So after wasting 45 minutes on DBZ last night (and really, what else can getting to the end of a 10 opponent, two round Time Trial and just failing be called?) and being really pissed off, my wife told me to play something that I’d enjoy to make myself feel less awful.

So I played Infinite Undiscovery.

I don’t really understand it myself; after logging over 10 hours into the game already (even though I’d played more than double that – stupidly not remembering to save bull shit) and getting half way through the second disc, I can quite honestly say that I’m not a fan of the game. It’s good enough for a KRPG, and a console-based one at that, but it is remarkably average. The localization is terrible, with bad acting and almost no lipsyncing, not to mention the overly exaggerated stereotypical characters, and the story is more or less what you’d expect from an RPG; stop the bad guy from ruling the world.

Now that’s not to say that the story isn’t good. Some asshole has built a bunch of towers and chained the mood in the sky. Yeah, the guy has literally stopped the moon from orbiting the planet. That’s pretty kick-ass, whether you like the genre or not. You flit around the country with your group of friends who all have one or two unique abilities that no other person on the planet has, and you try to destroy the chains and kill the bad guy. Again, pretty standard, but that’s why you play these games in the first place, so I’m not acutally complaining.

Now, the thing is, when I first started to play this game, I didn’t approach it with the right mindset. I just wanted to play through, get the Achievements, and move on. That’s why it took me so bloodly long to get anywhere, and why I couldn’t beat any boss without dying at least once. So I deleted my save game and started fresh.

This time, I’m taking the time to level up, get all the new weapons and armor, and generally take my time. And in the two hours that I played last night, I didn’t die once, and I’ve done remarkably better in every aspect. I’ve actually approached this game like I should’ve from the beginning, and I’m playing it right. And you know what?

I’m starting to like this game.

I don’t know what it is, but for some reason I did enjoy myself, and I’m looking forward to playing some more. Maybe this time I’ll actually play around with the item creation system, and take the time to buy all my characters the latest armor and weapons before heading out to the next town, which will, simply be merit of the idea, act as level grinding, which is always a good thing in an RPG. And I’ll probably end up doing some side quests as well – fancy that!

I can pinpoint the problem now; Achievements. That’s all I was thinking about when I started; how good it would feel to prove to my peers that I was able to do so much in this game when so many of them quit before the end of the first disc. To that end I ran through the game with only the items I picked up from chests and dead monsters, completely ignoring every rule and strategy I learned from the Final Fantasy games, and others like them. What was I thinking?

But now I’m doing it right, and despite the fact that it will most likely take me closer to two weeks before I’m caught up and able to move on with the story, it’ll be a good journey, because I’ll have traveled properly this time.

In case you haven’t figures it out, IU will be the game I play the most in the coming weeks. I want to at least beat the game on Normal before switching out, although the occasional break is warranted. I’ll have to do more than just beat the game once to hit 50%, but that’s a concern I’m going to hold off on for now, and just concentrate on beating the game. I’d like to know what happens, after all the time I spent being frustrated with the game.

It just occurred to me, as I realized how the title of this post is not as representative as it could be, that I blog organically; basically, I start with one idea and just let my thoughts show themselves and write as it all comes out. I could make a dozen revisions and change the title and have something a lot more cohesive, more oriented, but I like the idea of having a shifting persepctive in a blog entry. It kind of acts as a humanizing factor, or some crazy bullshit that people come up with to sound smart. I’m not just relaying information, I’m having a one-sided conversation with myself, and instead of editing for viewer’s ease, I’m containing the purity of thought by ignoring that Backspace key (except for spelling mistakes, obviously). I feel good about it.

Anyways, IU tonight, maybe not for the whole night, but definitely a chunk. I’m interested to see how I do, now that the first chain has been destroyed, I have a larger party, and everything is going get a lot more complicated.

Now, if we’re talking about my overall GamerScore, it’s been over 9,000 for well over a year now. It’s currently at 21,803, to be exact. And while this is no mean feat for such as myself, there are people well over 100,000GS, so I’m not going to brag too much.

On the other hand, if we’re talking about my GamerScore in Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit… 280GS is, surprisingly enough, very, very good. You see, for this game, so many of the Achievements are fucking insane. Getting 50% on this game is going to be harder than Infinite Undiscovery will be, of that I assure you. I’ve already beaten the game and done myriad other tasks, have gotten well over half of the Achievements, and I’m still only at 28% GamerScore. What. The. Fuck?

There are three Achievements that are each worth 100GS. That’s 30% of the total from three Achievements. And those are the three that will take the longest to get, no doubt about it. I don’t even want to try to explain the amount of work it’ll take.

So here’s what I’ll have to do in order to put this game back on the shelf (and maybe even sell), and it’s not pretty. If I manage to beat all the fights on Normal difficulty while getting a Z ranking (basically it means perfect technique, although there is some leeway) I’ll get four Achievements of 35GS for a total of 140GS. That’s 14% added to my current 28%, leaving me with 42%. I will be getting these four for sure, or at least I’ll be attempting these first and then moving on to other things.

So where I am going to get that last 80GS? Well, there are a few ways I can go about it. Perhaps the easiest thing to do is to complete some more of the Trials. Specifically, Time Attack Trials B/C and Score Attack Trials B/C (I’ve already done the A Trials for both types).  Each of the remaining trials has an Achievement for beating all ten fights (each with two rounds) for 5GS each. So, 2% closer to the goal, if I beat all four. The other thing to do is collect Drama Pieces.

