News

Last week was another pretty quiet one, so I've lumped everything into another two week span. Plus, last Friday I was working madly on some other CoN development that I'll roll out eventually. Every tidbits, I start with the excuses. It's fun.

Let's kick it off with the best reason ever to go to Japan: a Dragon Quest-themed bar in Tokyo, opening next week. I would love to see if they have Slime-themed adult beverages. Please tell me there will be Slime-themed adult beverages. Perhaps a Green Slimetini.

From a different perspective in Square Enix corporate life, it's recently come to light that Yoichi Wada isn't pleased with the Japanese game retail industry and its xenophobia. Of course, some level of xenophobia in Japan is hardly anything new, so why should Square Enix care? Well, it's because now they're in charge of publishing games like Modern Warfare 2 in Japan. Now it all makes sense.

It shouldn't come as any surprise that Kingdom Hearts is massive in Japan, speaking of the gaming motherland. It's Disney! It's Square Enix! The buying queue will be massive! And, it was for Birth by Sleep; the newest edition of the Kingdom Hearts series, for PSP, came out last week in Japan and promptly sold almost half a million discs, blowing every other game out of the water in terms of that week's sales. Will it have lifetime sales better than the game it replaced at the top of the charts, New Super Mario Bros. Wii? Probably not, but it's still pretty impressive.

So, with all that non-Final Fantasy stuff out of the way, I'm sure you guys who aren't already miserable from thinking about Final Fantasy XIII want to hear more, right? Bam: here it is. First, here's the first new trailer with the Leona Lewis track and English voice acting, first linked to us by BlitzSage in the delicious knot of rage that is our thread discussing Leona Lewis' involvement in the Western game. Still want more after that? Well, Square Enix this week (for some reason) put some PlayStation 3s and Xbox 360s on a bus in California and drove it around so players could get an early look at parts of the North American game. No word yet when or if the content on the bus will be distributed over Xbox Live or PlayStation Home for other users, but the bus tour ends tomorrow. 1up says the game seems to run just as nicely on the lowly 360 as it does the PS3, though this isn't exactly a side-by-side comparison. Honestly, though, did anyone think that Square Enix would botch the cross-platform nature of this game? It's been a lightning rod (yay puns!) ever since it was announced, and the experience on 360 is simply something that Squenix can't afford to screw up. Also, according to Kotaku by way of Japanese Final Fantasy site FF Reunion, Final Fantasy XIII could have been a lot longer. They cut so much out, in fact, that the scraps on the floor could have been reassembled to create another full game, according to art director Isamu Kamikokuryou. I've wondered aloud already: maybe that's how they plan on creating the seemingly-off-the-radar FFXIII Versus, eh?

If you're still up for this game, though, don't forget that it comes out in about seven and a half weeks. And we know this is true, because now we know it's gone Gold - for those not familiar with shipping software, that's just the industry term for "the game is done, yo." This even includes the lip-syncing as seen in the aforementioned trailer, which, as you no doubt all know, has sometimes been a bit wonky for Square Enix games. So, whether you're still excited or not, this is still looking like a big deal, and it's getting ever closer. Enjoy, whatever your perspective.

Source: Kotaku, GamePro, 1up

Missed a couple weeks of the tidbits again; I'm sure you have all been pretty busy yourselves, and then there's the part where you don't really read these anyway, so it's all good. If you haven't been looking, though, you probably missed some good Square Enix information that's come out over the holidays, so let's catch you up.

The release of Final Fantasy XIII in Japan doesn't mean the media blitz is over; the release was predictably huge, and Square Enix are laboring hard to continue to push the merch, with a long-format commercial airing to promote the soundtrack, available in a few weeks. Here in the States, the Square Enix Members Blog is offering a sweepstakes to win jewelry and accessories as designed for Final Fantasy XIII characters.

For the Wii gamers, Crystal Chronicles came out on the day after Christmas. It's, probably unsurprisingly, getting mixed reviews so far, though there are obviously a wide array of folks out there who have enjoyed the Crystal Chronicles games so far. If you're one of them, perhaps you should take a visit to the General Squenix forum here at CoN and talk about your experience a bit.

