And that number has "exceeded one million". Which, well, makes it sound like they sold between 1 and 1.1 million. The news was disclosed in a statement released by Square Enix today, which also states that copies of the game sold bundled with a PS3 - as part of the "Lightning Edition" - were not included in that figure. If you account for those, the figure would be slightly higher.

Square Enix said yesterday that two million copies of the game had been shipped to retailers. Now, there's no way Sony sold one million Lightning Editions, so...anyone hanging on an import copy, don't sweat it, doesn't sound like the game's completely sold out.

The only thing that's free is a personal space, and that's only free until January 14, after which it'll cost ¥600. Everything else, from chairs to rugs to outfits (there are 20 items in total) will cost you, prices ranging from ¥100 (USD$1.10) for the Chocobo that goes inside Sazh's wig (available in early January) and running to ¥600 (USD$6.60) for full costumes.

It'll be the exact same deal as the Japanese edition - custom console, controller, copy of Final Fantasy XIII - only, for Koreans. It'll be out on January 29, 2010, and will retail for 540,000 Won, which works out to be around USD$460.

While being released in Korea isn't the surest sign the pack will make it to the West - after all, the Korean market gets a lot of Japanese hand-me-downs - you can probably take the news and forge a small crucible of hope from it.

Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada, His Imperial Hotness, has issued a release today stating that number of units shipped was actually 1.8 million (standalone copies and those included in the "Lightning Edition" combined. That's a big jump, considering there were only meant to be 1.3 million copies available for the entire week.

The number draws the launch closer in line with that of the last game in the series, Final Fantasy XII, which had two million copies on sale, albeit for a console with a much higher install base at the time.

Enjoy, as Mr. Tim Rogers - who has rested after his arduous start to the day - takes you on a guided tour of the game's battle tutorial, giving you a good look at how the game starts off.

Hint: it starts with Chocofros.

A early look at the game's PS3 Trophy list looks like this:

Bronze
Assault Ruby – Master the Attacker Role
Destruction Sapphire – Master the Blaster Role
Guardian Topaz – Master the Defender Role
Hex Jade – Master the Jammer Role
Inspiration Amethyst – Master the Enhancer Role
Healing Emerald – Master the Healer Role
Silver
Limit Breaker – Deal over 100,000 damage to an enemy
Behemoth Hunter – Slay a wandering behemoth
Perfect Diamond – Learn all abilities to the fullest
Gold
Collector of All Things – Collect all weapons and accessories
The All Knowing Sage – Gain the complete knowledge of 100 different enemies

There are also 16 other Bronze Trophies which seem to be related to the story.

Final Fantasy XIII Trophy List Revealed – Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII [Nova Crystallis]

How I long for the days when I could wander into a video game store and be surprised by the release of a new Final Fantasy game. It hasn't happened since number VII came out on the original PlayStation, but I will remember that day for the rest of my life. Sure, I'm now part of the problem, but I prefer to think of it as sharing my pain with a large group of people.

Square Enix isn't helping, either. Instead of just quietly going back to work on the localization and letting us think about other things, they've now got an official Final Fantasy XIII Facebook page and Twitter account, ensuring that fans never forget that the game is still painfully far away.

White and pink!

FF13 捆绑机大透露~~~~~含多图 [PS3]最终幻想13 A9VG电玩部落社区论坛 [A9VG Thanks, James!]

Shonen Jump: New Final Fantasy XIII Scans [Final Fantasy-XIII.net]

While earlier developments had led to a degree of pessimism on the part of European fans (well deserved considering Square Enix's previous localisation efforts), this morning it was revealed that the game will be out in Europe on the same day it's out in North America.

March 9.

Which, when you think about the way the world spins, means Europe gets a Final Fantasy game before the US. Crazy.

Speaking with GI.biz, Wada said "We've completed the master of the Japanese version, and for the US and European versions we're just adding the final touches.

"The last stage of development has gone very smoothly this time".

Excellent news! Then again, this game has been in development for nearly four years already..."final touches" could be a relative term in Square Enix lingo.

Square Enix hoping for "long platform cycle" [GI.biz]

If only Square Enix's localisation teams worked this fast...

The FFXIII PS3 will be a pinkish white (or a whitish pink!), carries a "Lightning" theme with FFXIII branding and will be a 250GB model of the console. It'll be out on December 17 in Japan.

Tonight, however, only a hundred or so individuals were able to see it. The trailer is so new that many Square Enix staffers hadn't even seen it yet.

