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
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Technically a rumour because the game was never formally announced, it's no secret that Swedish Developer Grin was working on a Final Fantasy game before they shut down last year. I hinted at the existence of this game in my last news post, but now it appears that actual footage of the game has 'leaked' via a former Grin employee's personal portfolio website. You can view it on Gamevideos.com.
To find out a little more on 'Fortress', which was/is an Ivalice-series game (and a spinoff of FF12 in particular), check out the Wikipedia and Final Fantasy Wiki pages for it.
Source: GameVideos.com, Designer's website
...Square Enix in all of its marketing scheme glory has decided to announce a bus tour on the West Coast of the States. This provides the unique opportunity for people who can't read Japanese to play the game for themselves in a language that they might understand.
Perhaps this may provide hope to those who have already decidedly written off the game as any number of things, including too linear, too much of a movie, full of bugs, and the worst installment ever. Despite all of the negativity surrounding the game (and any certain interviews that may signal a severe change in the company's business model), no game has ever been met without as least some criticism. For those of you with minds that have independent thoughts, one can only wait until the game is in your hands; for those of you who don't make up your own minds and listen exclusively to others, you may feel free to receive the pile of sticks that you already expected.
And for those of you who don't care about Final Fantasy, enjoy the game's introduction video to Birth By Sleep.
Source: Square ...
Edge Magazine posted a rather intriguing interview today with Yoichi Wada (pictured, right), President and CEO of Square-Enix. (The other guy is Phil Rogers, the Eidos boss) It goes a little bit into his professional history, but really gets interesting when he starts to suggest that Final Fantasy may be finished (as it exists now), and that a future Final Fantasy game could be made outside of Japan.
In any case, it's a decent look at Wada's motivations and is something that those of us who like to take a peek behind the industry curtain (and in particular, critics of Yoichi Wada) should take a look at. Check it out at the source below.
Source: Edge Magazine Online, An Audience With: Yoichi Wada
...Reports all around are saying that the Xbox Avatar Chocobo pet has been sent out to all those who participated in the campaign, so check your e-mail if you're one of those that did. As for me, I didn't get one. I don't know why, maybe it's because my account is based in Bermuda. Or maybe this was my chocobo.
If you didn't participate in the campaign but want one (and have an Xbox and too much money), head on over to eBay where there are a chunk of people selling the download code.
...It's all in the title! One could win various goodies relating to the upcoming Final Fantasy game for the Wii. Not included: Mountain Dew flavored snow cones.
There's also some rather interesting news regarding FFXIII:Versus coming out from Jump Festa. Included: images of fantastically emo hero wardrobe. There's also a report of a trailer for the installation.
Source: Blind Ferret, FFXIII.net (Trailer, Images)
...As of several days ago, smash hit and beloved furry game, Final Fantasy VIII, originally for the PSX, has found its way onto the Playstation Network. One could relive the time-compressing classic once again, as long as he's willing to get it from the PSN store.
In other news, in what seems to shape up to be a very "pro-Sony" news report, tragedy may befall those who own an XBox360. Certain reports of file anlysis reveal what could be a disquieting notion: a measureable difference in graphical quality to ensure that the FFXIII for the XBox and the PS3 versions remain identical. The XBox version has already been split across several discs, but even that is not enough, it would appear.
Source: Square Enix, Sankaku (Original, Updated, NSFW)
...The fun never ends, does it? SE is now taking applications for spots in the beta testing for FFXIV, the company's latest entry into the world of MMORPGs. Unfortunately, the spots are only for the PC, and require a Square Enix ID (of which can be obtained freely).
On a related note, here are some screenshots of Lightning's ultimate attack, Scene Drive. This attack is so powerful, that it can cause parties to be held in real life for the game's release. I find that to be fascinating, actually.
You know, we could just change the "u" to an "a" but then it would read "lanch party." That's not better, Kevin.
It should also be noted that FFXIII has shipped 1.8 million copies on the first day. Phenomenal, or some kind of synonym.
Source: FFUnion, Magic Box (Scene Drive/Snow, Launch Party), Sankaku (NSFW)
...Two songs for FFXIV have surfaced at the Distant Worlds concert, named Twilight over Thanalan and Beneath Bloody Borders.
When it comes to movies, a new 30 second commercial for FFXIII has been released, this time, featuring segments of the battles in said game.
Along with EoFF, SE has also joined the 21st Century, or rather, whatever futuristic steampunk century that FFXIII is in. The game now has its own Facebook page and Twitter. How... official sounding, might we say?
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If you have an Xbox 360, head on over to Xbox.com's page for Final Fantasy 13 and register for their promotion there. You'll receive a baby chocobo avatar item, sometime in the future. They mentioned that they're sending out the emails with the download codes 'this holiday season', which could mean now, or next week. Who knows. I signed up for this when the Twitter campaign was still active and I don't have mine yet, so you still have a chance.
Be advised that this offer is region restricted, so make sure you visit the Xbox site relative to your location! Here are some easy links for common regions:
US :: Canada :: UK :: Australia
If you're not from any of those places, just go to Xbox.com first (it will automatically put you in the region you're supposed to be in) and then search for the game.
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