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.

“We would like to hope so. When we say that it is going to be the best selling title ever, the hurdle/bar is really high because Final Fantasy VII sold 10 million units.

… it’s not [that] there are new elements that are included into the Final Fantasy XIII, there are elements that are included that is expected out of the Final Fantasy title itself, for example a beautiful story, it being emotional and moving and you’ll be able to relax and enjoy. Those are included, but there is not a lot of newness to it.”

Not a lot of newness? Interesting response. In a day and age when others in his position are screaming from the mountain tops that there game will outsell everything known to man, Wada takes a less dramatic approach. Whether he meant exactly what the translator said or some element was lost during the literal translation, it’s important to note that Wada did contrast the game to that of Western RPG’s, so it may have been more of a comparison thing.

In closing, Final Fantasy XIII will include some advancements. It will feature high def graphics, combat system refinements, and a new weapon modifier feature, but the fact of the matter is  a series with a lengthy proven track record of success, such as Final Fantasy, doesn’t need “a lot of newness”.

My opinion is that the game will sell like 5 cent lemonade on record high hot summer day. Considering it’s one of the main reasons I bought my PS3, I’d personally run through several brick walls to own it on release day.

[Thanks Final Fantasy Union]

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…”

The the fact that he said “has gone” as apposed to “is going” gives me the impression that development is complete. With a mysterious announcement, for both Europe and the US, coming this Friday, we may be looking at getting Final Fantasy XIII in our grubby RPG loving hands much sooner than expected. All I want for Christmas is …

[Thanks GI]

Square Enix President and all around peaceful guy Yoichi Wada recently stated that his company remains neutral in the ever flame-inducing console war.

Fans (or fanboys) of the 360 and PS3 were at each other’s throats yet again recently when supposed long-time PlayStation backer Square Enix announced that their flagship title Final Fantasy XIII would be released for the 360 — in North America, at least.

“We’re now in the age of the multi-platform, but depending on age and territory, users have different tastes. Therefore it’s very difficult to just deal with one company or one hardware platform – in order to offer our product to the vast majority of gamers we need to deal with multiple companies and platforms.n North America Microsoft is doing very well with its hardware, and for that reason it’s a very important partner for us.”

He also states, “We always consider the territory and hardware for titles, and I just want to make sure that we’re neutral about dealing with companies.” This should come as no surprise to anyone, as Square Enix titles have popped up on nearly every system at some point since the glory days of the NES.  So this isn’t a knife in the back to Sony at all — perhaps a bullet in the brain to Kaz Hirai considering the game is still a PS3 exclusive in Japan.

Speaking of Nintendo, when asked about the Wii, Wada said in typical lawyer-over-the-shoulder speak that they didn’t have any plans, but the system was kick-ass and that they’re “ready to offer various types of content to various types of users.”  Basically, if it can make money, they’d be willing to make a game for it.

You can read the full interview over at gameindustry.biz

He then added that he believes that the Nintendo Wii is the ideal platform for Square Enix and that Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 are “mismatched to today’s environment” and that they will fare better in a few years time.

While we agree that the 360 and PS3 have superior specs we do not agree that they are years ahead of the current market. It is our belief that serious gamers are serious about every aspect of their gaming experience.

This is not to say that the Nintendo Wii is not an enjoyable system to play, we love it, we just think that it still has room for improvement graphically and calling it “ideal” at this phase in the “game” may be a bit of a stretch.