Updates on Upcoming Games

[Ayame]

May 28, 2005

exclaim I think I'm a bit late on this, but anyway, 1up.com had an interview with Nomura Tetsuya discussing about Kingdom Hearts 2 and Advent Children.

1UP.com's Interview with Nomura Tetsuya

exclaim SquareEnix has some new action figures, some from the Advent Children cast. And yes, now you can see how flexible your figures can get!

Sephiroth, Tifa, and Vincent

Cloud on the Fenrir, Tifa kicking, and Vincent again

The Sierra, the new airship; and some Full Metal Alchemist figures

Source: AdventChildren.net

Before Crisis

The official Before Crisis site has update with some character profiles of Aeris and Tifa. And its latest chapter, Chapter 13 will be released at the end of the month -- with Chapters 14 and 15 sometime later in June.

Official Before Crisis Website

Final Fantasy XII

FFXII has a spiffy trailer from E3, featuring some unknown characters along with the usuals of Ashe and Vaan.

Source: Final Fantasy XII.NET  

[Ayame]

August 3, 2005

I'm bad at these updates now, I know....School + work = no life. Literally.

The Compilations of FFVII

Advent Children

Advent Children will be heading to Venice once again for the Venice film festival, this time showing the entire film on Sept 8th, a week before the actual movie is simultaneously released in Japan and the US.

Also, there will be a theatrical release in Japan on 9/8 for the premiere and 9/10 country-wide. Depending on how well the sales go in Japan, it might hit theaters in the States. Steamboy's DVD previews section has a trailer for the movie with some new footage of Midgar and the fight scenes using the English trailer shown in last year's E3.

Source: AdventChildren.net

Gamestop's website also has the PSP version for the movie slated for a Sept. 30th release for the US. It's unknown when the DVD version is coming out or if the limited editions from the Japanese preorders will come along with it as well, which is doubtful. The UMD version is on order for around $25.

GameStop

Dirge of Cerberus

Apparently, there's a multi-player online feature for Vincent's game. The Japanese Playonline has DoC's site online, but right now there's nothing on it since the game's now out yet.

Dirge of Cerberus PlayOnline site

There's also a new scan as well, featuring Reeve, the new guy that was seen in DoC's trailers (who now has a name: Azul) and a cloaked character that mysteriously hints for Yuffie (I don't think that there's anybody else with a giant shuriken as a weapon around...

Image Link to New Scan

Crisis Core

The PSP game, and the last of the compilations, has a trailer! IGN used to have a link to the trailer, but it has seemingly disappeared. Maybe SquareEnix has something to do about that...

I'll try to find a link for the trailer on filefront (or you can search for it on FileFront), but in any case -- for those who don't want to see it or have slow connections -- it features just mainly a snippet of Cloud, Zack and Sephiroth during the Nibelheim incident. Apparently, the game will focus on that time period. The animation is the same kind as they used in Before Crisis (anime style).

A Remake for FF7?

Gamespot has an article discussing about the PS3 Tech Demo for FF7 that was shown at E3 this year, stating that it just might be more than just a demo.

Source: Gamespot Article

Kingdom Hearts II

KH2 was playable at SquareEnix's party last month and KHInsider.com has a summary of what happened:

Link to article

Also, Utada Hikaru, the singer who did the opening for the first game, will be singing the main song for the 2nd game as well.

KH2 is slated for a late 2005 release in Japan and an early 2006 release in the States.

Final Fantasy XII

FF12 finally has a release date! It's slated for March 16 of next year in Japan, and probably summer in the States that same year. The main man behind the development of FF12, Yasumi Matsuno, has stepped down from the development staff of FF12 due to health problems. Taking over will be Hiroyuki Ito (FFIX's director) and Hiroshi Minagawa (FFT's art director).

Also, FF12's main theme song has been released as well. "Kiss Me Good-bye" is the title, sung by Angela Aki.

