Atari’s press release from earlier today clarifies what is going on with the online play in their domestic release of “Sparking! METEOR” (“Budokai Tenkaichi 3”):

Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATAR) one of the world’s most recognized brands and a third-party video game publisher, today announced that Dragon Ball Z(R): Budokai Tenkaichi(TM) 3 will have online multiplayer capability on the Wii(TM). Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 combines the lightning fast fighting and action game play that have made Budokai Tenkaichi 1 and Budokai Tenkaichi 2 the #1 fighting games of 2005 and 2006. Developed by NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. / Spike, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 is slated to release during the 2007 holiday season.

In addition to offering online game play on the Wii, Dragon Ball Z will celebrate the final installment of the Tenkaichi series for the PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system with an exclusive ‘Disc Fusion System.’ In combination with Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 when either Budokai Tenkaichi 1 or Budokai Tenkaichi 2 is inserted into the PlayStation 2 system, game play modes will be unlocked. Each game in the series will provide a different and exciting game play mode.

“Atari is incredibly excited to provide online game play for the Wii and a special ‘Disc Fusion System’ for the PlayStation 2 system version of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3,” said Emily Anadu, Senior Product Manager, Atari, Inc. “Adding online game play for the Wii will finally deliver on a feature that the fans have been waiting for while the ‘Disc Fusion System’ on the PlayStation 2 system rewards those fans that have supported us since the beginning of the Budokai Tenkaichi series.

Improving upon last year’s hit 3D fighting experience, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 offers more than 150 playable characters, more than 30 battle stages, and upgraded shading techniques providing enhanced and devastating effects. Furthermore, the Wii control system has been fine-tuned, allowing players to easily direct characters, mimic their favorite DBZ moves and execute explosive attacks.

The immensely popular Dragon Ball Z(R) series is the gold standard of anime-based video games, with more than 25 different games and over 10 million units sold since May 2002.

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 is set for release this holiday season. For more information on Dragon Ball Z video games, please visit http://www.atari.com/dragonballz.

Improving upon last year’s hit 3D fighting experience, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 offers more than 150 playable characters, more than 30 battle stages, and upgraded shading techniques providing enhanced and devastating effects. Furthermore, the Wii control system has been fine-tuned, allowing players to easily direct characters, mimic their favorite DBZ moves and execute explosive attacks.

Anyone hear anything about the “Disc Fusion System” with the Japanese PS2 versions of the game? Those are the ones I’ve been buying the last two years! I would assume they are coming out over there, since Atari does not do a whole lot else beyond distribute what is produced over there in Japan.

Now this is the news we been waiting for! Ever since “Dragon Ball Z 2” (“Budokai 2”) and “Dragon Ball Z 3” (“Budokai 3”) and their all-new songs performed by Hironobu Kageyama, fans have been drooling in anticipation of new DBZ material from the man himself (the “Battle Stadium D.O.N.” opening theme left a lot to be desired).

Well, fret no further, because the Japanese site for the game has officially stated that the game’s theme will be an all-new song written by Yuriko Mori (!), composed by Kenji Yamamoto (!!), and performed by Hironobu Kageyama (!!!). Could we possibly be more excited…?!? The name of the song is simply “Super Survivor”. You can hear a bit of the song in a trailer over on the official website.

IGN also has a trailer up for the game, though it is the Atari trailer and does not contain the new song.

Word on the street is that the Wii version of the game (and it exclusively) will feature online play. It was apparently noted on Atari’s DBZ game website earlier, but was removed at some point today.

Hot off the heels of Haruko Momoi and Shoko Nakagawa, we now have yet another cover of “Romantikku Ageru Yo” from a young lady named Hitomi Kitamura. Upon doing some basic research, it looks like she’s known for… uhh… having breasts. Fantastic.

Her recent CD (“Yurechau Hitomi”) contains the song as the second track (it is only four tracks, with karaoke versions of the two songs making up the last half of the CD). You can hear a brief sample over on the Neowing page if you are interested. The CD (and its accompanying DVD) can be purchased on CDJapan, Play-Asia, and many other places. It came out 20 June 2007, and you will find it for between $15 and $20.

The official “Sparking! METEOR” website has revealed Great Ape King Vegeta as a playable character in the upcoming game:

I do not know if anyone has written about this elsewhere, but we talked about it during the recording of the next podcast episode, and I figured I would just share it with you now:

“Z-Counter”: Just before you are hit with an attack, you teleport behind your opponent and deliver a counter-attack. As long as your “Blast Gague” lasts, you can keep ping-ponging back and forth. “Budokai 3” and “Legends” players should be fairly familiar with this type of gameplay mechanic.

“Sonic Sway”: A technique that allows you to dodge an opponent’s physical attacks like a sheet of paper (think Neo in “The Matrix” bending around to avoid the bullets). This is different than the normal guard and evade, making it easier to get back into fighting stance and turn it into a counter-attack.

LaRésistance wrote in to let us know that the European art for “Sparking! METEOR” (“Budokai Tenkaichi 3”) is actually slightly different from the North American cover art: the logo/title is in a different position (down at the bottom), whereas the US art has the logo/title near the top, pushing Gohan up further. Thanks for the tidbit. If you are a French gamer, be sure to check out the website.

In other “Sparking! METEOR” news, it appears that Bobbidi and Spopovitch are indeed confirmed as playable characters via the latest “V-Jump”: