Namco-Bandai has sent out a press release confirming the 22 June 2010 release date in North America for Dragon Ball Origins 2 (the domestic release of Japan’s Dragon Ball DS 2 from earlier in the year). Of particular note is the demo coming to the Wii’s Nintendo Channel next Monday, 31 May 2010:

DRAGON BALL®: ORIGINS 2 FOR NINTENDO DS™ HAS GONE GOLD AND DOWNLOADABLE DEMO AVAILABLE ON MAY 31

SANTA CLARA, Calif., (May 24, 2010) – Leading video game publisher and developer NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc., announced today that Dragon Ball®: Origins 2 exclusively for Nintendo DS™ has gone gold and will be available in North America on June 22, 2010. In addition, a free downloadable demo version of the game will be available via the Nintendo® Channel on the Wii™ console starting on May 31, 2010. Dragon Ball: Origins 2 is the sequel to the original Dragon Ball: Origins for DS. The new game takes players on an action-packed adventure around the world, as young Goku and his friends battle against the nefarious Red Ribbon Army as they hunt for the legendary Dragon Balls.

Players who download the free demo will get a preview of Goku’s gameplay in Dragon Ball: Origins 2. While traveling on his Flying Nimbus cloud, Goku was attacked by the Red Ribbon Army led by the malevolent Commander Red, causing him to lose his trusted Power Pole weapon. In this single-level demo, players will attempt to retrieve his gear as they solve puzzles, hone their skills, encounter skillful opponents and face off in an ultimate boss battle that provides just a sample of the final gameplay experience.

In Dragon Ball: Origins 2, players battle through the Red Ribbon Army saga and have the chance to play not only as Goku, but also the added variety of his friends from the series along the way including Krillin, Bulma, Yamcha and more, each with their own abilities and power-ups. In addition to an exciting single-player mode, two players can join up for satisfying co-op multiplayer challenges via a local wireless connection. By playing the single-player adventure, special multiplayer stages including challenging boss fights unlock and become available. Players are also able to carry over their saved character from the single-player mode as they battle alongside friends in co-op mode.

A challenging mix of action and exploration awaits, as Goku and friends must use a wide range of skills to solve puzzles, find treasure chests, and defeat armies of baddies. A situation-based camera adapts with the changing gameplay to bring players closer to the action as they jump, swing and charge through forests, underwater areas and more. Meanwhile, key boss battles switch to side-view to emphasize the signature fighting style of the Dragon Ball series. With support for both stylus and button input options, players are free to choose their preferred control style.

Dragon Ball: Origins 2 for Nintendo DS is rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB and will have an MSRP of $29.99. For more information about the game, please visit www.namcobandaigames.com or http://dragonball.namco.com. To join the official fan community, please visit http://www.gokuscorner.com.

Beyond our initial thoughts on Episode #0151 of the podcast, we never got around to giving the first game a full review. We are looking forward to the sequel and hopefully seeing a lot of its predecessor’s issues corrected.

In related video game news, a new trailer for Raging Blast 2 is popping up online, though with a seemingly replaced audio track and specifically branded for a European audience. Nothing of particular note is showcased in this new trailer.

In extremely surprising news, it sounds like an upcoming Dragon Ball video game will see some new, traditional 2D animation. Our favorite buddy “Wasted Wisher” (who let us all know about Kai weeks before it was officially announced) popped over on our forum to say they will be working on approximately 30 minutes of new animation for a video game. There is no word on exactly which game that will be, but TAG VS and Raging Blast 2 are the only known upcoming games at the moment.

The last game to see extensive 2D animation was the American-produced Sagas (Gamecube / PS2 / Xbox), which contracted out Toei for an opening chapter sequence. Prior to that, DragonBall Z 3 (Budokai 3) was the last Japanese-produced game with a 2D-animated sequence. All games since then have featured either new CG-rendered 3D graphics or even in-game, 3D models.

FUNimation’s parent company, Navarre, recently filed an 8-K approving a bonus opportunity of 50% his base salary for FUNimation CEO Gen Fukunaga at the completion of the upcoming 2011 fiscal year. The bonus opportunity is dependent upon EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) and net sales targets.

In related news, Fukunaga’s employment agreement with Navarre also provided an opportunity to receive two “performance-based bonuses” if FUNimation’s EBIT exceeded $60 million by the end of the 2010 fiscal year. Navarre will be releasing their fiscal 2010 report 03 June 2010, so we will not only get a further glimpse into these results and bonus opportunities, but also hopefully receive another batch of hints at where the domestic industry stands and how FUNimation will continues to play a role in it. That is important to all Dragon Ball fans here in the US!

We just learned about Raging Blast 2 over the last couple days, and TAG VS was announced almost exactly one month ago for Japan. Today, however, Namco-Bandai has officially announced both games for North American distribution. Both will be coming this fall, though no specific time frame was given beyond that. With no time frame given in Japan for the games yet, either, we will put an educated guess out there that we will see release dates pretty close to simultaneous worldwide.

