We talked about this contest a month ago, and now a lot of the videos are viewable on YouTube. There's no easy way to search for them, but all videos participating in the competition will have a sort of serial code within their description. Here are a few ones that I liked: FFVIII Parody, Hardcore infomercial (make sure you read the scrolling ticker!), Shameless Cleavage.
Thanks again to Jiro for keeping a sharp eye out
...Website Square Enix Music Online revealed yesterday that Square Enix decided to disband their internal music development team at the end of last year. This follows a string of veteran composers leaving the company in recent months, including the main composer for Final Fantasy XIII, Masashi Hamauzu.
SEMO says that Square Enix will continue to contract future compositions from people they have worked with before, such as Nobuo Uematsu and Yoko Shimomura who have long been independant of the company. Read more details at the source
Source: Square Enix Music Online
...In the same Famitsu/Nomura interview in the previous news post, the main focus was on the Kingdom Hearts franchise. In it, Nomura says that the current Kingdom Hearts story is all about Sora, including the upcoming Kingdom Hearts 3. He also mentions that he has another game ready in mind for another character that is not Sora. He understandably wouldn't go into it more than that.
As far as Kingdom Hearts games we already know about, Famitsu asks if he's waiting to release Kingdom Hearts III for the KH series' 10th anniversary in two years. Nomura said that's not what he's planning for KH3, but implies that there may be something special for that event.
Source: Famitsu Interview transcript
...Following the release of Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep in Japan, Famitsu held an interview with Tetsuya Nomura, the game's producer. Most of the questions were regarding the future of the Kingdom Hearts franchise, but one statement that's been getting a lot of attention is related to Final Fantasy Versus XIII, which Nomura is also responsible for.
Nomura says that they changed the world map presentation from one style used in a past FF game to another style used in a past FF game (the exact versions were censored in the interview). That change would be major enough to prevent showing the game at the E3 show in June.
Source: Andriasang, Famitsu interview transcript
...Metaphor: FFXIII has got its ups and downs in the game of life, too.
In any case, despite all of the negative press recently, including rumors that Square Enix forged screenshots or accusations that the game is too linear, there is hope for the flagship game yet. Some people are still fascinated by the sheer awesomeness that the game represents, and for at least one person, that's enough to keep his interest on the high end.
Of particular interest to may also be what are high marks for the game's soundtrack. A review may be found in the source.
And at last, there's also two videos: the first is a commercial clip for the 360 Bundle that aired during the NBA All-Star game, with little doubt that Microsoft had no small hand in getting it there; the second is a video preview of the recently-announced FFI and FFII iPhone/iPod Touch re-releases.
Source: IGN, RPGFan (OST Review), FFXIII.net, RPGFan (FFI/FFII), YouTube (Bundle, FFI/FFII)
...In tune with all of the expectation for the North American FFXIII release, Square Enix has announced the existence of two sweepstakes: the first, regarding the previously mentioned 360 Bundle, and the second is an invitation to the FFXIII Launch party (21+). Get 'em while they're hot!
Source: Square Enix
...In certain polite regions of the world, one would focus more on the fact that Microsoft recently announced that there will be a gaming bundle for FFXIII, including a copy of said game, a new console, and controllers, retailing at a cost of about $400.
In other news, the price of the game alone, despite all hype and manner of Famitsu reviews, has dropped considerably since the first week. It is nothing out of the ordinary for a game to drop in price, but this one seems a bit much, especially for such a high-profile game. Before, one could simply claim that it was the flooding of product that caused a drop in secondhand retailers, but now that the store-approved price is less than half of where it started, it may be time for SE to re-evaluate the situation. The price has gone from 9240 Yen to 3980 Yen (nearly a third of the original price) in a manner of a month and a half.
