“We look forward to reaching out to an array of players of all ages and sharing the excitement of the group-oriented role playing card game, Blue Dragon. It is our expectation that the character designs of esteemed creator Akira Toriyama, combined with the unique game play of Blue Dragon, will create countless new fans within the card game community."

Make no mistake, Blue Dragon was an extremely proficient, well-crafted RPG. It just happens to also be so by-the-book and boring that even writing about a CCG based off of the game is putting me to sleep.

VIZ Media Licenses BLUE DRAGON Trading Card Game Rights To Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. For North America

San Francisco, CA, June 18, 2008 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry's most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, and Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. (KDE), a leading publisher of mass market video games and manufacturer of trading card games (TCG), today announced that KDE will exclusively manufacture and distribute the BLUE DRAGON Trading Card Game and Trading Card Game Accessories in North America. The agreement further extends the scope and popularity of the BLUE DRAGON franchise. VIZ Media is the master North American licensor for the television, home video and non-video game merchandising rights for BLUE DRAGON.

The BLUE DRAGON animation is based on the Xbox 360 video game Blue Dragon, developed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of “Final Fantasy”, and featuring character designs by Akira Toriyama, the creator of the best-selling DRAGON BALL series of manga (which is published in North America by VIZ Media and featured in SHONEN JUMP Magazine). The new trading card game is also based on the Xbox 360 video game.

The animated series debuted in Japan on TV Tokyo on April 7, 2007 and is produced by Studio Pierrot, which is well known for its work on NARUTO and BLEACH, also licensed by VIZ Media. The highly anticipated BLUE DRAGON animated series, rated TV Y7FV, debuted across the United States on Cartoon Network on Saturday, April 5, 2008 and now airs regularly at 9 a.m. on Saturday mornings.
The BLUE DRAGON video game and animated series is a classic adventure story of magical Shadow powers, flying air fortresses, and unbounded heroism! Brought together by fate, Seven Soldiers of Light must awaken the Shadow within themselves in time to overcome a despotic power and bring peace to their land. Their ensuing journey through a rich fantasy world is also an internal journey to awaken the great power within each of them. Journey with them into the world of BLUE DRAGON!

“Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. welcomes the opportunity to further build the popularity of the BLUE DRAGON franchise with this licensing agreement with VIZ Media and is thrilled to have the opportunity to work on its first ever role playing card game with a dynamically advancing game mechanic,” said Yumi Hoashi, Vice President, KDE’s Card Division. “We look forward to reaching out to an array of players of all ages and sharing the excitement of the group-oriented role playing card game, Blue Dragon. It is our expectation that the character designs of esteemed creator Akira Toriyama, combined with the unique game play of Blue Dragon, will create countless new fans within the card game community."

Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. is a leading developer, publisher and manufacturer of card and electronic entertainment properties. The most notable of KDE’s card genre is the wildly popular Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game, which is welcoming its 10th anniversary this year. In addition to Yu-Gi-Oh!, KDE’s other titles, although released only in Japan, include such hits as The Prince of Tennis, D. Gray-man, MÄR, Eyeshield 21 and more.

“The creative forces behind BLUE DRAGON include some of the most notable talents from the worlds of gaming, animation and manga/graphic novels,” says David Rewalt, Senior Director - Licensing and Retail Development, VIZ Media. “The continued development of BLUE DRAGON from a video game to an animated series and now a Trading Card Game demonstrates the successful convergence of all these entertainment and media genres. With established legacies in these arenas, VIZ Media and KDE will continue to develop the BLUE DRAGON brand through a variety of innovative and fun products.”

For those who aren't twelve years old, Dragon Ball Z is a long running anime series based on the manga created by Akira Toriyama, who's also responsible for art direction of Dragon Quest and Blue Dragon, among other non-dragony things. Dragon Ball also happens to be one of Atari's major revenue sources, in a time when it really, really needs the revenue.

Let's all hope for a speedy resolution, so that our nation's children can continue to enjoy more Dragon Ball goofiness.

Atari fights to keep Dragon Ball Z [Gamespot]

Also available is the "6 Treasures" pack for Mistwalker's Blue Dragon. For the low, low price of 200 Microsoft Points, you'll get a half-dozen new items that will boost your stats and give you access to new abilities. The specific details on each are after the jump.

