Namco-Bandai is holding a “Global Gamers Day” press event in Las Vegas today, and among a few other announcements came a few of interest to Dragon Ball fans. Our buddy Romain from France is there, and shared a bunch of information.
The first hint of things to come arrived via Gamekult on Twitter, who shared the following image of some swag which clearly indicated some Kinect news on its way:
After a bit of Star Trek talk, Namco-Bandai moved on to the Dragon Ball franchise and formally announced Dragon Ball Z For Kinect, which would indeed contain thirty minutes of exclusive animation (which we originally learned about at the end of February with the British Board of Film Classification’s rating). Characters can be unlocked via QR cards, some of which were distributed to press at the event. The game will be playable from a first-person perspective, have over 100 moves to perform, and is due out in October.
Other than a historical reel of past Dragon Ball video games leading up to the Kinect game announcement, no other games for the franchise were announced or showcased.
The October date may mean that the “Dragon Ball Z HD” listing from Walmart may actually be related — since originally posting the news, Walmart has removed the PS3 listing for said game while the 360 listing remains active. We will continue to update as more information becomes available.
UPDATE: Romain sent along a couple quick shots of the QR card he received.
Additionally, FUNimation themselves were the ones to issue the press release formally announcing the game this evening:
DRAGON BALL Z® FOR KINECT TO TRANSFORM PLAYERS INTO SUPER SAIYANS THIS OCTOBER
NAMCO BANDAI GAMES AMERICA INC. ANNOUNCES NEWEST EVOLUTION IN THE BELOVED FIGHTING SERIES
SAN JOSE, Calif. (April 11, 2012) – Leading video game publisher and developer NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. today announced that Dragon Ball Z® for Kinect™ will be coming to the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft this October. All of the classic action and intensity of the Dragon Ball Z universe will be felt with an unprecedented sense of immersion when players learn to deliver over 100 moves, including the legendary Kamehameha with their own fists as they charge their way to victory in this ultimate evolution of the classic franchise.
Developed by Spike Chunsoft Co. Ltd, players will be entering the Dragon Ball Z universe in an entirely new way. Featuring iconic characters, famous attacks, and epic battles authentically created from the original manga series, Dragon Ball Z® for Kinect lets players unleash their inner Super Saiyan with no controller in the way! Fans will also be treated to new anime footage debuting in the US and Europe for the first time, along with over 50 playable characters and an entirely new character. Leveraging the Kinect sensor, Dragon Ball Z® for Kinect will also support QR code functionality, allowing fans to hold up special QR codes to unlock characters and power-ups in the game.
“There’s going to be no better feeling in the world for fans of the Dragon Ball Z series than standing in front of their screens and unleashing their own fists and raging blasts upon enemies with this game,” said Carlson Choi, Vice President of Marketing, NAMCO BANDAI Games America. “The Kinect sensor has truly enabled the development team to finally realize the dreams of millions of fans of both the classic games and the timeless original anime. This game will truly represent the next generation of interactive entertainment in the Dragon Ball Z universe.”
Choosing between ‘Story Mode’ and ‘Score Attack’ mode, players will enjoy battles and events following the story of Dragon Ball Z in first-person view for the first time. Dramatic battles use anime-style camerawork and require the player to move in the same way as their character and perform the same attack or movement from a particular famous scene, combining CG demo scenes and battle controls to experience giant boss battles like never before! In ‘Score Attack’ mode, defeat opponents in 1-on-1 battles to get the highest score!
Dragon Ball Z® for Kinect will be available throughout North America and Europe this October. For more information on the game, please visit: http://dragonball.namcobandaigames.com and www.facebook.com/NamcoBandai.
Dragon Ball Z the animated series is available for purchase on the Xbox LIVE Video Store. For more information about the animated series please visit http://www.dragonballz.com.
16 Comments
So this is our video game for 2012.
I guess the world does end this year. 👿
Oh wow, I had forgotten about the thirty minutes of new animation! I wonder if it’ll be original or not?
I’ll wait untill May to see if this is really our “2012 DB game”..
Maybe Ozotto will return this time, since the gameplay is basically the same x)
I may be jumping the gun a bit, but if there is another “important” Dragon Ball game to be released this year it would’ve been announced today. It’s a much grander stage than a JUMP announcement given global members of the press are attending this event. There’s E3 in June, but they’re not going to announce a Dragon Ball game there, heck I can’t even remember them showing off Ultimate Tenkaichi at E3 last year.
All I know is just that they always announce new DB games in May.
So no Dragon Ball game for PS3? Fuck, I don’t have 360, and I don’t intend on buying it. Also, so it’s actualy 30 miniutes and not 20 miniutes of new animation? So, it could not be Episode of Bardock, and something new! 😀
Ooh, if this year’s game is only for 360, that’s bot good for me or anyone else who prefers PS3, for that matter. I hope there will be another game for PS3 to at least hold over PS3 users till next year.
I have good feelings about that game cover (it’s unusual in a good way) and I’m excited about the new animation.
I love how they put emphasis on the ‘happy-go-lucky’ aspect of DBZ with the cover, although the “for” looks fan-made. The Shen-long is the same one from last year, but it looks great.
The animation thing kinda gives the impression that they need to include animation to sell these games nowadays. :p
Is this exclusively for Xbox360 ?
Wow is that seriously the logo? Did they actually just download the Saiyan Sans font from the Internet and apply a outer glow in Photoshop? It’s not even centered. I saw some screenshots on a YouTube video as well. It uses the Ultimate Tenkaichi graphics and engine.
I’m wonder how repetitive the gaming will feel.
I think this type of game would be better served in small bursts like in a slew of mini games, but not in the format that i believe they are going for.
The mini games aspect also lends to a greater variety of uses of the entire series without being limited to the narrative of the story.
(duplicate post to correct spelling and grammar. My apologies)
Here’s holding out for the Dance Central mini game.
@dragonboxzthemovies “The animation thing kinda gives the impression that they need to include animation to sell these games nowadays. :p”
I think it’s obvious, with the games’ sales going down. 🙄
Dont u jus miss the good old days wen DragonBall Z games came out on PS2.. :roll:…..Dey need to du dat for PS3