News

It's happening Again.

OK guys, it's time for a long run. Partly because, as you may have noticed, Final Fantasy XIII is being released in but a few weeks. 18 days, in fact. Are you ready with your pre-order from AmaCoN? Let's start with the non-XIII related stuff first. Starting from the start.

As we know, Final Fantasy I and II are being released for the XIIIth time, the platform in this case being the iPhone. There's still no release date, other than a "available soon", however, there is a "Gameplay Video" of the two. They do indeed seem to be based on the PSP version, at least graphically, but we don't know whether it will include all of the bonus dungeons present. My guess? Probably.
Nothing on III-VI, but despite the wishes of a certain someone, it seems that fans of Final Fantasy VII are still confused about the response to a possible remake on the PS3. Well, let me spell things out clearly for everyone. Some day, it may happen. Some day, there may be work done on a remake. It will, however, be from the ground up, a project that will take a long time, especially with the capabilities of the PS3.

In the meantime, there's a remake on the DS. Totally. Confirmed.*

Skipping three more games to XI, there were rumours floating about the intersphere that their MOMGRP would be coming to a close this year. This, not unlike some baked goods, is a lie. Why is this a lie? I shall tell you why. Number one: FFXI is still the most popular PROMMG in Japan, and Square-Enix like this because they have an ego. Number two: That's terror. Number three: Hmm, what's that reason that many fans of Final Fantasy never played XI?... Oh, that's right, the monthly subscription fee. Yep, the prime reason they won't, or can't shut down FFXI (for now, anyway), is because they literally can't afford to. Well, I'm sure the avid players have no problem with that.

Passing over x/0 games now, to the Last Story. Hironobu Sakaguchi's new game has sparked interested in at least one Final Fantasy community, but what of his fellow Final Fantasy developers? Their paraphrased response was: "Why contain it?.........................It's cool!" Apparently seeing a release in Japan this year, Western players can probably expect it in 2011, provided there are no delays, that is. It's still early days.

*footbigmike closes last tab on non-FFXIII news, and opens up his folder of XIII links.

Late last week, Square-Enix released some comparison screenshots for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions of Final Fantasy XIII. The observant few of us in the audience may have noticed some peculiarities with the screenshots. You COULD say that they're exactly the same. Indeed, you could, and a few days later, so could Square-Enix. Turns out that they were, in fact, not real. Well, they ARE screenshots, but not the ones you were looking for. They were located a couple of days further on, and released to everyone. Now, I'm no expert at comparing between PS3 and Eggbox, but what we have here is pretty....pretty.

In more and yet just as uncertain Final Fantasy XIII news, one of the next games in the Fabula Nova Crystalis Project (In English: Final Fantasy XIII Compilation), Versus XIII, is still a long way from release. Originally planned for an unveiling at this year's E3... well, yeah, it's not happening. And don't even ask about Agito. Meanwhile, Tetsuya Nomura is sticking to his goal of getting out one Kingdom Hearts game per year. Are they all good titles? You tell me. (Seriously.)

Last week, I pointed out the use of the DLC icon on the back of the Xbox 360 version's game case. It's lying. Not only is there not and DLC planned, but despite all the content cuts that were announced pre-release, which many people presumed would become, Square-Enix see Final Fantasy XIII as a full game, and no cut content will make it into DLC. Now, this doesn't mean that there will be no DLC in the future, some day it may happen. Some- wait, déjà vu. Square-Enix also responded to some.... unfavourable Western reviews of Final Fantasy XIII - a somewhat bitter response, some would say. It definitely sparked a response in one forum of certain interest. Are they right? Well, once more of us play the game, we can retort with more strength.

Other than Final Fantasy XIII itself, how else can Square-Enix make money out of the game? Why, figurines and bundles, of course. Sets of Squenix characters from Final Fantasy XIII, Kingdom Hearts, and even Chrono Trigger, have been figurine-ized. Are they awesome? Hell yeah. Are they for sale? Not a clue. They were found at the Square-Enix booth at the Toy Fair, so it's possible. As for the bundles, Europe are getting two! One, pretty much the same as the US version mentioned last week, and two, an Elite with FFXIII. No engravings, no insignias. Just a plain old eggbox elite. Not my pick, but hey, if it's cheaper, maybe. Not that we know if it is, yet.

Finally, a few publicity related items. Del_S's favourite singer, Leona Lewis, has been featured in an advertisement for Final Fantasy XIII. According to her, the game is good. She's in two separate ads for the game. In one, she's playing the Eggbox version, and in the other, the PS3 version. Again, no huge discernable difference, but then againk, it is filmed from the TV screen, and not a direct feed. (Leona Lewis Let's Play Final Fantasy XIII?) And as for the NBA Allstars sponsor, Square-Enix ran an ad for Final Fantasy XIII, though there did not seem to be any allusion to a PS3 copy. Interesting.

And that's it. It's time for this writer to wait for a few hours until Beta 4 of Goldeneye: Source comes out. Wanna play with us? Come to chat.

