratos was the only choice to appear as our special guest character,” said Makoto Iwai, Executive Vice President and COO, NAMCO BANDAI Games America. “God of War embodies the characteristics of a classic Soulcalibur guest character with a powerful persona, a rich back story and a mighty blade with which to fight.”

“The God of War development team are huge fans of the Soulcalibur series. We were honored to make Kratos a special guest character in SOULCALIBUR: Broken Destiny for PSP,” said Allan Becker, senior director, SCEA Santa Monica Studio. “NAMCO BANDAI has been great to work with; they’re dedicated to bringing authentic Kratos combat moves to the game.”

Namco Bandai’s two industry-leading fighting game franchises are on their way to the PSP this year, and here are the first screenshots of what they both look like. Tekken 6 is the second Tekken PSP title and will be out this fall. Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny, however, is the first game in franchise history to be developed for the PSP or any other handheld platform. It’s scheduled to launch sometime this summer.

Both games look spectacular, but from the early in-game pics I have to give the graphical edge to Soulcalibur right now.

Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny:

Tekken 6:

Sony and Capcom weren’t the only publishers to recently host press events setting the stage for next month’s E3. Namco Bandai also got in on the fun with its Editors Day, using the event to announce eight new games: three for PSP, three for Wii, and one apiece for PS3 and Xbox 360.

Surprisingly, the event headliners come from the PSP, a trio of big-franchise fighting games including an unexpected portable port of Tekken 6, Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny, and Naruto Shippuden: Legends: Akatsuki Rising.

For the most part, Tekken 6 PSP will have the same makeup as the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions when all three launch this fall. However, it is getting some additional content that may make console player jealous, such as new stages, items and other bonus content. The PSP version won’t support true online play, but it will allow for online sharing of saved “ghost” data and two-player local ad hoc competition.

As the first portable game in the vaunted Soulcalibur franchise, Broken Destiny is set to bring the series’ intense brand of weapon-based dueling to a whole new audience. The game will carry on new features introduced in Soulcalibur IV, such as the Critical Finish Moves, and then up the ante with a huge roster of 20+ fighters, a brand new solo mode built just for the PSP, “evolved” iterations of classic play modes like Arcade, Vs., and Survival, a robust character creation tool said to be deeper than any game in the series yet, 80+ exercise training missions, and two-player ad hoc multiplayer (nope, no online play here either). Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny ships in North America this summer.

And then there is Naruto Shippuden: Legends: Akatsuki Rising, coming to PSP this fall with over 10 playable characters, streamlined controls, fast-paced tactical tag-team battles, an epic story mode chronicling Naruto Shippuden’s Gaara Retrieval Arc, ad hoc co-op and versus modes for two players, and a variety of other modes to play around with on the side.

On the console front, PS3 and Xbox 360 gamers each have a platform exclusive to watch for. This fall, The King of All Cosmos and The Prince will finally roll onto the PS3 in Katamari Forever, and they’ll be delivering all sorts of wacky new goodies, including true 1080p HD resolution, new graphical effects and filters, Sixaxis motion control functionality, online rankings, the ability to save photos on the HDD, and new stages and gameplay strategies.

The 360, on the other hand, will be getting the SoftMax-developed RPG Magnacarta 2, the sequel to 2005’s Magna Carta: Tears of Blood on the PS2. I didn’t much care for the original personally, but with beautiful Unreal Engine 3-powered visuals, at least 40 hours of gameplay, a deeper storyline, and a unique active turn battle system blending real-time gameplay with turn-based combat, I’ll certainly be looking for Magnacarta 2 to succeed where its predecessor failed.

Finally we come to the Wii with the unveiling of three new casual titles for Nintendo’s casual-friendly console. Active Life: Extreme Challenge, scheduled for release this fall, is the follow-up to Active Life: Outdoor Challenge, bringing back the Active Life mat and adding in a new extreme sports activities like wake boarding, base jumping and rock climbing for even more mini-game exercising fun.

Also scheduled for a fall release is We Cheer 2, the second installment in the world’s “No. 1 cheerleading video game series.” We Cheer 2 will have you shaking your Wii Remotes as virtual pom-poms and performing challenging new cheer leading moves to a poppy soundtrack of 30 licensed tunes.

And last but not least we come to Food Network: Cook or Be Cooked, a culinary training game developed by Red Fly Studio in collaboration with chefs from the Food Network Kitchens. Utilizing the Wii Remote, Nunchuk and upcoming Wii MotionPlus control enhancer, the game will provide realistic training in basic cooking tasks and fun Chef Challenges that will test the techniques you learn and unlock new recipes should you succeed. Food Network: Cook or Be Cooked is also scheduled for release in the fall. I’m definitely excited about this one, it just better be a hell of a lot better than that crappy Iron Chef game.

Check back soon for media updates for these and other upcoming Namco Bandai titles.