For more info about FF12, see the source below:

FFXII.net  

[Ayame]

September 6, 2005

(maybe I should do this once a month...hmm... ninja )

The Compilations of FF7

Advent Children

A French TV channel has reviewed, in brief, about the movie that showed in Venice a couple of days ago (or has it been a week now?), showing some new pictures inside. I'll try to translate the article later, but for now...uh...just click on the images (if you don't know French, that is)

http://www.arte-tv.com/fr/cinema-fiction/Toutes_20les_20vid_C3_A9os/961866.html

The background music for the official website now has lyrics availabe in PDF format in Latin and Japanese.

Lyrics in PDF format

FFDimensions has posted a full, SPOILER GALORE, report of the movie, them being very lucky to have arrived and watched the film at the festival. I must remind that this describes the ENTIRE MOVIE in detail and there are spoilers abound. Just beware if you want to read.

FF Dimension's AC Movie Report

Some sites and game magazines, including Gamespot and Electronic Gaming Monthly, have been reporting that the US release of AC has been post-poned to either a November or December release date and not the intended simultaneous release on the 13/14 with Japan next week. The rumor hasn't been confirmed by SquareEnix just yet but beware -- it just might happen.

And although it's a bit late, Nomura has posted another entry on the Shinra HQ website, fully translated by a member from the AdventChildren.net forums below:

Quote:

A message from staff to all you Shinra execs:

2005/8/8?@Recent status report - Nomura

Nomura speaking. I'm about to nod off here...but the site's just been renewed so if I were to say nothing it'd seem rather cold, won't it? Thus I'll make the effort to let you in on the latest.

First off, I'd like to offer my sincerest thanks to the many people who came to the Square Enix Party 2005. I was pretty much stuck behind the booth the whole time but the cheers and claps that I sometimes hear coming from the mini-theatre had me feeling very moved. Speaking of the Party, a lot of interviews that I got kept asking me the same thing; "What about all those things that people misunderstood?"So let me take the opportunity to clear some things up.

I know some of you may think that the Limited Edition box looks like it's made out of skin but the truth is, it's just a prototype design printed on a regular paper box, not something that's fashioned out of some poor animal's hide. In the exhibition area, the paper box for the mass-produced version sits right next to this prototype design so, I'm not too sure whether it's the likeliness to real skin of the prototype design, or if the print made too deep an impression or even if the explanation provided at the exhibition was insufficient, but to everyone who were misled, please accept my deepest and sincerest apologies. If it were real leather, trust me, the prize wouldn't be as you've seen. I'm really sorry for the confusion caused.

Now, for the actual thing itself! The project has finally reached completion!!! Lots of problems kept popping up at the last minute so it almost gave me a heart attack but well, we made it and now it should reach you on time! Well, we've got roughly about a month more, haven't we? Man, that was REALLY close...I'm tellin ya, SO many problems came up. I'll tell you all about them the next chance I get, OK? Since there's so much left we have to do in preparation of the approaching release date, we've been super busy.

The commercial is being put together as we speak, so I'd have to go back to the studio for a bit to oversee the last of the finishing touches. I think it'll hit the TV stations somewhere mid-August to September. Anyway, if I get anymore info on that, I'll be sure to kiss and tell, no worries. As for the North American version, there are still several people we have yet to decide upon so I guess we'd better hurry our asses there as well...only 3 characters left, though! But we can't seem to find someone who's able to hit the right note on them...

This may be a little early but also on the actual product, just let me explain the order in which to watch your DVD. For the Limited Edition owners, it's from the "LAST ORDER" OVA. For the mass-produced version owners, you watch it from the original digest called "REMINISCENCE". After that, you may proceed to AC itself. Of course, you may choose to skip REMINISCENCE but I recommend going through it anyway because who knows, you may just discover many things. As for the Limited Edition, when watching DISTANCE, which showcases the making process and accompanied by commentary, I would strongly urge for you to watch it right to the end. Lots of spoilers, you'll find.