1) "Whimsical Mind" - growth item that enhances a few randomly-picked categories by 0-4 levels

2) "Way of Thieves" - in-battle item that can steal rare items possessed by enemy creatures

3) "Devee Phonograph" - allows you to listen to the "Devee-tribe dance"

4) "Nothing Glasses" - visualizes all "nothing" points by means of a star-looking symbol (oftentimes you'll find a lot of items that contain "nothing", followed by an English-speaking narrator saying "nothing").

5) "Shuffled Helmet" - item that adjusts magical and speed parameters (Magic +40 / Speed -40). Detrimental when used by itself because the speed parameter goes down by 50 points, but when equipped along with "Shuffled Breastplate" and "Shuffled Splint", this item can quadruplicate the Magic parameters and reverse the Speed parameters. So it becomes the strongest equipment in the game. (Magic +160 / Speed +40)

6) "Spring-wind Scarf" - adjusts characters' HP and Speed parameters by 20%

There's even more digital stuff for you to pretend to own. The DLC run down is over at Major Nelson's internet house.

Marketplace Roundup for October 26, 2007 [Major Nelson]

Game Plus - Allows players to start their game over using a saved game from near the end of "Blue Dragon"
Hard game - Allows players to play at a difficulty level that is twice as high as the original
Impossible game - The ultimate in difficulty, meant to be played starting at level 50 or higher

Personally, the only thing on my "buy or die" list is Metroid Prime 3, but with Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix also hitting digital stores this week, I'm sure I'll be plenty busy.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii)
Samus is back for another first-person adventure. One of Nintendo's big three for 2007. Do want.

Lair (PS3)
Factor 5's dragon riding game may not be getting great reviews, but it sure is pretty.

Blue Dragon (Xbox 360)
Sakaguchi and Microsoft are banking hard on this easy-on-the-eyes RPG.

Warhawk (PS3)
Incognito's multiplayer-only shooter will be tearing up the network with massive online support.

Monster Hunter Freedom 2 (PSP)
It's huge in Japan. The game that sells PSPs overseas week after week.

Dynasty Warriors Gundam (PS3, Xbox 360)
The Japanese equivalent of chocolate and peanut butter.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 (PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360, Wii)
The Tiger is back and ready to tap a little white, dimpled ball around carefully manicured lawns for 2008.

Carnival Games (Wii)
Mini-games! Yay!

What are you picking up this week?

They're surely rubbing this achievement in the face of their competitors at Sony who walked away with only a Bronze Lion for the TWDA\MADRID designed PSP ad campaign "Guide Dog."

This overwhelming defeat would probably send former Advertiser of the Year Ken Kutaragi into a tizzy if he were still with the company. Michael McWhertor

Big Shadow [Canneslions Live 2007 via Gamerscore Blog]

Know: Blue Dragon is fantastic. It's a true return to form for Hironobu "The Gooch" Sakaguchi (above). Good news is, of course, that the game is getting release a multi-lingual international release. And for North Americans, all those Blue Dragon toys will also be getting proper release. At the International Licensing Show, Shodo Omatsu, President & COO, Bandai America Incorporated stated:

Bandai America will bring its extensive design and manufacturing resources to bear to develop an exciting and must-have line of toys and products to support Blue Dragon. This property extends the most exciting attributes of video gaming and anime and represents a wide range of possibilities for the development of products designed for fans of all ages.

Blue Dragon Toys Coming [Siliconera]

The ESRB is busily handing out ratings right and left and the two newest victims recipients are two highly anticipated Xbox 360 titles; the Japanese RPG, Blue Dragon and Irrational Games' art deco underwater utopia gone wrong, BioShock. Blue Dragon has received a "T" rating, causing game site 2Old2Play to speculate (and not unreasonably) that we can expect a release date for the US to be coming soon. Not surprisingly, BioShock has garnered a "M", citing "Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language" as reasons for the mature rating. In my opinion, those are all the things that make a game worth playing. Flynn De Marco

Blue Dragon And Bioshock Given ESRB Rating [2old2play]

Hey, Blue Dragon creator Hironobu Sakaguchi's gotta eat! In Japan, it's Blue Dragon the game, the manga, the anime, the capsule toy, the soundtrack CD and the trading card game. Knew about the others, but the Blue Dragon cards are a first for me. Made by Konami, they seem to be standard RPG card game fare and is probably sold at convenience stores like other Konami card games. Still, I quite enjoy the console version and might pick up a pack of these. Brian Ashcraft

Blue Dragon Card Game [Siliconera]

I can't believe I just typed beat the golden poo snake.

Anyway, Xbox360Achievements.org has a full listing of point procuring feats to be included in the game once it drops (like a golden poo snake) later this year. You go look them over while I try to purge these words from my brain. Michael Fahey

Blue Dragon Achievements [Xbox360Achievements.org - Thanks Walter!]

Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi talks up his forthcoming Xbox 360 RPG Lost Odyssey in a recent Famitsu interview. The game follows Kaim, who has been sentenced to live 1,000 years. Besides having "The Gooch" at the helm, Lost Odyssey is being scored by Blue Dragon composer Nobuo Uematsu. Microsoft even established a subsidiary studio, Feel Plus, to help Sakaguchi create the title. So, what does The Gooch say? The game is 70 percent done, load times are being reduced and the game will have a fixed camera. Realism will be provided through "camera vibration and focus effects." What's more, magic attacks will be more powerful than physical attacks, proving that the wand is stronger than the fist. Gooch also adds that the game's theme is "humanity." This will be reflected in the score, which will differ from Mistwalker's first RPG, Blue Dragon. That entire game clocked in at three DVDs. Any takers on how many DVDs Lost Odyssey will be crammed onto? Three? Four? Five? Brian Ashcraft

Lost Odyssey Details [IGN via Siliconera]

That doesn't mean The Gooch is a Microsoft fanboy, though, as he's quite critical of the company in his forthcoming EGM interview, taking shots at the MS Japan marketing department.

Fortunately for the finicky, mustachioed Mistwalker developer, one of his issues with PlayStation development will soon be moot but something tells me we'll see a Mistwalker effort on Wii before we see one on PS3. Michael McWhertor

Hironobu Sakaguchi Doesn't Like Ken Kutaragi [1UP]

What. A. Shock. Microsoft and Mistwalker are apparently in talks about another Blue Dragon game. To date, the RPG is the biggest selling Xbox 360 title in Japan. While at a press conference in Seoul to promote the Korean release, game creator Hironobu Sakaguchi says he's chatting with Microsoft to do a Blue Dragon sequel and mentions the possibility of it being an "online game." During the symposium, The Gooch stressed the importance of online for gaming's future. Whether or not the next Blue Dragon will take advantage of that, well, wait and see. Brian Ashcraft

Another Blue Dragon? [G-Para Eurogamer]

Over at Japanese website Game*Spark, reader nek5195 has sent in a lighthearted Saints Row clip that features a chubby Hironobu Sakaguchi (Blue Dragon, Final Fantasy) and the bittersweet Blue Dragon score from legendary composer Nobuo Uematsu. Thing is, the combination really, really works! Brian Ashcraft

Saints Row With The Gooch [Game*Spark]

San Francisco-based anime and manga giant VIZ Media announced that it has acquired the Blue Dragon television, home video and non-video game merchandising rights for the Americas, Europe and Oceania. Kids in Fiji, your prayers have been answered! The cartoon is based on the Xbox 360 game, which is the first time Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama and Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu have collaborated since Chrono Trigger. The anime is from the studio responsible for Naruto and is helmed by Rave Master director Yukihiro Matsushita and the character designer for Ichi the Killer: Episode 0. Lead character Shu is voiced by the same actor who does Shizune in Naruto. No word as to when the anime will hit American television screens, but it's bound to be way after the fan subs. Brian Ashcraft

Blue Dragon Anime Rights Acquired [AnimeNewsNetwork]

Here are the opening and closing credits for the Blue Dragon anime. I was kinda hoping for something along the lines of hair metal — Like in the game's battle sequences. Instead, we get "My Friend" from boy band w-inds and "Fly So High" from model-turned-actress-turned singer Yu Yamada. When I first game to Japan so many moons ago, I thought w-inds was a girl band. I was wrong, they just hadn't hit puberty yet! Brian Ashcraft