Now, I think that Drama Pieces are a waste of coding. It was a horrible idea and I cringe a little bit each time the battle is interrupted by the same shit I’ve already seen a few hundred times. That’s why I always turn DP off when playing multiplayer. However, collecting ALL Drama Pieces will net be a total of 5 Achievements and 105GS, or 11%. That’s more than enough to make us the 80GS I’ll be missing after beating Normal with Z ranks, and if I mix it up with some of the Trials, I’ll only need to get two or three DP-related Achievements.

The final way I can (feasibly) get the last few percentage points is to attempt the Survival Trial (Default/Custom). I’ve played them both at least once, (getting the two 5GS Achievements for doing so) and I can tell you I’m not looking forward to trying to defeat all 100 enemies. Each type of Trial has an Achievement for beating 50 opponents, worth 35GS, and one for beating all of them, for 100GS. That’s two of the three 100GS Achievements, and I’ll tell you right now I won’t be able to do it. And no, I’m not being self-depreciating, I’m being realistic regarding my skills at this game related to the inherent difficulty. That leaves the two 50 kill marks. If I get them both, that’s 70GS in my pocket, a.k.a. 7%. Getting just one of them will (thanks to rounding) give me 4%, so it’s worth it to try. I got to the 22nd battle in the Default Trial, so it’s not completely ridiculous to say that I might be able to get one, and maybe in after hours of hard work and frustration get them both.

Now, in the off chance that I get all of the Achievements I know I have a chance at, I’ll be at a GamerScore of 620. That’s more that the 50% I need, but at that point I think I’ll be able to get rid of this game and be okay with it. Of course, by that point the next game will have been released and I’ll have to start all over again. I really don’t know how I manage to talk myself into buying more and more Dragon Ball Z games, but I love the show, so it’s like a bad, bad habit.

Which reminds me, I really need to finish Season Six so I can start Season Seven.

To catch up on the other stuff, I played Rock Band 2 last night and got the Flawless Guitar Solo Achievement. 20GS, bringing that game up to 285, which, coincidently enough, is only 5GS above DBZ. Fancy that?

What’ll I be doing tonight? Well, aside from moving furniture and possibly painting the kitchen, I’ll probably end up playing some…geez, I don’t know.  Logically, seeing as DBZ is currently in the console and I’ve made some progress, I should keep playing it. Even if I don’t get any Achievements, at the very least I can make more progress towards getting Z ranks on Normal in the Saian Saga. There are only seven fights left, so it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility to say that I can get that nice little Achievement within a couple days. There are still 13 other games in my list, though, including RB2, in which I could get Achievements a lot easier, but I’m feeling in the mood, as it were. If I can prove myself in this game, where so many others have failed?

Well that’d be one good feeling, don’t you think?

Whoo-boy, it’s a big one today, folks.

Like always, the first thing I talk about is the previous night’s gaming. I started with Rock Band 2, and finally grabbed myself that Flawless Groove Achievement, after playing Charlene (I’m Right Behind You) by Stephen and the Colberts. It’s only a minute long, if that, so it was an easy 25GS to grab. After that I plugged in Mass Effect, and without even trying got the Rich Achievement at the end of my session. I’ve been trying to get the Ally Achievements (Ashley and Liara, specifically) but this was still a nice surprise.

And now for something a little more expansive.

Quite some time ago I fulfilled my goal to get 50% completion for my total GamerScore. I’ve since fluctuated a little bit, including getting a lot of new games in a row, but I’ve settled down to a nice 60% or thereabouts total completion. Now I’m concentrating on getting each game to 50%, and let me tell you, this is going to be one hell of a long ride.

Here are my current percentages:

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed – 46%

Gears of War 2 – 45%

Grand Theft Auto IV – 44%

Call of Duty 4 – 43%

Rock Band – 40%

Gear of War – 40%

Dead Rising – 36%

Halo 3: ODST – 34%

Infinite Undiscovery – 31%

Marvel vs. Capcom 2 – 30%

DragonBall Z: Burst Limit – 28%

Guitar Hero III – 26%

Rock Band 2 – 20%

Forza Motorsport 2 – 19%

So as you can see, I’ve got quite a bit of work ahead of me. The easy ones to do are obviously ODST and…well…okay only ODST. I can hit 50% just by beating the game on Normal (and actually getting credit for Data Hive this time…grrrr) and two of the little 5GS Achievements that litter the game – probably Dome Inspector & Pink and Deadly, although there are several others to choose from. That will put me on 50% exactly (an increase of 160GS to the 340Gs that’s already sitting there) which will put one more game off the list, which is always a good thing.

The next ’set’ of easy games would probably have to be CoD4, Rock Band 1/2, and Gears of War. I don’t actually have a copy of CoD4 anymore, so that’s unfortunately going to be out of bounds for a while. I only put in RB 1/2 because the Achievements that will give my 50% are all gainable by playing solo, so it’s just a matter of finding the time to complete the Vocal Tour in 1, and getting all the little things in 2 that will add up to 300GS. It’ll end up being stuff like ‘get 1,000,000 fans’ and ‘get a jet’, so while it’ll take a couple days at least, it’ll be fun, and it’ll be progress. Gears of War is another one of those time-consuming games, as I’ll most likely be going for the DLC Achievements that I haven’t yet found the time to get. Either those or finishing the Capaign on Insane, although I am playing solo, so who knows how that will go? I still have acts 3, 4, & 5 to finish, which means that Lambent are just starting to appear. Ugh.

