17 October 2008

Infinite World Info To Take With A Grain Of Salt
VegettoEX @ 9:27 am EST -- OK, fine. One more update before I take off for the weekend.

Not that anyone should ever take any stock in anything a GameSpot employee ever says, but a segment in their latest "On The Spot" video has a little feature on Infinite World (thanks for the link, Drabaz):

Among the "Ray - ditz" and "Booty - kai" pronunciations, Don Francis (Community Development, GameSpot) says that the North American release of the game will "definitely not" have the Japanese voice track.

I find this hard to believe, seeing that Atari has included this option in every game (minus Super DragonBall Z) since the "Greatest Hits" release of Budokai 3 in late 2005, where it has been a bulleted selling point ever since.

Furthermore, they mention at the end of the segment that no release date has been announced, despite Atari having already put out a press release noting the game's release on November 4th in North America (note that the game will come out one month later in Japan on December 4th).

It is videos and answers like these that only serve to confuse and anger the enthusiastic fans, who (judging by their questions) really want to know as much as they can about this game. It's fine not to know everything there is to know about the series and the game, but if you're doing a demo for those very same hardcore fans... don't fudge your way through it.

Anything else? Oh, right!

What, you thought I would leave you without at least another couple character design sheets? ^_~

16 October 2008

More Jump Anime Tour Special Character Designs
VegettoEX @ 10:01 pm EST -- I guess now is as good a time as any to post up a couple more character design sheets! You have seen bits and pieces of these before in a previous update, but here are more complete views:

The enemies are cool and all, but what we really like are when the characters we know and love get all decked-out in fancy clothes!

I may try to sneak another one or two in tomorrow, but that's probably going to be it for me until next week! Got that whole "wedding" thing to go take care of.

In the meantime, here are a bunch of things to keep you entertained:

• LAST WEEK'S PODCAST EPISODE
  We did volume twenty in our "Manga Review of Awesomeness". Excellent discussion, if I do say so myself!
• OUR "TIDBITS" SECTION
  Our miscellaneous, random, kinda-like-an-encyclopedia section has some really awesome information in it.
• VGCONVOS EPISODE FOUR
  A monthly side-podcast that I do with Andrew and Jeff about video games. You'll love it. Check out the rest of the site while you're at it.
• WTF EX (Blog)
  My personal blog. There's some hilarity. There's some rantings. All wonderful stuff, though.
• KANZENTAI
  They're another great DragonBall website. You're already visiting them, right?
• AN INPROMPTU DISCUSSION OF "ALTAR"
  You may know Jeff from his monthly appearances on our podcast. Here's something he filmed at AnimeUSA last weekend. Nate is his other half at Nightowl Pictures, and he recently completed a couple of films. One of them is "Altar".

Check you folks next week~

15 October 2008

Jump Anime Tour Special Character Designs
VegettoEX @ 9:23 pm EST -- Wasted Wisher sent along some more of the character design sheets from Ossu! Kaette Kita Son Gokû to Nakama-tachi!! so we figured we'd put a couple up!

We'll try to post a couple more over the next day or so!

North American Infinite World & Origins Go Gold
VegettoEX @ 11:48 am EST -- Not much to report here other than the fact that the games are at least finished for their North American releases and should be in stores on schedule! First up is DragonBall Z: Infinite World:

NEW YORK, Oct. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Atari announced today that the development of the ultimate PlayStation(R)2 system Dragon Ball Z game, Dragon Ball Z(R): Infinite World, is complete! Representing the last "Z" title for the PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system, Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World combines many of the best elements from the previous Budokai and Shin-Budokai series, as well as the recently released and much-admired next-gen Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit, to deliver the definitive DBZ experience on the PlayStation(R)2 system. Moreover, Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World will boast several special features including "Dragon Missions", new battle types, and dramatic cut scenes that enable fans to delve deeper than ever before into the Dragon Ball Z universe. Developed by NAMCO BANDAI Games, Inc. and rated T for Teen, Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World will be available in North American retailers on November 4, 2008 for the suggested price of $29.99.
(read more...)

Next up is DragonBall: Origins (originally released in Japan as DragonBall DS):

NEW YORK, Oct. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Atari announces that development of the latest hit from the Dragon Ball franchise, Dragon Ball: Origins for Nintendo DS(TM), is complete! Developed by NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc., Dragon Ball: Origins takes players back to the original Dragon Ball series and around the world for a thrilling action-adventure game with innovative stylus controls. Marking the first ever Dragon Ball game to feature Goku and Bulma as kids, and filled with several new gameplay elements including puzzle solving, fighting action, and mazes, Dragon Ball: Origins will be an essential and unique part of any Dragon Ball collection. Rated T for Teen, Dragon Ball: Origins will be available in North American retailers on November 4, 2008 for the suggested price of $29.99.
(read more...)

There was an interview recently posted on GameTrailers.com where Donny Clay reverted back to the old "we did this" and "we did that" talk that irritated us so much (being that Atari does not actually create these games). It was comforting to see the Namco-Bandai development so prominently listed right up front in these press releases. We completely understand that it's Atari's job to hype these games and that their "brand managers" (for lack of a better term) don't always know everything about the series, but we just want to see credit go where credit is due.

Finally, Atari has been fully aquired by Infogrames. We'll keep an eye on any future licensing terms and re-negotiations should any occur. As far as we can tell, Atari's (and thus Infogrames') license to release DB-franchise games continues until 2010. What happens in two years is anyone's guess.

12 October 2008

Podcast Episode #0149 Available!
VegettoEX @ 8:18 pm EST -- Episode #0149 of the podcast is available for download! This is probably going to finish out shows for the month, but hopefully you can all get along without new podcast material for a couple weeks! For the last show before our break, we dove into volume twenty (Viz's DBZ Volume 4) of the manga. The Saiya-jin arc is all about action right now, and there is a whole lot to talk about. In addition to the manga, we've got a recap of all the news (which you've probably read below), some e-mails, and a bunch of other good stuff. Definitely check it out.