Blue Dragon Anime [Siliconera]

Ack! That sure ain't Toriyama's Blue Dragon. Rather, that's the art work of Takeshi Obata, the artist behind mega popular manga Death Note. Based off the Xbox 360 video game and written by Tsuneo Takano, Blue Dragon RalΩGrado has been making regular appearances in Weekly Shonen Jump since last December. The shirtless dude with nipple covers is mammary-loving "Ral." His blue dragon is named "Grado." The manga is now being published in book form. Hit the jump for a peek of Ral fondling a woman's jubblies. Brian Ashcraft

Blue Dragon Manga [Ota Road]

Improved localization shows one thing: The maturing of a market. In the early days of console gaming in the West, Japanese games often arrived riddled with funny English, grammar errors and misspellings. Those days are all but gone. Korea, where PC gaming rules, has recently turned an increased eye towards console gaming. Voice actor Kang Soo-jin, who voices Shu in the localized Blue Dragon, says:

Many game developers spend a lot of time and money on visual effects. But poor dubbing work can ruin the whole game.

Agreed. And in relatively new markets like Korea, it can mean the difference between a console game sale and Star Craft. Brian Ashcraft

Localization In Korea [The Korea Times]

That's right, Blue Dragon could be the last anime for Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Quest character designer. It's based off the Hironobu Sakaguchi Xbox 360 game of the same. At the recent Tokyo Anime Fair, the animator said:

The offer to direct an animated version of Blue Dragon came in February of last year. Studio Pierrot approached me regarding it. I knew that Sakaguchi had been working on assembling staff to produce a game, although at the time Blue Dragon hadn't yet been formally announced. According to the materials, it was to be a fantasy world like "Lord of the Rings", with a detailed world view and story.

This may be my final anime, I'm a little worried (about it). There's incredible pressure, but at the same time, there's a sense of accomplishment — that it's worth doing. Blue Dragon will be a masterpiece, not simply because I'm working hard on it, but because the staff is expecting nothing less.

Blue Dragon begins airing on TV Tokyo on April 7th. Increased Xbox 360 console sales to follow. Brian Ashcraft

Blue Dragon Is the End for Toriyama [AnimeNewsNetwork]

Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi and his mustache sat down with GameSpot during GDC and dished out a refreshingly honest interview. Sure, Sakaguchi does say that Final Fantasy should come to the Xbox 360 — Sadly, his opinion doesn't matter anymore! He does mention that he dislikes Wii Sports, that he's interested in making a shooter like Gears of War and that he doesn't have an HD TV at home (wha?), the real fireworks are when he lays into Microsoft, who have funded two of his games: Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey. So what does Sakaguchi think the reason that Microsoft hasn't had success in Japan?

Japanese marketing guys are not so good. Marketing is important, most important. Just to give you an example...the "jump in" statement, right? Jump in...the tagline. Nobody can understand it or knows what "jump in" means. So it has to be localized to cater to the audience in Japan, to get them to understand what that's about. So paying particular attention to [the marketing]—not just bring everything as is over to Japan—it's not going to do any good. You have to really think about the market, market needs and demands, and then really tailor it to that audience... If you say "jump in" in Japanese. Jump in. It's not so cool in Japanese... "Do, do, do" is not so good either... Yeah, the localization [for Gears] is good, but the marketing is too bad...too bad... Nobody knows about Gears of War.

That's not Sakaguchi talking, Microsoft Japan. It's his 'stache. Brian Ashcraft

Sakaguchi Talks About Stuff [GameSpot, Thanks Andrew!]

Sakaguchi walked us through one of Blue Dragon's boss fights, a mainly hands-off experience, plus one of the three on-rails shooter segments. The Blue Dragon North American release looks like it will be happening this August, with three separate pieces of downloadable content, described as "huge", released over a three to four month time period after launch. English voices were in place, but players who prefer Japanese dialogue are in luck—we were told that the original voiceover work will remain intact as an option for the US release.

The Final Fantasy creater then moved on to his more Western tailored RPG Lost Odyssey, previously demoed at the Tokyo Game Show.

While Sakaguchi prefaced his non-interactive demo with a warning about the early state of the game's lighting, the Unreal Engine 3-powered game still looked gorgeous. According to Sakaguchi, Mistwalker is "working to produce a level of graphics greater than Gears of War." Are they successful? I'll stand by a firm "umm maybe?"

