Japan to see Dragon Quest VIII in November? Several Japanese retailers are reporting a release date of November 25th for Dragon Quest VIII. The game obviously promises to be the year's top seller in Japan, and while a release in North America seems likely, distribution of it in Europe appears to be out of the question with Square Enix Ltd. not even listing it for a 2005 arrival.
New Mana, Crystal Chronicles titles confirmed for Nintendo DS The list of new titles to be brought to the Nintendo DS after its release includes a substantial contribution from Square Enix, with 4 titles listed as being under development for the system alongside previously announced Egg Monster Heroes. Besides a new iteration of Dragon Quest Monsters and Slime Morimori Dragon Quest, two titles I'm sure you're about as interested in as protracting athlete's foot, the system will be graced with the presence of a new Mana title, something we previously suspected as being under development, and a new Crystal Chronicles, which was more or less announced at E3 anyway. So ends this news article that may just as well have consisted solely of the title. Sigh.
Before Crisis website launches The website for Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII has opened, revealing some more basic details about the title, including more about what Square Enix seems to presume will revitalise mobile phone online gaming: multiplayer cooperation. You can choose from a generic Turk character, male or female, who has just joined the group, and then go off completing missions with up to 3 other human allies. Details regarding materia usage and spellcasting are still unknown, however, but for a cellphone title it's starting to look pretty neat. Before Crisis official website
Euro FFXI Pricing Confirmed: Dollar Reigns Supreme Square Enix Ltd. has recently announced a retail price of 50 Euro for this first self-published title. The seven disk set will include both the Rise of Zilart and Chains of Promathia expansions, as well as a month's worth of access to the game. Successive play will be priced at $12.95 a month; a move almost certain to quell complaints of European overpricing. gamesindustry.biz
Final Fantasy I & II GBA Remake Conquers the Charts With roughly 150,000 copies sold, the Gameboy Advance remake of Final Fantasy I & II has taken the top spot in the Japanese charts. With it's jump to the top, the former king, Nintendo's Paper Mario RPG, has dropped to second place, but still holds strong. gamesindustry.biz
New Final Fantasy XII Music Samples Square Enix has updated its official FFXII website with three musical snippets from the game's soundtrack, in anticipation of the title's spring 2005 Japanese release. Meanwhile, the rest of us wallow in self-pity, with no American release date in sight. FFXII Offical Website
Squenix lays down another patent to keep fanboys slavering for more The 26th of July apparently saw Square Enix filing for another patent, this time for something called "Dawn of Souls", and presumably referring to a new videogame title, though considering the advent of expanded media production (also known as Polymorphism™), it's safer to not assume anything at this point.
Ichiro Otobe; New King in Town After Jun Iwasaki's final words as president of Square Enix (North American Division), Ichiro Otobe has stepped in to take his place.
Otobe, who had moved from General Manager of Global Business, shared in the role of Chief Operating Officer along with Iwasaki. He won't be alone though, as Yoichi Wada, overall president of Square Enix, plans to take an active role in the North American front of the company. 1up.com
Oh yeah, Sakaguchi is also making some games Hironobu Sakaguchi, the guy who made Final Fantasy back in the day and recently announced his latest creation, a new game development company named Mist walker, has updated the status quo by bringing us news of Mist Walker's current projects, which include two unnamed RPGs for next generation consoles.
Reading Into Sugiyama's Words While in the middle of a concert the other day, Dragon Quest composer Kouichi Sugiyama said "Things are going to get busy since I'll have to begin converting the compositions into data for Dragon Quest VIII, which is going to be released during the year," while talking about the progress of the game's music production. While Square Enix has officially announced that the new addition to the Dragon Quest legacy will come out sometime during the winter of 2004-2005, I think we can all put our full faith in their composer's prediction of the release date. Gamespot
The DS for Turkey Day According to unconfirmed reports, the Nintendo DS will be set for a North American release around Thanksgiving, just in time for the beginning of the holiday shopping mobs. Along with the reports are the confidence that third-party developers have in the supposed release date. However, there are concerns that the initial line-up for the DS release will be less than spectacular as many of the big titles aren't expected until Q1 2005. Since there has been no official word from Nintendo, all that is known is simply speculation, so there still may be some aces up their sleeves. gamesindustry.biz
Matt sexier than Paul in stunning MIT revelation "Men with "front vowels" in their names -- sounds formed at the front of the mouth like the "a" in Matt -- were considered sexier than men with "back vowel" sounds like the "au" in Paul, she concluded." However, "The opposite held for women, who were sexier with back vowels than front ones." Shar vs Rachel, fight? Reuters
Front Mission Online beta applications begin Yesterday Square Enix began accepting applications for the first phase of its beta testing for Front Mission Online, which will take place in no less than three phases. While the first is concerned with actual gameplay, the second and third phases will test of the game in terms of PS2 in conjuction with PC usage, with the clear implication of connectivity. So, all of you who reside in Japan and own broadband-connected PS2s can feel free to head to the FMO official site and sign up. 1Up
Trademark teasing continues with "Dirge of Cerberus" registration Following on the recent trademarking of a presumed Valkyrie Profile sequel title earlier this month, Squenix 12 days ago also registered "Dirge of Cerberus", which, much like the prior filing, doesn't indicate what medium it applies to and if it is indeed an actual title or just an extension.
Cloud shows off mad phone-calling skillz in FOMA commercial Japanese television is currently airing a commercial for the upcoming FOMA P900iV, which you may recognise as the phone that Cloud and Tifa use in the upcoming DVD/UMD movie Advent Children. No doubt Cloud's explicit sporting of the unit will increase its popularity among Japanese teens, though considering its high price one should wonder whether it'll make that much of a difference. commercial download