The Magic Box reports that “Famitsu” has given “Shin Budokai 2” (released as “Shin Budokai: Another Road” in the US last month) scores of 6, 5, 7, 7 (25/40). Pretty average stuff, right there. If you picked it up, hopefully you are enjoying it. There is no word yet on whether or not the JP version contains any exclusive material, but we will let you know if anything surfaces.

I stopped in to my local EB Games last night to pick up “Mario Party 8”, and grabbed one of their flyers on the way out — it looks like they are having a pretty nice sale on stuff. Check it:

If you have not grabbed “Shin Budokai: Another Road” (or just “Shin Budokai 2” as it is known in Japan), now is certainly a great time to do so. I am thinking about picking it up even though I have not gotten around to picking up a PSP itself, yet. Note that this deal does not apply to purchasing through their website — they really want to drive you into the store. You can actually pick up the first “Shin Budokai” for only $14.99 on their site, though, so that is at least something.

UPDATE: So I stopped in EB this afternoon again to grab the additional cheapo stuff. Turns out it is definitely a mis-print in the flyer. The first “Shin Budokai” is the $14.99 one ($19.99 new + 25% off), and there is no deal on “Another Road”. The ad does say they are not responsible for errors, so they are probably not going to give you the deal. Our buddy Tsukento in our chat had the grand plan to bring the ad to another place that does price-matching and see if you could convince someone to give you the deal. Go for it, and let me know how you make out.

They are also selling “Supersonic Warriors 2” for the DS for the same $14.99 price ($19.99 + 25% off) if you have not picked it up, already.

The newest commercial for the Microsoft Zune features quite an interesting little Dragon Ball Z reference:

Big thanks to everyone who has written in and posted about this one. From the sounds of it, you can check out the commercial on (at least) American television right now, especially on MTV and Cartoon Network.

Posted on our forum by Ash, we have learned that the performer of the second closing theme to Dragon Ball GT (“Don’t you see!”), and additionally the writer to the series’ opening theme (“DAN DAN Kokoro Hikarete ‘ku”), has passed away today at the age of 40.

Izumi Sakai, the singer of Japanese pop group ZARD, died of a brain contusion at a hospital in Tokyo on Sunday afternoon after falling from stairs, her office said Monday. The police are investigating whether her death was caused by an accident or suicide. She was 40.

Slightly more information can be read over on Kyodo News.

Anime News Network is reporting a story from over on ZAKZAK that a 24-year-old Japanese man has been arrested for bootlegging (and then, of course, selling) over 100 copies of Dragon Ball movies on DVD via an Internet forum.

For fans of the Japanese versions of these recent games, you will be happy to know that the official website for “Sparking! METEOR” has launched:

Atari’s formal press release announcing “Budokai Tenkaichi 3” (recently announced for Japan as “Sparking! METEOR”) states a whole lot of interesting things:

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 is in development for Wii(TM) and PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system. Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 combines the lightning fast fighting and action 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.

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 delivers an extreme 3D fighting experience, improving upon last year’s game with over 150 playable characters, enhanced fighting techniques, beautifully refined effects and shading techniques, making each character’s effects more realistic, and over 20 battle stages. In addition, an improved control system for the Wii will allow players to easily mimic signature moves and execute devastating energy attacks as they are performed in the Dragon Ball Z animated series.

“Atari is incredibly excited to offer the ultimate chapter in the Budokai Tenkaichi series with over 20 new characters that have never been seen in any other DBZ video games such as Nail, King Cold and King Vegeta and battle stages that fans will love,” said Emily Anadu, Senior Product Manager, Atari, Inc. “Each year, the developers refine the game to bring fans closer to feeling like they are actually playing the show.”

In addition to the unprecedented number of characters and improved Wii control system, the environments have also been enhanced to feature day and night stages. The power of the moon in the night stages gives players additional ways to transform their characters and lets fans recreate some of their favorite memories from the show.

Some juicy tidbits in there. We have the day/night stages (which you may remember from later “Budokai” games). We also have a confirmation on the number of characters, stages, etc. It will be interesting to see what Atari considers for characters “never” before seen in a video game; if you check out our “Rumor Guide” you will see that Atari once claimed Broli had never appeared in a DBZ game, prior to their release of the abysmal “Taiketsu”.

Shoko Nakagawa, generic Japanese otaku-idol-of-all-trades, has released an EP of anime cover songs. The first track and single off the CD is none other than the closing theme to Dragon Ball, “Romantikku Ageru Yo”. The five-track EP is entitled “Shokotan Cover ~ Anison Ni Koi Wo Shite”.

There is a special CD+DVD bundle that includes the music video for the song, which somewhat does a little homage to the original animation to the song. If you are looking to pick up the CD or CD+DVD combo, a bunch of places are carrying it. Check out the discussion over on our forum for more information and purchase links.