We were shown an extended real-time cutscene, one that involved the male lead, Kaim Argonar, and his female compatriot meeting with their newest partner who just happens to be a womanizing drunkard. The animation and lip-synching was mostly spot on in the early demo. Sakaguchi let us know that the game would be originally voiced and synched in English, with a Japanese dub or subtitle treatment to follow for Lost Odyssey's native release.

Beyond Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey and the upcoming Nintendo DS RTS title A.S.H. (Archaic Sealed Heat), Hironobu wouldn't say what else he was working on. Sadly, Sakaguchi declined to answer my request for a Rad Racer III. Michael McWhertor

Tara Strong, who voiced Rikku in Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2 and Kingdom Hearts II (also Raven of Teen Titans and Rugrats' Dil Pickles) talks about her current gig: Blue Dragon's Kluke. She says:

I am working on that game right now. It its a HUGE undertaking. There is tons of dialogue. It is an extremely tedious job ... but I believe the fans will see it was worth every moment.

If you think localizing it is tedious, try grinding through the game's second disc. Brian Ashcraft

Interview With Tara Strong [Square Haven via Anime News Network]

And the anime looks *just* like the game! Earlier, we posted that the Blue Dragon anime was dated for April. The exact date and time has been se: Starting on Saturday April 7th, the Blue Dragon anime will be broadcasted weekly on TV Tokyo at 9:00. Get out those crayons and mark your calendars. Brian Ashcraft

Blue Dragon Anime [Famitsu]

So, in summary, an anime produced by the Bleach and Naruto company based off an RPG by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi with character designs by Dragon Ball's Akira Toriyama and music by Nobuo Umematsu. Somewhere an otaku just exploded. Michael Fahey

Blue Dragon anime dated

The first download Mistwalker is releasing for Japan's Xbox Live Market place is called "Strong New Game," which offers an item called "Super Hard Chip." After clearing the game, it lets players restart the game with all their old stats. The name for this is "new plus." Yeah, I know. Speaking of new, there are some new game difficulty settings as well: Hard and Super. Download is available in Japan tomorrow night at 8pm for free. Yes, the nice price! Brian Ashcraft

Blue Dragons Downloads Are Totally Free [Game Watch]

You've got a big, expensive game and you want to squeeze every last yen out of it. What do you do? Hit up the nicotine and caffeine fiends! And thus, we bring you the limited-edition Blue Dragon Zippo lighter, the Blue Dragon coffee mugs and the Blue Dragon t-shirt were born. The titanium-coated lighter has been etched with a laser and is priced at 10,500 yen (US $87). The mug set features the main characters and goes for 3,360 yen ($28). And the silhouette shirt goes for 4,200 yen ($35). Goodies drop this Spring, but pre-orders at being taken now at online retailer LaLaBit Market. So hurry. Oh, did I mention it's Japan only? Well, it's Japan only. Brian Ashcraft

Blue Dragon Products [LaLaBit Market via Game Watch Impress]

Game site Gamasutra has an opinion piece up looking at Microsoft's Japan plight. It's no secret that the 360 Japan launch was a giant disaster, and it's been an uphill fight since then. However, things are looking up. Slightly. Gears of War recently broke the country's top ten sales chart. And with games like Dead Rising, Blue Dragon and THE IDOLM@STER, there are a couple titles to suit domestic tastes. John Ricciardi, COO and creative director of localization company 8-4, Ltd. and I talked about this in an opinion piece up over at Gamasutra. His insights I found particularly interesting, especially this:

It's gonna take a lot, lot more than two or three high-profile titles from Mistwalker to affect the perceptions of the 360 in Japan.

Microsoft's problems over here run deep—their situation isn't something that can be changed overnight or even in six months. The entire way they approach the Japanese market needs sweeping changes before any real progress can be made.

