Blistered Thumbs tossed out their own report earlier this month that Namco-Bandai was potentially working on a Dragon Ball Z game for the hands-free Kinect for Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Just this morning, Siliconera noted a rating for the simply-titled Dragon Ball Z Kinect action game on Korea’s Game Rating Board confirming the game’s existence.

No word on a time frame or locations for release, but with the dreadful response Kinect has had over in Japan, it can be pretty much guaranteed that if they are bothering to make the game we will see this one over here in North America.

Shueisha will reprint the three-chapter Episode of Bardock spin-off manga by Naho Ooishi in the upcoming April 2012 issue of V-Jump in Japan.

The short new story by Ooishi (who is also currently responsible for Dragon Ball SD in Shueisha’s Saikyō Jump magazine) was originally printed in one chapter intervals in the August, September, and October 2011 issues of V-Jump. Described as a “sequel” to Bardock’s TV special from 1990, the story follows him into the past and divulges the “legend” of the Super Saiyan. The spin-off was recently adapted into an animated version which debuted at Jump Festa last December (as well as streamed online for a short period), and was packed in with March’s Saikyō Jump on a bonus DVD just this month.

For those who missed out on picking up the individual issues last year, and if our review sounds interesting to you, Play-Asia has the April 2012 V-Jump up for pre-order. The magazine drops 21 February 2012 in Japan.

Thanks to Liam for the heads-up on the reprint.

Perhaps in light of the recent news that FUNimation has (after only six months from the original project announcement) suspended all work on their own in-house Blu-ray remaster of the Dragon Ball Z TV series, FUNimation has put up a new survey indicating they are interested in releasing additional Dragon Box versions of the franchise, and are requesting fan input on which series to go with next.

The “Dragon Box” versions of the franchise were originally released in giant DVD box sets in Japan from 2003 to 2006, and later re-released on individual DVDs — it was actually the first time the series (other than the movies) ever received a home release in Japan. Toei and Pony Canyon went back to their film masters for the franchise in cold storage and performed a meticulous remaster for the expensive products.

FUNimation released the Dragon Ball Z TV series in its Dragon Box form (spanning seven smaller boxes) in North America from 2009 to 2011 shortly after completing their cropped “season set” run. As a part of the initial press release back in July 2009, FUNimation noted (emphasis our own):

…it has acquired the original masters for the entire Dragon Ball Z anime series, episodes and films, and will release all as the Dragon Box for the first time in the U.S.

Nothing was ever stated about the movies after that point, and inquiries were always met with the (expected, of course) answer that the current focus was on the TV series.

It is worth noting that FUNimation’s blog entry for the survey has the following disclaimer:

DISCLAIMER: Now, before anyone starts to go into conniptions, this is not a guarantee that we will be releasing more Dragon Boxes. At this point, we are considering it. But, we need input from all of our fans. So, if you want to see your favorite Dragon Ball saga get the Limited Edition Dragon Box treatment, make sure you take this survey and tell all your friends to take it too. The more responses we get, the better.

So with all that being said, take the survey and let them know what you are interested in!

The Spanish website ANMTV is reporting that Arait Multimedia has confirmed they have acquired the distribution rights for Dragon Ball Kai in Spain. As done elsewhere internationally (i.e. outside of Japan), the series will be released under the title Dragon Ball Z Kai. The company has also announced plans to start dubbing the series in Spanish relatively soon, as the series is thus far only available in Spain dubbed in the Catalan, Galician, and Basque languages.

Arait Multimedia has also expressed plans to air a censored version of these Spanish dubbed episodes on TV, indicating that the uncut version would only be available through home video releases. The article also notes that a fan movement for the series has begun and is calling for the return of Dragon Ball Z‘s original Spanish dub voice cast.

FUNimation has discontinued a few of their licensed properties, including the first four volumes of Dragon Ball Z Kai on both Blu-ray and DVD, according to an update posted on RightStuf yesterday.

In an appended update, Crunchyroll News noted that FUNimation confirmed these four volumes were discontinued in favor of “season” sets, with “season two” (covering the third and fourth individual volumes) coming this summer.

The first “season” release for Kai was released back in October covering the first two individual volumes. The set was inexplicably removed from Amazon listings for a short period of time before reappearing, yet still contained the Kenji Yamamoto original broadcast score after repopulating to retailers (despite having Shunsuke Kikuchi listed as the composer on the box art).

The first four individual volumes of Kai (covering the first 52 episodes) were released before the scandal with potential infringement in Kenji Yamamoto’s score broke. After a series of short delays, FUNimation’s fifth individual release of the “refreshed” series picked up with the Shunsuke Kikuchi replacement score.

“Part 4” was heavily delayed by Madman in Australia, and when it was ultimately released, it contained the Shunsuke Kikuchi replacement score.

The entirety of the “refreshed” series has already aired in English on Nicktoons in North America. The seventh volume is scheduled for release this coming March, a full six months after the prior volume last September.

A press release distributed today officially announces FUNimation’s suspension of the in-progress remastered Blu-ray sets for the Dragon Ball Z TV series:

Flower Mound, TX – January 26, 2012- FUNimation Entertainment, has officially confirmed they have suspended production of all future planned Blu-ray releases of Dragon Ball Z including Level 2.1 scheduled to be released on March 27, 2012.

Blu-ray editions of Dragon Ball Z went into production based on fan demand, however due to technical challenges of restoring from the original film frame by frame, we are unable to continue these releases by way of this process. FUNimation will be re-evaluating the current process and researching more efficient methods of restoration.

Specific questions may be directed to : feedback@funimation.com

The first set (which, perhaps coincidentally, is on sale via Amazon for only $16.49) was released 08 November 2011, with the second set making its way out 13 December 2011.

The Japanese-created “refreshed” version of the TV series, Dragon Ball Kai, is still being released by FUNimation. The series will have had a six-month run between volumes six and seven by the time the latter makes its way out in March.

The last release to be canceled mid-run was the “Ultimate Uncut Edition”, which replaced the original FUNimation edited-only, English-dub-only version of their first two “seasons”. Nine discs (covering 27 episodes) made their way out before FUNimation canceled them outright in mid-2006 in favor of “season sets” that made their way out in 2007.