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The leaks just keep coming today. Japanese mag, Shonen jump, had two pages surface on the web which showcase a gigantic blue monster, a dinosaur looking beast, and a more familiar Final Fantasy enemy — the Cactuar, who apparently has a significant other this time around. High res scan below. Read more…

In a recent interview, Square Enix President, Yoichi Wada, was asked if he thought Final Fantasy XIII would be the best selling Final Fantasy ever, and considering the recent US & European announcement video touted Final Fantasy XIII as “possibly the most anticipated game of all time”, his response may shock more than a few Final Fantasy fans. Read more…

Square Enix announced the North American and European release date for Final Fantasy XIII utilizing the script that surfaced on the web a few weeks ago. While the release won’t be in time for Christmas, March 9, 2010 is still close enough to put a smile on my face. The latest installment will feature a track by R&B singer-songwriter, and winner of British TV series The X Factor, Leona Lewis, titled “My Hands”.

The five minute narrated video below features developer segments and a thirty second never before seen look at some Final Fantasy XIII in-game footage. PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 won’t be left with this alone though as Square Enix promises to deliver even more periodic updates on the 13th of every month in line with their “Lucky 13″ campaign. Read more…

Square Enix seems to full of surprises lately, as the publisher unveiled a new Final Fantasy XIII weapon system in the latest issue of Japanese Mag, Shonen Jump.

You will of course still seek new weapons as you did in the past, however the new weapon modifier system will utilize  materials you obtain from killing enemies, looting boxes, etc, as enhancements increasing your current weapons power. Over one hundred of these modifiers exist in game, allowing for multiple application combinations. Read more…

Final Fantasy MMO fanatics can officially begin blocking off entire months from their calendar in order to grind one of two newly introduced classes — the Gladiator and Pugilist.

The Gladiator is a sword and shields close range combat specialist capable of following a well timed decapitating sword swipe with the words “ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!” While the Pugilist’s mix of hand-to-hand claw combat and ranged expertise reminds me more of a mix between Street Fighter’s Vega and Lord of the Ring’s Legolas Greenleaf.

The reveal of both characters was accompanied by a slew of images containing high res shots of both classes and several new weapon models to drool over while you calculate statistical upgrade numbers in your head. Read more…

Who needs to be bit by some silly radio-active spider to zip through the air? Peter Parker that’s who! And you want to know who doesn’t? Just Cause 2 protagonist Rico Rodriguez … and Batman (both cool).

Whether you were a fan of the original Just Cause game, or someone who passed it up, you’re going to want to check out the developer video below highlighting the new grappling hook mechanics and all the cool shit you can do with it in-game. Read more…

In a recent interview, Square Enix Global Presidentm, Yoichi Wada, revealed that the US and European version of the highly anticipated Final Fantasy XIII was receiving some “final touches”, adding that the “last stage of development has gone very smoothly…” Read more…

Square-Enix posted a message/anagram on their North America website earlier today:

A puzzle for FINAL FANTASY XIII fans!

Solve this anagram to find out what lies ahead: A Henchmen Inventor Tent Unto. Check back Monday for the answer!

Well, there’s no need to wait until Monday, as hintonmj and Squirrel Emperor, two finalfantasy-xiii.net forum users, figured it out in just under an hour. The hidden message unscrambles to read “Announcement Nov Thirteenth”.

Could this be the North America release date we’ve all been waiting for? My cardboard Buster Sword sure hopes so. Stay tuned.

The wrap up of a recent Square-Enix Financial meeting featured CEO Yoici Wadam assuring smooth development of the Western release, adding that there was a possibility the game could release globally before the end of the fiscal year.

The Japanese fiscal year runs from April 1st to March 31st, so if development continues as smoothly as Wadda anticipates it will, there’s a good chance we may see Final Fantasy XIII in the United States sometime before the end of March. Keep your fingers crossed.

Thanks Siliconera

New Final Fantasy XIII screens are in and the game just keeps looking better and better. The latest batch give us a glimpse at how the attack system will work, as it appears that certain in terms of button combinations will unleash different moves.