10 October 2008

New Vocal Song For Infinite World Confirmed
VegettoEX @ 10:39 pm EST -- Well, that was fast! If you read through the below update, you'll see that there have been hints of a new vocal theme song being produced for the upcoming PS2 game Infinite World. One of the latest trailers (from Atari, no less) confirms this by blasting it right from the start!

We'll try to have details on the song soon!

09 October 2008

Lots Of Short Random News Tidbits
VegettoEX @ 10:39 pm EST -- I'm really struggling to keep up this week with all the insanity going on. We are absolutely going to have a podcast episode going up this weekend, but that's probably going to be it for the month of October. Thankfully, it's a jam-packed "Manga Review of Awesomeness" episode, so look forward to that.

In the meantime, here are a few bits of news and other items of interest that you should be checking out.

The upcoming DragonBall Z: Infinite World for the PS2 has been getting a lot of press thanks to the currently-on-going Tokyo Game Show. Namco-Bandai has been showcasing it among all of their other games, and we have been able to learn a little more about it.

It appears that the opening sequence to the game is going to be CG-based (like Spike's Sparking! series) rather than traditional 2D animation (like Dimps' Budokai 2 and 3). Thankfully, it looks much more faithful to the source material than Spike's efforts. You can catch a glimpse of it thanks to a video by DigInfo (it is floating around on YouTube). Additionally, this page over on the Atari UK website is noting music by Hironobu Kageyama. Will we be getting yet another new vocal theme song?! Here's hoping! It could just be a recycled older song (similar to Sparking! and Sparking! NEO, along with Super DragonBall Z), so we'll have to wait for more solid confirmation on that. If you need even more to salivate over, IGN has a crap-ton of screen shots up.

In other video game readings, Daryl Surat (from Anime World Order, which you should also be listening to) has his review of Burst Limit up over on the Otaku USA Magazine's website. Full of truthiness, it is.

Last bit of gaming news is that Goku will be making a not-all-that-unexpected appearance in the upcoming Dr. Slump & Arale-chan on the Nintendo DS, due out on 30 October 2008 in Japan. I wouldn't hold my breath for a domestic release.

Looking for a Dragon Box? People have started to notice that Amazon Japan has miraculously listed the original DragonBall TV series' respective box set for sale again. It's around $850, but that's a pretty darn good price, and lower than the standard retail price at release. If I wasn't in the middle of paying for a wedding and honeymoon, I'd be all over that shiz! Present, anyone...? Me love you long time.

People are saying that the official trailer for the upcoming live-action movie will not be playing alongside Max Payne as originally planned / reported.

Kyoko~chan wrote to let us know that CDJapan has some new calendars up for order! The 2009 DragonBall calendar is looking pretty awesome, and the general Toei one is equally impressive.

SuperSaiyan000 wrote to let us know that DBZ Battleground put up a new commercial for some of Bandai's new figures. That surrounding clip-on aura is certainly... interesting.

Finally, Harley wrote to point us towards an interview from 1986 with Akira Toriyama and Rumiko Takahashi over on Rumic World / furinkan.com. Definitely a good read, if for nothing other than a picture of a very young Toriyama! Seriously, though, there's a lot of really good insight from around the time that DragonBall was still only just getting started.

"I wanted to keep it a secret, but I planned to submit my drafts to Shonen Magazine at first, but I found the deadline had already passed, so I had no choice but to send it to Shonen Jump. The reason why I became a mangaka… to be honest, I just wanted the 100,000 yen prize (laughs)."

That's our Toriyama...!

05 October 2008

Podcast Episode #0148 Available! Infinite World Screens!
VegettoEX @ 8:52 pm EST -- Episode #0148 of the podcast is available for download! This was an interesting episode, because it was supposed to be about the upcoming live-action movie, and more specifically about the trailer(s) that leaked online earlier this month. However, it simply was not meant to be. Due to some slight incompetence on my end, and a little bit of Linux being a jerk, the entire topic-portion of the show is more or less a lost cause. Instead, what we have for you is the opening conversation, and then a story from Herms of Kanzentai about how he tried to sneak into the Jump Anime Tour to catch a showing of the new DBZ special! Definitely check it out.

In other news, Famitsu had some new Infinite World screens up this week:

Sounds like we have some nice little mini-games coming our way. That first one is of Trunks training with Vegeta in the Room of Spirit and Time (hopefully it will be better than the respective stage in Sagas, which if I remember correctly is where I threw the controller at the wall and gave up for good). The second is looking to be my favorite so far, which is taking control of Freeza from a first-person perspective and shooting some Namek arse out of the sky!

Infinite World is due out on the PS2 in Japan on 04 December 2008, but in the US earlier on 04 November 2008.

01 October 2008

Random Bits of Updating (Games, Live-Action Movie, etc.)
VegettoEX @ 8:33 pm EST -- I guarantee that I'm paying attention to things. It's incredibly difficult to pull together updates when you're closing in on your wedding date, though :P

So DragonBall DS did 72,000 copies its first week in Japan, coming in at #2 only to Pokemon Platinum. Not too shabby.

As you've probably seen on lots of sites, the first (shaky-cam) glimpse of the live-action movie trailer has hit the interwebz. Since I don't feel like dealing with take-down notices right now, I won't post up any images and such just yet. I'll also reserve more in-depth thoughts for when a standard quality version hits.

Kanzentai has lots of good info about (and a summary of) the Jump Anime Tour special, Ossu! Kaette Kita Son Gokû to Nakama-tachi!! Be sure to check it out.