The third difficulty ’set’ in this case will probably revolve around Dead Rising, Gears of War 2, and The Force Unleashed. With DR it’s all about the zombies; if I can survive long enough, then I can beat the game, and that is at least 2% done, just for surviving for 72 hours. Hopefully I’ll also not make the mistake of going into the grocery store while fighting Isabel on the motorcycle, which ends any chance of getting the true ending. I’ll be trying as well for getting survivors out of the mall, with a minimum goal of 10 for the respective Achievement, and trying for things like photgraphing psychos. Realistically I could go for In/Outdoorsman for a nice 40GS, but that’s a lot of time not really doing anything conducive, as I can’t get both as well as move along the plot, so there are at least two playthroughs still to go. With GoW2, it becomes even harder. While it is true that I can get 75GS for beating the story on Hard, and another 150GS on top of that for playing on Insane, we run into the same problem as with the first game – Im’ not that good. It’ll take far too long to get the Achievement that way, which means I’m stuck with online Achievements in Horde, Submission, etc. While the effects are more immediate, and I’ll get more Achievements out of it, my GamerScore will increase slowly while I could be getting one larger chunk. Either way I’m looking at difficult Achievements that’ll take a long time to get. As for Star Wars, as long as I get all the Holocrons, I’m good, but that still requires that I play through the entire game to get them all, and I’m not exaclty looking forward to it.

Talking about a long time, we come to the fourth ’set’, which has Forza Motorsport 2, DragonBall Z: Burst Limit, and Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes. FM2, being a racing simulator, means that there will be a lot of time spent not gaining any Achievements, with the intervals between each one being longer and longer than before. Getting Gold on all race types in all nine remaining race sets will take an abnormally long amount of time, but thankfully I’ll have level gaining Achievements (30, 40, & 50) to keep me company, as well as buying all the cars from certain countries. It all comes down to getting enough money from each race, and knowing when to buy what cars with the discount I have at that time. There are too many races that I don’t have the required car for, so there’ll be a lot of wasted money in the long run, although there are plenty of ‘get this amount of this type of car’ Achievements that I’ll be making progress towards. And I have that handy Car Tracker document to keep track. It’ll make everything a little less arduous. DBZ is something else entirely. Being a fighting game, and one with really stupid Achievements, means that I hate it. I love the older DBZ games, but this one is a disgrace. I’ll be trying to get Z rank on all Normal difficulty battles, as well as unlocking all the Drama Pieces. It’s good that there’s a reliable guide on the internet, otherwise i’d be swamped. Getting all the Achievements should bring me to the half-way mark, but if it doesn’t there are a select few other Achievements that I could conceivably get, although I doubt they’ll be any easier. The same thing goes for MvC2. I have to beat the game with certain teams, without continuing, or any characters dying, or some such stupid requirement. Either that or play a shitload of online games against people far better than me and hope to God I get enough snapbacks to grab that extra 20GS to help me out. I only need 40GS to get my 50%, and I can do it with two Achievements if I get really insanely lucky.

Guitar Hero III and GTA IV have the fifth set all to themselves, and that’s probably not a very good comparison. I can get a lot of the GHIII Achievements if I find myself a good guitarist to play co-op with me; I have a couple people in mind, so it really just lands on whether they’re willing to play through the co-op campaign four times with me to get what I need from them, not to mention all the Quicklpay we’d have to do. I’m not looking forward to the amount of time I’ll need to spend no this game, so I’ll probably end up dragging it out as long as possible to numb the pain. GTA IV is considerably easier, but most of it is scouring the three islands for all the pigeons, Steve’s cars, and random friends, not to mention making everybody like me and the sundry other things I still have to do. Which reminds me, I don’t have all the stunt jumps on this file. Curses! (I don’t know why I said that, honestly I don’t.) If I can get 100% then I’ll have more than jumped past the 50% mark, as I’m guaranteed 70GS simply by going for the Key to the City Achievement, which gives 100GS as well. The other (and much easier) option is to wait for the Episodes from Liberty City disc to come out, as there’s plent of easy Achievements in there that will do just as good. Unfortunately, I have a vendetta against those damn pigeons, so that’ll be haunting me until I find them all, whether I like it or not.

And finally we come to Infinite Undiscovery. In a moment of anger and weakness, I deleted my save, so I’ll have to do it all over again. And I was so close to the end…this time I’ll be level grinding my ass off, making sure that I won’t die in every single gawdamned boss battle that shows up which will allow me to actually have fun. I won’t try for any Achievements in this playthrough, as I have most of the hard one already, and it will all just be review. Beating the game gives me roughly 100GS (a little less, I think), but it will also unlock Hard difficulty, and there are other Achievements that I’ll be getting in that run through, including beating the Seraphic Gate, so I should hit 50% sometime through the second (okay, third) playthrough. I should keep playing after that and get as far as I can (by which I mean beat the game and unlock the last difficulty) and then take a break, but I just know I’ll be absolutely sick of the game by then.

