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Square Enix talks up innovation, hints at new hardware
Though you might be inclined to give Square Enix president, Yoichi Wada, an incredulous stare as he discusses the merits of innovation before the release of Final Fantasy Thirteen, a recent interview with Nikkei Business Online points to his fairly levelheaded approach to the topic. "If we don't see some [next-generation] titles that differ from traditional games, the industry is in trouble. Nintendo's DS lineup gives you an idea of the potential..." However, Mr. Wada goes on to say that immmediately tossing out all previous conventions and concepts isn't necessarily the best solution. "We must change. But if we change all at once, the system will collapse, and since our profits are built on that system, it's a difficult question. So you have to introduce change from a completely unrelated direction within a separate budget framework. This is something all the companies are worrying about right now. Fortunately, we're financially prepared to handle change." It raises the interesting point that change may be easy to trumpet but difficult to usher in, requiring gradual steps and some assistance from current franchises. The earlier point regarding the DS' success is an interesting one, since Nintendo's many franchises and characters were arguably instrumental in introducing a different way of playing games.The ability of unique hardware to funnel innovation in certain ways also intrigues Square, which is why "Square Enix will collaborate with Taito, a company that produces physical hardware. In our talks with Taito, ideas for an actual physical product have come up. In any case, we will be releasing some 'thing.' It's interesting in that it's not the sort of thing you expect from Square Enix." With that in mind, we now can't wait to play some sort of Final Fantasy game on a Square Enix thing at an undisclosed time in the future.[Via Gamasutra]
Chocobo's Magic Picture Book starter site
A pair of big blue eyes and some feathers falling from random places is all you get from Square's teaser site for Chocobo's Magic Picture Book. If you don't read Japanese you can at least poke around Chocobo's eyes and listen to his theme song until you want to scratch out your own eyes. But don't sharpen your fingernails just yet! We can tell you that the site does say that its official launch date is in September. Did someone say Tokyo Game Show appearance maybe? See also: Wark! Chocobo coming to the DS
Enchanted Arms embraces bilingualism
Due for release on 29 August, Enchanted Arms is the fully localized version of From Software's more awkwardly named and rather annoyingly capitalized [eM] eNCHANT arM, the first traditional Japanese RPG to emerge on the Xbox 360. For its American release, the fine French folks at Ubisoft have bravely volunteered to publish the game and translate the gratuitous amounts of Japanese voice and text into something more palatable to a Western audience. Then again, many localizations turn out be anything but palatable, representing the aural equivalent of vicious food poisoning. The mere memory of Shenmue's soulless soccer kids causes great discomfort and anxiety, feelings that are slightly dimmed by Ubisoft's intentions to include both Japanese and English soundtracks on the Enchanted Arms disc. Excellent news, to be sure, but frustrating in the sense that Ubisoft is one of the few publishers that actually does put a great deal of care into cinematic presentation, generally avoiding talentless talkers who end up in the recording studio through sheer chance. Based on Grandia II, their English efforts might not be nearly embarrassing enough to warrant this feature.And really, "feature" is a good word to describe it. With advanced compression techniques and new, Blu-tinged storage mediums arriving, there should be no reason for gamers not to have a choice in who they hear blathering about chosen ones and ancient, poorly imprisoned evils. It's about time that publishers and developers realized that poor voice acting is no laughing matter.[A video involving magical limbs is embedded in the second part of the post.]
More Final Fantasy III Screens!
Our immediate response to the sight of more Final Fantasy III stuff is "ZOMG FF III PWNES!! :-D". After a few minutes of calming down with meditation we remember that it is only a game...Wait, what are we saying?! This is FF III people! We found some nice, new and very attractive screenshots for you to ogle at. Careful, mind the keyboard. Drool is not your friend. We have been keeping side-by-side with this game and biting our nails everyday we have to wait. And wait we do. Word.
FFIII preview: everything old is new again!
Though we could have used some screens, the Final Fantasy III preview at Gameworld Network does have a few juicy details, plenty to ramp up our already frenzied excitement for this title. For those who've lived and breathed Final Fantasy over the years, the turn-based battle system is old hat, but in this version it's served up with a twist: during battle, you chose every character's actions at the same time. Sounds like it's going to take a little getting used to, but when a game looks this good, we're up to the challenge. The Gameworld preview gushes over the stylized new look, as expected. It's exciting to see these characters get their own unique faces, stories, and even names for the revamped game. It's a whole new world ....