Source: 360 Bundle (FFXIII.net, MS PR Newswire), Price Drop (Sankaku, NSFW; Article 1, Article 2, Article 3)
...[Feb. 10th update: Official Contest Site with details, thanks to our man "Down Under", Jiro]
As of today, FFXIII is exactly a month away from its international release. Retailers are really gearing up for the game, and in Australia they're giving away a Yamaha VMAX motorcycle. To enter, you have to make a 30 second video clip proving that you're the biggest Final Fantasy fan in Australia. For any further details (like who to send your videos to), you'd have to ask your local EBGames in Australia. For now though, have a look at the flyer.
If any of these videos become readily available, you can be sure to see them here.
Source: Kotaku
...The European Playstation Blog conducted an interview with FFXIII Producer Yoshinori Kitase and the director Motomu Toriyama, mostly consisting of user-submitted questions. Find answers to things like why there isn't a Japanese languae track, is there a New Game + (spoiler: no), and one curveball essentially asking about remaking FFVII.
The US Playstation Blog is set to interview these guys as well with more user questions, so you may want to keep an eye out over there too.
Source: EU Playstation Blog
...It would appear that previous reports of the XBox360 port of FFXIII being inferior to the PS3 version have not been exaggerated. In what is not surprise to many, the Xbox360 port has noticeably poorer graphics than its PS3 counterpart. But, one could guess that this is the price of non-exclusivity?
In other news, there is yet another review of FFXIII that has been made available to the people, only this time, it's meant for the Norwegians. A translation of the bonus interview that accompanied it may be found in the link.
And at last, for those with an investment in PlayOnline resources (XI and future XIV players), there is a feedback survey. If it affects you, it may be a good idea to invest some time.
Source: Sankaku (NSFW), FFXIII.net, Square Enix
...Speaking of (star-crossed) products, the FFXIII Ultimania has been released for market consumption. To those not fully aware, the Ultimania is essentially a developer's guide book to a Final Fantasy game, regarding every single possible detail about the game and its development that it was written for, right down to the Word of God. In this case, the revelation is that FFXIII did not include towns due to the technological restrictions of its development.
While ordinarily, this is a sign that people are lazy, it can be noted that other PS3 and XBox360 games are full of "towns." Perhaps this may be the warning of deeper problems than simply "poor direction." However, FFXIII has come a long way since its PS2 inception: evidence of what even greater cel-shaded tragedy could have resulted can be seen in these screenshots.
Source: Sankaku (NSFW), FFXIII.net
...Featured are images of detailed model figures of two FFXIII summons, Shiva and Odin. They look really cool. They're also the feature of two Michael Bay films.
In other news, there are still no plans for a FFVII remake. Please, continue to cry tears of emo lamentation. Are there people still more concerned with a remake over the newest Final Fantasy game?
...There comes that certain time in a man's life where he just decides to do something. Anything. For some people, that often comes at least once a day. In such a case, we can only hope that he does not decide to draw a cartoon depicting FFXIII characters in a comical fashion for a gaming magazine, and then have the parodied company flip out.
In other news, more scans of reviews for FFXIII have come out, featured below. It should also be noted, that a preview image was obtained featuring the EU Collector's Edition.
And for those of you who don't care about the new games, there are rumors and images of FFI and FFII coming to the iPod Touch and the iPhone. I heard there's an app for that.
...In predictable market fashion, a news outlet has finally gotten its grimy little hands on a copy of Final Fantasy XIII, the newest main-series installment. As any paper-based media would require, there are scans of the review and the news feature.
In other news, FFXIII composer Masashi Hamauzu has announced that he is leaving. This follows the pattern of the departures of several others in the SE music department. What will happen, only time will tell.
Finally, it is also worth noting that FFVIII will be coming to the European Union's Playstation Network. Enjoy your polygons.
Ohh, and uhh, enjoy this old FFXIII: International trailer. Apparently, the game was made more lightweight for a reason other than broken promises. It was the money!
Source: FFXIII.net, FFUnion (Composer, FFVIII), Magic Box
...