Good news for old school Final Fantasy fans--the remakes of Final Fantasy I and II, both headed for the PSP in celebration of Final Fantasy's 20th anniversary, are coming to North America!

Previously given Japanese release dates only, Final Fantasy I and II can now be penciled into your gaming calendar for late June and late July, respectively.  Final Fantasy I will be released on June 26th, while Final Fantasy II will hit approximately a month later, on July 24th.  Each game will cost you a cool $29.99, making these entries a bit more pricey than some of the previous ports.  But you get what you pay for, right?

To read up on the full meat of these new renditions of the classic titles, check out some of our older news bits, or Square Enix's official press release.  New character art?  16x9 presentation?  New camera angles?  Oh my!

[Source: Square Enix] ...

The Japanese site for the long-awaited PSP prequel to Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core, has finally gone live!

The stylish site has some gorgeous CG video clips of Zack, a downloadable wallpaper, and bits and pieces of information about other aspects of the game.  Of course, it's in Japanese, but you can still marvel at the pretty pictures.

Give it a look! ...

The Japanese site for Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, Square Enix's DS offshoot of their latest successful entry in the long-lived franchise, has recently been updated.  Why waste time with screenshots when you can watch eight videos of the game in action?

All of the information may be in Japanese, but there's still plenty to be excited about.  Aside from the gameplay videos, the site features a "Characters" section that confirms the existence of old favorites and mysterious newcomers.  It looks as though Balthier, Fran, Ashe, and Basch are all returning in at least small roles, as is Larsa.  And the menacing Judge of Wings looks to be a potential villain for the title.

The site is chock-full of beautiful artwork, brand new characters, and a handful of videos.  So what are you waiting for?  Hurry up and check it out! ...

The next entry in the Final Fantasy Tactics series, FFTA2, has been planned for the DS for some time now.  Unfortunately, there hasn't been much in the way of news about the game, nor has Square Enix released screenshots or other tantalizing hints of how the game looks.

But now we've gotten our hands on the first magazine scan of A2!  Check it out below.  It appears as though the game's protagonists are named Adel and Luso.  With the enhanced processing power of the DS, Square Enix is obviously pushing to create some gorgeous backdrops for the grid-based battle system.  The magazine scan doesn't show off a lot, but it's a safe bet we can expect some beautiful spritework and maddeningly addictive strategic combat.

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As we've previously mentioned, Square Enix is celebrating the 20th anniversary of their esteemed franchise with ports of Final Fantasy I and II to Sony's Playstation Portable.  While we knew that Final Fantasy I would be released in Japan on April 19th, an exact date for FFII wasn't mentioned--until now.

Final Fantasy II for the PSP will be released in Japan on June 7th, for 3800 yen, or about $32 US.  Like the PSP version of FFI, FFII will be overhauled with new graphics, a bonus dungeon, and the content added to the PS1 and GBA versions of the game--meaning more added content and some FMVs, to boot.

Unfortunately, there's been no word on whether or not these titles will be made available outside of Japan.  But it's not all bad--take a look at the official 20th anniversary image for the Final Fantasy series, and hope these games make their way to the US.  Or just import them, if you really feel like playing yet another version of these classic titles.


[Source: IGN] ...

The title says it all--those of you who have been waiting for the DS version of Final Fantasy III don't have much longer to sit and twiddle your thumbs.  The PAL version of FFIII will be released on May 4th, 2007.

Assuming you haven't already imported it, mark your calendars, European gamers!

[Source: TVG] ...

As the PSP version of Final Fantasy Tactics draws closer to its Japanese release, more details are being released about the changes in place and the additions Square Enix is making to the now-classic Ivalice adventure.

A new Player vs. Player mode has been introduced, and the winner of each match can be rewarded with a bevy of treasure chests.  Players will also be able to set up battles in Tactics on maps of their choosing, and even set up detailed battle rules and restrictions for individual encounters.

There's no North American release date for The Lion War just yet, but check back frequently for more updates on Square Enix's portable Final Fantasy Tactics.

[Source: RPGamer] ...

To quickly get the Kingdom Hearts news (or lack thereof) out of the way first: Tetsuya Nomura has stated that Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+ will be his last Playstation 2 title.  The new events added to the game will also not feature English voice acting, and for those of you who were hoping for a Kingdom Hearts III announcement at this year's Square Enix party in May, prepare to be disappointed: you'll have to wait a bit longer to hear anything about KHIII.

Now, on to Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, the PSP-exclusive prequel that focuses on Zack, Sephiroth, and the events that caused Cloud Strife to change forever.  Zack's last name has finally been revealed as "Fair," which is meant to contrast with "Cloud Strife" in a strange weather-emotion tie-in.

New characters have also been revealed: Angeal Hewley and Genesis, both First Class Soldiers like Sephiroth.  One of the screenshots (check below!) reveals these three characters facing off--perhaps as a result of Sephiroth going a bit crazy?  Another new character, named Lazard, apparently oversees the operations of the Turks.

Square Enix has also talked a bit about the game's battle system, saying that it's a combination of the classic ATB and fresh action elements.  Limit Breaks and materia are back, and according to what materia is equipped, different commands will appear in the menu, replacing everything but the standard "Attack" and "Item" options.