Square-Enix says "No!" to FFXI sequel rumors
Seems a lot of people hopped on the rumor-wagon this past week. Regrettably, Squeenix debunked this rumor today by denying any FFXI sequel altogether. They say the gameplay footage of their next-gen MMO is a completely independant project, original in title and story. Some may say "great! FFXI was terrible! Now then, back to WoW..." while others may say "Aw, poo, no Vana'Diel on my PS3..."What kind of newfangled MMO could Squeenix be working on, then? It's hard to think about what a new, original project could be like, since the MMO world has pretty much two options: fantasy world or post-apocalyptic world. Would they go to the latter? More like a Final Fantasy 8 world, but online? It's more futuristic at least. Or it may be unrelated to the Final Fantasy franchise altogether. Anybody have thoughts on what Square could possibly toss at us?
Square Enix won't confirm Final Fantasy XI-2
Square Enix has posted a statement on its website, rejecting Nikkei Net's report that the RPG vet has revealed its upcoming MMO as the sequel to Final Fantasy XI Online. While Square Enix does not outright deny that its project is FFXI-2, the company states clearly that it "did not make such an announcement [about FFXI-2] and has not made any decisions resembling those detailed in the media report."The statement reconfirms that Square Enix is developing a new MMORPG, as was announced in May 2005, but adds that specific details, including the game's platform(s), are still pending.[Thanks, mathew]
Final Fantasy XI sequel revealed
According to Japan's Nikkei Net (via IGN), Square Enix is working on a sequel to Final Fantasy XI. The upcoming MMORPG is being developed for PC (Vista), PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. Prior to this revelation, Square Enix had hinted at a new MMO project, previewing a trailer featuring a 'next-gen' MMORPG engine. However, at this time, it's unclear if the FFXI sequel is indeed the game that will utilize this engine.[Thanks, Master X]
Final Fantasy III gameplay footage
A Final Fantasy III (DS) video -- minus the fluff -- has surfaced on YouTube. Although edited, this clip is 3:44 of gameplay footage: a lil' exploring ... a surprise skirmish ... some more explorin' ... a lethargic giant-tortoise boss battle ... a shiny crystal -- you know, classic Final Fantasy. Sure it's garden variety, but it's a proven formula and looking extremely polished at home on DS.
Moogle joins Mario Hoops team roster
A recent Famitsu scan seems to indicate that the obscenely colorful cast of Mario Hoops: 3 on 3 will be joined by a fluffy Final Fantasy favorite -- Moogle. Franchise crossovers are always amusing, though we thought that Square Enix would at least have the good sense to toss Quina Quen from Final Fantasy IX in there. We're convinced that Mario would rather have a freakish, grammatically challenged cook on his team as opposed to a little white creature that's probably a bit crap at playing basketball. [Via 4CR]
Final Fantasy III DS wi-fi feature revealed: emailing?
ClubSkill.com reports that a leaked screenshot from Jump, a Japanese publication, reveals that Final Fantasy III will make use of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, at least in part, by allowing friends to send 'letters' to each other. Exchanging these emails is said to trigger special events in the game.Fair enough, but we're still holding out for some true co-op functionality, or even just a simple battle mode. C'mon Square Enix, we play games to take a break from emailing!
Final Fantasy XII releasing this Halloween
For those dreaming of the gorgeous gun ballet glimpsed in Final Fantasy XIII, it may come as a rude awakening when we loudly exclaim, "Hang on, we haven't even gotten number 12 yet!" Thankfully, Square Enix has answered our call by officially announcing the North American release date for their next inevitably epic RPG. Final Fantasy XII will be in stores this Halloween, 31 October 2006. If ever there was a good reason for Sephiroth and Rikku cosplayers to head out into public and purchase the game in full fantasy garb, this is it.Not to be left behind on the platform as the Collector's Edition trend train heads off, the game will be arriving in two distinct versions. The vanilla package will retail for $49.99, whereas the Collector's Edition, laced with interviews, series featurettes, trailers, art galleries and ancient evils, will be available at Gamestop and EB Games exclusively for $59.99. Depending on how fond you are of the non-final franchise, that's either a trick or a treat.[Image: Advent Children.net]
Up to 7,000 PSOne-to-PSP titles by 2007, reports UK PSP Magazine
"Riiiiiidge Raaaaacer!" Kaz Hirai's famous declaration at Sony's E3 media breifing might not have garnered much applause, but, according to UK PSP Magazine, there are plenty of other emulated PlayStation titles (for the PSP) that will. These five AAA titles should be available when the emulation service launches: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Final Fantasy VII Final Fantasy VIII Silent Hill Tomb Raider In addition, UK PSP Magazine reports that up to 7,000 PlayStation titles will be available for download by the end of 2007. Say what?! 7,000! Yes folks, it's possible -- Wikipedia: "As of March 2005, there were 7,743 software titles available (this figure counts games released in multiple regions as separate titles)."Forget PSOne, the PSP has officially become the first, truly portable PlayStation. We knew the thing would find its calling sooner or later...