Also, the Making might come off as a technically revealing sort of hard interview, what with commentaries that are presented as conversations between primary staffers and all, so it's more like a complete breakdown of sorts. Some of you might not be so hot about that so let me apologize beforehand. We did it this way because we wanted you to feel as if you're part of the process while watching it. It would greatly please us greatly to know that you'd be as absorbed into the whole process as we were while making it.

Now I'll go on to explain a little about the public cinema release. In truth, AC was never intended to be the sort of movie you'd go watch in a cinema so we didn't take it as one when we made it. This means it's void of the usual flow, format and general treatment you would see in a made-for-big-screen kinda movie. And eventhough it seemed impossible, we tried to negotiate and discuss our way through but even with the company's (SE) best intentions, there were limits we couldn't cross no matter what. However, driven to answer all the many requests and demands to see it on the big screen, we've somehow managed to whine our way into getting a not-so-conventional way to publicly show it to you all. And this is possible thanks to the goodwill of certain companies related to the industry.

However, I'm still sad to say that, as much as we want to, we might not be able to answer to those who have been looking forward to see it on major big screens across the city. There's a lot left that I can't say so please feel free to check the AC website for more pending updates. Details and the Japan Premiere will soon be announced on the official website.

And lastly, Venice. Thanks to everyone, we've once again been invited to show our work there for the second year in a row. Thank you so much! It's truly a pleasant surprise to find out that we're able to attend despite almost not being able to make it in time. Speaking of almost being out of the competition, it seems that, unlike last year, we'd be able to walk on the red carpet this year! w00t! And if that's true, we should be so nervous by now but due to our busy schedule, we don't have time even for that. For instance, right after we return from Venice, there'd be the Japan Premiere, public screening and release date to take care of. Not only that, there're still the preparations that need to be done in regards to many other related things and let's not forget the North American and European releases. Of course, before all these, there's still the matter of KINGDOM HEARTS II, and there are more that need our attention even BEFORE this one, believe it or not. Having typed all this down, I now only realize how close we're really cutting it. This isn't good, there's just not enough time to go around.

Which brings to mind something. Recently there's only been announcements and apologies, there really hasn't been any room for mischief and light humor on our end, has there? And I want to keep on with this little messages right up to the date of release but come to think of it, I'm the only one still writing this. These days, the 4 people from the PR dept holed up in the operations department office have worn themselves out working all the way till morning (these guys were placed in charge of handling the PR side of everything, from AC to DC to KH) so maybe something in them shorted out because every line they utter now seems to inevitably have something or other to do with the likes of AC, DC and KH. And, late at night, on the floors where there is little people, you'd suddenly hear a voice going "A duel do the death that lasts for days!!"(line uttered by Azul from DC) as late-night staffers amuse themselves with an unique online recreation of the game (DC) via the office network.

Dirge of Cerberus

The game has been slated for a winter 2005 release (meaning the end of this year) in Japan. However, it's not certain, as there have now been some setbacks on the beta system for online play.

1UP.com has an article interviewing Yoshinori Kitase, the brains behind the compilations, discussing about the compilations and in particular Vincent's game -- Dirge of Cerberus:

Link to Article

Before Crisis

The official website for the online cell phone game has updated with some new screenshots on the latest chapters, the latest so far being Chapter 18 showing Red and Cosmo Canyon.

Official Before Crisis Website

Source: AdventChildren.net  

[Ayame]

September 21, 2005

Whoops...a little bit late on this...

The Compilations of FF7

Advent Children

As those of you who are following AC very closely and already know, Advent Children has finally come out in Japan last week and it's official that the US release for the movie-straight-to-DVD will come in the month in November. It's unknown about a European release as of now, but it's assumed probably the early months of 2006.

If you're that impatient, you can always try to find a bit torrent and download it off the net wink (No, I'm not encouraging you to download stuff illegally...of course not....)