Final Fantasy XIV is in the ascendancy now that Thirteen is out the door; while it still doesn't have a more specific release date than "2010," there's a lot of new media coming out to show a bit more about what you'll be looking at as you play. Kotaku brought us some new scenery-style shots just before Christmas, and on Christmas Eve published some from the character creator that, probably in a manner that won't shock the cynics, seems to focus on thin, attractive human females.

To wrap up the news you might have missed, check out Slime Curling as a minigame in the remake of Dragon Quest VI. I might be the only person outside of Canada who likes curling, so maybe I'm biased, but this sounds like a great idea to me. Also, Nomura has gotten his name on a new patent application that has detailed flowcharts and illustrations describing a new kind of RPG combat system. The application is platform-agnostic, but one of the illustrations has a system that looks a lot like a PSP... Finally, the free Chocobo pet on which we previously reported has finally come around, at least for some of us. I got the code for mine emailed to me on the 30th, and let me tell you, it's adorable.

Do any of you remember the CoNtest I announced a few months back when we re-released CoN quizzes? Hey, that ended on New Year's Eve - I'll announce our winner in just a tick.

Forenote: In keeping tradition of updates every Friday, I would like to point out that it is, in fact, always Friday. But right now, it's Friday in England. So this still counts.

13 - Unlucky for some? Let's hope not Square-Enix. Final Fantasy XIII is now out in Japanland. Over the past week, everywhere has gone nuts. Sure, it isn't out in the West... yet. But even so, we don't have much to go on other than Famitsu's 39/40. My mathematical skills tell me that that means good.

A Final Fantasy XIII branded PS3 Slim is out in Japan, and will also be seeing a release in Korea, despite the fact that I want one. It's white, pink, slim, big (HDD-wise) and is coupled with matching controller and a copy of Final Fantasy XIII. Retailing at the US equivalent of $450 U.S, is it worth it? Even if not, you can bet it'll be worth a bunch to collectors soon enough. For those who already DO have a Playstation 3, you can look forward to Final Fantasy XIII characters and monsters in your Playstation Home! And they're absolutely free.... in Japan.... until January 14th. If we're lucky, we might be able to get to PAY for them eventually!

Square-Enix, always the money grabber, is also releasing the game's soundtrack in two versions. The standard, and the special editions. What's the difference? One disc, about $15 and a pretty box. The normal version is about $45, no prizes for whoever figures out how much the special is priced. But is it worth it without Nobuo Uematsu? Find out for yourself at the Final Fantasy XIII website, where samples of the game's soundtrack are available to all.

In addition, a lot more copies of Final Fantasy XIII were shipped than intended. Almost double, in fact. Square-Enix are definitely confident about this title. Do they have good reason to be? I guess we'll find out in the next few weeks. Or you could hide in a cave until the Western release. This news poster might actually try to get hold of a copy at release date (March 9th)! Try, and fail, because the Xbox version is still pending. Gragh.

Right. Almost at the end here, but something has come up that ISN'T Final Fantasy XIII related. (My aim in this post was to say Final Fantasy XIII 13 times. Did I succeed?) Final Fantasy VIII is now available to all on the Playstation Network for $10.... Oh joy....

When's Final Fantasy IX up?

Source: Ko, ta, ku

I'm a few hours later than usual in the Square Enix news tidbits this Friday; I got a bit distracted with designing some new elements for your beloved (?) Caves of Narshe. It's okay, though, because the news is a bit short this week. I'll just shoot through it on my way to my next meeting!

Final Fantasy XIII is under a week away now in Japan (ignore what I said last week, my math skills failed!). With that, one can assume that the news about the game will soon start to die down; for now, though, let's talk about Famitsu (spoilers in the link, be warned!). The Final Fantasy XIII cynics will be pleased to note that Famitsu did not give the game a perfect score; it scored only a mere thirty-nine. However, some would argue that Famitsu's scoring isn't what it used to be—four games this year have already gotten the perfect forty (Bayonetta, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Monster Hunter 3, and Dragon Quest IX). The only Final Fantasy game to ever score a forty, by the way, was Final Fantasy XII.

