Xboxist

Konami to Unveil Blue Dragon Card Game at Comic Con

Attendees at this year's Comic Con in San Diego will get a chance to try out a new role-playing card game from Konami. This weekend, the company will be holding game demos at their booth on the conventon floor, and attendees will get the chance to win free stuff like t-shirts, cards and gaming mats by participating in the public demonstrations of the game. Comic Con will be held at the San Diego Convention Center from July 23 - 27.

RPG fans will remember Blue Dragon as the promising, but ultimately disappointing Xbox 360 game that featured character designs by Akira Toriyama and Hironobu Sakaguchi. While the game had a strong pedigree behind it (Hironobu Sakaguchi was the designer of the original Final Fantasy games) the title ultimately fell flat in the United States and failed to capture the massive following that developers had hoped for in Japan. Critics of the game cited its cookie-cutter plotlines and, unfortunately, bland character designs for this poor reception.

Nevertheless, Blue Dragon remains a competent, if uninspiring, JRPG for the 360. The game even received its own anime television show in Japan last year. All of these merchandising tie-ins suggest that the publishers may not be ready to give up on the series just yet. Perhaps a sequel might ameliorate some of the problems with the original game and breathe new life into what was a promising franchise.