During our liveblog, I wrote about the trailer. Fact: it's hard to type and watch something at the same time. But I did my best, trying to pull images or scenes that convey what exactly was going on.

If you didn't read the liveblog, here is my description of the trailer. It doesn't do it justice. It's not supposed to. What it is supposed to do is hopefully clue in those who weren't able to see it, but wanted to.

The trailer opens with a voice over. A young girl says something like "The future is scary because you cannot see it." Character Snow Villiers is on some sort of bike craft with teenage girl Serah. Fireworks are exploding around — it's beautiful. Even though, she's considerably smaller than Snow and younger looking, they lean in for a romantic kiss.

Cut to an airshift, which is descending. PSICOM soldiers deploy. Silver-haired Yaag Rosch orders the troops forward.

This is followed by a montage of game play scenes, complete with boss battles and footage of characters Hope and Snow running through the field. It gives a taste of what it's like to play FFXIIII. Sazh Katzroy's Summon appears and goes into Gestalt Mode — which is a race car. Very surprising transformation and Sazh hopes into the vehicle.

Quick scene of Lightning talking with Serah. Cut to Jihl Nabatt interrogating Sazh Katzroy.

Another quick cut to orange-haired girl Oerba, who drops to her knees and holds onto Serah's skirt saying, "I'm so sorry."

We get a scene of an aircraft flying through electric bolts.

Another scene. It's day time, and we're up in the clouds. Serah falls out of an aircraft, and Snow calls out after her.

Cut to Snow with his shirt off. His chest appears to be bandaged. There is male nipple action. He is surrounded by the Cocoon army. The troops have their weapons draw, laser sights pointed at Snow's chest. Yaag steps forward as Snow begins to talk them down.

Series of quick scenes: Sazh and Oerba having an argument. Hope pissed off. Snow pissed off. An explosion. Snow is carried by troops past a lady with brown hair and a tattoo.

Serah collapses onto the ground, saying "Protect me."

During the mid-point of the trailer, the game's theme song, "Kimi ga iru kara" (sung by Sayuri Sugawara) kicks in and plays throughout the trailer.

It'll be a Slim PS3, will include a copy of Final Fantasy XIII and...that's all the info they had. More information will be provided "in the future". Expect the finer questions, like price, availability and the most important of all - whether it'll be a custom, FFXIII-branded console - to be answered at the Tokyo Game Show in a few weeks time.

UPDATE - Sony sent out a press release this morning for the bundle, indicating that it would be out on December 17 (same day as the game in Japan) and...that's it. How helpful.

Speaking at tonight's Final Fantasy XIII event in Tokyo, Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada has said "In the past, it's taken a year or half a year to release our games abroad, but this time we are aiming for an international release this Spring".

Note he says "international", not American, giving hope to Europeans that they may actually see the game at the same time as Americans.

Those hoping for something a little more precise than "Spring", you won't have long to wait; Square promised that the finer details on the international release of the game are "upcoming".

The date isn't a surprise - not after it was accidentally leaked by Square on the company's YouTube site - but still, it's nice to get confirmation.

It's priced at ¥8800 (¥9240 with tax), which works out to be USD$95 (USD$100). So, yeah, expensive.

As for a Western release date, sadly all Square Enix would say was "Spring". Which we knew already. Ah well! Stay tuned for more news throughout the evening.

Square Enix is currently churning over the idea of including DLC for upcoming role-playing-game Final Fantasy XIII. Says FFXIII producer Yoshinori Kitase, "Our plans for [Xbox Live and PlayStation Network] are currently unclear."

"We are exploring the option of downloadable content, perhaps adding new areas, items or enemies," the producer added, "but these would not be expansions to the story, only the gameplay. The entire story of FFXIII will be on the disc." As it should be!

Final Fantasy XIII GamesCom Interview [RPG Site via 1Up]

In an interview with 360 Magazine, Square Enix's Yoshinori Kitase - producer of FInal Fantasy XIII - says that his team don't really pay much attention to the kind of games you think they would. Mass Effect, Fallout 3, etc etc. Instead, their inspiration comes from a more surprising source:

We don't look much at Western RPGs. But, for instance, we really look at Call Of Duty and other Western FPSs in terms of how to immerse the player in the moment of the action and how to portray the right movements for the supporting characters in battles – those sorts of games do this really well, and it's something we considered with FFXIII.

Well there you go.

Square: FFXIII Influenced By COD [NowGamer]