Now, I bet you’re thinking, what order am I going to play these in? Well, it goes like this. On www.mygamercard.net (which you should totally join if you have an XBOX Live Gamercard) I have put in less overall effort into getting Achievements in Rock Band 2 and ODST. I need 30GS in RB2 and 120GS in ODST, so I’ll play those first. My beating ODST I’ll get 150GS, and any two others will get me the last 10GS I’ll need to 50%, so that’ll be nice and easy. The 25GS from RB2 will be a sinch, as I’ll get 20GS for winning the Jet, which will enable me to go to Europe to rock out, and open up the chance to get at least three more Achievements simply for playing in a venue on the other side of the world. All in all, two very easy games to get over the effort bar, as it were.

From there, I don’t know what I’ll play. I’d like to do some easy stuff first, but there’s always the whole, ‘I want to complete to 100% five Arcade games’ of which I’ve only done three. The choices are obvious if you’ve looked at my profile, but I’m not going to say any of them right now. Just know that MvC2 will definitely not be on that list.

Oh what the hell, the options are MvC2, Banjo-Tooie, Shadow Complex, Hexic HD, Wallace & Gromit, and Castle Crashers. I don’t know who will be the two I complete, although I’m reasonably sure that Shadow Complex will stand high in the list, as there are two somewhat easy tasks left to do. That’s something for another day, though, as I’m exhausted just from thinking of all this. Thankfully I’ll have all weekend to figure out what I’m going to do, as well as continue working on all of these games. I am officially not touching any of my over-50% games, except for Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, which I play with some buddies online, usually every Friday, although not tonight for reasons that I won’t go into here, and LEGO Batman, which I play with the wife. Point is, the battle for 50% has begun, and I am not looking forward to the amount of time I’ll be wasting.

One last thing, and I really mean it: my goal to get 30,000GS by October 2nd, 2010. I made it official on September 20th, when I had 19,993GS. Right now I’m 16.4% towards my goal, with a total GS of 21,638. I’m 6.63% through the time frame, so there’s plenty of time left, and I’m officially ahead of the game. I need to gain 23.8GS each day for the next 351 days to get my goal (according to www.trueachievements.com) so as long as I’m getting more than that each day, I’ll have plenty of time to waste on games like Infinite Undiscovery and DBZ, which are sure to be time sucks.

That’s it, see you on Monday!

Christmas has come and gone, the year is now 2009, and I’m due for a post.

On Friday, December 19, Rachel and I started our ~718 mile drive from small-town Searcy, AR to Lancaster, OH, home of the Cochran clan.  The drive was split into two days, staying in Nashville the first night and finish the trip on Saturday.  We had a nice visit especially since Abby got to see her great-grandma Jean, great-aunt Lana, and great-uncle Jeff for the first time (although Abby seemed to cry every time Grandma Jean held her).  We had a good time playing games with Mom and Dad, Candy and Nate (her boyfriend).  Then we had the ~614 mile drive from Lancaster to Memphis, TN.  We did that in one day.  It was long.

We arrived in Memphis on the 24th and had Christmas the next day.  The day was bittersweet with a phone call around 11am telling us that Papaw had passed away.  Randy left for Searcy after lunch and I followed later that evening so I could get all the big toys home that Abby had gotten for Christmas.  The next few days were filled with family coming from all over, visitation, and a funeral.  The service was a good celebration of Papaw’s life and the legacy he left with his family.  He is at peace and with God; better than I can say for the rest of us.

During this time Abby had an ear infection and now she has bronchitis.  I had a bad virus that gave me terrible coughing fits, sneezing and congestion.  Just yesterday I regained my sense of taste.  Rachel also has gotten some congestion and coughing, but I think  she lucked out more than Abby and me.  Because of my intense sickness, Rachel had to go to a New Years party in Memphis without me.  I was sad to miss it, but it was nice having a quit house (and to mess with all my new presents unmolested).

Now it’s back to normal: wake up, work, dinner/chores/Abby/Rachel, game, sleep.  The break was good, but I like to have my structure back.

Casey out.

Christmas Loots: Brisingr, Cars, The Dark Knight, Dragonball Z Burst Limit (XBOX 360), Fallout 3 (PC), The Forbidden Kingdom, Gremlins, Hail to the Thief and Kid A by Radiohead, iTunes Gift Card, JC Penny Gift Card, Logitech X-540 Computer Speakers, Mass Effect (PC), Ranger’s Apprentice: Battle for Skandia, The Sandlot, XBOX Live 13-month subscription, You Are My Sunshine by Copeland

Edit: I was amiss in forgetting to put my National Geographic subscription from Rachel.  Sorry.

About

Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Director: James Wong
Budget: $100 million
Release Date: April 10th 2009 in North America, March 13th 2009 in Japan
Filming Locations: Mexico City, Durango, Los Angeles
Status: Post Production

While Fox is keeping most information tightly under wraps, we have compiled a list of frequently asked questions that will be updated constantly with new and updated information.

