According to the summer issue of industry publication Nikkei Corporate Information: "Tecmo and Koei are combining titles to launch a new game. The aim is to bring in fans of both."

There is no information about possible titles or a release window.

While Tecmo's most popular franchises are action game Ninja Gaiden and fighter Dead or Alive, Koei is best known for its hack-and-slash Dynasty Warriors series.

Koei does have experience with cross-branding: Back in 2007, it developed Dynasty Warriors: Gundam, which featured the Namco Bandai's popular mecha. Dynasty Warriors: Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, anyone?

ついに「DEAD OR ALIVE無双」誕生？コーエーテクモが両社のタイトルを合体させた作品を発売へ [Gigazine]

That pink-helmeted warrior is today's nerd hero. His name is Naoto Fujimura, and he recently appeared on TV Tokyo's TV Champion 2. Vitals: Fujimura is 19 years old and actually owns an Xbox 360. No, really. His favorite game? THE iDOLM@STER. Pretty much the entire show is after the jump, complete with Aya Ueto and Yu Yamada ads. It's almost an hour and all in Japanese, but you should be able to follow. Grab a chilled beverage, settle in and cheer Fujimura on as he battles his way to the top! Brian Ashcraft

Human Mario. Contestants must jump on a trampoline, grab the giant coin and answer doozies like "Besides 'Developer System,' what does "DS" stand for?" or "What happens when you touch Stufy's sister Stapy?" or the nerd riot inducing "When choosing a file, how do you make Luigi appear in-game?"

The nerds have gotten better at jumping on the trampoline and get dished questions like "How many different types of dogs are in Nintendogs?" or "What happens when you say umeboshi twice to Dr. Kawashima?" Stage 2 includes having contestants name all 64 enemies appearing in New Super Mario Bros. from memory without repeats!

Note: "Kurokki—" does not appear in NSMB. Contestant Wada in the business suit owns this round! The loser does not advance, which is an insane Puyo Puyo giant fan battle.

Onto the Championship Stage! We get a tour of 19 year-old Naoto Fujimura's THE iDOLM@STER room. He's up against wanna-be game programmer Yoshihiro Nakajima, the ten-hour gamer! He's a gentle soul and *hearts* Pokémon Pearl. There's a quiz, and the winner gets an Xbox 360, Wii, PS3, DS and PSP. The first question involves naming Gundams in Gundam Musou, while the second one asks how to switch to the blue hard court in Wii Tennis. The third question involves the Xbox 360! And iDOLM@STER!! Can Fujimura pull it off?! The suspense is killing me!!!

And you were worried? Just look at the 10-hour gamer's reaction. But, there are two more questions, questions that don't involve the Xbox 360 or THE iDOLM@STER. But involve Nintendo stuff and Sony stuff.

And like that, it's over. Fujimura is no match for the soft hearted 10-hour gamer. But, watch out virtual idols!

This week's movers and shakers for the week of March 5 to March 11th. After Gundam Musou took the top spot last week, it finds itself out of the top five. But did it make it into the top ten? Hit the jump to find out. Brian Ashcraft

• 1). Yoshi's Island DS 303114 (This Week) 303114 (Total)
• 2). Monster Hunter Portable 2nd 93099 (This Week) 936231 (Total)
• 3). Professor Layton and the Mysterious Village 45344 (This Week) 266017 (Total)
• 4). Kenka Banchou 2: Full Throttle 42131 (This Week) 42131 (Total)
• 5). Super Robot Taisen W 36310 (This Week) 175620 (Total)

• 6). Wii Sports 35298 (This Week) 1165674 (Total)
• 7). Gundam Musou 31145 (This Week) 201869 (Total)
• 8). Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 26452 (This Week) 1228264 (Total)
• 9). Wii-Play 26340 (This Week) 1002628 (Total)
• 10). More DS Brain Training 20716 (This Week) 4060566 (Total)

Soft Sales Ranking [eg]

And here we go! For the week of February 26th to March 3rd, here are the big sellers:

• 1). Gundam Musou 170,725 units (This week) 170,725 units (Total)
• 2). Super Robot Taisen W 137, 851 (This week) 137, 851 (Total)
• 3). Monster Hunter Portable 2nd 137,851 (This week) 843,132 (Total)
• 4). Wii Sports 39, 639 (This week) 1,130,376 (Total)
• 5). Professor Layton and the Mysterious Village 33,957 (This Week) 220,673 (Total)

Hit the jump for the rest. Brian Ashcraft

• 6). Wii-play 31,702 (This week) 976, 288 (Total)
• 7). Unou no Tatsujin Soukai Machigai Museum 2 27,236 (This week) 1, 201,812 (Total)
• 8). Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 27,236 (This week) 1,201,812 (Total)
• 9). New Super Mario Bros. 24,545 (This week) 4,193,532 (Total)
• 10). More Brain Training 22,854 (This week) 4,039,850 (Total)

Sales Ranking [eg]

