News

For those of us waiting for a FFV and FFVI DS remake, it appears that we might have to wait for some time. Long time Square Enix producer Shinji Hashimoto, executive producer of almost all Final Fantasy remakes and ports, stated on Twitter that due to "technical issues" Square is undecided at the moment on whether or not to go ahead with them.

The response was an answer to numerous fan questions regarding the release of certain Square video games. Hashimoto's reply to all of them was that they were "at present undecided," and that Final Fantasy V and VI in particular had technical difficulties.

Now, as to what technical difficulties, I can't be certain because the details are vague. It does seem very likely that we will have to wait quite some time for these already long-awaited ports.

Source: AndriaSang Gaming News from Japan

I just got another email from the good folks at Square Enix, advertising even more Distant Worlds shows from the ones I spoke about late last year. Most of that old news is still valid - there's still a CD coming out in June, the contents of that CD will be played at the summer Distant Worlds shows, and they're still going to Stockholm, San Francisco, San Diego, and Chicago.

The new news this time around is the addition of a series of new shows between San Diego and Chicago this summer, and after Chicago as well. Perhaps you're lucky enough to be nearby:

Houston, Texas - 24 July 2010
Washington, DC (Vienna, Virginia) - 30 July 2010
Toronto, Ontario - 27 November 2010

And again, if I can find the new CD on AmaCoN, I'll get it to you here.

Source: Distant Worlds

Good afternoon, fellow CoNers. These past two weeks have been interesting - a lot of Square-Enix's different franchises have been newsworthy recently. Yes, even their lesser-known "Final Fantasy" series. Weird, huh?

First up, our favourite classic Final Fantasy artist, Yoshitaka Amano, is directing his first feature film. It's title is Zan, which just makes me think of the evil robot in UT that's the alpha and omega - but that's neither here nor there. Unless the film is about that, which would be awesome. In addition, "The 4 Heroes of Light" has been trademarked by Squenix, which means that the DS game, Final Fantasy Gaiden, that was "announced" last year, may be seeing a Western release sometime in the near future. Also, an interesting documentation of someone's journey through the Final Fantasy XIV playtest, which gives insight into many of the upcoming MMORPG's features.

What do Square-Enix and Hideo Kojima have in common? Apart from both being mainly Sony until last year's E3 where they both (partially) defected to Microsoft, I mean. Well, the former are creating some figurines for the upcoming Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Interestingly enough, there will also be some cross-functionality with Square-Enix's upcoming game Front Mission: Evolved. If there was one great thing about MGS4, it was piloting Rex. This is what I am hoping for.

Finally, Dragon Quest! As everyone should know, I know nothing of Dragon Quest, but I've never even heard of Dragon Quest Arcade. But apparently it's getting a Wii port, which will also make use of the DSi's connectivity and camera and technological gubbins, which you also need to download an application for. Seems a bit overly complicated, but hey, Square-Enix LOVE their money.

<3

Source: Kotaku, 1Up

It's been pretty slow for Square-Enix recently - everyone's been playing Final Fantasy XIII instead of talking about it. So what's next? Well, of course they're going to release merchandise. Figurines of Snow, Lightning and Vanille, and Serah's earrings are now available from the US store. The figurines, as always, look kind of dodgy. But now that XIII is out of the way, Why, Final Fantasy XIV is of course next. The first wave of beta testers have been selected, but that does not mean there aren't still opportunities. There will be more chances in the future, so you can still sign up! And what's more, Square-Enix have started a new website containing more information, video blogs, and a wiki! Development seems to be progressing well on XIV. And here, take a look at the new "tribes" of the game. Neko Neko Mawaii.

But enough with all the newer Final Fantasys. Remember how awesome IX was? Yeah. It looks like Final Fantasy IX will be soon heading towards the Playstation Network. This is very excellent news. I still have my discs, battered as they may be, but I demand that anyone who hasn't played IX should choose that over XIII if given a choice. It would be the next game we covered if I had my way. But alas. UPDATE: Wait, it's been confirmed. Hooray! Oh, but they're still looking at Final Fantasy VII remake possibilities. Still. This has got to stop.

Yeah, that's all for now. What news will there be in the coming weeks, I wonder?

Source: Kotaku, 1UP, Square Enix

Maybe some of you noticed that there was no news last week. This is partly due to a lot of us being very busy these past weeks, and partly because someone was supposed to write it up, and then didn't. That would be me. Rather than wait for R51 to endlessly berate me on the matter, I figured i'd get the jump on this week's.

It's now only FOUR DAYS until the release of Final Fantasy XIII. Those of us who live in the UK have a chance to be at a launch event at HMV in London. This newsposter is quite likely to attend, though unfortunately, will not be dressing up as any Squenix character. The Final Fantasy XIII Website now has a Developer section, with information about the game's creators. There is a LOT of information about the game here, if you're looking for a last rush of new things before the game itself. We also now know that the size of the installation on the Xbox 360 Version is precisely 18.3 Gigabytes (Except on Weekends). Do you have enough room for it?

Also, now available on the Playstation 3, Star Ocean: The Last Hope International. It actually looks pretty cool, and i've never played any Star Ocean games before. If I had a PS3, I'd be slightly tempted to get it. Other games Square-Enix have published in their newsletter include Supreme Commander 2, and, my personal favourite, Pony Friends 2. Squeeeeeeeeeeeee. In addition, the 18th installation of Final Fantasys I and II are now available on the iPhone, and to make things better, all of the other iPhone/iPod touch games by Square-Enix are now all at least 20% off. Of course, the only one I'd previously heard of was Song Summoner. More on handhelds, Dragon Quest IX will be seeing a Western Release, after performing well in Japan.

Final Fantasy XI, still receiving attention, will be receiving three expansions this year. Three whole expansions. Vision of Abyssea, Heroes of Abyssea, and Cars of Abyss- wait, no, I got that wrong.... Scars of Abyssia....hmm, I like the first version better. From this, I can gather that there's a place called Abyssia that has Heroes, Scars and Vision. And cars. And it seems that there will be a Final Fantasy XIV announcement on March 11th. The countdown begins again.

And that's pretty much it for these two weeks. Honestly, I'm more interested in the absolute insanity of the Portal updates and crazy hidden stuff. It's very possible that the cake is, in fact, not a lie.

Source: Square-Enix, Kotaku, Gamasutra

So apparently Final Fantasy XIII is coming out soon. This is what we refer to as "interesting". As we know, in the Collector's Edition is a sample of the game's soundtrack, but not the full thing. How would one obtain this full soundtrack? Well, you could go the route of some fans and import it from Japan for a fair bit extra money. But these people are fools for one simple reason.

Because it's on pre-order in the US for $30.

Normally I'd be bound by law to plug AmaCoN, but I think in this case I'm forgiven, since it's double the price there. And as the title may indicate, there is no such offer for EU residents...yet. But is this deal worth it? Is the soundtrack any good without Nobuo Uematsu? I can barely remember any Final Fantasy XII tracks, despite having played that all the way through, and yet I can recall so many tracks from 1-10. Despite this, there have been a few good reviews, stating that it's different, but good nonetheless.

Maybe our few members who have played the game can impart their much needed wisdom on the matter? I'm certainly interested.

Source: Square-Enix