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Daizenshuu EX - Updates from November 2010 |
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29 November 2010
VegettoEX @ 9:34 pm EST -- Those of you who look forward to our regular "Manga Review of Awesomeness" segment are in for a treat, as we are finally back on schedule and starting up the final major story arc of the series! After a seven-year time skip, the Earth has returned to peace, characters have grown up, new ones are introduced, and we get some quality down-time with the cast. Jeff joins us for the topic, while KaiserNeko stops by to talk up all of the recent news with us. Download the show now, or head on over to the podcast page for more information or to subscribe.
As a sort of supplement to this past week's news and everything discussed this podcast episode, we present to you the Japanese box art for the upcoming DragonBall Kai: Ultimate Butôden provided to retailers this past week:
... as well as a few tidbits about ZENKAI Battle Royale. A few sites are reporting that the game will run on Namco's own PS3-based System 357 hardware (similar to how Super DragonBall Z ran on the PS2-based System 246 hardware), meaning an eventual home port is more likely. The game's official website has also revealed that it will be on-location for testing from December 10th to 12th (almost all day long at each) at Namco Land Umeda in Osaka, Namco Nakano in Tokyo, and Wonderpark Hakuta in Fukuoka. Even more exciting is the news (by way of Shoryuken) that the game is indeed Internet-based and will run with the GGPO netcode to handle latency and communication.
ZENKAI Battle Royale just gets more and more interesting, so stay tuned for even more information after its test run! |
22 November 2010
VegettoEX @ 2:51 pm EST -- Following up on their website for ZENKAI Battle Royale from just a few days ago, Namco-Bandai has just opened up the official website for next February's DS fighting game, DragonBall Kai: Ultimate Butôden:
www.bandaigames.channel.or.jp/list/ds_dragonball_kai/
There are a couple screen shots of the game seen before in Jump, but we are probably only just getting going with the information overload. If the opening page is any indication, the game will span the length of the full, original DragonBall Z series.
VegettoEX @ 11:59 am EST -- This past weekend's episode 82 of DragonBall Kai featured a new insert song: "Tatta Hitori no Senshi" ("The Lone Warrior"), performed by Takeshi Kusao, who happens to be the voice actor of Trunks. The song recently appeared on the new album DragonBall Kai Soundtrack III & Songs, though there was no hint that it would eventually end up in the show — while many vocal songs from the first DragonBall Kai Song Collection ended up being used in the show, just as many remained image songs relegated to disc-only status.
The song played during Trunks' fight with Cell after powering up to the third stage of the standard Super Saiyan form. Incidentally, the title "Tatta Hitori no Senshi" was originally used as the title for the special chapter in the manga showcasing Trunks and his future timeline.
The last insert songs to be used in Kai were back in episode 41 when both "Saiyan Blood" and "Super Ultra Dragon Soul" were used. Trunks is no stranger to insert songs, though, previously having both "Battle Point Unlimited" (episode 120) and "Mind Power ...Ki..." (episode 139) associated with him in the original version of the DragonBall Z TV series.
Check out our review of Soundtrack III & Songs back on Episode #0237 of our podcast. For a little extra Trunks commentary, we reviewed and compared the manga and TV versions of the Trunks special back on Episode #0213 of our podcast.
Music not your thing? How about video games? Want a free one?
Big thanks to Namco-Bandai on this one: we are giving away a copy each of Tenkaichi Tag Team on the PSP, as well as Raging Blast 2 for both the PS3 and 360. All it takes is an e-mail and a choice of which one you want to go after, so head on over to our "Contests" page for all the details. You have two weeks! Do not hesitate on getting those entries in! |
20 November 2010
VegettoEX @ 5:14 pm EST -- The confirmations are just coming one after another! After hearing about two new trademarks filed in Japan last week, more solid bits of information on Namco-Bandai's latest DragonBall video games are coming in quick succession.
In addition to DragonBall Kai: Ultimate Butôden coming on the Nintendo DS in February, we have DragonBall: ZENKAI Battle Royale, interestingly enough coming as an arcade game. Namco-Bandai has recently launched its official website, which includes a trailer and first-look at the game:
http://db-zenkai.com
It appears to be a four-player fighting game played via networked arcade cabinets. The playable characters shown so far are Goku, Vegeta, Kuririn, Piccolo, Freeza (final form), and #16.
The graphics, more "realistic" in nature, look very different from anything we have seen before with the franchise. Players can fly and bounce around the map behind rocks, under water, and can seemingly team up with other players to take out one of the other opponents.
After a brief run of traditional 2D fighting games in 1993 and 1994, as well as Sega's first-person V.R.V.S. (which spawned the original character "Ozotto", discussed last podcast episode), the franchise stuck with console games for several years.