Yoshitaka Amano is still a Final Fantasy fan, though, Famitsu notwithstanding; the artist responsible for concept art for more than half the games in the main series has now contributed new art with his interpretation of the characters of Final Fantasy XIII. Beyond the game's logo, this is Amano's only involvement with the game; the characters are exactly what you would expect, with broad features, very pale skin (not you, Sazh), and a very sketchy nature.

Finally, there's a new commercial out in Japan for Thirteen. There's some new footage, not yet seen anywhere, in this ad; I'm not sure that I can recognize it myself after the torrents of Final Fantasy XIII promo media in the last few months, but the sources swear it's there. Maybe you can watch it and then tell me.

Finally, for those of you out there who still think a career in the gaming industry is all you could ever want from life, Square Enix is hiring. There's one job in Los Angeles for a job that's way too senior for anyone who's likely to read CoN; otherwise, plan on a trip to London to be a localization tester. You'll also have to speak English and one or more of the following: French, Italian, German and/or Spanish. Also, the pay seems pretty abysmal to me, but maybe that's just because I'm so rich and famous myself. I must say that I'm a bit surprised to see hiring so soon after the European division had significant layoffs. The timing seems awkward, and it begs the question as to whether more of the laid-off jobs could have been saved. Some of the folks laid off might just feel the same way.

The holidays are coming up, starting right now, in fact, if you celebrate Chanukkah. I'll be taking a couple days off myself to be with my family, so feel free to send me tidbits and save me some time!

Source: Kotaku, Final Fantasy XIII-Net, Siliconera

I got in my email a few minutes ago a pretty big list of updates and news with regards to Distant Worlds, the massively successful symphonic tour of music from Final Fantasy. Not only are there new shows being announced, there's a new CD release coming next year too.

Coming up this weekend, in Chicago, there's a pretty spectacular show planned; the Chicago Pops will be playing the first public performance of music from Final Fantasy XIV, for one; not only that, Uematsu himself will be there (as he will be for "many other DWFF Premieres," apparently). Oh, and he won't just be in the audience. He'll be playing with the "Chicago Mages," which I can only assume is essentially a Black Mages-style rock band made up of local performers. This show is Saturday night, 12 December, and as of the time I received the email, there were still tickets left.

Coming up, also, will be the first South Korean show, in Seoul, coming up on 6 and 7 February; then, over the summer, the tour will go back to Stockholm, then to San Francisco, San Diego, and back to Chicago again, with more dates and cities coming soon.

Finally, FFDW will have a second CD release next year, in June, just before the Stockholm show. No word on the tracklist for the new CD, just word that it is in fact new and will be performed at all the summer shows. I'll be sure to provide you with a nice AmaCoN link when the time comes!



Source: Final Fantasy: Distant Worlds Official Site

There are a lot of people out there who see the original Deus Ex as one of the finest games ever made, with its roll-your-own hybrid of first person shooter, role playing, and stealth attributes wrapped around a fantastic dystopian story. The love for this game continues even now, almost a decade and a mediocre sequel later; for that reason, many have been both hopeful and fearful of the third entry, should it ever arrive.

Now, you may be wondering, why does this have anything to do with our beloved Square Enix and its massive echelon of games? Well, the Deus Ex series belongs to Eidos. And Eidos belongs to Square Enix. And, in the nature of business as we know it, they're always looking for synergy across business units. So, here you go: pre-rendered cutscenes for Deus Ex 3 will be rendered by the folks at Square Enix Tokyo, the very same who have produced cinematics for your favorite SE RPGs over the years. Will it be the "A" team, the folks who just finished cranking out work for Final Fantasy XIII? Might it be some "B" team, the types who created the much less attractive FMVs from the Playstation re-releases many a year ago? Does Deus Ex even need these scenes? Don't forget that many of the cutscenes in the previous games change based on player decisions, so this might require a change to the core play mechanics.

What do you think of these events? Do we need more games with Square Enix-style cinemas? Will the design philosophies of the two offices clash? We might yet find out next year.

Source: EDGE