Frequently Asked Questions
- How did this happen?
- Why not Dragonball Z?
- Why is Justin Chatwin Goku?
- Why will Goku be attending high school?
- Will there be sequels?
- Will there be a lot of CGI? What kind of hair will be used?
- What is Piccolo like in this adaptation?
- Who will be scoring Dragonball?
- Will there be humor?
- What will the fighting be like?
- Why did Fox move the release date? What is the release date?
- When will Fox start promoting the movie?
- When will the trailer be released? NEW

Q – How did this happen?
A – 20th Century Fox went to Japan to buy the rights for a Dragonball movie in 2002. Since then, very little progress was done on the movie until recently. Regardless, fans were very excited and fake posters and manips began to appear soon after the movie rights were acquired. In 2004, Fox hired Ben Ramsey (The Big Hit) to write the screenplay. After many reports on the movie being cancelled, finally in 2007 we were given some credible information.

Canada.com reported that 20th Century Fox had planned on filming the Dragonball movie in Montreal via green screen, much like the movie “300.” Soon after, 20th Century Fox issued a press release, confirming the director, producer, and stunt company.

Press Release: 20th Century Fox Films
…
The manga, novels and series bring to the film a rich mythology and exciting, complex characters – all of which have captivated millions of fans, of all ages, around the globe. One of the greatest manga franchises ever created, DRAGONBALL has an enormous online fanbase and is consistently one of the most frequently searched-for terms on Google and Yahoo! DRAGONBALL has exploded into a global phenomenon that has generated more than four billion dollars in merchandising sales. It is considered the gold standard of anime-based video games, with more than 25 different games and over ten million units sold since May 2002. The series – 500 episodes strong – posted top ratings in Europe, Asia and the U.S.

Rising star Justin Chatwin, who portrayed Tom Cruise’s son in Steven Spielberg’s WAR OF THE WORLDS, takes on the lead role of the heroic Goku, a powerful warrior who protects the Earth from an endless stream of rogues bent on dominating the Universe and controlling the mystical objects from which the film takes its name.

Chatwin has already begun a rigorous training regimen under the auspices of the premier stunt performance company, 87Eleven, which has executed or designed some of the biggest action pieces ever seen on film, in pictures such as THE MATRIX, THE BOURNE SUPREMACY, MR. & MRS. SMITH, and 300.

The press release confirmed James Wong was hired to direct, Stephen Chow was hired to produce, and 87Eleven was hired to do the stunts. The reports on filming in Montreal were false, however, and filming was actually done in Durango, Mexico. The film has recently wrapped filming and is now in post production.

James Wong rewrote the previous draft by Ben Ramsey, with help from Stephen Chow who has given James advice and guidance on the script.

The film is currently scheduled for an April 10th, 2009 release in North America and a March 2009 release in Japan. The movie has a budget of around $100 million dollars, and the movie’s runtime is estimated to be about 100 minutes.

Q – Why not Dragonball Z?
A – This movie is an adaptation of the King Piccolo and Piccolo JR. sagas of Dragonball. However, it will also contain important elements from the first season of Dragonball, such as Bulma meeting Goku, and Goku training with Master Roshi. It’s the most important parts of Dragonball in one movie.

Since Dragonball technically comes before Dragonball Z, it only makes sense to start with it. Vegeta, Nappa, Trunks, and other Dragonball Z-exclusive characters will NOT be in this movie for the obvious reason that they didn’t appear in the beginning.

Q – Why is Justin Chatwin Goku?
A – Justin Chatwin (War of the Worlds, The Invisible) auditioned for the role and got the part. It’s important to remember that this is an adaptation, and James Wong must have seen that Chatwin could be faithful to his interpretation. Justin seems thrilled to play Goku, too!

I think it is an honor to play Goku. He is a universal character, as if a reincarnation of Luke Skywalker, and a really great character to play. Goku always takes action himself, is positive thinking, helps the weak. He had a great influence on myself.
- Roadshow magazine, July 7th 2008 issue.

For a complete and detailed look at the cast, visit the cast page.

Q – Goku will be in high school?
A – Yes, in this adaptation Goku will attend high school for a brief period of time. For comparison, watch the first “Spiderman” movie and count the amount of minutes Peter Parker attended high school in the movie. Chances are, high school will play an incredibly short part in this movie as well.

As proof, Texas Battle (school bully) and other high school extras finished filming in about two days. Two days of filming in a Hollywood movie is a short amount of time. It is estimated that the high school scenes will last around 5-10 minutes, if that.

Q – Why has the character Goku been changed?
A – Unfortunately, I haven’t read the script yet, and chances are neither have you. Because this is an adaptation, we can only assume the change fits the movie. It is also important to note Goku is 18 in this movie, so he will be graduating (or dropping out of) school, and in sequels school will be non-existent. It’s best to be patient and trust the filmmakers.

Q – Will there be sequels?
A – It has been stated they plan on making the series into a trilogy. This entirely depends on box office success, so watch the movie upon release if you want to see more!

Q – Will the movie be mostly CGI and defeat the purpose of live-action?
A – 85% of the movie was filmed in Durango, Mexico. You may think it’s impossible to find landscape that looks like the scenery in the anime, but recent pictures have shown Durango is very capable of providing a realistic recreation of the series. And, of course, green screen can help.

A portion of the film will be shot in Los Angeles (no doubt with green and blue screen). You can expect something great, because the budget is fairly high. The hair will not be CGI, but instead wigs and natural hair will be used.

