[thanks GameVideos]

The new European games convention, shifted this year from Leipzig to Cologne, will feature most of the major game developers, plenty of press conferences and an absurd amount of games. The list of developers on hand include Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, Activision, Electronic Arts, Sega, Square Enix, Take-Two, Ubisoft and Capcom.

We've just received Activision and Electronic Arts play lists and they're impressive, including games like Modern Warfare 2, RAGE and APB.

Activision plans to bring all of their big titles with them to the show. That means we'll be getting time with Modern Warfare 2, Bakugan, Singularity, Blur, Tony Hawk RIDE, DJ Hero, Band Hero and Guitar Hero 5.

Electronic Arts too will come to Germany packing some major heat with nearly 20 titles to show off. That means time with APB, Battlefield Bad Company 2, Brütal Legend, C&C 4, Dragon Age: Origins, Mass Effect 2, Need for Speed SHIFT, Need for Speed NITRO, RAGE, The Beatles Rock Band, FIFA 10 (next gen), MySims Agents, TS3EP1, Army of Two: The 40th Day, Dante's Inferno, Dead Space Extraction, The Saboteur, NHL and Tiger Woods Online.

We've also heard that Square Enix will be showing off Batman: Arkham Asylum, Dissidia Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIV, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Mini Ninjas and Order of War. The biggest news coming from Square for the show is that Supreme Commander 2 will be playable for the first time anywhere during Gamescom.

We'll be feet-on-the-ground, live at the show getting hands-on with all of the big games and liveblogging the big press conferences, including a recently announced one from Electronic Arts.

With rumors swirling that a Playstation 3 price cut is landing the week of the show and Sony set to have a press conference that Tuesday, this could shape up to be one of the biggest Euro games conventions yet.

Final Fantasy VIII was light-years ahead of VII both graphically and in terms of complexity, and perhaps that's the reason the game is one of the most underappreciated games in the Final Fantasy line. I must confess, that before reading Jack Patrick Rodgers' write-up, I considered it one of the weakest entries myself, citing IX as the sweet-spot for PlayStation-era roleplaying games. Now I've got an itch to play through the title once again with a keener eye on the underlying themes, thanks to insightful observations like these:

At one point, Squall's party reaches the site of a recent battle, and one of his traveling companions casually drops a bombshell on everyone else: they're all orphans of the previous world war and grew up at the same orphanage, but their memories of their time together have been erased by the Guardian Forces. The childhood friends that Squall can only dimly recall are in fact his new companions for this mission.

It's a terrific, resonant metaphor: the experience of warfare stole their childhood innocence and is slowly turning them into soldiers who have no purpose except the next battle. More than that, it's a commentary on how the responsibilities and pressures of adulthood can cause us to forget who we once were. Anyone who has ever rediscovered a childhood memento and found old memories flooding back can sympathize with characters who are amazed at how much they've forgotten.

It's a fascinating read, highlighting moments such as the Laguna visions, which while at first strange turn out to be the efforts of a son trying to come to terms with his absent father, or Squall's calling out of Seifer as a bully when the other students are trying to remember him fondly upon news of his apparent execution.

It may not do much to change Final Fantasy VIII's low level of regard amongst fans, but "Remembering the Orphan" will definitely have some looking at the game in a completely new light.

Remembering the Orphan: Final Fantasy VIII [PopMatters]

In an interview with game site Gpara, Yamagishi revealed:

Personally, I want to make erotic games... Really. I quietly said to the previous company president "I'd like to make erotic games" to which he retorted loudly, 'NO!'

Dreams crushed, hopes dashed, bummer dude.

Yamagishi Interview [GPara via はちま起稿]

Throughout its life, Final Fantasy constantly reinvented itself, keeping certain aspects but bucking trends with each iteration. On the other hand, Dragon Quest has been strongly about keeping with tradition. All of them take place in the same European-style medieval world. All of them feature the same key staff members — Horii, Toriyama, and Sugiyama. As a result, the method of storytelling, the characters, the battle system and the style of music is pretty much the same throughout. It's a series that prides itself not only on familiarity and nostalgia, but also in its consistency.

I'm not sure Final Fantasy deserves credit for 'constantly reinvent[ing] itself,' since I do wonder how many mopey, bizarrely coiffed heroes of dubious renowned one company can churn out, but be that as it may — it's a fun and nostalgic look back at one prolific series.