Game developer Dimps, responsible for the DragonBall Z / Budokai series on the PS2 and Gamecube, expanded into the arcade realm with Data Carddass-based games such as Bakuretsu Impact and Dragon Battlers this past decade. In the meantime, the only other traditional fighting game to hit arcades was Craft and Meister's 2005 release of Super DragonBall Z, which was indeed ported to the PS2 (in all territories) the following year.
It remains to be seen if ZENKAI Battle Royale will ultimately hit home consoles, but if it is not card-based in any way (the new website does not have any Carddass branding), it may very well be likely. This is another one we will certainly keep our eye on, and hopefully get some local reports about upon its release! |
18 November 2010
VegettoEX @ 3:33 pm EST -- Earlier this week, we reported news from Siliconera that Namco-Bandai had trademarked two new video game titles that potentially had something to do with the DragonBall franchise, including one called "Ultimate Butôden" (アルティメット武闘伝).
A Japanese Tales fansite/blog is reporting that an upcoming magazine will reveal DragonBall Kai: Ultimate Butôden as a fighting game for the Nintendo DS game set for release rather soon on 03 February 2011 for the standard price of ¥5040.
UPDATE: Jump scans are starting to float out there, confirming everything we have been reading so far:
We know that Namco-Bandai is working on a game for the 3DS, but if this news is true, it will be the first (and possibly last?) fighting game for the regular Nintendo DS since 2005's Bukû Ressen (released stateside as Super Sonic Warriors 2). While the PSP has exclusively seen fighting games (four in total), the library of DS games has included traditional role playing, action/adventure, fighting, and more.
This would be the second game to receive the Kai branding in Japan — the first was DragonBall Kai: Saiya-jin Raishû (also for the Nintendo DS), released stateside as DragonBall Z: Attack of the Saiyans last year.
Thanks to Marc for the tip.
VegettoEX @ 11:20 am EST -- Raging Blast 2 was released in Japan on 11 November 2010, which means that we now have some first-week sales figures for the game. It managed to grab the number-two spot this past week, selling 47,610 copies on the PS3 (the Xbox 360 version does not appear anywhere within the top twenty performing titles).
There are a couple different ways to look at this story, though.
Sure, it was the second-best-selling game of the week in Japan, coming in only after the Tactics Ogre PSP re-release. On the other hand, it sold over 10,000 less copies than the first Raging Blast sold one year prior (57,972 copies, all also on the PS3), despite a significant upgrade in many areas, as well as including Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans as a viewable feature.
In other news, FUNimation's official solicitations for early next year now place the fifth Dragon Box as coming out on 22 February 2011, slipping a couple weeks from Amazon's currently-listed date. |
16 November 2010
VegettoEX @ 10:05 pm EST -- About a week ago, Shueisha announced plans to release a new magazine called Saikyô Jump. At the time, this news had nothing to do with our favorite franchise — other series were receiving spin-offs from new artists (including One Piece), but DragonBall was not listed.
Well, things have changed — we are getting one, too!
The spin-off series will be in color and entitled Dragon Ball SD, and will be created for the magazine by Naho Ooishi, who previously did the two-part manga adaptation of the 2008 Jump Super Anime Tour Special. There is no word yet on whether or not this will be a one-shot or an on-going series.
Saikyô Jump debuts in Japan on 03 December 2010, so we can expect all sorts of new information very soon. Coincidentally, December 3rd will be the manga's 26th anniversary — the first chapter of DragonBall debuted in 1984's Weekly Shônen Jump #51 on that day. Very exciting news, folks!
Thanks to Liam for being the first to send this in, and everyone talking about it on our forum for some extra tidbits!
VegettoEX @ 4:04 pm EST -- Despite a re-release of the first DragonBall movie coming at the end of December, a new four-pack of DragonBall movies is due for 08 February 2011. Presumably consisting of the three original DragonBall movies and the franchise's 10th anniversary movie (another re-telling of the early story combined with the Red Ribbon arc), this "remastered" pack will retail for $34.98, and is being solicited as two discs (two movies per disc, perhaps?).
The bilingual discs will of course include the original Japanese language track. There is no word yet on whether the second and third movies will be receiving an updated dub; both were recorded before FUNimation returned to dub the entirety of the DragonBall TV series (the second movie was actually the first thing FUNimation recorded in-house before even picking up production on "season three" of the DragonBall Z TV series in 1999).
UPDATE: Our buddy Marc notes for us that an upcoming trailer for the set showcases the set as indeed containing the expect four DragonBall movies, and will include the original dubs for the three movies previously released uncut.
A three-pack (sans the first movie) was released back in 2005 (itself re-released again in 2008 as a thin-pack), and was the first time that the second movie was available uncut and in Japanese in North America.
