News

Square recently unveiled another character in the upcoming sequel to their PS2 hit.  The character is "Nuji" who leads a group whose primary purpose is to go against the teachings of Yevon.  He looks a bit similar to Auron from FFX, but according to Magic Box and Square, Nuji is warm-hearted.  So so much for an Auron clone.  Just imagine Auron with weird, long blonde hair and you've got Nuji.  Link courtesy Magic Box.

http://mb.vgdirectory.com/game012003c.htm

In other FFX-2 news, according to R51, Christina Aguilera is now set to star in it.

http://www.rpgamer.com/games/ff/ffx-2/ffx-2art.html

Nintendo.com

Well kiddies, the first Final Fantasy game to be released for a main nintendo platform since Final Fantasy III(VI) back in '94 is set to hit Japan in January 2003, according to Nintendo.  Not many details are available about FF: CC for Gamecube, but if you click on the link there are two spiffy screenshots for your viewing pleasure.  One big detail that is mentioned is that up to 4 people can play together buy putting a GBA into their gamecube...  I'm not really sure on how this works because I don't own either system, but it sounds as if Nintendo is trying to revive the great idea of cooperative RPG/Adventuring that was used in Secret of Mana so very long ago...  If someone knows more about the GC and GBA and would like to explain this, then many cookies for you.  

According to FFInsider.net, Square has just announced that Final Fantasies I and II (II never before released in the US) will be released in the US sometime next year.  The article also states that the games will be together on one disc, and sold at a "budgeted price."  The article doesn't say it, but the games will be released for the PSX, not PS2.  The games will be redone quite a bit, with new art and music to take advantage of the leap in technology.  I can't wait for this gem to come out.

GamesAreFun.com reports that Enix has purchased Squaresoft, and that Square & Enix have merged to form a new company called ''Square Enix,'' headed by Square President Yoichi Wada.

To any RPG fan, this is GIGANTIC news. Square and Enix are the two biggest RPG developers in the world today, and have been in competition with each other for years, mainly because of Square's ''Final Fantasy'' series and Enix's ''Dragon Quest'' series.

The reason for this huge merger? Square and Enix are merging to cut down development costs, which have become higher in the industry recently.

Enix will primarily be the "controller group" of the merger, even though they are the smaller company. Square shareholders will receive 0.81 a share, since it is a larger company than Enix.

This merger will help out both companies, as Square has been suffering some huge losses since releasing the Final Fantasy motion picture, and Enix has never really been big in America. Thus, this merger will help to soothe Square's profit losses and help establish Enix in the States.

Once again, Square Enix will be presided over by Yoichi Wada of Squaresoft, and the chairman of the company will be Enix's representative director chairman, Yasuhiro Fukushima. The merger is set to take place on April 1st, 2003, the fisrt day of the new fiscal year.

Source: GamesAreFun.com

FFX, the newest Final Fantasy to hit the American and European shores, will eventually have an album out. It's a Vocal album, as is mentioned in RPGamer:

http://www.rpgamer.com/news/Q4-2002/110902a.html

Apparently this is not your ordinary Final Fantasy soundtrack; it has the voice actors from FFX acting out scenes that were not in the actual game itself. Possible connections to FFX-2 as well. Could this be a form of advertisement to make sure FF fans are hyped for FFX-2?

Release dates in Japan are set for Dec. 16th, no word yet on the rest of the world.

What do you get when you cross a Final Fantasy character with, apparently, Lara Croft, and add a Western look for fun? This, apparently:

http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~nanko/ev/tgs/990-yuna.jpg

Not that this is altogether a bad thing. It's merely the plans for FFX-2, which is a direct sequence to the popular game FFX for PS2. With new functions, giving some of the game a more of a Xenogears feel according to the preview, and an updated outlook on the world clearly from the impact of the ending of the last game, this should be quite the interesting sequel. Here's another picture of Yuna, totting guns and looking nifty. (Check out the long hair.)

http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~nanko/im5/821.jpg

Release dates are still unclear, but hopefully Japan doesn't try to keep this all to itself. (Link to News Article below)

http://www.gamesarefun.com/cgi-bin....,15879,

Here's another picture, too:
http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~nanko/im5/820.jpg