- Three new titles to North American portables next spring
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates will be published March 11 with local-only multiplayer play (official site); More than three years after its original announcement, Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII will finally be released in North America on March 25 with voice talent to be announced soon (official site); And finally, The World Ends With You (formerly It's a Wonderful World) has a more ambiguous and less solidified date of Spring.
- Sales update: the Crisis continues
Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII's stride upward continues with 109,000 copies sold this past week and 595,000 since its release a little under a month ago. This is good news for PSP owners, as Crisis Core appears to have been dragging the PSP upward. With more solid titles (read: remakes) heading for the PSP and system owners emerging everywhere, the promise of a viable Sony portable is steadily becoming a reality. On a side note, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus (another PSP title) released in second place with 93,000 copies sold and Pokémon Fushigi no Dungeon: Toki no Tankentai came in third with 85,000 copies and 385,000 since release.
- PSP sales not abysmal this week!
Thanks in part (or solely) to the large popularity of the PSP title Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII (which sold approximately 480,000 units its first week), PSP system sales for the week ending on September 16 has increased more than six times that of the previous week. With 95,487 units sold, PSP has outsold DS (79,974) to take the number one spot on the Japanese Hardware Sales list for the week. Now that everyone who will ever want a PSP now owns one, expect the sales to bottom back out at just this side of nothing in a week or two. Rounding out the bottom of the list was the Gamecube with an impressive 97 units sold. Gamesindustry.biz
- Crisis Core shipment met by large lines and Shinji Hashimoto
Japanese Famitsu, which also happened to give Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII a score of 35/40, took some time to chronicle the release of the highly-anticipated Final Fantasy VII prequel. According to its reports, a line of 250 had formed in front of Bic Camera's main store in Ikebukuro thirty minutes before opening and another had 200 gamers standing in wait at Yodobashi Camera's Shinjuku West store just south of that, where managers opened early only to have the line to expand to 300. Now that the line had adequately prepared for glory, Square Enix executive director Shinji Hashimoto made an appearance to guffaw mightily while piles of yen flew into his pockets compelled by sheer force of greed. In truth, Hashimoto pointed out his concerns about sales with the very recent release of the updated PSP hardware and, noting mothers in line with their children, commented that he had felt the flow of time since Final Fantasy VII's release. It's okay, Hashimoto-san, no need to cry. It looks like Crisis Core is going to give the PSP's reigning sales champion, Monster Hunter 2, a run for its money.
- Spiral out: Final Fantasy VII 10th Anniversary Gallery
Final Fantasy VII's 10th anniversary made for some eye-bulging bonuses, as you may remember from some weeks ago. Evidently, these nifty extras weren't enough presents for ten-year-old Final Fantasy VII - a game that is perhaps Square's most popular entry into their staple series. Thus, in addition to the aforementioned extras, Square Enix has plans to roll out a Final Fantasy VII 10th Anniversary Gallery in Spiral (a cornerstone of Tokyo's Aoyama district). Running from August 31 to September 2, the gallery is slated to boast a range of artwork from each Compilation of Final Fantasy VII denizen. In addition to classic artwork in the vein of Tetsuya Nomura's (in)famous character designs, never-before-seen art will also line the gallery, ensuring a visual feast for fanatics. Have your eyes popped out of their sockets? If so, you'll want to start reserving those flight tickets to Tokyo; this gallery certainly isn't traveling to the West. Kotaku
- Final Fantasy VII's 10th Anniversary means eye-bulging bonuses
Square Enix recently unveiled its plan for promoting the latest entry into the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core. Why? While the company is indeed one of the craftiest money-grubbing groups around, and each handheld FF title seems to require its own customized portable system, there is actually another reason behind this announcement. Everyone's favorite (overrated?) Playstation RPG, Final Fantasy VII, is turning ten years old. A slew of collectibles has been announced to celebrate the game's 10th anniversary, one of which is a limited edition Slim PSP with a Crisis Core facade (gasp!). Die-hard fans of all things Square and/or FFVII should take note of this upcoming special offer, because it won't be available for very long. What are you waiting for? See the goods
- Here comes Takeharu Ishimoto
People interested in game music should keep an eye out for Takeharu Ishimoto. The musician has been working with Square for years, mostly flying beneath the radar of mainstream recognititon as a synthesizer programmer. Ishimoto will be making his published soundtrack debut in a big way with Subarashi Kono Sekai, Dissidia Final Fantasy, and Crisis Core. Here's a chance to hear all his songs currently available. Music
- 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
- Trailer revealed for Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, now with English subtitles
The five minute video presentation of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII that first appeared at the 2006 Tokyo Game Show has emerged on the web. The first full trailer of the PSP prequel to Final Fantasy VII includes some brief battle sequences and cutscenes aplenty, featuring Zach, Aerith, and Sephiroth. Crisis Core is expected to show up in playable form at the December 16 Jump Festa event. See the trailer
- Project G - Life imitates Nomura
As the first of the 2006 Square Haven Editorial Prose of Doom series, affiliate homeboy duckroll's expos? muses on Japanese rockpimpstar Gackt's "contribution" to Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. Note: Dirge of Cerberus spoilers abound Read it and cringe
- An E3 2006 approaches. Command?
Square Enix's lineup for this year has 14 HP and a lot of mana to spare. Oh, and there's a new title for Seiken Densetsu IV... Link
- E3: Youchi Wada Q/A
A Q&A session between members of the press and Wada & Hashimoto unveiled some (fairly obvious) details concerning topics like Xbox 360, PlayOnline, Before Crisis, Advent Children and World of Mana. Full Article
- E3: Crisis Core is a prequel?
According to news from the show, a short trailer for Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII mainly features Zack and the events in Nibelheim 5 years before Final Fantasy VII. This obviously suggests that the game is not a sequel set two years after Dirge of Cerberus, but in fact another prequel along the lines of Before Crisis. That is, unless freaky shit is going on with Zack.
- Nomura: "Don't look at me, Kitase did it!"
Japanese magazine Dorimaga took the opportunity to interview popular game and character designer Tetsuya Nomura, who's pretty heavily involved in the upcoming Compilation of Final Fantasy VII and obviously working on the upcoming Kingdom Hearts II. Full Article
- 4th Final Fantasy VII spin-off, Crisis Core, underlines PSP launch announcement
While Sony wasted no time blowing the industry away today with its PSP launch date and price announcement, our favourite Polymorphic presence has completed the predicted AC/BC/CC/DC sequence of Final Fantasy VII sequels with the news of Crisis Core - FINAL FANTASY VII, a PSP Action RPG to be released in 2006. Crisis Core - FINAL FANTASY VII
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