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Akihiko Yoshida has been at Final Fantasy developers Square Enix since 1995, when he joined Squaresoft, one of the companies (along with Enix) that merged to create the RPG powerhouse. More »
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Yasumi Matsuno, the Japanese video game creator best known for his work at Square Enix on titles like Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy XII and Tactics Ogre, may have a new home: Professor Layton and White Knight Chronicles developer Level-5. More »
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In a feature story published today in Sweden, the founders of GRIN lay their studio's precipitous demise at Square Enix's feet, saying the publisher reneged on payments during the development of a Final Fantasy game and saddled them with ridiculous requirements as the project went sour. More »
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Commenter Sir BeefyChu is looking for super difficult challenges lurking in otherwise normal games in today's episode of Speak-Up on Kotaku. More »
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Voice actors are more than just minor celebrities: they are so essential to a character that they become inseparable. More »
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Miwa Shoda joined Squaresoft, now Square Enix, in 1995 and went on to write Japanese Legend of Mana and Final Fantasy XII. Those are big games with big stories — something that they apparently do not need. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5548982&view=rss&microfeed=true This is a two-minute, 30-second video said to be of a tech demonstration of "Fortress," the Final Fantasy project GRIN was said to have been working on when the Swedish studio closed. More »
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What? What?! That's what "eau de toilet toilette," means, right? Oh, fine, it's perfume, specifically a fragrant homage to Final Fantasy XIII, and it'll be available a month after the game's release in North America. More »
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For those who enjoy drinking questionable Final Fantasy beverages (and who doesn't), listen up. The latest tie-up between Square Enix and Japanese beverage maker Suntory will be out this December. More »
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There were the faintest of rumblings about this a couple of months ago, but now that GRIN are officially out of business, it can come to light that they'd been working on...a Final Fantasy game. More »
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Weddings are a summer thing. June brides find happiness, there's good weather for an outdoor wedding and the most popular month in America to get hitched is August, according to some sources. More »
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We took a look yesterday at the games based on Summer's biggest blockbuster movies. Today, let's switch things up, and look at the games inspired by the movies. More »
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Square Enix sinks to the very depths of casual gaming with the launch of Dive II Hunt: Sorbet's Great Adventure, a java-based game on the company's MySpace page. More »
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When I saw this comparison between the Final Fantasy and the battleship Yamato (the largest battleship ever made), I was wondering how the comparison would be drawn: the spectacular demise, perhaps? Not quite. More »
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Yesterday, Square Enix announced a couple games for the Xbox 360. Previously PS3-only Star Ocean 4 is indeed Xbox 360 bound. And multiplatform release The Last Remanent is getting released on the Xbox 360 first. Today, Square Enix announced it's upcoming "private party" in August that will be showcasing PS3, PSP, DS and mobile games. (No Xbox 360 titles, apparently!) Dubbed "DKΣ3713", the two-day Shinjuku event will be limited to only 2,400 attendees, picked by raffle through the Japanese Square Enix Members website. The event will have new demos and new trailers. Games that will be on hand are: More »
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The US Toy Fair, being held in NYC, kicked off yesterday, and will run until February 20. And along with all the movie, TV and comic merchandise announced and shown off on the first day were a ton of gaming-related announcements, from IPs such as Street Fighter, Gears of War, Armored Core, Halo and Blue Dragon. More »
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It's been two years since the last Square Enix party. At the last one in 2005, the company announced Final Fantasy XII's release date. Square Enix Party 2007 should hold similar announcements, hand-ons and people in funny costumes with hair gel. Lots of hair gel. This year's event will be at Chiba's Makuhari Messe May 12th and May 13th. Admission is free. Brian Ashcraft More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=240593&view=rss&microfeed=true Last Friday the HMV on Oxford Street in central London was invaded by gamers, cute people in ugly costumes, ugly people in cute costumes, and really any ugly / cute combination you can imagine to celebrate the launch of Final Fantasy XII in the UK. Free soundtracks and Moogle plushies were on the line, as well as a chance to meet executive producer Akitoshi Kawazu and director Hiroshi Minagawa who were on hand o sign autographs, and boy did the fans show up in droves. The fine folks at Squeenix had a photog on hand, so we didn't have to. Marvel at the extremely long queues! Delight at the random cactuar cosplayer! Recoil in horror as the Penelo with the giant teeth threatens to devour bad acne microphone man whole! They really need to start sending me these things with premade captions. Michael Fahey More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=239570&view=rss&microfeed=true Eons after Japan and America got Final Fantasy XII, the game is *finally* released in Europe. To celebrate, a FF shindig was thrown on the Champs-Elysées. Instead of people in costume with funny hair, the event featured blue lights, techno music, bald men, a DS Lite and a countdown. Playing a DS Lite at a PS2 game release is so punk! Brian Ashcraft More »
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Certainly not as cute as the FF3 ones, a set of new Final Fantasy XII Play Arts figurines from Square Enix products have hit. They are poseable, fully detailed and have plastered hair. Gallery of FFXII's Vaan and co. below. Brian Ashcraft More »
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Almost a year after Final Fantasy XII launched in Japan, the UK is finally getting the PlayStation 2 RPG. And nothing says celebrate like inviting those who created the games to be surrounded by diehards in FF costumes. The event will take place this Friday at the HMV in Oxford Street in London. More info: More »
