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Final Fantasy is a great set of games; what would CoN be without them? Nothing, that's what. They all seem to take place in a mystical sort of world; and contributing to that is the mystical music. From "Town Theme" to "Matoya's Cave" to "One-Winged Angel," the music of Final Fantasy is an integral part of the experience (besides, that victory theme is so dang catchy). Naturally, people are attracted to it and want to hear it, and not just in their games. Concerts are set up playing this music (you've surely heard of The Black Mages) with huge orchestras and stories with plots that no one pays attention to anyway, because I came here to listen to the cool music, dagnabbit.

Anyway, there's a big ol' concert happening in the San Francisco Bay area on October 16, 2010. It's called "Hideo" and it has a standard-for-the-genre "boy out for revenge, won't rest 'till he gets it" story. More interesting though, is, of course, the music. They'll be playing selections from Final Fantasies 4, 6, and 8, as well as Chrono Cross. They'll also be playing music from Mega Man, as well as Fullmetal Alchemist, Cowboy Bebop, and some other games/anime.

Their site is http://hideoconcert.com/, and their promo video can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY9n17gmC-0. If you live in the SF Bay area and you can get to UC Berkeley, should be an interesting show. Tickets are on sale, and if you watch the promo video you'll know they're very excited about you buying some tickets. Very excited. And hey, if nothing else, there's fun music playing in the background of the video. Check it out!


Source: HIDEO, Promo Video

Between CoNnews and Square Enix email notifications, I've been hearing a lot about the upcoming cycle of Distant Worlds concerts, and it's fairly likely you have too. For those of us that don't live in Los Angeles (is it just me or does Distant Worlds really like LA?) or any other included city, however, there will still be a chance for you to enjoy a fully-orchestrated version of your favorite videogame soundtracks, complete with flashy lights.

Later this week/month, PBS will be hosting a concert called Video Games Live, which will feature music from several different videogames. The concert is performed by the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, a chorus and a rock band, as well as some other soloists I've never heard of. A video preview can be found on the IGN link below. The part with the head banging cello player is enough to get me to tune in, even if it is a little discomforting.

Some of the games included in the concert are:
Final Fantasy
Chrono Cross
Legend of Zelda
Super Mario Bros.
World of Warcraft
Halo
And a "Classic Arcade Medley." That can be nothing if not a good time, right?

In order to see when the concert will be aired in your area, you'll need to go to the PBS site linked below and type in your zip code and then search for "video games live." If you really enjoy the concert, it appears that there will be a DVD/Blu-ray release of the entire program complete with the ever-tempting lure of bonus materials.

Source: IGN, PBS

Final Fantasy XIV has become the big news, now that it's in a closed beta. I hear that the servers aren't up very often, though, so if you're not in the beta you're probably not missing much yet. (Source: none, the beta players are under NDA.) Squenix has been releasing a bit of information about the game, though, and it seems that if you want to run it at full power, you're going to need a reasonably recent PC. In short, the company is recommending that you have Windows 7 running on an Intel Core i7 with four-plus gigs of RAM, and a screen resolution of 1280x720. I assume this is the recommendation to get a full sixty frames per second, though, as it seems a pretty robust recommendation. One would hope it's still plenty playable on a lower specced machine. Squenix also announced this week the eighteen player classes of XIV, split into four groups. Many are certainly not instantly recognizable, though a great many classic types seem to be represented, such as different mages, a knight-style class, an archer/ranger, and so on. There also appears to be a class who is standing near a sewing machine? I hope I'm just not up to speed on MMO classes and seamstress/tailor is not a class.

Also this week, Square Enix announced a remake of Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together for the PSP. I know a great many folks consider this Tactics Ogre to be at the very least on par with Final Fantasy Tactics, and this new PSP version will be getting new graphics and a new arrangement of the score, new characters, and new game mechanics added to the original game. There's no release date yet for Japan, which means there isn't one yet for the West, but I think the odds of us getting the shaft on this game are exceptionally low. And I'm excited - tactical RPGs on handhelds are a great idea, particularly, I think, if they're from the FFT/TO/Disgaea series.

