News

With all of its well publicized troubles, Disney still has a few bright spots. One of those is Kingdom Hearts. Disney Interactive and Square Enix have jointly announced that more than four million copiesof the title have shipped worldwide.

North America is actually outselling Japan moving two million units compared to the 1.23 million in the latter area. Europe has chipped in with 820,000 copies. Square Enix U.S.A.'s president and CEO Jun Iwasaki, was quoted "The unique blend of Disney characters and worlds in a Square Enix style gameplay seen in KINGDOM HEARTS resulted in one remarkable game. We couldn’t be happier with the results"

Kingdom Hearts was recently added to the Sony's "Greatest Hits" label. There is a Kingdom Hearts Gameboy Advance title in the works as well as a sequel to the original title.

In other Square Enix news, GameTrailers.com has a new Final Fantasy XII trailer available for download on their website. The trailer is from a recently released Famitsu DVD (For those not in the know, Famitsu is a popular gaming magazine in Japan).

Source: Games_Are_Fun

The first Final Fantasy symphony concert to be performed in the United States has become a sell out in just three days.

The concert scheduled for Monday, May 10 at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles will consist of songs from Square Enix's Final Fantasy series as performed by Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the Los Angeles Master Chorale.

Ticket prices had started $40 and topped out at $120 US. The only place to find tickets now will probably be Ebay, if even there if one is lucky (lucky is a relative term as the price of such a ticket will probably exorbitant). The fact that the E3 Expo is also occurring that week in LA is thought to have contributed to the quick sell out.

Source: Games_Are_Fun


/****/

It be interesting to hear the orchestra and chorale's rendition of One Winged Angel. Maybe they will produce a CD of the performance.

Announced on the 7th of this month, the Final Fantasy game that some people love and others hate has reached the 500,000-user mark. Over a million characters have been created since launching in May of 2002.

So while some Final Fantasy fans may avoid the game, because of fees and being strictly on the computer, there is still a very healthy fanbase for FFXI.

Source: RPGamer

/****/

I myself tried the game, but just couldn't get into it. It looks like fun, and it's easy enough to play, however I'm strictly a console gamer. I can see how someone who does like playing their games on the PC, and doesn't mind a monthly fee, would enjoy this game tremedously.

New details have surfaced about Squeenix's follow-up to their successful Kingdom Hearts title.

These details mainly focus on gameplay. The basic game mechanics will remain mostly unchanged in the sequel. One aspect that will have some changes is the summoning system, though. The changes will make it easier to use summons in a battle. There are also plans to rework the Gummi Ship.

There is still not even a Japanese release date for the game, however.

Source: RPGamer

/****/

I have only played about two hours of KH1 or so, and it seemed like a really good action RPG. Hopefully, the sequel will be just as good (if not better) than the original. What I hope even more though is that I can finish KH1 before the second is released in the North America.

Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, scheduled for release on February 9, 2004 on the Nintendo Gamecube, will be the first FF title released in the US on a Nintendo console since the 1994 release of Final Fantasy III US (aka FFVI).

Crystal Chronicles features a large emphasis on multiplayer gaming, supporting up to four players simultaneously via Gameboy Advance consoles linked to the Gamecube.

Gamespot features a collection of screenshots of the Japanese game release.

---

The story sounds a little weak, the battle system has moved from turn-based to real-time, the magic system is apparently "item-based" like FFVIII, and Square wasn't even willing to give it an "official" spot in the series with a Roman numeral of its very own.

Thus, I'm a little skeptical about the game, but nevertheless would give it a shot, assuming I could find a Gamecube and GBA to borrow.

RPGamer has a few new screenshots of Final Fantasy XII

/-----/

Most of the new screenshots look to be from FMV sequences. If they're not shots of FMV, Squenix must have found some way to get some more out the rapidly aging PS2. I doubt that though.

The battle mode almost looks FMV-ish too though. We'll keep you informed of any new Final Fantasy XII screenshots or news as we find it.