When was your last time in an anime convention? In fact, when was your last time in any kind of convention? And, no, the annual convention for the Girl Scout Cookie Club doesn't count. Come November, some of you Naruto fans will have a chance to participate in GA Viz Media's Naruto mall tour.

In the national tour that's set to sweep U.S., fans will be able to catch sneak-peeks of new episodes of the series and participate in other events such as a Chakra Challenge where you could "learn special moves and techniques with an instructor". More than that, they can battle it out in the Naruto games by Namco Bandai and D3Publisher - Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2 and Naruto: Ultimate Ninja (both for the PS2).

Notch your calendars, people! Free your Saturdays. These events all start from 12 noon to 7 p.m.

• November 4: Cumberland Mall, Atlanta, GA
• November 11: Mall of America, Bloomington, MN
• November 18: Lakeline Mall, Cedar Park, TX

While the event is still scheduled for November, Viz Media is planning to extend the tour with more mall visits next year. Y'know, what that means. By that time, they just might have demos for their upcoming games in the franchise. We wouldn't mind going out of our way to check out the new Naruto games for the Wii, 360, and DS. Otherwise, we might fall to temptation and attend the Girl Scout Cookie Club convention instead.

Naruto, the popular manga by by Masashi Kishimoto with an anime TV series adaptation, won't be left out when it comes to rumors. After being speculated that the game of the same title is more likely to be tooled and optimized for the Wii console, now we have come across a Japanese blog containing another speculation that Naruto will also be heading to the Nintendo DS screen. Not much have been divulged in the blog other than mentioning something about the game's 3D grapple system.

Surely the blogger may not be referring to Naruto: Saikyo Ninja Daikesshu 4 as it was already released on April 27 this year in Japan, or the Naruto RPG 3 - Reijuu vs. Konoha Shoutai as it's out since July 13 also in Japan. Could he be referring to a new Naruto title? Hmmm, hard to confirm but if there's indeed another Naruto title, we will definitely keep our eyes peeled.

Japanese DS magazine, Nintendo Dream, have published details and pictures for 12 forthcoming DS games. The scans below show off the game's details, however they are in Japanese. They are definitely worth a look just for the screenshots, game graphics and art.

Bomberman Land DS:

Brave Story DS:

There's 10 more games covered in the Full Article, check it out!

The third game in the Naruto RPG series is going to be hitting Japan on July 13th. What's new in this edition of the series? Not much. However, there is one major change and that is the use of the Nintendo WiFi Connection. According to Jeux-France, you will be able to have three-on-three battles online. Whether or not that's three humans against three humans is unclear. I would say that's probably past the DS' WiFi capabilities so it's probably one human controlling three characters against another human controlling three characters. Hopefully, the game doesn't stink as much as the filler episodes that have been airing since the spring of 2005!

   

Shounen Jump basically knows how to keep all the boys happy by turning their top titles into animes and games. And now, almost 5 years since it has first started, Shounen Jump gives us another Naruto Game. Naruto RPG3 - Reijuu vs. Konoha Shoutai is the third of Naruto's RPG titles in the Nintendo DS. Translated as "The Sacred Beasts vs. The Konoha Team" this RPG will let you, as Naruto, explore the various kingdoms to search for these Sacred Beasts.

You will be playing along with other Konoha Ninjas popularized by the anime. However unlike the anime, this will not follow the story line of Naruto in the manga or in the anime, instead it will have an original story of its own. It will even have its own original character named Nazuna whom you will be helping for this mission.

The game will also utilize Nintendo DS' wireless connection. This allows you to call in a friend who also has the same game to go through the same mission as you. At last, your dream of forming your own Konoha team comes true with this function. The game pretty much give you an opportunity to be a Konoha Ninja like Naruto. Now, if you end up buying or making your own Konoha regulation uniform for you to wear while you play the game, that's taking the game play a little further. The game promises to be as fun as the series, as to how it can keep you hooked on to the fracnhise, that's all up to you.