Last Friday, September 19, my travels brought me to the designer toy shop/art gallery Double Punch in San Francisco, CA to check out SouthPeak Games’ upcoming Nintendo DS™ title Ninjatown. Aside from scoring some hands on time with what played like a near-complete version of the game, creators Shawn Smith and Jennifer Brody were on hand to show off some really cool concept art, exclusive collectible plushies and more.

Hit the jump to read about Ninjatown and for your chance to win a Ninjatown poster signed by Shawn Smith.

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Studio 4°C is the sponsor of a video contest to find the “Next Genius” their MySpace account created for their upcoming anthology, Genius Party. The contest started on May 10 and will finish on June 30, each video judged by the 7 directors that will participate in Genius Party, which includes nonetheless than Shinichiro Watanabe, creator of Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo.The official rules for the contest are in Japanese, but they say that the it’s open to all nationalities, as well as amateurs, professionals, and group works. The winner will be announced at the premiere for Genius Party on July 7, along with their website, including comments from these pillars of anime. As a bonus, the winning video will be included in the DVD Extras.

Better get to work, animators, and best of luck.

[ANN]