The History of Dragon Quest [Gamasutra]

Dragon Quest IV Ads [Siliconera]

"We wanted to take it into our own hands. It shows our scope as manufacturers of collectible figures."

The example they gave was a figure that's $24.99 retail would be marked up to $34.99 on other stores, so making this store will save people a ton of money in the long run. In addition, their store will have exclusive items that won't be found anywhere else.

Also, apparently Disney saw the Kingdom Hearts figures, and they liked them so much they commissioned Square Enix to make them for Disney games that Squeenix doesn't even have anything to do with.

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

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.

But it looks like FFXII won't just be hitting the PS2. Recent word is that a DS only FFXII spin-off, Final Fantasy XII: Returning Wings will be coming to the DS.

Apparently, the game will be based on the adventures of Vaan and Penelo. No, I don't know who they are either. It's also supposed to feature a graphic style that will appeal to a younger market. Hydrocephalia ahoy! Florian Eckhardt

Final Fantasy XII: Returning Wings [Video Games Blogger]

To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the juggernaut known as Dragon Quest, Square Enix is releasing a board game. Called Dragon Quest Dungeon R, the limited-edition game is a reworking of Battleship in which a dungeon screen divides the boards. The game goes on sale in The Land of the Rising Sun on November 18th for 6,090 yen (US $51). With "Dragon Quest" being Japanese for "smash hit," expect these to fly off store shelves. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Game News]

What did Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within have to do with the Final Fantasy video game series? The hell if I know... in response to my question "Where the hell was Cloud?", I vaguely remember the fan boy ramblings from my friend John about "materia" and "Mother Gaia" when we wandered out of the matinee, but ultimately, I like to think the answer is "nothing at all."

Stiil, if Final Fantasy is in the title, we can post it. Especially if it's a lazy Labor Day half-Friday. So, for your edification , the soulless automotons of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within do Michael Jackson's Thriller. Florian Eckhardt

Yesterday, we posted a rather neat video of Square-Enix's upcoming Final Fantasy III. It showed us that the long loading times of old FF3 builds for the DS have been reduced from long, chunky grindings of internal DS cogs into brief flashes of existential white space.

But how does it compare to the original Final Fantasy 3 for the NES? Well, check out this cool little screen-by-screen comparison over at N-Games.de, which shows — despite a jump to an incremental dimension — that the game is still pretty damned loyal to its source. Florian Eckhardt

FF3 NES vs. FF3 DS [N-Games.de]

There's some new Final Fantasy III footage up. It looks absolutely swell: the animations are smooth, the art style appropriately bobble-headed, the synonymous battle theme swells underneath a cliched battle between pixy and goblin. Unfortunately, I just don't like Final Fantasy. Better start learning, though, I guess... I don't see any other Triple A, or even Triple D, RPGs on the DS horizon. Florian Eckhardt

The Magic Box has posted some new and beautiful shots from the upcoming PS3 title Final Fantasy XIII.Some of them are obviously CGI and some of them look like CGI with the interface overlayed. Still, no one can say that Square Enix don't make a pretty game.

The main page also has some new details about the game. FFXIII won't have any online functionality; also, perhaps taking a page from Phantasy Star III each episode features different characters, with events taking place across various eras in history. Chocobos, Moggles, Crystals — all in! Also, FFXIII Agito will have action implemented into the system... your guess as to what that means is as good as mine. - Florian Eckhardt

FFXIII Screenshots [Magic Box]

You've got to love the sort of heroine who can hover upside down in the air for over thirty seconds, shooting a stylized Uzi, yet whose billowy skirt never once falls down over her waist to reveal the fact that the Square-Enix designers failed to model her with panties.

Sephiroth and Riku get gay in the Sims 2. What is it with Squeenix fans anyway? Half of them seem to think they've been beamed straight from a homoerotic, bobble-headed universe where Riku and Donald Duck share a special, furry bond.

Remember when Final Fantasy 3 very clearly referred to Final Fantasy 6, but no one knew it?

But speaking of the real Final Fantasy 3 and its upcoming DS remake, the gamer pollywogs over at Jeux France have a scan of its latest advertisement in the pages of the Japanese magaine Shonen Jump.

Granted, it's pretty hard to tell just from looking at a scan, but does anyone else think this game's 3D graphics look pretty hydrocephucking awful?

Final Fantasy 3 Magazine Ad Scan