We have some very strange video game listings popping up on American retail sites:

• Dragon Ball Z Trilogy (PS2) — 09 September 2008
  $49.99 @ Amazon; $29.99 @ GameStop
• Dragon Ball Z Infinite World (PS2) — 01 November 2008
  $29.99 @ Amazon; $29.99 @ GameStop
• Dragon Ball Z: Origins (NDS) — 03 November 2008
  $29.99 @ Amazon; $29.99 @ GameStop

We are assuming that “Dragon Ball Z Origins” is actually just “Dragon Ball DS”, despite its “Z” in the title. We have no real evidence for this, though, especially considering that the game drops in Japan pretty soon on 18 September 2008.

This “Trilogy” on PS2 could potentially be a collection of the three “Sparking!” (or “Budokai Tenkaichi”) games. Again, there is no real evidence for this, and despite it not really making much sense to package three slight iterations on each other together, it is labeled as “Fighting”. Would “Sagas” or “Super Dragon Ball Z” be a part of this package?

This “Infinite World” is completely confusing, though — nothing more than a date and a (moderately low) price on this one. Is this the fabled “Final Budokai” international fans have been rumoring about?

What makes this all the more confusing is that the only new Japanese game we are aware of right now is “Dragon Ball DS”, and since Atari no longer creates games in-house, it is completely perplexing. I guess we will have to stay tuned to “V-Jump”…!

There will be a “junior novel” coming out for the upcoming American live action Dragon Ball movie:

Expect a written adaptation of the movie by a couple people otherwise known for just a couple quasi-Disney-related children’s books.

The cover art for the upcoming “Burst Limit Original Soundtrack” has made its way online:

What was previously listed as a dual-soundtrack for both “Sparking! METEOR” and “Burst Limit” appears to be just for the one game. It drops 27 August 2008 in Japan (LACA-5808) for about ¥3000.

In a strange twist, it appears Atari has actually made money for the first quarter of the 2009 fiscal year. In fact, they made $3.5 million, up from a net loss of $11.9 million at the same point last year. The growth was driven by the success of “Burst Limit” and “Alone in the Dark”, on which they also spent $2.8 million for advertising — worth noting in light of their legal spat with FUNimation toward the end of 2007 over “advertising shortfalls”.

A new book containing one-shot manga by Akira Toriyama, entitled “An Emperor’s Feast of Akira Toriyama 1” (鳥山明 満漢全席 1), was released today. It appears that this is the first volume of a new line of Toriyama’s one-shot manga collection. This volume contains 10 one-shot manga titles on 336 pages, and will set you back about ¥680.

At first glance, this appears to merely be a reprinting of one of Akira Toriyama’s “Manga Theater” volumes. However, with closer inspection you will see that some of the manga included has never been released outside of Weekly Jump. Here is a break-down of what is actually in the book:

FORMAT: #) One-shot Title – first appearance (tankōbon release)

1. Go!Go!Ackman – 11 one-shots from 1993 (Akira Toriyama’s Manga Theater Vol. 3)
2. Dub & Peter 1 – 4 one-shots from 1992 (Akira Toriyama’s Manga Theater Vol. 3)
3. Mister Ho – One-shot from 1986 (Akira Toriyama’s Manga Theater Vol. 2)
4. Lady Red – 3 one-shots from 1987 (Not yet released outside of Weekly Jump)
5. Sonchoh – One-shot from 1987 (Akira Toriyama’s Manga Theater Vol. 2)
6. Kennosuke-sama – One-shot from 1987 (Not yet released outside of Weekly Jump)
7. Mad Matic – One-shot from 1982 (Akira Toriyama’s Manga Theater Vol. 1)
8. Pola & Roid – One-shot from 1981 (Akira Toriyama’s Manga Theater Vol. 1)
9. Wonder Island 1 & 2 – 2 One-shots from 1978-1979 (Akira Toriyama’s Manga Theater Vol. 1)
10. Dragon Boy Chp. 1 & 2 – 2 One-shots from 1983 (Akira Toriyama’s Manga Theater Vol. 2)

Of most interest to Dragon Ball fans is likely “Dragon Boy” which, while it has been published before, is still a worthwhile addition to track down for any fan’s collection. Together with “The Adventure of Tongpoo”, it is considered one of the two direct predecessors to Dragon Ball in terms of character design, story (including exact plot elements), many specific items, etc.

Anime News Network has word via Internet Watch that a Japanese man has been arrested for selling bootleg copies of various anime, including the various Dragon Box releases:

Japan’s Association of Copyright for Computer Software (ACCS) announced that a 37-year-old male company employee from Kakogawa City in central Japan was arrested on Thursday for selling unauthorized DVD copies of 10 anime works, television programs, and other titles. The man allegedly sold DVD-R copies of the 50,000-yen (about US$470) Dragon Ball’s Dragon Box the Movies DVD set for 4,000 yen (US$37), the 50,000-yen (US$470) Dragon Ball GT series set for 5,500 yen (US$51), and the 72,000-yen (US$675) Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ box set for 4,000 yen (US$37). Police from the northern Japanese prefecture of Hokkaido and Sapporo City’s northern police office arrested the man on charges of copyright infringement and sent him to the prosecutors in Sapporo City.

You may be reading a few things across the interwebs about something called “Final Budokai”. It is important to note a few things about this:

• Only Portuguese sites have been reporting this
• All of these sites are copying-and-pasting the exact same text; no original reporting has occurred
• European enthusiast press are well known for breaking embargoes
• Dimps, the developers of the “Budokai” series, have moved on to “Burst Limit” (not to mention “Street Fighter IV”)
• It is plausible that a new PS2 game would still come out (see this old pondering from January), and it is the direction a couple Japanese publishers are going with (see “Persona 4”)
• The “Bakuretsu Impact” series of card-based arcade games do indeed feature a highly-evolved game engine based on the previous “Budokai” series
• The “Budokai” games (specifically the third) are well-known for being highly “hackable”; that is, they are relatively easy for those in-the-know to customize characters by altering colors, shifting around body parts, etc.
• Namco-Bandai did not take the “Budokai” name until “Shin Budokai” on the PSP (the games were “Dragon Ball Z”, “Dragon Ball Z 2”, and “Dragon Ball Z 3” in Japan)
• DBZ games are almost always first announced in the Jump series of magazines in Japan (specifically “V-Jump”); rarely are any “secrets” held and announced at gaming conventions, where the vast majority of attendees are not their target audience
• There has been no announcements past “Dragon Ball DS” from either Namco-Bandai or Atari
• We know nothing about this 😛

Do with all of that information as you will. Remember that it is extremely important to be critical of your information sources, and do not be afraid to require actual cited sources before you start believing anything.

Of course, I would love for there to be a new “Budokai” game, since the “Sparking!” series (and more recently, “Burst Limit”) just have not done anything for me…

The first two discs have not even been released yet and Toei has already posted the final cover art for their next set of Dragon Ball movies individual discs. Dragon Ball Z movies three and four are set to be released 12 September 2008. You can still order any of the previously released discs or any of these discs from Amazon Japan.

Toei has also created yet another site for the movies release, which I believe brings their total to three. The title suggests it is a campaign site for the releases, but it unfortunately does not give us any new information. Also, for those of you interested, the Jumpland DVD site has been updated with a screen saver for the first two individual discs. If you want it, be sure to go grab it before they put up the new one!