PS3 Fanboy

The latest issue of Famitsu PS3 is all about the recent Square Enix DKΣ3713 event, and FinalFantasyXIII.net has a few juicy scans from the magazine. One of the more interesting things to point about the upcoming FFXIII demo bundled with Advent Children Complete: the demo will be on a separate Blu-ray disc (meaning it will unlikely be region locked), and the amount of gameplay is promised to be longer than the length of Advent Children. That means the FFXIII demo should be at least 90 minutes long, if not longer. That's huge! The demo will supposedly come from the very beginning of the game, so players won't have to worry about spoiling the later parts of the game.

[Thanks, Monkey!]

A Neil Goldman-lookalike and soundalike has posted a video on Youtube expressing his ... dissatisfaction with yesterday's announcement that Final Fantasy XIII will be go multiplatform. This "expert" in Japanese culture offers to the "gaming community" the consequences of Square-Enix's actions. He encourages us all to sign an online petition requesting an apology from Square-Enix and changing FFXIII back to a PS3 exclusive. Watch especially for the toast he offers at 1:38! Some real comedy gold here.

[Yes, we are aware this is Kevin Bowen of Something Awful. It doesn't make it any less hilarious. Apparently the people at PetitionOnline.com caught on as well, as the petition has been taken down.]

With Tokyo Game Show only a few days away, the rumors have been flying at us faster than people running from the theaters after watching Dragon Wars. The latest rumor making its rounds is the possibility of Square announcing Final Fantasy Melody XIII for the PS3 at TGS.

A forum member at Ruliweb posted the above image with little-to-no information other than Square would be unveiling the title at the event. While we'd love to blindly accept this rumor, we remain skeptical since this is the same site that made fooled people last month with the fake Sega TGS lineup.

With Final Fantasy XIII still in development, would Square be developing a spin-off title concurrently? If the image is legit, it could be for the FF XIII soundtrack.

[Via PS3 Informer]

Square Enix is just laying down the smack this week. After confirming yersterday that FFVII isn't being made, they've come out and stated that they are not working on a single Final Fantasy game for the Xbox 360. In an interview with the Japanese Business website Nikkei BP, Square Enix executive Hashimito dropped the bomb. When the site asked if the Wii or The Xbox 360 are going to get any Final Fantasy games, Hashimito responded, "For the Wii, we have FF Crystal Chronicles in production. As for FF on the Xbox 360, it's currently a completely blank page."

Ouch -- well that pretty much debunks the ongoing 'Final Fantasy XIII OMGZ Xbox 360' rumors right there. While it seems unlikely that the Xbox 360 will never get another FF game, it appears that for the foreseeable future the PlayStation 3 will be getting all the big name Final Fantasy love. This is fantastic news for Sony and the PlayStation 3, since not only is there a 'slight' dearth of big name third-party exclusives, but also both Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy X both helped skyrocket the sales of the PlayStation systems that they were on. And it seems very likely that the same thing will happen with PlayStation 3 sales once FFXIII is released.

Mmm ... the idea that FFXIII is being built exclusively around the PS3 and Blu-ray is pretty exciting. That just makes the wait until next year that much harder though!

Nick Doerr taps his fingers impatiently, waiting to hear the mail delivery truck to roll past his apartment complex's mailbox hut. Every day, he wonders if that new issue of EGM will arrive. Since the month of the magazine and the actual month are never the same and the delivery dates appear arbitrary, it's little more than a guessing game. However, he's a reason to be excited this time around. Final Fantasy XIII is coming. Maybe.

We reported a long time ago that there might be a demo coming out this year for FFXIII: Crazy Latinese Subtitle and estimated its arrival... let's see... after TGS'07 -- the demo itself was scheduled to be completed by E3'07. Apparently EGM had a little blip inside an issue (it may have been the April issue) confirming such a demo heading to the PS-Store. If we're already hearing that, can we expect it sooner? E3 is just around the corner and down a block, so maybe we'll get that demo then, instead? Whatever, keep your ears open.

At a press meeting in Tokyo yesterday, president of Square-Enix Yoichi Wada and vice-president of Namco-Bandai Shin Unozawa talked about the next generation of gaming and the importance of online features. They stressed this was not limited to MMO's but all future titles. A lot of the talk seemed to beat around the bush for lower development costs, citing ad placements in games (ramping it up for the online world ... ads are in a ton of games already, so possibly a randomized billboard or something? You know?) and software updates rather than gratuitous amounts of bug testing. Which is a patch, more or less.

So, is releasing software updates better than actually going through bug testing? Sure, it costs less, but those who've played games like Oblivion know that these updates can come too late -- eternally trapped as a vampire since the quest to cure was bugged, unable to enter this guild or that, effectively losing many hours of work on the game. But would such a thing have been caught by bug-testers anyway? If nothing else, the release of next-gen games would be pushed back a lot farther without patches as an option.

