News / 2007 / March /
13 articles
- MMO-OST: Final Fantasy XI gets soundtrack box
Available for import at the price of $99, the newly announced Final Fantasy XI Soundtrack Premium Box Set will include seven discs and a piano score sheet. The limited edition item marks the fifth anniversary of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game in Japan, available for the PC, Playstation 2, and XBox 360 console. The CD collection composed and arranged by Naoshi Mizuta, Kumi Tanioka, and Nobuo Uematsu goes on sale in Japan on March 28th for 10,476 yen. Details and order info
- Square Haven to cover Game Developers Conference
The 2007 Game Developers Conference starts tomorrow with a keynote speech by Square Enix chief strategist Ichiro Otobe. Also scheduled to present at the conference is Final Fantasy series programmer Taku Murata, giving a postmortem of Final Fantasy XII, along with localization director Richard Mark Honeywood, talking on the videogame translation process. Square Haven will be in San Francisco wearing flowers in our hair to bring you the latest news from the event. Details
- Square Enix unveils "Project Game Brain"
This year's Game Developers Conference began with a keynote speech by Square Enix chief strategist Ichiro Otobe, entitled "Serious Games Squared." Focusing on the development of serious games, or interactive media designed for instructional and training purposes, Otobe stated that in the near future players could expect such titles to be published under the auspices of SG Lab, a joint venture between Square Enix and the manga publishing company Gakken. Programmer Tadashi Tsushima then demonstrated a prototype of Square's "Project GB," a serious game which will instruct Nintendo DS players in developing basic videogame programming skills. GDC 2007
- Miyamoto Wife-o-Meter rating at all-time high
In his keynote speech at the Game Developers Conference today, game designer Shigeru Miyamoto addressed Nintendo's goal of winning a more expansive audience. "It is not enough to just please those of us who already love videogames," said Miyamoto. "We must reach out to those who aren’t really interested in games." His wife, who has shown little concern for videogames, has been converted by Brain Age and Wii Sports. Miyamoto claims the victory earns Nintendo a high "Wife-o-Meter rating." GDC 2007
- The Playstation 3 finds its Home
Phil Harrison's keynote speech at the Game Developers Conference centered on a new downloadable service available for the Playstation 3 console. Called Playstation Home, the service will offer players a virtual space to decorate with furniture, wallpapers, and trophies acquired by completing special objectives in Playstation 3 titles. Following the announcement, Harrison turned over the stage to the designers of a network-friendly collaborative game called LittleBigPlanet. GDC 2007
- Iga: 2D games will never die!
Koji Igarashi, the producer of the Castlevania series, stated in a lecture delivered at the Game Developers Conference that he will continue to work on 2D action titles. Not unlike the fame of his hallmark series, or the caped vampires who inhabit them, the game designer proclaimed, "2D games will never die!" GDC 2007
- Koji Kondo paints interactive musical landscape
Koji Kondo's lecture delivered at the Game Developers Conference described the evolution over the years of the interactive component of his game music. Isolating examples from the original Super Mario Bros. to Zelda: Twilight Princess, the composer described ways interactive media provide an entirely different approach to communicating with the listener than what is possible with film or television. GDC 2007
- Eiji Aonuma reflects upon the history of Zelda
Eiji Aonuma, Producer of Software Development for Nintendo, has been the creative director of the Zelda series since The Ocarina of Time. In his Game Developers Conference lecture "Twilight Reflections in the Hourglass," Aonuma described the evolution of the series and his current project for the NDS: Phantom Hourglass.
. GDC 2007
- Final Fantasy Tactics goes multiplayer
Square is celebrating the ten-year anniversary of Final Fantasy Tactics by releasing a considerably expanded edition of the game on the Sony PSP. The Lion War will include a mutliplayer function for use with the PSP's wireless feature, allowing both versus and cooperative modes. The portable remake is set for a May 10 release in Japan. Multiplayer details
- The Pioneers: Ted Woolsey
Ted Woolsey was the primary translator and US producer of Squaresoft's role-playing games during the Super Nintendo era. He joined Square in 1991, and took the localization of console games to a new level. His translations, influenced by his studies in Japanese literature, raised the standards for storytelling in interactive entertainment. The Pioneers
- Can games be taken seriously?
Now that influential game developers like Square Enix intend to develop "serious games," the genre appears to be poised for a major breakthrough. The Serious Games Summit track of this year's Game Developers Conference featured a series of lectures focused on the goal of developing interactive products for training and instructional purposes. But is the interest of Square Enix, Columbia University, and even DARPA enough to get games taken seriously? Serious games
- Canyon Crows touch down in Japan
The Nintendo DS strategy title Front Mission 1st is out in Japan. The game features an involved plotline, customizable mechs, strategic gameplay, Yoshitaka Amano character designs, and music by Yoko Shimomura, Noriko Matsueda, and Hidenori Iwasaki. Naturally, there are no plans for an English-language release. Preview
- Another angle on Crisis Core
The Members Only section of the Square Enix official website has offered visitors another look at the involved storyline of the Final Fantasy VII prequel for the PSP. Preliminary information on Crisis Core's dramatis personae suggests this just might be the best thing to happen to the Sony handheld since... ever? Now with English subtitles. Crisis Core Trailer
04 Mar 2007 by 
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