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Well, that was both expected and unexpected. I had been saying all day that it didn't make sense for Square Enix to make any big announcements at Sony's pre-E3 press conference because Squenix had their "Future of Final Fantasy" private event coming up tomorrow (today, now).

I don't know whether Squenix wanted to make sure their big news was immediately available to everyone, or Sony coughed up some hard cash to be allowed to host the debut, or something else; regardless, there it was about an hour into Sony's show: Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts 3.

I think that the notion that Versus XIII would become Final Fantasy XV was a common one; in fact, I think that I mentioned it myself in a CoNcast at some point. As it turns out, that is exactly what happened; the title that started as Versus XIII explodes in the trailer and becomes XV. However, the game looks very much like what we were told to expect years ago, so it's anyone's guess right now how they are altering the setting and plot to make sure that this is no longer a XIII-universe game. Perhaps there will be more of that soon.

Kingdom Hearts 3 was also a little bit of a revelation. That the game would at one point exist was well known, but in the past, Squenix had said in the past that the game wouldn't begin development in earnest until after Versus XIII had been released. It must have been reassuring for KH fans, then, when that game's trailer showed up too.

The exclusivity of both games was not addressed. At Sony's conference? Color me shocked. No matter what the platform, this is a pretty big breakthrough moment for Square Enix. Both of these games have been hidden from sight for quite a while, and suddenly the company has something real to talk about for two of their biggest IPs again. While, based on those trailers, neither is particularly interesting to me personally yet, this is the very definition of a huge deal when it comes to Square.

It also begs the question, what could be left to talk about in today's private event? It seems like since we know the next two numbered Final Fantasy games, "the future" will have to revolve around them for a bit. Maybe it's more detail on the new engine we've seen a couple times. Since my ticket never made it to me, I guess we'll have to wait for some leaks!

Source: Siliconera, Engadget

With E3 next week, it seems that all the major players in the industry are working to get some news out in front of that crowded gaming news cycle. Of course, shoving all the news out now merely means that the crowded cycle begins earlier, but hey - I'm not in gaming PR. What do I know? Squenix is in on it, of course; say what you will about their games over the last few years, but they definitely still count as a major player, so there's no surprise to it. Also, we fell a bit behind on our tidbits recently, so we're going to play catch-up and make the list even bigger.

The news from last week that ties right into E3, as you would see from my post earlier today, pertains to Famitsu's publishing of development status for Final Fantasy games. The company told the Japanese magazine that the remaster of Final Fantasy X is now 80% done, with X-2 lagging behind at 65%. The new release of Final Fantasy VIII for Windows is up to 80% now, leapfrogging Lightning Returns, which is currently at 70% done. One would think that maybe that low 70% number is what caused the final chapter of Final Fantasy XIII (for now) to get its Western release date pushed back to 2014.

Speaking of dear Lightning, Squenix are throwing the kitchen sink out there in support of what is assumed to be her final adventure before presumably settling down and installing a small chocobo in her hair. We learned this week, for instance, that Noel and Snow will appear in Lightning Returns in some sort of adversarial sense. From that new trailer came a bunch of new screenshots, too; I particularly like that one with the Cactuar statue. There need to be more Cactuar statues in Final Fantasy games. Being a flagship title, of course, means special editions and accouterments. For Lightning Returns, there will be a big "all Final Fantasy XIII games" collection in Japan that will include the games, an action figure, an art book and some music CDs. It will also include some very strange branding - while the serif, somewhat-condensed font treatment on the collector's box is cool, it has nothing at all to do with any of the branding used for any of the three games thus far. Also special is this Playstation 3 Controller, in shiny red and, for some reason, equipped with turbo buttons. Because the first thing you want for a Final Fantasy game is turbo (unless you're playing the original NES Final Fantasy. That thing needed it).

Oh, yeah, and Final Fantasy IV came out for Android. I mean, I guess Android is a thing, still, right? No, seriously, this is a good thing. It's the same game as released for iOS a while back, and it's still $15.99. It seems like it might not run on rooted Android devices, though. Be wary of that before dropping your cash, you filthy phone hackers.

Finally, going back a couple weeks, new company president Yosuke Matsuda mentioned when discussing the company's latest financial results that "it is difficult to move forward on the assumption that many products can cover the tastes of the entire world." The implications of this statement (and you can read more quotes from the source article) are yet to be seen, but the doomsday prophets are already concluding that this could mean more games like Type-0 that face uphill battles for global release. It could also mean, of course, that those sorts of games will face an easier road to localization because not every game will be expected to sell millions of units in every region. At the moment there's just no way to know!