Source: Square Enix News, Kotaku

Remember when Square Enix assimilated Eidos into the collective last year and announced that they'd be publishing and making the cutscenes for the new Deus Ex game? Well, now we have some more information. Deus Ex: Human Revolution has been trademarked in the EU and US, and Deus Ex Human Revolution has been trademarked in US only. We know that this is a prequel to the series, so maybe we'll discover what Aquinas meant when he spoke of the mythical city on the hills. Soon, there will be old men, running the world.

Alas, in recent times, several gaming companies have gone bankrupt. Although, most of these weren't spending decades on one game that they kept recreating on the next newest engine. Eidos, as mentioned already, became part of Square Enix, a company which, despite everything, is kicking serious financial ass. Between the two, releasing Batman: Arkham Asylum, Final Fantasy XIII and Dragon Quest IX, we can say with some certainty that they'll still be kicking for a while yet. And by the way, would a failing company get an opportunity at sponsoring the NBA All-Star event, though? No? Well, there you go. And that's exactly what Square-Enix are getting, with Final Fantasy XIII. A strange choice of sponsor, but it actually makes me want to watch it. I think that's the point.

Speaking of Final Fantasy XIII, Square-Enix said last August that their plans for DLC in the game were "unclear", but the box case for the US Xbox 360 version claims to include such content. Is this confirmation of such content? As of yet, like the image, it's still unclear. And, to crush my hopes and dreams, the Final Fantasy XIII PS3 is not being released on the western shores. The only console bundle to be released with Final Fantasy XIII is a branded (not just the faceplate!) Xbox 360, with a 250GB hard drive, 2 controllers, and special magical avatar items. I think Josh knows what that means.

Finally, the third dimension. Square-Enix are getting into it. They've made a 3D trailer for Final Fantasy XIII, which is showing in Japanese theaters along with Avatar. But this doesn't mean they'll be making games in 3D....yet. They will, but they don't know how. Who does? Nobody. Don't get your hopes up for a while.

Source: Kotaku, Siliconera

This just in: there is still no Final Fantasy VII remake on the books. Let's please move on. Of course, it remains Square Enix' own fault that these rumors persist and that fanfolk continue to press the issue, but, please. Let's start a Facebook group or something to tell them it's okay to not remake this game.

Proselytizing aside for the time being, we'll move on to the week's Final Fantasy XIII news. For one, you may have forgotten that at one time, it was going to be a PlayStation 2 release. I'm guessing that were that the case, it probably wouldn't have been on the original Xbox, but one could theorize! Anyway, the point of this now is that Yoshinori Kitase explains that the gear switching from PS2 to PlayStation 3 cost the team a year and a half of the game's epic development window. As an aside to that, he also explained why they decided to rile up half the fanbase by including Leona Lewis. Finally, this week we got confirmation that the Xbox 360 version would in fact be coming on three discs, which might not be fantastic, but it's still better than it could have been.

Quiet on the non Final Fantasy XIII front this week, with just a couple small things to note. First, Final Fantasy VIII is out on the PlayStation Network in the United Kingdom and European Union now. While I don't really share Kotaku writer Plunkett's fervor for it, if you haven't played it yet, it's probably worth doing at least once. And, finally for this week, if you remember footbigmike's tidbits last week, you'll know about the release of the Nintendo DS remake of Dragon Quest VI. That game sold like a wildfire burns - out of the first million or so copies shipped, ninety percent are already in the hands of gamers. And people wonder why they keep doing remakes?

Source: 1up, VG247, Kotaku

Dragon Quest VI, the 1995 SNES RPG, was released in Japan yesterday on the Nintendo DS. Accompanying it is an excellent trailer filled with cosplay goodness. Does that make me want to buy the game? Probably not. What MIGHT make me interested is the Dragon Quest restaurant Josh mentioned a few weeks ago. It opened yesterday. Will it succeed? No idea.

Final Fantasy news has some more substance, fortunately. We're given a look at Final Fantasy XIII's PAL Collector's Edition. For £60, European consumers will receive, in addition to the game, a hardback FFXIII artbook, collector's cards and a "sample" CD of the game's soundtrack. Now, I'm all for collector's editions, and I understand why there's a sample instead of the full thing with this edition, but I'd still like to see a full edition that comes with the game, full soundtrack, artwork and a nice box to keep it all in. And hey, maybe give a pass for the beta of Final Fantasy XIV? That'd be pricier, obviously, but I'd seriously consider it.

Final Fantasy has had many spinoffs and sequels and sub-serieseses. Tactics (and, I guess, Ivalice), VII Collection, Crystal Chronicles, etc. The first has always been popular, what with re-releases and the Advance series. The second...well, does much need to be said? The Crystal Chronicles series, however, is one that has been declining since it's start. The Gamecube title in 2004 was largely successful, and with sequels on the Wii and Nintendo DS, Square-Enix has been frequently pursuing the series. However, it would seem that sales figures for the most recent game, Crystal Bearers, fall far shy of the sales of the original. Will the series keep going forward, or will Square quit while they're...less behind?