Q – Who is Lord Piccolo? Wasn’t he a good guy?
A – Later in the series Piccolo turns good, but originally Lord Piccolo was the baddest guy in town. James Marsters (Buffy, Angel) will play Lord Piccolo, the ancient leader of a demonic race. He will be green, old, and decrepit. But, don’t take my word for it, read what the actor himself has said:

TV Guide: You’re plunging into a big sci-fi feature next. Can you talk about the live-action Dragonball?
Marsters: Dragonball is the coolest television cartoon in the last 50,000 years. Its only failing is that the female characters aren’t drawn well — we’re going to fix that in the movie. It’s got a Shakespearean sense of good and evil and there are incredible action scenes with characters of unbelievable power. It’s going to be really visually exciting. I was told the budget is about $100 million.

TV Guide: Nice to know you’re so enthusiastic. Who do you play?
Marsters: Lord Piccolo. He’s thousands of years old and a very long time ago he used to be a force of good but got into a bad argument and was put into prison for 2,000 years. It got him very angry, and he finds a way to escape and then tries to destroy the world. The cool thing is, anybody who has seen Dragonball knows that Lord Piccolo transforms into a character named Piccolo, and that is a whole other ball of wax. That is one of the most popular characters in the whole series. I’ve been told I’m working for people who will just flay me alive if I give too much information, but what I can tell you is the character is green, bald and has pointed ears. Heroic wouldn’t be the wrong term by the end, but it’s a long journey.

James is signed on for two more films. For more information on James Marsters and Piccolo, check out the James Marsters category.

Q – Who will be scoring Dragonball?
A – We were actually first to confirm that Brian Tyler would be scoring Dragonball. Check out the original post!

Q – Will there be humor?
A – Like the anime, the movie will also contain humor. It’s too early to tell how much or what kind.

Q – What will the fighting be like?
A – It’s too early to tell, but since 87Eleven is doing the stunts, it might be similar to “The Matrix.” But, since James Wong is directing, it might be similar to “The One.” When we see a teaser trailer, we will have a better idea. For video comparisons on different fighting styles, check out this post.

Q – Why did Fox move the release date from August 15th, 2008 to April 3rd, 2009 to April 8th, 2009 to April 10th 2009?
A – It was moved from August 15th, 2008 to April 3rd, 2009 because Fox realized they had no time for post production. It was then moved from April 3rd, 2009 to April 8th because of Easter break (and Gatchaman is being released on April 3rd, 2009). It was then moved again from April 8th to April 10th because the 10th is a Friday.

Q – When will promotion start?
A – Promotion in Japan, it seems, has already started! As for America, promotion will pick up late 2008 and early 2009. The official movie website can be located at www.dragonballthemovie.com, but at the moment it will only redirect you to the 20th Century Fox website.

Q – When will the trailer be released?
A – If all goes according to plan, the trailer will come out in October. It will make its theatrical debut with the video game adaptation Max Payne, which releases October 17th.

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Cast

Dragonball is a colorful anime full of interesting characters. The movie is no exception. While there has been some controversy over the absence of some characters, it’s not currently known if they will be excluded entirely. For the time being, however, here is the confirmed cast list.

- Goku (Justin Chatwin)
- Bulma (Emmy Rossum)
- Yamcha (Joon Park)
- Master Roshi (Chow Yun-Fat)
- Lord Piccolo (James Marsters)
- Mai (Eriko Tamura)
- Chi-Chi (Jamie Chung)
- Grandpa Gohan (Randall Duk Kim)
- Other Characters

Casting breakdowns courtesy of CHUD.com.

Goku
Goku is the hero of Dragonball. Goku is pure of heart and unusually gifted in martial arts. For more information on the anime version of Goku, click here.

Movie description: 18 years old, Goku is considered uncool and unpopular at school, but he is in fact an extremely talented martial arts fighter who gets rigorous training from his grandfather, Gohan. After the death of his grandfather by the evil Lord Piccolo, Goku finds his destiny in his grandfather’s dying request that he find Master Roshi and gather all seven Dragon Balls (of which he has one) in order to prevent Piccolo from succeeding in his desire to use the dragonballs to take over the world. Trained by Master Roshi, aided by Bulma and Yamcha, friends he meets along the way, Goku proves himself a formidable, almost undefeatable fighter. On many dangerous adventures to find the remaining Dragon Balls and thus save the world, Goku conquers physical and emotional challenges, ultimately saving the world but clearly impelled to spend his life searching for the Dragon Balls with his trusty companions…LEAD

Justin Chatwin is a 25 year old Canadian who has starred in “The Invisible,” and “War of the Worlds.” Visit his filmography here. Justin trained with the stunt company 87Eleven for a couple months before filming began.

Bulma
Bulma is a blue-haired techno wiz who encounters Goku while searching for the Dragonballs. Though Bulma’s intentions are selfish at first, she slowly becomes an integral part of the series. For more information on the anime version of Bulma, click here.

Movie description: 20s, female, pretty, with great intelligence behind her gleaming eyes, Bulma is a determined, competitive young woman whose father’s five star Dragon Ball was stolen by Lord Piccolo, and who believes that she can harness their unlimited energy and change the world like Edison or Einstein. Bulma, who has a DBE (a Dragon Ball locator device), teams up with Goku, and with him meets up with Master Roshi and Yamcha as they attempt to collect the missing Dragon Balls before Piccolo can destroy the world. A resourceful and courageous young woman who’s also a weapons expert, she overcomes many obstacles with her colleagues, only to find the seven Dragon Balls ultimately snatched from their grasp–but it’s clear she’s going to continue searching for them with Goku and Yamcha…LEAD

Emmy Rossum is a 22 year old American actor who has starred in “The Phantom of the Opera,” and “Poseidon.” Visit her filmography here.