Definitely worth checking out. Brian Ashcraft

Microsoft's Japan Fight [Gamasutra via Slashdot]

Oh Japan and its card games. At the recent TOY FORUM 2007, a Blue Dragon trading card game was announced for this Spring. The card game with be RPG-esque, and the design will faithfully reproduce the game's world. This looks to be more from the Mistwalker/Shueishya (publisher of JUMP) end of things as opposed to the Mistwalker/Microsoft. The trading card game will be released in Japan on April 21st, which will correspond to the animated Blue Dragon cartoon starting that month on TV Tokyo as well. Brian Ashcraft

Trading Card RPG [Dengeki Online]

And not by that much, too! Famitsu has passed out its Japanese industry awards to individuals who had the biggest impact last year. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata came in first with 201 votes, followed by Sony's Ken Kutaragi with 181 votes. In next, Blue Dragon creator Hironobu Sakaguchi received 126 votes. Nintendo's resident genius Shigeru Miyamoto and Metal Gear mastermind Hideo Kojima rounded out the top five with 41 and 33 votes respectively. Sure, laugh at Kutaragi, but he is a force to be reckoned with in gaming. (A kooky, bat-shit insane one, but a force nonetheless!) Brian Ashcraft

Industry Honchos Awarded [Joystiq]

The full Media Create sales charts have gone live, which includes hardware sales and the top 50 games sold in Japan for the week of December 11th - 17th. First let's take a look at the important hardware sales.

- Nintendo DS - 319,708
- Wii - 108,237
- PlayStation 3 - 70,942
- PSP - 48,962
- PlayStation 2 - 37,730
- Xbox 360 - 17,168

Almost 320,000 Nintendo DS units sold in one week? Amazing. It also appears that Blue Dragon sales are helping the Xbox 360 find its way into more Japanese households (it generally sells somewhere between one- and three-thousand units weekly).

The expanded chart also shows where The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Blue Dragon landed after falling out of the top 30. The former hangs on at spot #33 while Blue Dragon slides down to spot #46.

Despite healthy sales of the PlayStation 3, only two games appear within the top 50, with the newly released Motorstorm checking in at #35 and Ridge Racer 7 barely squeaking in at #49. Michael McWhertor

Zelda, Blue Dragon Fall Off Japanese Sales Charts [Kotaku]

Here are the top 10 from Media Create.

1. Pok mon Diamond (DS) - 123,573 / 2,119,848
2. Pok mon Pearl (DS) - 97,409 / 1,766,776
3. Kirby Squeak Squad (DS) - 92,173 / 557,634
4. Fushigi no Dungeon: Furai no Shiren (DS) - 88,242 / new
5. New Super Mario Bros. (DS) - 77,761 / 3,617,021
6. Love and Berry DS Collection (DS) - 72,841 / 608,545
7. Jump Ultimate Stars (DS) - 71,339 / 349,979
8. Wild Arms 4 (PS2) - 70,476 / new
9. Wii Sports (Wii) - 69,923 / 318,473
10. Pokemon Battle Revolution (Wii) - 67,607 / new

Hit the jump for the next ten, to see which DS non-games are still kicking sales ass.

11. Common Knowledge Training (DS)
12. Wii Play (Wii)
13. Animal Crossing Wild World (DS)
14. Yakuza 2 (PS2)
15. Healthy Support Recipe 1000 DS (DS)
16. Puyo Puyo! (DS)
17. Gundam SEED Destiny Federation vs Z.A.F.T. II PLUS (PS2)
18. More Brain Age (DS)
19. Naruto Shinobi Retsuden (DS)
20. Ryuusei no Rockman Pegasus (DS)

So, does no Zelda Twilight Princess and Blue Dragon in the top 20 (or 30) spell doom and gloom for Nintendo and Microsoft? Not necessarily. The top 30 represent some very high volume sales and while some games may not be burning up the charts, they can still sell at a fairly good clip. Michael McWhertor

More Media Create Sales

• 5. Wii Sports
• 4. Okami
• 3. Blue Dragon
• 2. Dead Rising
• 1. Rhythm Tengoku

What's yours? Brian Ashcraft

Best Games Out In Japan [Next-Gen]

KOTAKU: So, how important is Blue Dragon for the 360's success in Japan?

HEES KYUNG: We believe that Blue Dragon will be a key driver in console adoption and establishing more credibility in Japan, and this gives us an ability to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to the market and our partners. RPGs are adored in Japan, and we hope that our efforts to create culturally-relevant content continues to pave the way for our partners to build more trust in our ability to offer great content to Japanese consumers.