The gauge in the top left corner of the screen, previously shrouded in mystery, has been given a name--the DMW, or Digital Mind Web.  The DMW will fulfill a myriad of functions, allowing players to perform Limit Breaks, perform Summons, or restore health.  The DMW is also in some way connected to each character's stats, and moves automatically, freeing players from worrying about controlling it.

Here are some magazine scans of Crisis Core ...

On March 30th, Square Enix is launching Final Fantasy XI 2007 Edition in Europe for Windows and the Xbox 360.  This new European compilation will contain all three Final Fantasy XI expansions: Rise of the Zilart, Chains of Promathia, and Treasures of Aht Urhgan.

More importantly, this release of FFXI will mark the first time players can buy a copy of the game that contains language options for both German and French in addition to English.

For those Europeans gamers who already own Final Fantasy XI, we've got even better news--via Square Enix's PlayOnline website, you can download language packs for both German and French starting today.

So what are you waiting for?  Get out there and start wishing all your friends Guten Tag!

[Source: TeamXbox] ...

Blue Dragon, the first game developed by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi's relatively new studio, Mistwalker, was released late last year in Japan.  Finally, Sakaguchi has given us a solid release date for a US version of Blue Dragon--August, 2007.

For those of you instantly attracted to the dream team of director Sakaguchi, composer Nobuo Uematsu, and artist Akira Toriyama, Blue Dragon should not disappoint.  The US release will feature both Japanese and English language tracks, and Sakaguchi has also stated that several "huge" pieces of downloadable content will be available in the months after the game's launch.

Aside from Blue Dragon, Mistwalker has two more promising titles in development.  Even better, they're both supposed to arrive in the US by year's end.  Lost Odyssey, the darker of Mistwalker's two Xbox 360 RPG projects, will apparently be released simultaneously in the US and Japan this Christmas.  On an interesting side note, Sakaguchi mentioned that Lost Odyssey's dialogue would first be recorded in English, and then a Japanese dub would be made for the Japanese release, which speaks volumes about the attempt to make Lost Odyssey a smash hit with Western audiences.

Mistwalker's third game, a DS strategy ...

So, unless you're an expert of the Japanese language, staring at Japanese magazine scans can feel somewhat useless.  Still, with information on Final Fantasy XIII rather scarce at this early stage of its development, sometimes eye candy can be enough.

Final Fantasy Sky has a ton of new magazine scans from Japan's Playstation magazine, and Final Fantasy XIII is the cover story.  But don't take my word for it--check it out right here.

While some of the images are fairly familiar, there are some exciting new ones as well.  XIII, Versus XIII, and Agito XIII are all present.

[Source: FFSky] ...

One thing's for sure--Agito, the third entry in the "Fabula Nova Crystalis" series of Final Fantasy XIII games, is a far more ambitious project than is to be expected out of a cellphone game.  Series director Tetsuya Nomura recently revealed to Japan's Ge-maga magazine that he and his team are considering putting off Agito XIII until the "4G" generation of cellphones are released in Japan.  The current generation, the "3G," is the platform that supports one of their previous cellphone titles, Before Crisis, which has, incidentally, not yet been released in the United States.

So what's the issue, exactly?  Well, 4G sets don't yet exist.  In fact, they haven't even been announced yet.  So while it's likely that they'll inevitably come to exist, we could be waiting for Agito for quite some time.  On the bright side, Nomura stated that the game is being given the same amount of attention any normal numbered entry in the series would.  Apparently, the game's plot has already been completed, and Nomura promises that it's "huge."

Lastly, unlike Before ...

In the most recent issue of Japan's Ge-maga magazine, several members of the Square Enix development team shed some light on the new Final Fantasy XIII battle system, which has, until this time, been shrouded in a certain amount of uncertainty.

While executives Tetsuya Nomura, Yoshinori Kitase and Motomu Toriyama have already been interviewed on several ocassions about FFXIII, a new face was present at this month's interview--Tosirou Tsuchida, who has previously worked on Final Fantasy X and the Front Mission series, and is now leading the development of XIII's battle system.

Tsuchida was in charge of the Count Time Battle system used in FFX, and had previously asked the higher-ups if he could do away with ATB altogether when starting work on the Playstation 2 RPG--as thing turned out, the CTB system wasn't so far removed from its predecessor.  This time around, Tsuchida was asked to create a slick battle system with plenty of flair, which was something he decided was impossible with the traditional ATB system.

The new system is still considered an ATB system, but apparently things are going to be quite a bit different than what we've seen in the past.  Square Enix's goal is to craft a battle system that worked as quickly and fluidly as an action game, but still allowed players to enter commands.  As a result, the battle system now offers more choices for controlling characters than ever before--for example, gamers can choose to carry out a simple attack, or charge forward at the enemy and ...

Good news, Tactics addicts: Final Fantasy Tactics: Shishi Sensou, Square's remake of the beloved Playstation 1 Final Fantasy Tactics, will hit the PSP on May 10th, 2007 in Japan, for 4,800 yen, or about $40 US.

While this isn't something for Westerners to be immediately excited about, we can be hopeful that North American and European releases will follow in short order.  With brand new FMVs, a couple new classes, and more, this portable FFT remake will be a great boost to the PSP library.

[Source: IGN] ...