Blue Dragon [import]

Kotaku- Final Fantasy aside, Japanese role-playing games simply don't command the respect (or sales) they once did in the West. You may have an opinion on this! That's great. So do BioWare. With Mass Effect and Dragon Age both leading the way as far as Western RPGs are concerned, they're a company well-placed to know what's good, and what's not so good, about the Japanese entries in the field.

Russ writes Two places step up with the deals – one of them perfect for any traveling you may find yourself doing. Best Buy is offering a 'buy 2 get 1 free' on all DS games. This is ideal for higher-priced titles like Dragon Quest V, Fire Emblem, and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time. Well, it's ideal in any case, but the rewards reaped are slightly better for higher-priced items. Problem is, this deal seems to only be in-store. Target is offering a deal on all Wii games. Buy 1 Wii game at or above $50, get a second Wii game 50% off. Target stores have a lackluster selection of Wii games, so this one might be better off used online.

TVGB: It's great to see an original IP doing well, especially when it challenges the norm. Blue Dragon may not have been the most original RPG ever, but with a stellar team behind it - Akira Toriyama, the famed creator of Dragon Ball Z and character designer for such games as Dragon Quest and Chrono Trigger (oh yeah!), Nobuo Uematsu, the composer for Final Fantasy, and Hironobu Sakaguchi, the original developer of Final Fantasy - this one managed to boost sales of the Xbox 360 in its often indifferent Japanese market.

Ars Technica reports: 'Blue Dragon, despite being unable to impress most critics, has been a financial blockbuster with a number of anime and manga tie-ins. Now, Viz Media is teaming up with Konami Digital Entertainment to release a trading card game based on the Xbox 360 RPG. While it may sound like a strange move to join forces with a company best known for developing and publishing video game series like Silent Hill and Castlevania, Konami actually has a fair degree of familiarity with trading card games, thanks to the fact that it's the company that handled Yu-Gi-Oh's incarnation as Duel Monsters.

From the article: Sumthing Else Music Works, Inc., through its licensing relationship with Mistwalker proudly presents Blue Dragon Original Soundtrack. The 2 disc soundtrack album is now available at US retail outlets through Nile Rodgers' Sumthing Else Music Works label www.sumthing.com and digital download service www.sumthingdigital.com and will also be released on iTunes.

And Cartoon Network gets it. Siliconera has more information.

360 Gamer writes: Mistwalker is looking into making sequels to Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, according to studio boss Hironobu Sakaguchi. So Gamefront.de is reporting, the father of Final Fantasy told Famitsu Xbox 360 he is currently looking in the possibility of making sequels to Mistwalker's two 360 RPGs. However, it seems that nothing is set in stone at present.

1UP Staff, 12/23/2007: We really should hate attending the Jump Festa videogame and comic show. But the promise of Square Enix titles making their playable debut is way too much to pass up. At this year's event, open to the public on Saturday and Sunday, Square Enix was once again the main attraction for the videogame crowd. With the promise of playable debuts for the Final Fantasy fighting game for PSP, Final Fantasy: Dissidia, the new DS Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, and the new mobile Final Fantasy IV spinoff, Final Fantasy IV: The After. This year's showcase had Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy XIII sandwiching short clips of the Parasite Eve mobile sequel and the Blu-ray version of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. In addition, Sega, Capcom, Bandai Namco, Nintendo, and Microsoft all have booths at the Jump Festa this year. 1UP's report briefly covers all of them.

Blue Dragon developer Mistwalker's boss Hironobu Sakaguchi said at a recent Korean press conference: We're in talks with Microsoft about development of a sequel. Specifics aren't finalized, but there's a possibility that it will be produced as an online title.

To commemorate the 11/1 release of the Platinum Collection budget version of Blue Dragon, Microsoft has announced plans to distribute the first two episodes of the anime adaptation via Xbox Live Marketplace. All Xbox Live members, both gold and silver, will be able to download the two episodes from 11/15 to 1/15 for the low, low price of nothing. Blue Dragon continues to air every Saturday morning in the Tokyo area and was also recently released to DVD.