Hopefully the PS3 will smartly incorporate software testing but not allow unfinished or unpolished games to reach the market (although it does happen...). Oh, about the Playstation 3, Unozawa tossed in: "The Playstation 3 will definately sell." That's nice of him to say! That's "definately" reassuring.

A recent panel interview was held at IGN between Metal Gear guru Hideo Kojima, MGS4 art director Yoji Shinkawa and Square-Enix's own Tetsuya Nomura (pictured right) regarding their take on the PS3. Having likened it to many things before, Kojima had a lot to say about Sony's new box o' tricks, saying "If you think about the future of the industry and game creators, I get the feeling that the winner had better be the movie theater -- or, the PS3. No one will say that the price is cheap." He adds later on that his optimal choice of gadgetry would have been "a PS3 with controls like the Wii."

How about Nomura's take? Final Fantasy games were a huge selling point on the PSX and the PS2, not to mention other fantastic Square-Enix RPG's, so his opinion will carry a lot of weight in the Japanese RPGamer crowd. He felt that "as a game machine, it's too expensive." But he softened this typical argument with "Thinking two to three years from now, the PS3 will be the most appropriate."

The three also joked about another Zone of Enders title. Maybe they weren't joking -- those were some pretty good games. Either way, it seems the big names at Konami and Square-Enix are voicing their support of the PS3. Whether it hits big right at launch or creeps its way to the summit of the mountain in a few years, they seem to feel the PS3 is going to be it.

[Edit: added a reference for the picture, clarifying that it is Tetsuya Nomura -- Should have made that more clear.]

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]

In an interview with Shinji Hashimoto, Yoshinori Kitase and Tetsuya Nomura about the Final Fantasy XIII project, EGM's Executive Editor Shane Bettenhausen attempts to pry loose rich, succulent information on what is possibly the most desired PS3 title of 2007. Arguments involving the superiority of gears comprised of mainly metal aside, the interview focuses on the background and universe that will encompass Final Fantasy XIII, along with the decisions to go with a tough female lead character. Most interesting in this interview, however, is the confirmation that the PS3's new controller features will be implemented into the final game.

EGM: Will the FFXIII PS3 games use the PS3's motion-sensing controller functionality?
TN: Yeah, we already have some ideas about how to use it.

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?).

Turns out the scenario work on the upcoming game from Square Enix is about 80% complete, according to Motomu Toriyama. Along with the decision to go Blu-ray as one DVD was apparently not enough to contain the beast that is Final Fantasy XIII, the team believes that the shader abilities of the PS3 will help them convey the deep, rich emotion that fans of the franchise demand.

Some more details from Square Enix on the game via The Magic Box:

• Final Fantasy XIII will not have online functions
• Each episode will have different and independent characters, the stories also takes place in different times in history
• The only things in common for the 3 titles are Chocobos, Moggles, magic and myths around the Crystals
• The Legend of the Crystals is the central theme of the 3 games
• The latin word "Versus" in Final Fantasy Versus XIII means the change of a direction
• The latin word "Agito" in Final Fantasy XIII Agito means stimulus or moving violently, this game will have action elements implemented in the system

The drool-inducing aesthetics that define the Final Fantasy series never cease to amaze. FFXIII is no exception. Check out these gorgeous scans from a Japanese magazine to get a feel for the upcoming epic. It's being taken care of by the same team behind FFX, and with an all new "white engine" backing it, this title is a serious hook for RPG fans looking forward to the PlayStation 3.

Final Fantasy XII won't be out for the PS2 in the States until October, but we now have a glimpse of Final Fantasy XIII thanks to Square Enix's pre-E3 press event -- and this installment in the series won't be coming alone.

Like the different titles in the Compilation of FFVII collection of games and movies, the initially announced installments in the FFXIII universe will span multiple platforms which, in this case, include both the PS3 and sufficiently advanced mobile handsets. Not much is known about the mobile-bound Final Fantasy Agito XIII, but the subtitle-less version of FFXIII will concern a gun-and-sword-toting heroine in a futuristic world, while Final Fantasy Versus XIII will focus on "a spiky-haired character," "extreme action elements," and a primary theme of "bonding" (whatever that means). Anybody ready to "resist the world"?

The multiple titles might explain the earlier rumor reported in March that FFXIII was "practically close to being finished" (maybe only one of these games was nearing completion). Whatever the case may be, we're just happy that more than one not-so-Final-Fantasy will be hitting the next PlayStation in relatively rapid succession. RPG feasting: on the way.

[Via Joystiq]