Amazon.com -- the U.S. site -- has a pre-order list for the DVD set for November 29, 2005. It's a 2-disc set, one for the movie and the other for the OAV: The Last Order.

Fanmitsu has released its latest edition featuring some more info about the movie through its trip during the Venice Film Festival. If you can read Japanese, go on right ahead...but right now...uh...it's in Japanese sweatdrop

Link to Fanmitsu articles

There's also prologue scans if you want to see ^^:

Link to FF7AC Prologue scans

Source: AdventChildren.net

Dirge of Cerberus

Vincent's own game has some new scans about, showing some more features of its online play, the beta version to be tested tomorrow, Sept 22.

DoC Scan #1

DoC Scan #2

Once again, it's all in Japanese, but this at least has some screenshots.

Source:AdventChildren.net

The Tokyo Game Show premiered about a week ago (or maybe it was before? I don't remember...), having a demo version of the game available to play. Gamespot has some details and a small review about it, located here:

Gamespot's Dirge of Cerberus Review (Demo)

Source: Gamespot.com

1UP.com has some gameplay footage, newly updated from this year's TGS:

DoC Video Downloads

Source: 1UP.com

In other FF7-related news...

1UP.com also had an interview with AC director Nomura Tetsuya, who hinted at a possible FF7 remake, but that since he's so busy with other projects at the moment that the remake won't be coming very soon.

Source: 1UP.com

Kingdom Hearts II

KH-2.net has a ton of more info about KH2, the upcoming sequel to Kingdom Hearts, especially since TGS, and it's too long for me to put on here, so here's the link: (yeah, I'm being lazy, but blaugh )

KH-2.net

Final Fantasy XII

Oh my goodness, there's news about the game?? *coughs* ANY-way...

The combo system has been revealed, which looks very cool, and here's some scans: (I warn that the site's in French...I apologize in advance for that)

Jeux-France.com

Source: Jeux-France.com

If you've played any of the Shadow Hearts games (either the first or the 2nd one), looks similar to that (with the exception of the Judgement Ring, of course...but I won't go into that).

Also a new character has been revealed to join Ashe, Vaan, and company! His name's Ramon, but he looks like a girl xd



Source: FFXII Online

Aaaand...Dragon Quest VIII -- the unknown RPG that's just as popular as Final Fantasy in Japan, will have an FF12 demo in its US release on November 22nd.

That's all for now. G'day and g'night whee  

[Ayame]

Super duper update (well, kinda)

March 31, 2006

* Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children will be released simultaneously in the US and Europe on April 25, 2006. It will be a 2 disc set, the first being the movie with English and Japanese Audio Tracks as well as English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Korean, Chinese, and Thai Subtitles. There will be also a featurette on this disc as well, discussing the events of the original game. The second disc has previews of the upcoming FFVII Compilation games (Dirge of Cerberus -- Vincent's action-shooter RPG, Crisis Core -- seemingly to be revolved around Zack and Cloud, and Before Crisis -- the cell phone game that takes place before and during the Nibelheim incident and the Turks' involvement), trailers, and some more nifty extras.

The English dub cast goes as follows:

* Cloud Strife - Steve Burton
* Tifa Lockhart - Rachael Leigh Cook
* Kadaj - Steve Staley
* Rufus Shinra - Wally Wingert
* Reno - Quinton Flynn
* Rude - Crispin Freeman
* Yazoo - Dave Wittenberg
* Loz - Fred Tatasciore
* Vincent Valentine - Steve Blum
* Barett Wallace - Beau Billingslea
* Cid Highwind - Chris Edgerly
* Yuffie Kisaragi - Christy Romano
* Cait Sith - Gregg Ellis
* Red XIII - Liam O'Brien
* Reeve - Jamieson Price
* Tseng - Ryun Yu
* Elena - Bettina Bush
* Marlene - Wallace Grace Rolek
* Denzel - Benjamin Bryan
* Girl - Andrea Bowen
* Zack - Rick Gomez
* Aerith Gainsborough - Mena Suvari
* Sephiroth - George Newbern

There will also be a special screening in Hollywood on April 3rd, tickets come first come first serve for those in the area.

