While Japanese gamers will be enjoying their Final Fantasy romp in XIII this year, fans of the series in both the US and Europe will have to wait. The jumbo advertisement Square Enix plastered up in Los Angeles before E3 kicks off next week clearly states: "Coming 2010". Technically it only refers to the US release...
If E3 weren't enough for videogamers to drool over, a zillion Final Fantasy fans likely just made a mess of their lower clothing apparel. The ESRB has rated the PlayStation classic FFVII for both the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable, which means it's heading for PSN. The game released over 12 long years ago.
Sony has just announced that Final Fantasy VII will be available on the PlayStation Store today. Many have been waiting for the release of this classic PlayStation game.
Sony has just announced that Final Fantasy XIV is to be an exclusive for the PS3 that will be released in 2010. It might be a MMO, but we'll have to confirm this.
Square Enix has shed a little more light on the surprising announcement of Final Fantasy XIV, an online MMORPG set in a brand new world. Races will be similar to the older Final Fantasy XI, but this new game takes many lessons learned from Blizzard's World of Warcraft as Square expands on that in their own way; neat.
Your life never needs to fill incomplete again as the "long awaited RPG classic" Final Fantasy VII from PlayStation has finally arrived on PSN. Fight Night Round 4's demo is now available, along with a free Motorstorm ad-on pack. A small legion of videos has been added from E3, which includes Assassin's Creed 2 and FFXIV.
Sony has said the RPG classic has been wolfed down over 100,000 times since its arrival on the US PlayStation Store two weeks ago. This makes it easily the fastest-selling PSOne game on the PlayStation Network, and it's just one of "dozens" Sony plans to release between now and the year's end.
Yes it was inevitable, the original Final Fantasy title that begun a never-ending wave of sequels and spin-offs is heading to Western PSN Stores. The plucky JRPG is already feeding retro appetites in Japan and is expected to be gracing our PlayStation Stores soon. It weighs in at just 60MB so network clogging is unlikely.
The upcoming GamesCom in Cologne, Germany will have Final Fantasy XIV on show confirms Square Enix Europe, having been unveiled at this year's E3. The MMO will be for PlayStation 3 and PC with Square planning a "simultaneous global release" supporting English, German, French and Japanese. Xbox 360 a possibility still.
Square Enix are ditching the traditional MMO staple of gather/grinding for experience points in order to level your characters, instead they want more 'natural growth'. It takes note of FFXI's job system which had "lasting appeal" noted director Nobuaki Komoto, but FFXIV will have "something completely different." Weapons dictate "how you play."
Yoichi Wada of Square Enix, the president no less, has said they'll be spilling the release date beans "in a few weeks" time, most likely at the Tokyo Game Show. Final Fantasy XIII will be at TGS in some shape. It releases on PS3 in Japan this holiday, with the rest of the world (the US at least) getting it on PS3 and Xbox 360 during spring.
Speaking at GamesCom, Final Fantasy XIII bigwigs have dished that the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions will be arriving in Europe at the same time, no "actual month down yet". It's about 70 percent down on Microsoft's platform, they've yet to start debugging. The Sony title is much higher at 90 percent, and retails this winter in Japan. Voice work done.
Square Enix has said a Final Fantasy XIII demo for western gamers would most likely be "in a downloadable format," but not a localised version of the current one. Instead they'd release "a completely new version," but that's if they were to "provide the demo overseas," which remains undecided. Final Fantasy XIII is almost done on PS3.
Yoshinori Kitase of Square Enix says that thanks to devs being pulled from Versus and tasked on FFXIII, the "knowledge and experience" gained will speed along Versus. The development of the more action-orientated game is going "comparatively faster" than Final Fantasy XIII, because the tools and engine are proven. Unlikely to be out before 2011.
Yoshi Kitase and Motomu Toriyama have confirmed there is no remake of Final Fantasy VII going on behind the scenes, though they do discuss it on a "personal level". It's got "a special place in their hearts." While they make talk about it around the water cooler, there's absolutely "no official project yet." Fans should play the PSN release to tide over with.
Square-Enix has revealed that it might release DLC for Final Fantasy XIII once it's released, but it won't expand the story. "We are exploring the option of downloadable content, perhaps adding new areas, items or enemies, but these would not be expansions to the story, only the gameplay. The entire story of FF13 will be on the disc." said Yoshinori Kitase, producer on Final Fantasy XIII.
With the recent introduction of the PS3 Slim at the reduce priced, sales of the platform have surged in demand. When PS3 exclusive FFXIII releases in Japan, big things will happen. Enterbrain's Hirokazu Hamamura believes over 500,000 PS3s will sell over the year's end sale period, partly because of Final Fantasy XIII's launch. It's being bundled with PS3 Slims.
According to sources the supposedly 'failed' Final Fantasy spin-off project that Swedish developer GRIN was working on has in fact survived the studio's collapse. Square Enix is reported to been continuing work on the game, presumably with an in-house development team. It was obviously thought dead given GRIN's closure after financial troubles.
The marathon run that is MMO Final Fantasy XI is getting it's next free update in early November, with publisher Square assuring it's "currently on track" for then. The expansion known as 'A Shantotto Ascension' is due in October, says a new trailer. It adds new Wings of the Goddess quests, new dungeon-crawling features and more.
Publisher Square Enix is confident of the upcoming Final Fantasy XIII blowing past 6 million sales thanks to the recent price cuts for the next-gen consoles. It's out December. At least it's out in Japan anyway. Square also reveal their plans to launch eight titles with each securing over 2 million sales. Two or three of these titles are already in development.