Yamcha
Yamcha is a desert bandit who later befriends Goku and Bulma. Yamcha also becomes romantically involved with Bulma, though it’s a confusing relationship to say the least. For more information on the anime version of Yamcha, click here.

Movie description: 20s, “the bad boy who has no trouble attracting women,” he taunts Goku, Bulma and Master Yoshi, who are trapped in a sand cave, rather than helping them with his rope ladder. However, after overhearing Master Roshi’s tale of Piccolo once nearly destroyed the Earth and are preparing to do so again, Yamcha has a change of heart and not only helps the three in the desert, but becomes a valuable part of the team. An ingenious young man whose utililty truck is the Swiss Army Knife of trucks–every tool and gear imaginable sprouts from its body–Yamcha joins Goku, Bulma (with whom he becomes romantically involved) and Master Yoshi on their quest to find the seven Dragon Balls before Piccolo…LEAD

Joon Park is an up-and-coming actor who appeared in “Speed Racer” earlier this year. He is 39 years old and a popular Korean singer. Visit his filmography here.

Master Roshi
Master Roshi is a turtle hermit, and despite his unusual lifestyle and perverted attitude, he is an extremely gifted martial artist, who once trained Goku’s grandfather, Gohan. For more information on the anime version of Master Roshi, click here.

Movie description: This older man is a good friend of Goku’s grandfather, Gohan, and Goku comes to enlist his help after his grandfather is killed. Although he looks like a beggar, Roshi is one of the world’s most fearsome fighters. Master Roshi begins Goku’s rigorous training to prepare him for the adventure of finding and fighting for the seven Dragon Balls to save the world from Piccolo’s destructive plan. A wise, somewhat wry man who knows as much about human nature as he does about martial arts, Master Roshi is impressed with Goku’s fighting but reminds him of his failings as well. Ultimately, Master Roshi sacrifices his own life in order to destroy Piccolo…LEAD

Chow Yun-Fat is a 53 year old Chinese actor who wowed audiences with movies such as “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” and just recently “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.” View his filmography here.

Piccolo
Lord Piccolo is the evil half of the god of earth, Kami. Piccolo wants the Dragon Balls to wish for immortality to conquer the planet. For more information on the anime version of Piccolo, click here.

Movie description: An ancient being who despite his humanoid appearance, is from an alien race determined to take over the world. Piccolo is the cursed ruler of a demonic race who nearly destroyed Earth 2000 years ago, and with the coming of the eclipse and the possession of all seven Dragon Balls, he’s prepared to free himself and do the job right this time. Crafty and smart, Piccolo has some disturbing news for Goku, namely that the boy is actually a Saiyan who’s destined to join Piccolo as his right hand in destroying and enslaving the planet…LEAD

James Marsters is a 46 year old American actor who starred in “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” and “Angel” as the villainous Spike. Visit his filmography here. James is reportedly a huge fan of the series.

Mai
In the anime, Mai is one of Pilaf’s henchmen, though in the movie this has been changed. For more information on the anime version of Mai, click here.

Movie description: Late 20s, female, her features exotic, sexy but deadly, dressed in gleaming black, with weapons strapped all over her body, she’s a martial arts expert and Lord Piccolo’s chief enforcer. Crafty and quick thinking, Mai uses her ability to shapeshift near the climax of the movie and takes on the form of Chi Chi, a young martial arts expert who’s romantically involved with Goku and later saves Piccolo from Master Roshi’s curse; once she is revealed she ends up in the fight of her life.

Eriko Tamura is a 35 year old Japanese actress who appears in “Heroes” (TV series) and other Japanese films and TV shows. View her filmography here.

Chi-Chi
Chi-Chi is Goku’s love interest and the daughter of the Ox King. For more information on the anime version of Chi-Chi, click here.

Movie description: Goku’s lifelong love interest, Chi Chi is an attractive, tom boy-ish young woman who has grown up with Goku. She has studied martial arts and has always suspected that Goku possesses talents that are unusual and extraordinary. After Goku embarks on his journey to redeem his grandfather’s death, Chi Chi meets up with Goku and his crew at a tournament of champions where their mutual attraction finally heats up during a training session.

Jamie Chung is a 25 year old actress who appeared in “The Real World” and “Days of Our Lives.” View her filmography here.

Grandfather Gohan
Gohan found Goku in the wilderness by a space pod and raised Goku as his own. For more information on the anime version of Gohan, click here.

Movie description: Goku’s kindly, wise grandfather, he looks like he’s in his 70s but moves like Jet Li. An accomplished martial artist who trains Goku on the bow staff, he loves his grandson and is happy to prepare a special feast for him on his 18th birthday, as well as a special gift: a 3 star Dragon Ball. Tragically, Gohan is struck down by the high ninjas of the Namek-Jins, and as he dies he sends his grandson out to do face his destiny and do battle against them…

Randull Duk Kim is a 65 year old actor who appeared in “The Matrix: Reloaded” as The Key-Maker, and has recently voiced a character in the animated movie “Kung Fu Panda.” View his fimography here.

