Raging Blast 2 was released in Japan 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.

Despite a re-release of the first Dragon Ball movie coming at the end of December, a new four-pack of Dragon Ball movies is due for 08 February 2011. Presumably consisting of the three original Dragon Ball 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 Dragon Ball TV series (the second movie was actually the first thing FUNimation recorded in-house before even picking up production on “season three” of the Dragon Ball 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 Dragon Ball 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.

FUNimation has confirmed that their re-release of the first Dragon Ball 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.

FUNimation recently blogged about a production error with the third Dragon Ball 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!

Just shortly after the release of the last volume, Amazon Japan has already leaked the cover art for the third DVD volume of the Artificial Humans & Cell arc. It is set to be released 03 December 2010, and is retailing for ¥2,940 (~$35). This volume will contain episodes 61-63 presented in 16:9 widescreen. You can pre-order a copy for yourself from CDJapan or Amazon Japan.

For those of you waiting for the next Blu-ray box set, I hope your patience can hold out, because it is not set to be released until February. As we have mentioned before, for some reason, the release of this arc is much more delayed than the previous arc. In fact, by the time the last Blu-ray box set for this arc is released in August 2011, the last episode on that set will have aired the previous March. By then we will probably also be about 20+ episodes into the next arc. In hindsight, I suppose it would not seem all that slow if the first arc had not released so quickly.

FUNimation has finally confirmed that their re-release of the first Dragon Ball 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.

Siliconera has an interesting article this morning detailing a couple recent trademark filings from Namco-Bandai that may be Dragon Ball-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 Butōden series of games on the Super Famicom, and as the Siliconera article correctly notes, a series that concluded with Shin Butōden 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 Dragon Ball Z TV series, but it not a word specific to just Dragon Ball.

By my admittedly-poor Japanese trademark searching skills, I do not see the Dragon Ball 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!

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 Xbox 360 performed by Hironobu Kageyama, has been announced for release on 22 December 2010. All we have so far is the release date and catalog 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.