Courtesy of examiner.com, we have learned that the latest fiscal report from Namco-Bandai leaks the information that a new Dragon Ball Z video game is in development for the PS3 and 360 and is tentatively due sometime in Q2 of the 2009-2010 fiscal year (putting it anywhere between October and March). Namco-Bandai expects to sell 800,000 copies of the new game across Europe and Japan (specifically listed as such; North America is not included):

While the game is being developed in Japan, remember that Atari’s (and therefore Infogrames’) sub-license with FUNimation to distribute Dragon Ball games for certain markets expires in January 2010. At the same time, significant business developments continue to transpire with Namco-Bandai and Infogrames across Europe with their Distribution Partners business.

This news is also in addition to the as-of-yet officially-unannounced game currently in development for the Nintendo Wii.

Despite the CD singles for the opening and ending to Dragon Ball Kai seeing a release this month and next month respectively, it appears that Columbia will be double-dipping us with a “Koro-chan” version of a Kai CD in July.

The new CD will be called Koro-chan Pack Dragon Ball Kai and appears to feature (according to the CDJapan description) at least the opening and ending themes to the series, seemingly karaoke versions, and possibly more. It will be interesting to see how this release separates itself from the individual CD single releases for the opening and ending themes. The inclusion of a “picture book” along with the CD is certainly one way to set itself apart. This new CD will be released 15 July 2009 for ¥1575 by Columbia under the catalog number COCZ-1083.

Just posted by our buddy kei17 over in Japan is some information regarding new cover art that the tankōbon are going to be receiving. While the basic images will remain the same, the surrounding details are being freshened-up quite a bit:

Yes, although the kanzenban run has been the de facto version of the manga that Shueisha has been promoting and referencing (such as in new guide books) since their release a few years ago, the original 42-volume tankōbon run has been very much alive alongside its higher-quality cousin. It is certainly interesting to see it get an update at this point in time, especially considering that even games like Super Dragon Ball Z paid extreme homage to its iconic style.

It will be interesting to see whether or not this new tankōbon run will take any elements from the kanzenban (such as minor censoring details, the “Welcome” fix, or the new ending), though we tend to think it unlikely. kei17 does mention that the spine art will be “changed” (such as not including two Yajirobe), and it will see its release at the beginning of May.

Herms got in a copy of the recently released Super Exciting Guide – Character Volume earlier this month and went through the book to share a wealth of information with everyone. Now that we finally have our own copies of the new books in, it makes sense to more publicly share a little bit of wonderfully hilarious information.

Mr. Satan’s real name is Mark.

As Herms describes, a Q&A/interview section with Akira Toriyama in the book dives into Mr. Satan’s character. As we have known, the name “Mr. Satan” is really just his “show” or “ring” name (and no, the dreaded “H-word” has no relevance to this discussion). According to Toriyama, Mr. Satan’s actual first name is “Mark”. While it seems like a common name, it is actually written out in katakana as マーク (māku or maaku). If you rearrange the syllables, as you would with many names in the series to derive their puns, you end up with akuma (meaning “devil” or “demon”; you may be familiar with the name as the North American name-change of the Street Fighter character otherwise known as “Gouki”).

Personally, I love the name. While it has a cute, consistent, underlying pun to keep the family in check, the fact that it is such a common-sounding name really fits with how I feel about him. While I do not particularly love Mr. Satan as a character, you cannot help but feel like he is just some poor, regular ol’ guy that consistently gets in way the Hell over his head. “Mark” seems fitting, in that respect.

Dragon Ball Evolution, despite its huge build-up in the community, has given us little more than a whimper to discuss after its North American release. It has been essentially considered a flop, especially when you look at its mere $4.8 million take on opening weekend. It only did another $1.5 million this last weekend, so if you were planning on seeing it in theaters and have not done so, your chance is very quickly fading away. Our buddy Tanooki Kuribo let us know that on the date of its theatrical release, Amazon was already taking pre-orders for the DVD and Blu-ray versions of the film. No release dates have been set, however.