The official press release received is as follows:

NAMCO BANDAI GAMES ANNOUNCES TWO ADRENALINE PUMPING DRAGON BALL® Z TITLES
Duo of Hyperkinetic Dragon Ball Games Blasts onto Multiple Consoles This Fall

BARCELONA, Spain, (May 11, 2010) – Leading video games developer and publisher NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc., announced today two highly anticipated Dragon Ball® Z fighting titles, Dragon Ball® Z: Tenkaichi Tag Team™ for the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, and Dragon Ball®: Raging Blast™ 2 for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system.

For the first time ever Dragon Ball Z fans can enter into high-impact two vs. two combat in Dragon Ball Z: Tenkaichi Tag Team for the PSP system. Play solo or team up via Ad Hoc mode to tackle memorable battles in a variety of single player and multiplayer modes, including Dragon Walker, Battle 100, and Survival Mode. Dragon Walker Mode takes fans through the entire epic Dragon Ball Z story arc from the Saiyan saga to the Majin Boo saga. Battle 100 Mode tasks players to relive the most epic encounters and newly created situations from the Dragon Ball Z world in ever increasingly difficult situations. With more than 70 playable and deeply customizable characters, multiple modes, and Ad Hoc Party gameplay, Dragon Ball Z: Tenkaichi Tag Team is chock full of gameplay for your portable PSP system.

Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2 is the sequel to last year’s high-flying, fast-hitting, and intense versus battles series. Dragon Ball Z fans can rest assured that the destructible environment, and character trademark attacks and transformations will be true to the series. These include signature Pursuit Attacks which enable players to initiate attack combo strings, juggling your opponent in a string of devastating strikes throughout the environment. Additionally, Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2 will sport the new Raging Soul System which enables characters to reach a special state, increasing their combat abilities to the ultimate level. Sporting more than 90 characters, 20 of which are brand new to the Raging Blast series, new modes, and additional environmental effects, Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2 is the next evolution in the home console series.

Dragon Ball Z: Tenkaichi Tag Team for the PSP system, and Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 system will be available this Fall.

For more information about the game, please visit www.namcobandaigames.com or http://dragonball.namco.com. To join the official fan community, please visit http://www.gokuscorner.com.

With TAG VS getting a domestic re-name with “Tenkaichi” in the title, it would be a safe bet to assume the game will play similar to the Sparking! series of PS2 games (which were re-named as Budokai Tenkaichi here in the states), and which Raging Blast was itself a successor to.

At this point, all new-and-currently-announced Japanese video games have now been announced for North American distribution. Dragon Ball DS 2 is coming out 22 June 2010 as Dragon Ball Origins 2, and now both Raging Blast 2 and TAG VS (re-named Tenkaichi Tag Team) are covered.

UPDATE: Both Raging Blast 2 and Tenkaichi Tag Team have been confirmed for European release in the fall, as well.

In somewhat interesting news (especially based on the shipment figures of the first game and the general state of Namco-Bandai at the moment), Raging Blast 2 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 has been formally announced through the pages of Jump:

There is not a whole lot to talk about just yet. We are being promised about 90 characters (the first game had just over 70, which includes all of the various transformations when appropriate), and it looks as if the graphics engine is getting a nice little overhaul. The game is due sometime this year in Japan, though no specific time frame is given.

Follow-up on the French IPTV deal we noted the other day, our new forum member SanGoku 13 signed up to give us a couple extra details about what specifically is available.

It is apparently the French dub, but it is at least the recent remastered version of the series. Twenty new episodes will be made available each month, culminating with at least the first 100 episodes for now. In terms of cost, the deal will run you 4,99€ per month, or 1,49€ for just a single episode.

Toei has announced a deal in Brazil with Algazarra for toy figurines and separately with Richtex for a line of towels. If you think towels are weird, Bolivia has the win for strangest products coming your way. Pil Andina is on board to create Dragon Ball-branded flavored milk, while Doobalo is signed up to create socks. Finally, Bondy Fiesta has been licensed the rights to chewing gum.

Namco-Bandai has posted a ¥29.08 billion (approximately $319 million) loss for the fiscal 2010 year.

In terms of Dragon Ball overall, the franchise dropped in net sales from ¥15.8 billion in 2009 to ¥12.5 billion this fiscal year, and the company is forecasting an even sharper drop down to ¥8.5 billion for fiscal 2011 with ¥3.0 billion of that in the first half. While not concrete, an educated guess leads us to believe that stronger (or at least more numerous) releases will come in the second half of the next fiscal year.

As for individual games, there were 700,000 copies of Dragon Ball: Raging Blast shipped worldwide in fiscal 2010. This was the only Dragon Ball game in the company’s “Top 10 Game Titles” for the fiscal year, meaning that any worldwide sales of the latest DS and Wii games would be lower than approximately 400,000 copies shipped — it is at least somewhat relevant to note that Attack of the Saiyans was released significantly earlier in Japan than it was in the rest of the world, however.

In terms of general toys and hobby merchandise (non-video games), the franchise dropped in net sales from ¥3.7 billion in fiscal 2009 to ¥3.0 billion this fiscal year. The forecast for fiscal 2011 is ¥2.7 billion, with a mere ¥1.0 billion forecast for the first half of the year.

All across the board sales are down, and fiscal 2011 is not looking much brighter, though the second half sounds like it might be better than the first.