Remember all that talk of a Final Fantasy VII remake? You know, for like, the last 8 years? Once again, the rumours and talks have quietened thanks to Tetsuya Nomura, who does not believe one is in the works. He did, however, mention that the characters might make cameos in other games in the series. Hopefully more than just a reference, a la Final Fantasy IX. What's interesting is what Hironobu Sakaguchi is now working on. A new RPG for the Nintendo Wii entitled "The Last Story". The logo design is very Final Fantasy-esque, and, hey, so is the name. What do we know of it so far? About thiiiiis much. Good song. It's somewhat reminiscent of Final Fantasy X's orchestral version of Suteki Da Ne, if you ask me - which you totally did. And that's a good thing for the musical side.

Keep your eyes out for another news post tomorrow with lots of information regarding another upcoming Square-Enix title. That is, providing Mass Effect 2 doesn't distract me from it. In the meantime, go check out your shiny new awards! Maybe!

Source: Kotaku, Final Fantasy Union

The answer is: yes, but only if you are really reaching. This week, you can find some updates to last week's Square Enix news, as well as yet another release for the oldest games in the Final Fantasy series. Beyond that, we've got some Square Enix business and employment news, a bit more Final Fantasy XIII hype, and even some potentially M-rated weirdness. And now we roll on, with our heads held high.

As reported last week, Birth by Sleep was the top selling game in Japan for the first time. Now, this week, it's the second time around. It's still beating New Super Mario Bros. Wii in week-to-week sales, but by a vastly smaller margin than before, largely because now it's the game's week two, not launch week. Given the install base for PSPs versus Wiis, I don't imagine this trend will continue all that much further before something, whether it's NSMB or some other newer release, will knock Kingdom Hearts off the top rung.

In case you haven't had enough of Final Fantasy I and II yet (note that you can play Final Fantasy I on no fewer than five American systems already), you will soon be able to take them with you on your iPhone or iPod Touch, you trendy fool, you. (Yes, I have both, but I don't use them for games. Also, it's well-known that I'm a massive hypocrite.) Not very many details yet, but it seems like the games will be based more or less on the PSP releases, but with a redesigned interface due to the necessity of using touch to navigate the games.

Squenix announced this week that they're looking to take on some debt. While the company has billions of yen in liquid assets already, but they also owe billions in debt, too (though not as much as they have on hand). When they sell their bond issues worth ¥35 billion, the additional cash can help to pay off the original debt, or it could also be used to go on another game-company-gobbling purchasing spree, or some of both. In another part of the company, composer Masashi Hamauzu has left the sound team of Square Enix. He composed music for a variety of games produced by the company, notably a couple releases in the SaGa family, Final Fantasy X, and most recently Final Fantasy XIII.

And, hey, have some promised weirdness. Apparently one of Vanille's models within Final Fantasy XIII is nude. Not entirely surprising, given that this is common practice as the modelers can then be able to more closely map clothing and equipment to the base model; allegedly, though, Vanille's model in this case includes detail in her upper half that isn't often seen in such things. Let's just leave it at that, shall we? And no link, you'll just have to go looking on your own (which, of course, I know you're already doing, and that will no doubt tide you over until the next tidbits).

Source: Kotaku, Square Enix DLG (on Facebook), Square Enix Music

Various news surfaced last year of a new Final Fantasy, codenamed Final Fantasy Fortress. Speculation was in the air and I did my usual act of hoping it was a follow-up to Final Fantasy XII with absolutely no conviction. Well sirs and madames, it turns out that hoping for something with enough effort does indeed bear some reward. A tech demo of project Fortress, leaked on YouTube and now removed by Square Enix for breach of a 2009 copyright violation, reveals that the sequel was being created by Sweden's Grin development house and to be published on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 by Square Enix. See it here. The original source of the video maintains that this project has been moved to a different studio amid a concern for 'quality issues', which, supposed, in turn lead to Grin's demise. If true, here's hoping that it's in with Deus Ex 3 and Thief 4 at Eidos Montreal. Let's just spare a thought for old Grin. They worked six or so months on this and literally had the rug pulled from under their feet by Square Enix, who removed the project from their hands and subsequently forced them to close.

The video appears much more like a western RPG, with a main character who looks like he'd be more at home swinging a giant axe at Chris Redfield in Resident Evil 5. Many childhood fantasies of watching Barret race the chocobo at the Gold Saucer in Final Fantasy VII are also realised when we see the man riding through a forest, reminding us that this is a Final Fantasy. We also see a large-scale battle still reminiscent of Helm's Deep in Lord of the Rings, reminding us that this is a western fantasy game. There is no HUD of any sort, but it appears to show that his sword and bow attacks are at the press of a button rather than preset instructions. It's shaky, it's stubby, it's unfinished, it's nasty, it is a tech demo after all, but it's absolutely compelling. There are also some screenshots and concept art available here from different parts of the game if you're interested, mostly landscapes.

Source: Voodoo Extreme, Break, Kotaku (yay)