Finally for this week, Squenix has announced a new Final Fantasy Legends property for mobile phones in Japan. This one is called "Final Fantasy Legends: Warrior of Light and Darkness," and it looks much like an updated 8-bit Final Fantasy, much in the same way of the Game Boy Advance Final Fantasy "Souls" game, but with an episodic release much like Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. What makes this more interesting is that unlike every other game branded with the "Legend" moniker, this game is not a SaGa game at all, but instead a brand-new property, marketed as a Final Fantasy branded game even in Japan. Of course, it may never make it over here, but The After Years did after starting out as a mobile platform game, so you never know.

Source: Final Fantasy XIV Official Site, Kotaku, SiliconEra

I know I've mentioned the upcoming Distant Worlds concerts several times now, and this update doesn't have much brand new information. However, the summer tour is about to kick off, and Nobuo Uematsu has just been confirmed to attend the following shows:

• July 15 and 16, Los Angeles (both nights will have a different setlist, too)
• July 22, San Diego
• July 24, Houston
• November 27, Toronto

On top of that, on Monday, July 19, there is now a CD release party for the new FFDW CD, in Culver City, California at Royal/T. If you're in LA, though, note that you still need tickets to get into the release party. See the link below for more info.

Source: Distant Worlds

Dragon Quest IX is the big story this week, as it's finally about to make its North American debut this weekend. Squenix and Nintendo have set up a bit of an event in New York City to commemorate the launch; if you're near Manhattan tomorrow, 10 July, you can swing to the World of Nintendo store in midtown (which sadly, I never got to visit when I was living there - it looked awesome from the outside). Yuji Horii, creator of the DQ franchise, will be there, and apparently there will be some Dragon Quest-themed treats for eating too. And you can buy the game a day early! No word on whether you can drink Slimes, though.

My call, though, is that if you really wanted the game that badly you probably preordered it anyway.

In other game news, developer Obsidian says they want a crack at the Chrono Trigger franchise. Obsidian are best known for sequels to original games, one of which they're working on for Squenix already (Dungeon Siege 3). Would they ever get the keys to the castle that is Chrono Trigger? Yeah, pretty much no chance if you ask me. Perhaps they should just start on a sequel and see how far they get.

Finally, here's one that snuck in under my radar: Square Enix and GamePot are bringing a new action MMO to the States. The game, Fantasy Earth Zero, is a free-to-play MMO with a primary focus on large PvP battles. It's been out in Japan for over three years but launched in the US in May.

Source: Kotaku, SiliconEra, Square Enix North America

Ah, Squeeeeenix.

Is there much to squee about this week? I believe there is. It does, however, depend on the user, but there's a lot of pretty cool stuff going on at the moment (though some of it may disappoint). First, the piece that is worth checking out in the near future. Square-Enix is looking for applicants to write for the Dragon Quest series. The catch being that the applicants would need to be near Shinjuku, Tokyo. There's an English summary of the application page here, which is pretty interesting. Prize* goes to whoever can create the weirdest storyline from four of those key points. But that's not the only news from Japan - after seeing the success of the Monster Hunter series for the PSP, Square-Enix started developing their own game in the same vein, entitled "Lord of Arcana", also for the PSP. If it doesn't perform as well as they hope, they'll have to rely on the next thing I have for you. And it won't disappoint.

Final Fantasy XIV, the second MMORPG in the main series, will be released this September, at one of two times, depending on your urge to play it. Your first option is to buy the Collector's Edition on September the 22nd, and get a bunch of free goodies that aren't technically free since you paid $25 extra for it. The second option is to wait another 8 days until the 30th, when the standard edition is released for $50. With either choice, you'll get one month of free play time before you have to pay the $12.99 monthly fee. I hate to use dollars to convey the prices, but that's all the information we've got on pricing so far. And hey, it's coming pretty soon. Just be thankful Square-Enix aren't trying to make it in 3D as we- oh wait a minute, there was a tech demo of that at E3. Not that that means anything, as the developers were keen to stress it was JUST a tech demo, but it shows that they, too, are heading down the road of three dimensions.

Finally, a speck of information on the elusive Final Fantasy Versus XIII. At long last, the game's story has been finished, as well as character designs. Now all they have to do, is, you know, make the game. So we're still a long way off of a release date. A loooooooooooooong way off.

*Prize not included.

Source: SiliconEra, Kotaku