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If you want your commercial voiceover to sound epic and British, there are few better actor choices than Patrick Stewart. As if people needed more motivation to pick up a copy of Final Fantasy XII in the United Kingdom once it hits on the 23rd, Square Enix have announced that that very same epic British voice will be heard in commercials for the game in the UK and Australia. More »
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Next time we Americans whine about Japan getting a game before us, remember the plight of poor olde Europe. While we've spent months fighting our way through Final Fantasy XII, it hasn't even been released there yet. Finally there is an arching yellow ray of hope for our European friends, as Squeenix announces a February 23rd release for the game that the rest of the world have already played and loved four to eleven months prior. So take heart, those of you Europeans that didn't just import the title and be done with it. Salvation is heading your way, and before long you'll be peeing all over your friends and enemies and loving every minute of it. Michael FaheyFinal Fantasy XII dated for Europe [GameSpot] More »
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Whew! With all that unnecessary game play outta the way, we can stare glass-eyed and slack-jaw at the pretty Final Fantasy pictures. Site Video Games Heaven posted all of FF XII's cutscenes, 36 in total. The quality is slightly better than YouTube, so grab that bowl of popcorn and enjoy. Brian Ashcraft More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=227598&view=rss&microfeed=true Here's a clip from Japanese TV about the making of Final Fantasy XIII. The announcer is talking about what's need to make games in high vision and how sunlight is added to a flying ship in the sky. And like usual, the Square Enix FF footage looks purdy. Brian Ashcraft More »
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If you've been reading my last couple What Are You Playing This Weekend? posts, you might remember that I am without a television. Why? I'm homeless! Until today that is. More »
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Gamefront has the first (painfully grainy, intensely artifacted) look at in-game screens of Square-Enix's Final Fantasy XII sequel/spin-off, subtitled Revenant Wings. Little is known about the game at this point, save for the name of new character Ryudo, but with the 2007 Jump Festa only a fortnight away, expect to see something at least legible by then. More »
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Released just last week, the latest entry in the increasingly erroneously named Final Fantasy series has reached franchise record-breaking 1.5 million copies shipped to retail outlets throughout North America, according to a press-release issued by RPG masters Square-Enix today. Impressive numbers indeed, though keep in mind this doesn't reflect the actual number sold, which judging by the stack they still have on hand at my local Gamestop is substantially less. More »
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Want to know about the guy who produced the game you're going to lose 60 hours of your life to? Head on over to Eurogamer, where they've got an interview with Akitoshi Kawazu, whose last FF game was FF II on the NES. He explains the change to the battle system: More »
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Games of the Week is pressed for time! And there are a LOT of big releases. Let's see if we can get game descriptions down to three words or less! New, notable, now! More »
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DigitalLife, the "ultimate consumer technology, gaming & entertainment event of the year", has announced this year's "best of show" awards, with Sony netting the ultimate award for their PlayStation 3, as well as Best Booth. However, they did not win "Hippest Booth", whatever that means, so someone at Sony had better up the hip factor and pronto. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=207668&view=rss&microfeed=true Thanks to the insidious software piracy movement for first warezing Final Fantasy XII a month before release and then uploading the opening movie to YouTube. I have no real comments, except, you know, it looks like Square-Enix isn't skimping on their past design methodology of having more CGI than gameplay. Also, with the appearance of the rabbit-eared women, Final Fantasy finally gets furries. Florian Eckhardt More »
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We got an email from an anonymous tipster yesterday, indicating that the US version of Final Fantasy XII had been leaked in ISO form to various torrent sites. We checked when we heard it, but didn't come up with anything that looked legit. More »
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The final English version of Final Fantasy XII will be playable at Digital Life in New York City next month. The Playstation 2 title is set to hit stores on Oct. 31, but if you make it to the DL you can check it out there. More »
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I'll admit to being very likely to buy Final Fantasy XII upon release. I've been looking for a good, repetitive, random-battle RPG for quite sometime, and I haven't played any Final Fantasy titles since the seventh. More »
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To celebrate the Halloween launch of FFXII in America, New York City (yes, New York fuckin' City) has declared October 11th as "Final Fantasy XII Gamer's Day." Playable English versions will be on display at New York's DigitalLife's Gaming Pavilion. Taking a page from the Japanese PR handbook, there will also be hosting a costume contest. Cosplaying at a FF event? Didn't see that one coming. Brian Ashcraft More »
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Square Enix is bringing Final Fantasy XII and its perfect Famitsu scores to North America on October 31st. Not only that, Square is also releasing a special Collector's Edition for US $59.99 that boasts special packaging and a bonus DVD with Japanese and American trailers, developer interviews, an art gallery and a short feature on the Final Fantasy series. Way better than Halloween candy! Brian Ashcraft More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=184147&view=rss&microfeed=true The E3 trailer from Final Fantasy XII, English edition, with new scenes and Valley Girl voices. More »
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Square Enix president Yoichi Wada admits that it is difficult to repeat the success of Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts. It's getting hard to maintain a flow of new game titles," said Wada. ""We haven't come up with hit software to follow in the footsteps of 'Final Fantasy' and other major titles. So we will have to alter our strategy." More »
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A four-disc 100 song Final Fantasy XII sound track drops this March in Japan. (Check out the game's theme, sung by Angela Aki.) A specially-made, 28-page booklet will also be included, and the set retails for 3,990 yen (approx. US $35). How does that sound? Pretty good to us. More »
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