We'll be back next week for coverage of E3 like usual. Square Enix' "Future of Final Fantasy" event is Tuesday, but will be media-only. When we're able to compile information as it leaks out, it will be here. It seems as if since this isn't public, it could be really good news. However, given that the global fanbase seems to somehow manage to hate everything the company does... I won't hold my breath for something breathtaking?

Source: Siliconera, Kotaku, Engadget

Well, no surprises yet, anyway. Square Enix announced their official E3 lineup late last night, and, quite frankly, the most shocking aspect is that there's no talk about the confirmed localization of Bravely Default. I really rather thought that there would be a playable English version around for E3 this year.

The full announced list contains A Realm Reborn, Lightning Returns, Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD, and the X/X-2 remaster project; Eidos will show Thief and the Human Revolution Director's Cut, as well as the mobile-based action RPG Deus Ex: The Fall. Murdered: Soul Suspect and a mobile game called Mini Ninjas round out the headline games in the press release.

It's not clear from the release which games will be playable. Even the games marked as having "theater presentations" do not explicitly say that they won't also be playable, so it might be a wait and see. The company also says that there will be a "first look" at the next generation of Final Fantasy - while this could be big news, it's yet again something that I think we all expected to happen either at E3 or TGS or both. There's still hope it could be something genuinely interesting!

Source: Square Enix Members Blog

Ah yes, it's that time of year again: where the CoN news page gets filled with the E3 icon!

If you've been keeping up with general gaming news, however, you'll already know that the doom-forecasters are predicting our annual icon-overload may come to an end soon - even that this year might be the beginning of the end. I don't particularly like these people.

While Square Enix won't be following the trend Nintendo is making with their absence from the Expo, they appear to have taken a cue from the idea of expanding beyond the conference center. Instead of taking the action to your local Best Buy, however, Square Enix is apparently bringing it online to a specially-created youtube.com account, linked below. The account, called Square Enix Presents, will live-stream the Square Enix booth at E3 for all three days. As such, it's being pitched not as a replacement but as an augmentation to the E3 experience.

The introductory video promises interviews, demos, and announcements of new titles.

"It's going to be more fun than flying a Chocobo. Okay, maybe not that fun... But really, really close!"

Source: Square Enix Presents

It was confirmed today that Mike Fischer, president and CEO of the American arm of Square Enix, left the company earlier in May to join Amazon Japan as Vice President of Music and Video. Fischer was previously at a few other gaming giants before his role at Squenix, but now is leaving the gaming space "on good terms."

Just as Yoichi Wada left the flagship earlier this year, it's presumed that not meeting sales expectations for the major releases over the last year doomed Fischer's tenure, though I'm hearing that the expectations being quoted were a bit ludicrous to begin with. There are also rumors that there may be big shakeups coming in North America relative to the mobile release strategy or even that entire division of the company; this could be the sign of an executive getting his golden parachute as the plane goes down.

The most recent "big" game from the North American division was last year's Quantum Conundrum.

Source: Polygon (via Kotaku)

First off, the official FFXIV: A Realm Reborn website has gotten a fair bit of updating lately as we continue to approach its resurrection. New sections on the city states as well as a bestiary and info on foes of a more malicious intent have gone up. There's quite a lot of info there for anyone who's interested.

Like Final Fantasy music and elaborate orchestrations but live under a rock (e.g., author)? Well luckily for you/us, Square Enix will be releasing a Blu-ray version of the 25th Anniversary Distant Worlds concert held in Tokyo last year. The 19-song concert includes a favorite from each main title (well, FFII and FFIII get to participate in a medley, while FFIV and FFVI get seconds) and the magical Blu-ray ability to switch cameras AS YOU WATCH IT.

In other musical news, an album of remixes from The World Ends With You is due out in Japan in a little over a month for the equivalent of $21. Check the second source link below to hear a couple sample tracks.

Square Enix is busy doing odd things on the 3DS again, and this time they involve made-up super-high-tech Japanese cities, cars that transform into robots, and a name involving a colon and a word I can't pronounce. Well, ok, the last part has become pretty standard fare. But the first two are still odd! The game is called Gyrozetter: Wings of the Albatross. It's due out in Japan this June; nothing yet on if/when it'll reach Western shores.

Last up: Kingdom Hearts 1.5, a 'remix' (aka package - hey, it's their word for it) including an HD remake of the original game along with KH Re: Chain of Memories as well as some scenes from KH 358/2 Days and additional content from KH Final Mix, has been confirmed for a September 10th release date. That'll be a little late for releasing something on the PS3, but we all know none of us will be buying a PS4 anytime soon anyways. Other than the release date, the new news here is that anyone who pre-orders will get a limited edition artbook.

Source: Siliconera, Siliconera