K: Sure, RPGs are adored, but what's Blue Dragon's appeal?

HK: Blue Dragon has a tremendous appeal to gamers around the world who want to experience a true, next-gen RPG. The game offers a unique battle system never before seen with the use of "shadows" and a deep, compelling storyline. Japanese consumers have strong affinity toward the art style of Akira Toriyama, but a uniquely compelling visual resulting from the perfect combination of realistic environments and anime-style characters warrants the wide acceptance of gaming enthusiasts from all over the world.

K: And with the game reaching #2 on Famitsu's Most Wanted list, there seems to be great interest in the title. It seems like it is reaching that wider audience. What's the mood there regarding this?

HK: We are totally stoked about the news! This is a clear indication that despite the challenges associated with being in a genre occupied by well-established franchises, we can expect Blue Dragon to drive blockbuster-level excitement in Japan.

K: There has been a lot of focus on how the 360 is doing in Japan. Why? I mean, is Japan really that important?

HK: We are committed to Japan for the long run, and titles like Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey from Hironobu Sakaguchi are important in our efforts to establish credibility around Xbox 360 in the market. This has helped us to receive overwhelming support from third-party publishers that are willing to develop more games for our platform to be successful not only in Japan, but also in the US and the rest of the world. Words can't describe how serious we are about Japan, but I think Japan plays an important role in helping us to be the market leader worldwide.

K: So then, what is Microsoft's goal for Japan?

HK: Continue to deliver great games for Xbox 360!

K: But with two new, domestic consoles just launched here in the region, do you still think there's a chance for the 360 to gain lost ground?

HK: Microsoft provides a choice for our consumers. For example, this holiday season we'll have nearly 110 games for Xbox 360 in Japan, many of which have great online features. This is in addition to Xbox Live and many accessories that enhance the gaming experience, and if consumers want to jump into HD-DVD, we have that as well. So at the end of the day, when consumers think about which console to buy in order to get the most value and variety of offerings, we hope their choice is Xbox 360.

K: In closing, you're the Global Product Manager. What's the big picture?

HK: While the expectation is that Blue Dragon will become a key platform driver in Japan and Asia, we have to keep in mind that games like Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey will contribute to the growth and diversification of the Microsoft Game Studios portfolio, and this has a significant bearing in the West. In many ways, Blue Dragon sets the bar for next-gen RPGs, and we hope expand this title beyond Japan to let many RPG enthusiasts around the world experience one of the most anticipated RPGs of 2007.

We all know Blue Dragon for the Xbox 360 shifted a respectable 80,000-plus units during launch week, but were gamers really lining up for it in droves? Nah. Ashcraft's non-scientific sample showed that most Japanese gamers were there for either the umpteenth Gundam release or Yakuza 2. Looks like the Media Create sales pretty much prove it.

Here are the top ten selling titles in Japan for October 4th through the 10th.

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny: Federation vs. Z.A.F.T. II Plus (PS2) - 337,559 / new
Yakuza 2 (PS2) - 274,822 / new
Pokemon Diamond (DS) - 98,859 / 1,996,275
Blue Dragon (Xbox 360) - 80,348 / new
Pokemon Pearl (DS) - 75,206 / 1,669,367
Wii Sports (Wii) - 72,382 / 248,549
Kirby Squeak Squad (DS) - 66,421 / 465,462
Wii Play (Wii) - 62,863 / 237,160
Jump Ultimate Stars (DS) - 62,068 / 278,640
Common Knowledge Training (DS) - 55,208 / 720,752

Hit the jump for the next ten, to see where Zelda for the Wii wound up.

Love and Berry DS Collection (DS)
New Super Mario Brothers (DS)
Momotarou Dentetsu 16 (PS2)
Healthy Support Recipe 1000 DS (DS)
Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS)
More Brain Age (DS)
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)
Tales of Destiny (PS2)
Yakuza (The Best) (PS2)
Final Fantasy VI Advance (GBA)

Another week, another impressive showing for the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation 2. Pretty astounding drop off for Zelda as well, which I assume is mostly related to the amazingly strong first week sales. And Love and Berry just keeps on keepin' on! Michael McWhertor

More Media Create Sales