Bandai announced this week that they will be releasing an all-new collectible card game this summer:

(CYPRESS, CA – MARCH 18, 2008) – With the return of original toy manufacturer Bandai America Inc. to the Dragon Ball Z franchise, fans can further celebrate with the highly anticipated debut of an all-new Dragon Ball collectible card game this Summer from Bandai Collectible Games. For the first time ever, characters from all three action-packed Dragon Ball sagas will be incorporated, as well as exclusive and dynamic artwork. Goku fever is sure to reach an all-time high, particularly since Bandai America has new Dragon Ball Z action figures hitting retail this month.

“Bandai’s Dragon Ball card game has already seen huge success throughout Asia and Europe, and we’re finally thrilled to introduce our new CCG to North America, along with a lineup of action figures and other toys throughout the year,” said Danny Satyapan, director of Bandai America’s cards division. “Fans everywhere have definitely been responding to the stunning new Dragon Ball images that are exclusive to our cards, and our game system has been getting rave reviews from U.S. players.”

The Dragon Ball franchise consists of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT, and is one of the most successful anime properties of all time. It was born in Japan as a manga comic by the famed artist, Akira Toriyama (who also helped to create the new Blue Dragon property, another Bandai America toy line launching Fall 2008). The Dragon Ball Z saga first arrived in the U.S. in 1996 and continues to air to this day on Cartoon Network.

The Dragon Ball Collectible Card Game features a game system similar to Bandai America’s hit Naruto CCG, which has been a huge success among fans. As a result, the Dragon Ball card game is sure to appeal and be familiar to the legions of Naruto enthusiasts. The compatibility of these two CCGs will undoubtedly result in incredible card game battles between these two very popular licenses.

The Dragon Ball Collectible Card Game fuses the exciting action from all three sagas by allowing players to battle against their opponents with their favorite characters like Goku and Vegeta. Debuting July 18th, the “Warriors Return” Starter Decks have a SRP of $8.99 and Booster Packs retail for $3.99. Bandai America is supporting the game with a strong organized play program that will reward tournament participation at conventions and hobby retailers with promotional Dragon Ball Z cards, game mats and other exclusive prizing. For more information about Bandai’s Collectible Games, log onto www.BandaiCG.com.

So it comes out 18 July 2008, it will feature all three TV series with super special nifty artwork, and starter packs will cost $3.99. It sounds like they want to set up competition with themselves and their “Naruto” CCG line. I wonder if that business model will work out for them…?

Slickmasterfunk left us a note letting us know that IGN has put up a new interview with Donny Clay (producer-something-or-other at Atari) with some information about the upcoming “Burst Limit” for the PS3 and Xbox 360. The big pieces of information are that 21 characters will be available to play on a meager 5 stages.

Really? Only five stages? Hopefully these will be gigantic stages that have all sorts of mini-locales within them, but that’s not very comforting to hear.

There is also a gameplay trailer featuring an instrumental/karaoke version of the game’s Japanese vocal opening theme, “Kiseki no Honō yo Moeagare!!”.

Abigail wrote in to let us know that both Takeshi Kusao (Trunks) andRyusei Nakao (Tambourine, Freeza, Coola) will be guests at Animazement this year.

For those of you no longer about to rock, join with me in sadness as CDJapan cancels all of our pre-orders for the upcoming “Super Survivor” CD single. It is no longer in their site’s database, and while Lantis claims it is coming out later this summer, this is still very disappointing.

According to a couple different sources, the upcoming American live action adaptation of Dragon Ball will not be making its way to theaters until 03 April 2009, pushed back from 15 August 2008.

Lantis has delayed the release of the upcoming “Super Survivor” CD single / mini-album (which was originally due out 09 April 2008). It is not quite indefinite, but it is not due now until sometime during the early summer; there is no actual set date. D’oh!

In addition to that, Columbia has delayed the release of the upcoming 13-CD “Chōzenshū” set to 02 April 2008 (which originally due out 26 March 2008). That is not too bad of a delay, all things considered.

Thanks to Futabatei Shimei for the heads-up.