June 27th says: "No Live for you!" [update 1]
PlayOnline has announced that Xbox Live servers will be down on June 27th from 2:00 'til 6:00 PDT for maintenance. It looks like this will only affect PlayOnline, but it might mean no Live for anyone. No word has actually come down from Microsoft about Live being down so, who knows? The announcement mentions that those already connected to PlayOnline will stay connected, but once you disconnect you won't be able to access PlayOnine until the maintenance is finished. So, 360 Final Fantasy XI fans (both of you) better connect now before it's too late. [Via Xboxic] Update: Reader bigC24 let us know that the Live outage is official. Check out Major Nelson for details.
Square Enix confirms Final Fantasy III wi-fi enabled
A few days ago, we were sent a scan of a page from Nintendo Power. The image suggests that Final Fantasy III (DS) will feature Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection support. See the tiny blue icon? Today, IGN confirmed with Square Enix that FFIII would indeed be wi-fi enabled. Unfortunately the company representative added, "I can't reveal the details at this time." Final Fantasy III is scheduled for release on September 12. [Thanks, Sean]
Best Buy puts up Final Fantasy VII listing
At the ripe price of 60 bucks, Final Fantasy VII for PS3 is showing up on Best Buy's website. Oh but wait, there's more. It even goes as far to list December 1st as being release date, obviously for here in the States. With everyone and their grandmother talking about a next-gen remake, this puts a bit more substance to the discussion (albeit only a little).Now who wants to start taking bids on how long it takes for Square Enix to get this removed?[Via Gaming Horizon]
EGM sits down with FFXIII developers
It's a fantasy of the final kind that just keeps on chuggin'. Shane Bettenhausen of EGM fame got to talk it up with Shinji Hashimoto, Yoshinori Kitase, Tetsuya Nomura and Toriyama about Square Enix and their Final Fantasy XIII project.While the interview will be appearing in this month's magazine, the whole unabridged version can be seen on 1UP. Mr. Kitase starts it up by conceding that they had originally thought about doing FFXIII on PS2 before deciding that both it and FFVersusXIII would ship on PlayStation 3. On the subject of narrative crossovers, Nomura says that each world is separate and will not allow for other characters meet each other.Of course he follows that up stating that there is the "possibility in the future" of that happening, but obviously they haven't gotten to that bridge yet. Check out the full interview to see what else they had to say (motion-sensing anyone?).
Final Fantasy game announced for Amp'd
Square-Enix has announced that the excessively-titled Dirge of Cerberus: Lost Episode - Final Fantasy VII will be available exclusively for Amp'd handsets this summer. It's already the most popular 3D mobile game in Japan, taking place shortly after the events of Final Fantasy VII, and thrusting you in the role of one Vincent Valentine who, you guessed it, must save the world from evil. The mobile version is being timed to coincide with the August release of Dirge of Cereberus: Final Fantasy VII for the PlayStation 2 and will initially be single-player only, although Square-Enix promises to let you get your multiplayer fix at a later date. And if you aren't lucky enough to have Amp'd service, or if fancy 3D graphics just aren't your thing, you can always grab an NES emulator and bust out some classic 8-bit Final Fantasy -- although we can't say Square would approve.
Chicago signing for Uematsu, Aki, & Roth tonight
Are you in Chicago tonight for the big PLAY! concert tomorrow, but weren't willing to shell out $125 for the VIP meet-and-greet at the event? Well, you might be in luck (even if you're not attending), as a few famous folks from the concert will be on hand to sign autographs in Chicago proper for free tonight.From 7 to 9 PM (presumably Central time) at the Tower Records store on 2301 N. Clark St., Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu, bilingual songstress Angela Aki (who wrote and sang the theme song for FFXII), and Principal Conductor and Music Director of PLAY! Arnie Roth will be signing autographs to promote the world-tour premiere of 'PLAY! A Video Game Symphony' and the CD for More Friends - Music from FINAL FANTASY.While this blogger is sadly occupied with prior engagements tonight, gamers in the area are more than welcome to mob that Tower Records and cause the store's employees much consternation and bewilderment. If you don't have any imported CDs to sign, however, don't fret: the store's web site claims to have "some awesome Japanese imports available for you to purchase and have autographed at the event." Not only that, Angela Aki will be performing live as well. Score! Anybody wanna tell us how this evening turns out when it's all sung and done?[Via The Daily Northwestern; image culled from Angela Aki's blog, Nobuo Uematsu's Squenix profile, and Arnie Roth's 2005 interview with IGN]See also: Official page for Tower Clark Street (with details on the signing) Ticketmaster site for the PLAY! concert debut tomorrow Sonic and Chrono composers to join PLAY! in Chicago
Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII screenshot blowout
The Magic Box has a plethora of screenshots for the upcoming Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, a prequel to FFVII starring Zack. There is also artwork included showing some of the game's characters, including a sketch on Cloud. What's even more interesting is the addition of the character on the right, who seems to be in possession of the Buster Sword. Every trickle of info that comes in about this game gets me more and more excited.