Take a culture institution like Gundam and sprinkle the hugely popular Dynasty Warriors. What do you get? Over a 100,000 copies of Gundam Musou sold. That makes the game the first PS3 title to sell over 100k on its first day according to the Game Tsutaya Blog. What's more, Japanese blog Shinobi no Enmachou reports that the game sold about 70 percent of its 170,000-180,000 launch day shipments, making it the 3rd ranked PS3 in overall sales — Ridge Racer 7 is number one at 130,000 total sales and Gundam: Target In Sight is close behind at 120,000. Word has it that this title was not enough to create a significant bump in PS3 sales as most copies were sold individually and not with consoles. Brian Ashcraft

Gundam Musou Sales [Gunota Headlines via AnimeNewsNetwork]
Image Here [Akiba OS]

We're in Sofmap. That guy in the red Hiroshima Carp hat and those two women are watching a clip for THE IDOLM@STER. That guy with the brown shoulder bag is watching a Gundam Musou clip. The child wearing an acorn hat is my son. Not sure what he's doing.

Today is robot game in Japan! Both Super Robot Taisen W for the DS and Gundam Musou for the PS3 went on sale. This evening, I swung through Den-Den Town to see how the new Gundam was fairing. First stop, the big Gundam store Osaka's Gundam by Joshin, which specializes in all things, well, Gundam.

A nebbish clerk in a pink shirt tells me that sales haven't been spectacular. He's only rung up two copies of Gundam Musou all day. Then again, he says, sales are never spectacular. "There's loads of actual game shops around here," he explains. "So if people are going to buy games, they probably won't come here." But for those in the market for a Gundam apron, this is where they come. Yet, there are sold out PSP Gundam games.

I head over to Sofmap, then. It is impossible to see how the game is selling. The clip's stopping customers dead in their tracks and people are buying the game. But is it a system seller? The sign out front says the DS Lite is sold out, the Wii is sold out and the PS3 is in stock.

Doubling back and hitting a Family Mart for a can of corn soup, we hit a-Too. Another nebbish clerk, this one slightly heavier and more nebbish, tells me that he's rung up ten copies of Gundam Musou.

"Is that good?"
"For a first day? Yes."

Clerks seem eager to talk to people with children. More willing to tell things like how many copies they've sold and whatnot. I should bring my son everywhere. He's screaming at me to take a pic of some display.

Big Tiger. Just as we enter, we pass a guy who looks to be in his late teens. He's carrying a large yellow bag. I ask him what's in the bag just as he passes us in the aisle.

"It's a PS3."
Oh yeah? 20GB or 60GB?
He tells me 60GB.
"Why'd you buy it?"
Like he needs a reason. I rephrase: "What game did you buy?"
"Gundam Musou."
"Did you buy it to play it?"
Uh-huh.

He and his friend push ahead and out the store and down the street. We follow, and I snap a single picture of them as they cross traffic, the yellow bag reflecting a blurry headlight beam. Brian Ashcraft

For the unfamiliar, Japanese game mag Famitsu has four editors rate each game from 1-10 with "10" being the best. This week's games are:

• Ayakashi Fighting (DS) 4, 4, 4, 3
• Unou no Tatsujin Soukai! (DS) 8, 7, 7, 8
• Super Robot Taisen W (DS) 8, 8, 8, 8
• Akudakan (PS2) 7, 6, 6, 6
• Gundam Musou (PS3) 9, 8, 8, 8

Pretty good Gundam Musou scores. But good enough to encourage Japanese games to get off their duffs and buy PS3 consoles? Brian Ashcraft

It's a total otaku meltdown! Looped clips of THE IDOLM@STER and Gundam Musou duke it out at the Yurakucho Bic Camera in Tokyo. And ironically, both on Sony TVs! Brian Ashcraft

Koei and Sony are teaming up for a Gundam Musou bundle that includes a 60GB PLAYSTATION 3, a Gundam Musou hint book, a character file, art cards and the game software. The price of this robotic Dynasty Warriors-esque love fest? "Open."

Yikes, Sony's "open pricing" in Japan is scary! Mark my words, this game should shift a few units of the struggling console. Brian Ashcraft

Gundam PS3 Bundle [Game Watch Impress]

Screens from the Bandai-Koei branding love-in known as Gundam Musou. In a nutshell, it's Gundam meets Dynasty Warriors meets big-hit-in-Japan. Hit the jump for more images. Brian Ashcraft

Gundam Musou Images [Jeux-France, Thanks Melty!]

For those still with the bad taste of Gundam: Crossfire for the PS3 in their mouths, guess what? There's another PS3 Gundam game on the way. And after that, there will be another and another and another after that! The console's first effort was shoddy— Insert Credit's Ollie calls it one of the worse Gundam games ever made. But! Fret not! Bandai Namco look like they've got something interesting in store. Next year, the 3D Gundam Musou will hit the PS3. In short, it's literally Koei's San Goku Musou (Dynasty Warriors in the West) for Gundam. Koei and Bandai-Namco have teamed up because, even if this game is utter rubbish, San Goku plus Gundam equals Japanese smash hit. Brian Ashcraft

Dynasty Warriors Gundam Style [Dengeki Online]