Additionally, we already had the third volume of Kai on-schedule for release this December, and now FUNimation has updated with a release date for the fourth set. "Part 4" (containing episodes 40-52, right before the end of the Freeza story arc) will be available on Blu-ray and DVD in North America on 08 March 2011 for the standard MSRPs of $54.98 and $49.98, respectively. |
15 November 2010
VegettoEX @ 10:25 pm EST -- We are back with another extravaganza of a podcast episode for all of you this week. It is all video games all the time, but those of you that do not have even a shred of interest in these games will still want to tune in. In our first topic segment, our buddies Jake and Lance join in to talk about characters that were created specifically and originally for video games, and have not appeared in the series proper. Ever hear of "Kurilien" or "Piccorito"...? In the second topic segment, Dustin joins in to talk about Raging Blast 2, the most recent fighting game from Spike and Namco-Bandai. With the first game being such a disappointment, is there anything here to bring fans back into the fold? Download the show now, or head on over to the podcast page for more information or to subscribe.
In North American home release news, FUNimation recently blogged about a production error with the third DragonBall Z season set (the orange bricks from several years back), where the second disc is accidentally pressed with the content from the fifth disc. Only those who have purchased a copy of the set from its latest production batch within the last month or so may be subject to this error, but if you have any issues, they are offering a replacement version. Check out their blog entry for all the full details. Needless to say, we encourage all of our readers to abandon these flawed sets and instead invest in the Dragon Box releases!
Additionally, FUNimation has also confirmed that their re-release of the first DragonBall movie will contain a new dub featuring the updated cast from Kai. This will be the first time the movie is available uncut both in English and Japanese in North America, despite being one of the first items ever produced in the mid-90s. We reviewed the movie based on its Dragon Box release almost two years ago back on Episode #0112 of our podcast, so tune in to that for a "sneak-peak" if you have never seen it before. |
10 November 2010
VegettoEX @ 12:22 pm EST -- FUNimation has finally confirmed that their re-release of the first DragonBall movie will indeed see the light of day this December.
Curse of the Blood Rubies is due out 28 December 2010 for a cheap MSRP of $14.98. Set to be included is the original and uncut Japanese version, which is one of the only series/movies-proper items that has never been released this way in North America. There is still no clear answer as to which English dub will be included (the original edited version from 1995 with the first cast, or an updated and unedited version with a recent cast).
You can pre-order it on Amazon for only $13.49.
VegettoEX @ 10:13 am EST -- Siliconera has an interesting article this morning detailing a couple recent trademark filings from Namco-Bandai that may be DragonBall-related.
First up is "Ultimate Butôden" (アルティメット武闘伝), which would be a clear toss back to the Super Butôden series of games on the Super Famicom, and as the Siliconera article correctly notes, a series that concluded with Shin Butôden on the Sega Saturn (a re-vamped version of the PlayStation's Ultimate Battle 22 with some of the older games' aspects brought back, such as split-screen).
The second is "ZENKAI Battle Royale" (ZENKAIバトルロワイアル). Unfortunately, the article's author makes a standard misstep by stating that "zenkai" is a "Saiyan-only power", presumably the technique used by Saiyans to power-up after recovering from near-death. Never in the entire series is the word used this way (transformed from a verb into a proper noun). Much like "USSJ", the word "zenkai" in this instance is just a halfway-incorrect fan term. That being said, the word is certainly used in the title of the first closing theme to the DragonBall Z TV series, but it not a word specific to just DragonBall.
By my admittedly-poor Japanese trademark searching skills, I do not see the DragonBall franchise's name specifically attached to either of these filings. They are coming from Namco-Bandai, however, which at least hints in that direction combined with the words' prior use with the franchise. Will we finally return to a multi-developer, multi-game cycle on the consoles? This is definitely something we will keep an eye on. |
09 November 2010
VegettoEX @ 8:51 am EST -- Right on schedule (if the past is any indication), a CD single for "Battle of Omega", the opening theme to the recent Raging Blast 2 video game on the PS3 and 360 performed by Hironobu Kageyama, has been announced for release on 22 December 2010. All we have so far is the release date and catalogue number (LACM-4775) — we can probably expect a standard b-side and karaoke versions to flesh out the release, but right now that is all we have for you.
The full vocal song is included within Raging Blast 2 and plays when a character enters "Raging Soul", a new status where attack power is increased but special moves are deactivated. |
07 November 2010
VegettoEX @ 8:24 pm EST -- Raging Blast 2 is officially out, which means it is time to dig in to the re-made feature included on the game disc: Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans. Having recently reviewed the original "Official Visual Guide" a few weeks back, everything is fresh in our memory... but does that help or hurt the new version? Does the story hold up, and do the rewrites to the story make any sense? Download the show now, or head on over to the podcast page for more information or to subscribe.