Unknown
Ernie Hudson has been cast in the film as “a sort of altar boy who helps Goku and friends in their journey.”

Ernie recently described his character at London Expo 2008.

I play a monk, who is Chow Yun Fat’s (Master Roshi) character’s master and he creates the jar that is used to contain/trap piccolo.

The description sounds like Master Mutaito from the anime, but perhaps they changed his name to Sifu Norrus. The following is a description of the movie character Sifu Norris:

[SIFU NORRIS] (incomplete summary) Male, late 50s – early 70s, noble and intelligent man. regardless of race or nationality.

Ernie Hudson is a 63 year old actor who most notably appeared in “Ghostbusters,” “The Crow,” and more. View his filmography here.

Weaver (Luis Arretia) is Goku’s school friend. It has been said his role is very short in the movie, though could be more important if there are sequels. There is a likely possibility that Weaver is the code name or replacement for Krillin, Goku’s martial arts friend.

Texas Battle (Carey Fuller), Shavon Kirksey (Emi), and Richard Blake (Agundus) will have very short roles in the film as well. Shavon will be Chi-Chi’s school friend, Texas will be a school bully, and Richard will be a jock. That’s all we really know about these casting additions so far.

Release war der 6te Juni doch hab ichs durch das ganze AoC gewirbel nichmehr mitverfolgt und eigentlich voll vergessen. Nun muss es noch einen Monat länger auf mich warten da das Juli Geld erstmal für SSBB rausgeht ;]

Pros und Contras lassen sich nach einigen Videos jedoch schnell erfassen. Da zählen zu den Pros sicher die Drama-Szenen die mitten im Kampf die Story weiterführen wie es schon in Dragonball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3 der Fall war, der schnellere Actionlastigere Spielablauf und der verbesserte Cell-Shading Look.

Contras fallen auch direkt ins Auge. So sind die Drama-Szenen eigentlich fast immer unpassend, will heißen wenn man den Gegner auf einen Balken runtergeprügelt hat und ihn gerade killn möchte, sieht es die Story vor das der Gegner erstmal ne derbere Sau is als man selbst und schwupps haut er zu wie ein SSJ4 Gogeta auf Entzug, bis das Spiel meint das jetzt die Story weitergehen sollte. Desweiteren sind die Maps nicht frei begehbar. Man hat lediglich noch wie in Street Fighter oder Tekken ein links nach rechts verfahren. Außerdem gibts wie in Budokai 1 und Budokai Tenkaichi 1 wieder nur die ersten beiden Sagas – Freezer und Cell – Buu fehlt völlig auch von DBGT sieht man nichts.

Dennoch als Dragonballfan muss man eh zuschlagen. Zum schluss noch ein kleines Video.

I’ve just had a try of the demo off the US market place, it is still not available at the local market place. It is a very short demo, with only 2 battles and 2 characters to use. Goku and Yamcha. And nope, Guko isn’t able to transform to any Super Sayian state nor Kaio-Ken because well, he doesn’t know that yet. (This battle is against his brother at planet Earth)

There are no tutorials here, just the loading screen with the actions mapping to the buttons on the controller. It is fairly simple. If you happen to not have played any of the Budokai series, its alright, when you pause the game, there will be a list move. So you can perform the famous Kamehameha.

One new element added is the changing of scenes while fighting. After perform some powerful moves, and watching those cut-scenes, you would be, lets say, fighting above the clouds now. I wonder if there are more scenes..

One big question now would be – Is it worth it to buy the Japanese version?(there wouldn’t be a ntsc-J Asian relese) There shouldn’t be any problem knowing the keys of the buttons now that there is the demo and story, well, it is still the same old story years ago. By watching the cut-scenes before the fight, you should have roughly know which part of the story you’re fighting for. If more help is needed, I’m sure a visit to gamesFAQ should settle it.

The Dragonball front has been rather dry when it comes to Xbox, but today is the day that all changes as Dragaonball Z: Burst Limit hits the Xbox Live Marketplace in demo form. It may not have 10 transformations that will magically make it turn into the full game but atleast you can try it out for that fantastic price of free. Let’s see someone shake a fireball of anykind at that.

Content: DBZ: BURST LIMIT Demo
Price: Free
Availability: North America
Dash Text: [ESRB: T (Teen) ANIMATED BLOOD,CARTOON VIOLENCE] DBZ debuts on the Xbox 360 console! Play through two exciting battles from the Saiyan Saga in this demo. Get ready? KAMEHAMEHA!

[Via Major Nelson]

-William “thewilleffect” Bell-

Así es, el enésimo juego basado en DragonBall que saldrá al mercado. Esta vez será para las consolas de nueva generación: Xbox 360 y PlayStation 3, el juego muestra una mejora gráfica muy notable desde las entregas anteriores pareciendo aún más como la animación tradicional del anime.

La historia seguirá al pié de la letra los sucesos ocurridos en el anime con escenas generadas por el mismo motor gráfico del juego haciendo gala de sus animaciones e iluminación.

Me da un poco de gusto ver, al menos a primera vista, que será más parecido a los primeros Budokai que a los más recientes Tenkaichi.