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Final Fantasy Director’s Take On Western Vs. Japanese RPGs
How does Final Fantasy XIII director Motomu Toriyama explain the difference between Japanese-designed role-playing games and their western counterparts? By pointing out the divide between classic RPGs like Tomb Raider, Hitman and Final Fantasy. I know what you’re thinking. “Tomb Raider and Hitman aren’t western RPGs!” But Toriyama’s argument was that western gamers—or, more specifically,…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 15, 2010 -
Guess How Many Copies Of Final Fantasy XIII Are Out There
Go on. Guess. Or, if you don’t feel like guessing, read on to see the shipment figures for Final Fantasy XIII Square Enix released overnight. With two million units shipped in Japan since the game’s release there in December and three million sent to stores in the West for its release here this week, that…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 10, 2010 -
Rumor: Square Enix’s Music Division Shuttered
The last note has apparently been played by Square Enix Music, rumors website Square Enix Music Online. At the end of last year, the group was disbanded for budgetary reason, leaving composer casualties that include: Masashi Hamauzu (Final Fantasy XIII, Dirge of Cerberus, SaGa Frontier II) Junya Nakano (Final Fantasy X, Threads of Fate, Musashi:…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 3, 2010 -
Final Fantasy XI to Get Three Expansions in 2010
At Vanafest 2010 in Tokyo, Hiromichi Tanaka, the lead developer of Final Fantasy XI, announced that game will get three new high level battle area additions this year: Vision of Abyssea, Scars of Abyssea, and Heroes of Abyssea. Vision of Abyssea will be the first release, this summer. The other two are not yet dated.…
By Owen Good Published February 28, 2010 -
Final Fantasy I & II Available Now on iPhone
For those of you chomping at the bit for Final Fantasy XIII, here’s a fun little surprise to tide you over: Both Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II are now available on the iPhone for $9 a pop. The original Final Fantasy includes the five bonus dungeons, The Soul of Chaos pack and The Labyrinth…
By Brian Crecente Published February 25, 2010 -
Fan Creates Final Fantasy VII Sequel Demo
Since Square Enix isn’t terribly keen on remaking Final Fantasy VII, it’s up to fans to get the job done. Like this guy, from Thailand, who’s made a showreel depicting his dream project: Final Fantasy VII-2 Sure, it looks more like a PS2 game than something you’d expect on a pS3, but with Square Enix…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 24, 2010 -
Kitase: FFVII Remake Only Possible If It Can Be Done In A Year
Final Fantasy XIII releases in less than three weeks, but people still can’t stop pining for Final Fantasy VII, released XIII years ago. But Yoshinori Kitase, answering hypothetically, said a remake by modern standards might take XIV years to make. Speaking to TechDigest, Kitase, the producer of Final Fantasy XIII (and director of VII) said…
By Owen Good Published February 19, 2010 -
What Does The Final Fantasy Team Think Of The Last Story?
In January, developer Mistwalker announced it was making The Last Story with Nintendo, a “new form of RPG” bound for the Wii. That’s Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi’s newest game. What does the Final Fantasy team think about all this? Surely, The Last Story from the creator of Final Fantasy would perk up some ears…
By Michael McWhertor Published February 17, 2010 -
Final Fantasy I & II, Running On The iPhone
As we told you last month, the first two games in the Final Fantasy series are on their way to the iPhone. Here, in Square Enix’s patented iPhone-o-vision, is a trailer for the pair of classic re-releases. Still no release date, sadly; all we get is a “available soon” at the end of the clip.
By Luke Plunkett Published February 15, 2010 -
Nomura: Still No FFVII Remake, but Maybe Cloud Cameos
Square Enix designer Tetsuya Nomura reiterated the no-plans watch for a Final Fantasy VII remake any time soon, although it would take much more than the nuanced way he said it to put to rest the speculation on this game. In the current Famitsu, Nomura, who designed the game’s much-beloved characters, says: Fans are looking…
By Owen Good Published January 24, 2010 -
Final Fantasy I & II Coming To An iPhone Near You
Square Enix announced today – rather quietly, may I add – that Final Fantasy I & II will soon be released for the iPhone and iPod Touch. As you can see, being what look like ports of the recent PSP re-releases, they’re looking nice and shiny (perhaps too shiny; what’s wrong with sprites?), but sadly…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 21, 2010 -
Why Is Square Enix Raising Cash?
Square Enix, the company behind Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, announced a ¥35 billion ($386 million) zero-coupon convertible bond. As Hiroshi Kamide at KBC Securities Japan points out, “convertible” means that these bonds can be changed to shares at some point before they mature. While Square Enix has around ¥80 billion in on hand cash,…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 19, 2010 -
Which Final Fantasy Game Do These FFXIII Launch Customers Love?
On December 17, Japanese game site Gpara asked the first hundred customers waiting in line for Final Fantasy XIII at Shibuya retailer TSUTAYA to name their top three favorite FF games. And today, Gpara is publishing the results. 13.) Final Fantasy II: 2 votes 12.) Final Fantasy XI: 3 votes 11.) Final Fantasy: 3 votes…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 29, 2009 -
Square Enix Patents New Battle System
Square Enix designer Tetsuya Nomura recently announced that he is working on unannounced projects — one of which is a brand new title. Could this latest patent shed light onto that? It’s too early to tell; however, this patent application lists Tetsuya Nomura as the inventor of a character switching battle system for RPG/action RPG…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 29, 2009 -
Square Enix Doesn’t Divide By East And West
For Square Enix, there is not East and West. It’s all about hard and easy. Just ask Final Fantasy: The Crystal Bearers producer Akitoshi Kawazu. “The presence of Japanese games is not as strong within the international market these days, and as a business that creates and sells games, the reception in the Western market…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 29, 2009 -
Final Fantasy Classic, with Lyrics: Soak It In, Mofo
Brentalfloss is back to camp out in our corpus callosum or medulla oblongata or wherever it is songs of this type embed themselves. If Styx were members of my church growing up, this would sound like 4/5ths of the hymnal. Final Fantasy Classic WITH LYRICS [YouTube, Thanks Lyndon R. L.]
By Owen Good Published December 27, 2009 -
Final Fantasy (The Band) Has A New, Less Trademark Infringing Name
Perhaps, in your internet travels for Final Fantasy the video game related content or violin-driven indie music, you’ve come across Final Fantasy the band. If you have, and become a fan of the artist, call them Final Fantasy no more. The band—which is largely a solo act—will change its name to Owen Pallett next year.…
By Michael McWhertor Published December 18, 2009 -
Final Fantasy VIII Coming To The PlayStation Store
It’s Final Fantasy day here today, the latest piece of news concerning Square Enix‘s flagship franchise coming in the form of a PlayStation Store re-release. In an email sent out to PlayStation email subscribers, Sony announce in the “coming soon” section that Final Fantasy VIII will be turning up on the PlayStation Store. I’m interested…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 16, 2009 -
Old News ’90: Nintendo Says NES Final Fantasy Is Geared To Adults
We’ve been writing about Final Fantasy this week, so how about we study how people used to write about this huge franchise. Like back in 1990, when the first game was coming to America. How did people/Nintendo explain it? You are reading Kotaku’s once-weekly (sort of) journey back to yesteryear. I direct you to the…
By Stephen Totilo Published November 19, 2009