News

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.

When you think of an RPG that's been released many a time, you might well think of Lunar: The Silver Star Story. Originally released in 1993 for the Sega CD, this game was re-configured and re-released for the Saturn, the PlayStation, Windows, and even the Game Boy Advance over the last fifteen-plus years; now, in 2010, yet another version will be dropping for the PSP.

XSEED, the developer producing Silver Star Harmony (as this version will be known), is calling it "definitive." That seems a bit of a high claim for a game that's already seen so many versions, but if you are a Lunar fan and want to find out, you've got two options. The standard version will set you back thirty bucks, and will give you just the game; the limited edition is just ten dollars more but throws in a newly-compiled soundtrack CD and a package of thirteen collector cards with the "Girls of Lunar."

Source: 1up

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

Massive amount of Square Enix news tidbits this week, since I took a couple unplanned weeks off, there. Sorry about that, I know that all of you out there are dying to not comment on these posts.

As usual, most of the small news items you might have missed have to do with Final Fantasy XIII. You know, it's coming out in Japan next week and all. With regard specifically to the Japanese version, you might have missed the reveal of this game's Cid, with the surname of Raines. He's meant to be a general in one of the military factions in the plot; however, as is usual, he doesn't seem to have much traditional military look to him. You'll see him somewhere along the line in a game that is fifty-plus hours long, according to director Motumu Toriyama. And, as you may have noticed along the way, the official box art for the US and European versions of FFXIII was first published this week, too. To me, personally, it seems a bit too minimalist, but if you still had any doubts about seeing it for the Xbox 360, well, rest assured that this is not a fake.

With all that real game-type news out of the way, check out some of the goofy hype machine that's still working in support of the new flagship release. If you're in Japan, you can get the chance to smell like Lightning (the character, obviously, not the meteorological event). It's peachy! It's rosey! It's musky! It's over eighty bucks! Probably tough to import, too, as it's no doubt a flammable liquid. Over here, though, your goodies are a little less pricey and a little more useless. Thanks to all the people who tweeted about Final Fantasy XIII on Xbox (you're welcome - ugh), anyone who registers for it on Xbox.com will get, sometime this month, a free baby Chocobo for their Xbox Live avatar. Certainly cheaper than the pets you can buy; I'm sure it will go well with my University of Illinois hoodie just fine, though.

Now, let's move on, shall we? Despite the fact that Squenix is laying off again, in Europe, there are still new releases in other series coming soon. An unofficial Twitter announcment implies that Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep will in fact make it out of Japan, notwithstanding any rumbles to the contrary. Not only that, you'll also get to interact with Zack of the Final Fantasy VII universe. Does that get a fangirl squee out of anyone? Yeah, didn't really think so. Finally, on the Enix side of the house, note that a western release of Dragon Quest IX has just gotten a little closer to reality, now that the game's name has been trademarked in several languages for the European Union. Leave a slot in your DS for 2010 for a cooperative, customizable JRPG, it seems.

Again, apologies for missing a couple weeks. It probably will happen again pretty soon, given the holidays coming up, so if you feel like filling my shoes, go for it!

Source: Kotaku, SiliconEra, Go Nintendo

The Square Enix news tidbits for this week get a big flourish, as Squenix have just officially dated Final Fantasy XIII for North America (and, if you believe the video, also probably Europe?). The games for the two platforms will launch simultaneously on 9 March, 2010, which seems pretty fast; however, Yoichi Wada did just say the other day that the company was done with the Japanese version and was already applying just the final touches to the Western one. The official release announcement comes with a slick video as well, which you can watch at Kotaku or, probably, on Playstation Home.

If you haven't preordered yet, you certainly can - AmaCoN has not updated the release date as yet, but it surely will quite soon.

That's the big news of the day, but you might also be interested to know that Dragon Quest VI for the Nintendo DS has been officially dated for Japan, and that the first official release for the West should follow soon after; additionally, the company brought forth two more classes for Final Fantasy XIV, the Pugilist and Gladiator, silhouetted against the very same backdrop we've all already seen.

Have a good weekend, and I hope to see your Final Fantasy XIII preorders showing up in AmaCoN quite soon!