Included as “extras” on the two Dragon Box releases for the Dragon Ball Z TV series in Japan back in 2003, the Bardock and Trunks TV specials never went on to receive individual disc releases like the rest of the TV series and movies. They, along with things like the Dragon Ball GT TV special and the original Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans, remain Dragon Box exclusives to this day.

That all changes, at least partially so, later this summer. By way of the latest V-Jump issue (once again courtesy of Peking Duck), we have learned that the Bardock and Trunks TV specials will receive their own individual R2 DVD release called the Dragon Ball Z Special Selection DVD in Japan 05 August 2011 for a reduced price of ¥1,000.

We noted a few weeks back that while “something” related to Dragon Ball Heroes appeared to be coming soon in V-Jump, contrary to other reports, Naho Ooishi‘s (Dragon Ball SD) name was not attached to whatever that project happened to be. Just a couple days ago, her name did indeed show up attached to the project, however. The V-Jump preview website has updated with more information:

In the August issue (due out in Japan this week), a “special manga” from the author will appear, though all it states is that, in the story, some “super warriors” will attack. There will also be a special “Dragon Hero Times” extra included with the magazine, and everyone who applies (presumably through an included postcard, special e-mail address, or what have you) gets a free “Ultimate Bag”.

UPDATE: By way our Japanese buddy Peking Duck, we now know the new manga as Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock, a three-part short by Naho Ooishi based on a new “What If?” story in which Bardock becomes a Super Saiyan, tying in with his new transformation in Dragon Ball Heroes (see below). The series will span over three issues of V-Jump.

While the third card in the promotional image above on the V-Jump website is obscured, it has since been revealed to be Super Saiyan Bardock, who will presumably show up soon in the card-based arcade game.

New Super Saiyan 3 transformations for both Broli and Vegeta showed up in the card-based arcade games (previously Dragon Battlers) before appearing in the Raging Blast console games over the last two years, making this new transformation for Bardock at least a semi-likely candidate for this fall’s new fighting game.

Play.com has a new listing for what is clearly Game Project Age 2011, the new fighting game developed by Spike for Namco-Bandai due out on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this fall. What sets this listing apart from others is the fact that the name “Ultimate Tenkaichi” is already attached to it, a name that showed up a couple weeks back on a survey from the publisher. The listing also pegs the game for 01 November 2011, at least in Europe, though the Raging Blast games were released within the same week across all regions.

Does this confirm the name “Ultimate Tenkaichi” for non-Japan regions? Will the “Tenkaichi” branding have any impact on the name of the game in Japan, where it has never previously been used? It seems as if we will known soon enough!

Last year Play.com had listings for two games that never (or have yet to have) surfaced: “Spike“, a game for the Nintendo Wii, and an un-named Nintendo 3DS game. With the former was a head-scratcher, Namco-Bandai had at least announced shortly after the 3DS’ reveal that they had plans for a game on the portable system.

Gaming blogs are passing around the story this afternoon that Japanese video game developer Game Republic has apparently shut down its offices in Tokyo, as well as its website. Cited reasons include the rumor that founder Yoshiki Okamoto has racked up significant debt and is nowhere to be found.

While most of the attention in fandom is usually given to developers such as Dimps and particularly Spike that handle the main console games year in and year out, Game Republic has actually stepped up to the plate and released a trilogy of Nintendo DS games that range from interesting in theory but forgettable (Dragon Ball DS / Origins) to impressive follow-ups (Dragon Ball DS 2 / Origins 2) to flat-out fantastic surprises (Dragon Ball Kai: Ultimate Butōden). It would certainly be a shame if this ends up being it for Game Republic.

According the next issue preview page on V-Jump‘s official website, a “special manga” based on Dragon Ball Heroes drawn by Naho Ooishi will be published in the next issue of V-Jump.

You will recall that Ooishi previously did a two-part manga adaptation of the 2008 Jump Super Anime Tour Special for V-Jump and the on-going Dragon Ball SD manga in Saikyō Jump. The story will revolve around some “invading super warriors”, but other than that, we do not know too much. As always, it has not been noted whether or not this will be a recurring manga or a one-shot. The next issue of V-Jump drops 21 June 2011!

The next batch of releases for our favorite franchise over here in North America have some information trickling out.

First up is the seventh and final Dragon Box for the Dragon Ball Z TV series, coming 13 September 2011 from FUNimation. This set covers DBZ TV episodes 251-291, and closes out the series. RightStuf is already taking pre-orders, and we expect listings to spread to other retailers soon. MSRP on the boxes is currently $59.98, but there have been some pretty great deals online, so shop around.

Also coming out on 13 September 2011 is FUNimation’s “Part Six” of Dragon Ball Z Kai. The next set continues onward into the Cell story arc and retails for $34.98 on Blu-ray and $29.98 on DVD. RightStuf is also currently accepting pre-orders on this release, both on DVD and Blu-ray.

The fifth set, due out later this month, has already been confirmed to have the “replacement score” of Shunsuke Kikuchi’s music, re-inserted into the series after the debacle with Kenji Yamamoto’s score possibly infringing on other compositions.

GMA has announced that down in the Philippines, the original Dragon Ball TV series is back on TV as of this past weekend. The show will air Saturdays after Hanep Buhay, and Sundays after Pinoy M.D.on GMA-7.

Meanwhile, Cartoon Network Latin America has Dragon Ball Kai coming soon via Televisa in Mexico, with the first 54 episodes (through to the end of the Freeza story arc) confirmed for broadcast. Additionally, City TV in Columbia has licensed twenty of the series’ movies for broadcast — while it was not specified, doing the math, we can assume this includes the three movies for the first series, thirteen movies for the second series, the 10th anniversary movie, and then possibly the two feature-length Dragon Ball Z TV specials along with the Dragon Ball GT TV special to get to that magic number of twenty.

Wrapping things up for Latin America is the announcement that Chenson in Mexico will be bringing out more merchandise in the form of backpacks. Hurray!

RightStuf notes that the sixth Dragon Box for the Dragon Ball Z TV series from FUNimation has been delayed from 05 July 2011 to just two weeks later on 19 July 2011 (also a Sunday).

The second-to-last bad boy in our near-perfect dream release for this part of the series in North America (no, seriously — go back and check out our reviews of the first two boxes for how great these are) is a mere $30.99 on Amazon right now. Grab it!