In addition, we get to see an in-battle summon and a heap of English based character dialog. Check out the screens below. Read more…

I wouldn’t go as far as to say it’s so close I can taste it, but with a Spring 2010 release date announced, I can certainly start day dreaming about playing it soon. The new FFXIII screens available after the jump showcase English text and reintroduce Oerba Yun Fang, first seen at Tokyo Game Show. Read more…

In a fit of laughter, Final Fantasy director, Motomu Toriyama, and producer, Yoshinori Kitase, revealed that the latest installment of the series (XIII) would have a main storyline that lasted around 50 hours long. This bit of information was unearthed during a Q&A session by Spanish gaming site Meristation.

As  someone who loves the FF RPG series, this means that I will have more time to play and less time to do other bothersome things like bathe and sleep.

Some PS3 Final Fantasy players (like myself) were shocked the day that the latest title was announced for the 360, in fact I almost ran up to the stage and started screaming at the conference, but once the shock faded, concerns started to come into play.

The biggest concern most PS3 owners had surrounded the potential “middle ground” that may have to be reached in order to have the game port successfully onto the 360 console. Namingly, the lack of disc space when comparing a Blu-ray discs to the traditional format.

Well, in one statement, FFXIII Producer, Yoshinori Kitase, put that fear to bed.  Read more…

Now that Final Fantasy XIV has been announced, let’s go back seven Final Fantasy games and let it be known that Final Fantasy VII is now available for the PS3 through the PlayStation Store for $9.99 in the PS1 classics section. Weighing in at about 1.3 gigs, FFVII is one of my favorite games of all time and the chance to get a fresh digital copy of the game is fabulous news. Go download this game now homies!

Even though Final Fantasy XIII is still not out yet, yesterday at Sony’s press conference Square Enix announced that Final Fantasy XIV was in the works for the PlayStation 3 and the PC. FFXIV will sort of be a sequel to FFXI in a sense that it’s another MMO and not a standard role-playing game. FFXI has been very popular over the last few years since first being released back in ‘04, so I can only imagine how well FFXIV will be received. Check out the trailer to see for yourself.

Square Enix loves their big honking blades and I love them for loving them. Anywho, press release junkies got wind of Square’s newly announced title Nier earlier today, and now you can get a glimpse at the game’s first trailer via their official website.

The trailer itself features more of that washed out dark ink splattery look that we saw a few months ago in the SF4 trailer. My interest is perked, but then again I am a Square whore so you may want to check the clip out yourself after the jump. Read more…

Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes was a fan-made ROM modification for the widely-acclaimed SNES RPG Chrono Trigger. I say “was” because Square Enix have sent the fans a Cease-and-Desist letter, letting them know that if the project is released, there will be a lawsuit. The mod “featured ~35 hours of game play, 10 multiple endings, and 23 chapters, much like the original Chrono Trigger; it was around 98% complete.” As ZeaLitY says, the game was made only out of the goodness of fan’s hearts and certainly not for profit. The video above is the trailer for the game, made this year.

I must say that I feel this is a bad show on the part of Square Enix. This was a fan-made mod, with no intent for profit, and people had spent countless hours of their lives in the process of making this game. What harm can a mod like this do? Surely it can only provide free advertisement for their game. My consolations to the fans who put all this work into the game only to have it completely trashed.

GameZine reports that the early demo, released with Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children on Blu-Ray, has a special message at the end: “Coming Winter 2009″. The game will release at some point in 2010 for Western fans, but in the meantime it might comfort some to know that the Japanese version will be ready for release this year, at least on the PS3. Final Fantasy fans who can read Japanese will be interested in this as well, no doubt.

Japanese blog Marshallalloc reports that Square-Enix has let loose a new Final Fantasy XIII trailer during the company’s Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children premier. Not much else has been confirmed as of yet, though finalfantasy-xiii.net believes it to be along the lines of the Jump Festa trailer shown in December of last year.

Source: marshallalloc via: finalfantasy-xiii.net

Famitsu reports that on April 10th (today) you can enjoy Final Fantasy VII on the PS3 for a small download fee. Read more…