And while on the topic of FFVII, SE president Yoichi Wada answered a fan during the launch of FFXII that there might be a possible remake of the game for the PS3.

* Kingdom Hearts II is out. Prepare to be sucked into it if you kept up with the series.

* Final Fantasy XII has been released in Japan since March 16. The US release is expected to be sometime at the end of this year.

* Dirge of Cerberus, the 3rd piece of the FFVII compilation was released in Japan in January. A US release is sometime at the end of this year. The official site has also been updated as well.

Official Dirge of Cerberus Site  

[Ayame]

E3 Update (will be edited and possibly altered as soon as E3 ends)

May 11, 2006

*Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children went to #2 on the US DVD sales charts after the week of April 30th....that's like around 5 days after it had been released. The only DVD surpassing that was Aeon Flux.

*Dirge of Cerberus, Vincent's action RPG, is set to be released in the US on August 22, 2006. This might change, depending, but it seems to be set in stone. There is, however, a "lost chapter" of the game that will be set onto mobile phones featuring something called "Protomateria" yet details are not known as of yet.

*The official site to the final compilation of FFVII, Crisis Core, had been updated with some information besides the logo. It's still in the works, but at their press conference before the actual E3 started, SquareEnix released a lengthy trailer producing some details about the game. It's most likely going to be centered on Zack. A scan is out by Jump, seen by clicking the link below. (Note on the drawing, the two people to the left of Zack are known as Ageal and Genesis, seen in Before Crisis)

Crisis Core Scan

*Although it's not a surprise, Final Fantasy XIII has a trailer. It looks like it's set in a futuristic world and the main character is female, though she's got pretty cool arsenal....a gun that can switch to a sword (now THAT, I want) among other things.

IGN has a decent trailer of it here: FFXIII Trailer

This is to be released on the upcoming PS3, and boy does it look pretty...(although, damn, that console's going to be exp-eeensive....)

*The delayed Final Fantasy XII, at SquareEnix's press conference, has been confirmed that it will be released to North America around October of this year.  

[Ayame]

May 21, 2006

Again, late on this, but there's going to apparently be a compilation for the upcoming FF on the PS3. The entire compilation is called "Fabula Nova Crystallis" (in Latin, roughly translated to: "The New Tale of the Crystal"), made out of three games. Each game is unrelated with the exception of following the same world, and each game is quite different.

The main title is Final Fantasy XIII that has the female character in the trailers as lead character. It was originally made for the PS2, but after the FFVII Tech Demo at last year's E3, the team scrapped the entire project and began anew, aiming for the PS3.

The 2nd title in the compilation is called Final Fantasy Versus XIII. "Versus" takes on its Latin meaning of "to change direction", not that other 'versus' ^^. This will be directed by Nomura Tetsuya. The graphics will be done by the Advent Children team while the gameplay will be done by the Kingdom Hearts team. So...it'll be more of an action-oriented RPG. A snippet of a trailer was shown at SquareEnix's press conference, but it hasn't been streamed to the 'net except for it's screenshots.





The main character (above) is a member of the royal family that has protected the family crystals for generations from creatures from another world.

The final title is a cell phone game called Final Fantasy Agito XIII. No details as of yet other than that it has the same artwork style for Before Crisis.

Character design for all three games is done by Nomura Tetsuya, the same character designer for FFVII, VIII, X, and X-2. Release dates for these games are unknown, though it's estimated to be in 2007 or later.


Sources: IGN.com's Article

GameSpy's Article

An FFXII Opening FMV is out on YouTube, for all you spoiler filled people (*coughslikemecoughs*) out there in both raw and subtitled formats. Just type in "FFXIII Opening movie" in the search bar and find the one that's around 7 minutes or so.