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Atari will be bringing another round of the Dragon Ball Z action fighting game series to the Wii and PlayStation 2 "during the 2007 holiday season." Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 will be the "ultimate chapter," according to the company, and will feature 20 characters that have not been seen before in the video game adaptations. The latest game is being developed by Namco Bandai and Spike.

Atari's senior product manager, Emily Anadu, commented, "[These characters include] Nail, King Cold and King Vegeta and battle stages that fans will love. Each year, the developers refine the game to bring fans closer to feeling like they are actually playing the show."

The latest game will also have a number of new features, including more than 150 playable characters, enhanced fighting techniques, and more than 20 battle stages. The Wii Remote will also feature an improved control system that will be used to "allow players to easily mimic signature moves and execute devastating attacks as they are performed in the Dragon Ball Z animated series." Another feature will be the addition of day and night stages, with the power of the moon giving players different ways to transform their characters.

Dragon Ball Z is part of one of the most successful anime trilogies and originated from a Japanese manga comic series. The story follows the life and adventures of Goku, who defends the Earth against evil with the help of the Z Warriors. There have been more than 25 games in the Dragon Ball Z series published so far, totalling more than 10 million units sold.

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NEW YORK, NY, MAY 21, 2007; Atari, Ince. (Nasdaq: ATAR) one of the world's most recognised brands and a third-party video game publisher, today announced that Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 is in development for Wii and PlayStation 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.

The immensely popular Dragon Ball Z 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.