VegettoEX @ 1:59 pm EST -- Namco-Bandai has posted a ¥1.93 billion (approximately $23.7 million) loss for the second quarter of fiscal year 2011.
In terms of DragonBall overall, the franchise dropped in net sales from ¥5.8 billion the first half of fiscal 2010 to ¥2.7 billion this half, and the company is forecasting a drop down to ¥8 billion for the full year compared to ¥12.5 billion in fiscal 2010.
In terms of general toys and hobby merchandise (non-video games), the franchise dropped in net sales from ¥1.4 billion the first half of fiscal 2010 to ¥0.9 billion this half, and the company is forecasting a drop down to ¥2.7 billion for the full year compared to ¥3.3 billion in fiscal 2010.
No individual DragonBall video game sales were noted in the report. |
05 November 2010
VegettoEX @ 3:47 pm EDT -- With Raging Blast 2 out this week, we have a little bit of catching up to do! Following our preview of Tenkaichi Tag Team (released in Japan as TAG VS) last episode on the podcast, we are ready to kick out the full review:
Is developer Spike able to pull things down from the Sparking! and Raging Blast series to the PSP? Read on! |
02 November 2010
VegettoEX @ 11:46 am EDT -- Navarre just completed their second quarter earnings conference call for Fiscal 2011 and, similar to last quarter, things remain relatively calm for the DragonBall franchise. It was noted that FUNimation "had a small net sales increase in the second quarter compared to the prior year’s second quarter", thanks in part to strong video sales of DragonBall and Fullmetal Alchemist. Additionally, the television broadcast of DragonBall (Z) Kai bolstered the franchise's performance even further. No further clarification was offered regarding which particular home products (Dragon Box sets, previously-released season sets, Kai) have done in comparison to each other.
During the analyst Q&A session, the potential sale of FUNimation was discussed, though there seems to be nothing significant to report as-of-yet. Offers and indications of interest have been made, Navarre has gone through management presentations with these interested parties (some of which have come back with further re-bids)... and that is about it. Navarre continues to analyze the benefit of selling the company versus continuing to run it, stated that they have done "a good job of running them", and will continue to do so up through a potential sale. It was noted that by the end of this calendar year a decision is expected to be announced regarding the potential sale.
VentureBeat reports that Namco-Bandai of America will be laying off 90 employees in their US office as part of a previously-announced reorganization. It is unlikely that this will affect the development of future DragonBall video games, but is something to keep an eye on following the mass layoffs within the gaming industry (such as with Atari a while back) over the years.
Finally, Viz has officially unveiled a new iPad application allowing for digital distribution of their licensed and translated manga. The free application allows users to purchase volumes within its store and view them through its "My Manga" section.
Free previews will be available each month, and the application is launching with the first volumes of six series, including DragonBall. Individual volumes will be sold for $4.99 each (compared to the $7.95 price point for their individual "Graphic Novel" volumes). |
01 November 2010
VegettoEX @ 8:53 pm EDT -- This is the podcast episode for those of you who indcated on the survey that you want us to go until we collapse! Our buddy Hujio joins us to talk about all the news from the last week and review DragonBall Kai Soundtrack III & Songs, which includes three all-new vocal songs. Is Kai composer Kenji Yamamoto stepping up his game at all for the new story arc?
In addition to that, we also bring on Corey to talk about the new Tenkaichi Tag Team for the PSP. Is a portable Sparking! game everything that it should be, and is it perhaps being overshadowed by the impending Raging Blast 2...?
It is certainly a jam-packed episode this week. Download the show now, or head on over to the podcast page for more information or to subscribe.
In addition to all that, we are ready to announce the winners of our Tenkaichi Tag Team contest! In a surprise twist, Namco-Bandai and Goku's Corner came through for us and we are able to offer up two copies of the game to a couple lucky fans. Big congrats go out to Jacob and Carlos! Check your e-mail, guys, because you have a video game coming your way! For those interested, here are the winners' "Dream Team" choices:
JACOB: I am forced to go with the titantic Banjô Ginga's Ammond and the Illusionary Saiyan voiced by Daisuke Gôri. With their manly-man voices combined they can overcome anything!
CARLOS: My dream team - Vegeta & Tarble
Specials thanks again go out to Goku's Corner, the official fan community of Dragon Ball games by NAMCO BANDAI Games, Inc. for sponsoring this Dragon Ball Z®: Tenkaichi Tag Team contest with us. For those who are interested, the site is hosting an exclusive new trailer for Raging Blast 2.
As a personal aside, I absolutely adore how the current generation of games have embraced Hironobu Kageyama as their lead vocalist, and that even here in North America the game's producers leverage his talents in their promotion. Major props. |
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