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Even though it's still not the E3 of years past, there's no way to not get a little interested in the gaming industry this time every year. For my part, personally, I'm a little disappointed that I no longer work at home and therefore can't watch some of the live coverage; however, I'm sure there will still be some live chatting going on at the house of CoN as news breaks. That being said, there have been some pre-Expo, Square Enix news dribblings that have come to light over the past week, so why don't we get you primed up for this week's events by recapping them briefly here?

First off, check out the massive adverts for Final Fantasy XIII that were hung in Los Angeles last week. There are three, one with Vanilla, one with Snow, and one with Lightning (luckily, the names aren't plastered on the adverts, so non-gamers will have less to mock), all on adjacent buildings. Since the game isn't coming out for a bare minimum of seven months, and probably more like twelve, this might seem premature; however, it seems like these ads might hang for quite a while, since they were covering up similar banners for Grand Theft Auto IV, a game that launched fifteen months ago.

In other news, it's been announced that Final Fantasy XI, the numeral that won't die, is getting another platform on which to hang out. This time it's Playstation 3; however, it's as yet unknown whether this version will sport any sort of refactoring, or whether it will be a straight rollup of all content previously released for Windows and the 360. However, does it really matter? Surely this game is reaching its critical mass of gamers, and simply releasing it for another system isn't alone going to breathe new life into the game. In other words, don't you think anyone who had much intention of playing FFXI has done so by now?

Famitsu has also been talking again with Tetsuya Nomura, and he threw out some typical but interesting tidbits of information. Top of that list is that Squenix is getting more involved with Playstation Network downloadable content; it's come out since that he was specifically referring to a PS3 (and PSP) release of Final Fantasy VII, though there's surely more to come. Additionally, it seems that Final Fantasy XIII must be making great progress, as Nomura himself has moved on from being involved in development to focus most of his time on Versus and Agito. And, in what is clearly the most interesting news for me (or would be if I had a PSP), the newest Parasite Eve sequel has not yet been cancelled!

And, finally, the Square Enix Members Blog also published late last week the official list of titles being shown by Square Enix at E3 this year. Look for more information on some of these as the week goes on.

• DISSIDIA FINAL FANTASY
• FINAL FANTASY XIII Ed: look out for a new video trailer, here.
• FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: THE CRYSTAL BEARERS
• FRONT MISSION EVOLVED
• KINGDOM HEARTS 358/2 Days
• NIER
• ORDER OF WAR
• SUPREME COMMANDER 2
• FINAL FANTASY IV: THE AFTER YEARS
• FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: My Life as a Darklord

Enjoy your E3, and tip us off if we miss any big news!

Sources: Square Enix Members Blog
The Magic Box
Kotaku

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/695923/G...mo-Madness.html

Just real quick, cause it's about to start, this is a partial list of demos they will have.

Quote

FFXIII is on the list!

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Praise Be To Helix!

I'm sure that FF13 "demo" won't be anything other than the video that Nomura mentioned, unless they manage to have enough of the Japanese version running to make it worth the time. We'll probably see it online before G4 manages to push it out there.

Microsoft should be kicking off their presser as I type this, but it's not showing up on GameTrailers' page yet.

In other news, does anyone else think that the trailer for Nier looks a bit like Heavenly Sword but without the Cute Girl? At least in the eight seconds of gameplay they showed?

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Quote (Rangers51 @ 1st June 2009 17:28)

I'm sure that FF13 "demo" won't be anything other than the video that Nomura mentioned, unless they manage to have enough of the Japanese version running to make it worth the time. We'll probably see it online before G4 manages to push it out there.

Well, hopefully it'll be more. Charter is saying that FFXIII will be shown on G4 on E3 Day 2, which is on Thursday.

Edit

They're showing it right now on Microsoft's press conference. They are actually showing a guy playing the game. Spring 2010 release.

This post has been edited by BlitzSage on 1st June 2009 18:02

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Praise Be To Helix!

FF13 is on right now with Microsoft. And it does appear to be playable. And a lot of it is in English.

Edit

And Odin looks pretty sweet.

This post has been edited by Rangers51 on 1st June 2009 18:02

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Quote (Rangers51 @ 1st June 2009 18:01)

FF13 is on right now with Microsoft. And it does appear to be playable. And a lot of it is in English.

Yeah, my tv messed up and when I turned it back on it was playing. They said at the end that they are targeting a Spring 2010 release. The dialogue was in English.

This post has been edited by BlitzSage on 1st June 2009 18:04

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Praise Be To Helix!

Oh, and since we're here, you can preorder FF13 already from AmaCoN, and they will do their best to ship so you have it on release day.

Final Fantasy XIII - US


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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

I still think that "358/2 Days" is a silly title.

Then again, "My Life as a Darklord"...though that could be taken seriously too.

Also, I think you mean "carrying capacity", not "critical mass". Critical mass would be the number of players needed to make FFXI commercially successful, I think.

Though I guess the concept isn't really carrying capacity either, that's the greatest number of players that can be accommodated. More so a saturation point for the market, I guess.

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

First of all, I agree with the above comment in regards to pretty odd sounding names.

Secondly, I am still a little upset that I was/am unable to see E3... Since G4 TV mysteriously disappeared, I have had absolutely no videogame related tv

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Currently Playing : Final Fantasy V
Most Recently Beat : Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
Favorite Game : Final Fantasy X

The newest CoNcast is up! Have a listen!

Quote (Death Penalty @ 2nd June 2009 00:38)

First of all, I agree with the above comment in regards to pretty odd sounding names.

Secondly, I am still a little upset that I was/am unable to see E3... Since G4 TV mysteriously disappeared, I have had absolutely no videogame related tv

Doesn't G4TV.com have videos on it?

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Praise Be To Helix!

Dante's Inferno looks pretty sick, as does Left 4 Dead 2. Can't get the video of the plyable demo of FFXIII to work on G4. Oh well.

This post has been edited by Bum Rush Blitzer on 2nd June 2009 03:22

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Sabin: Kefka! Wait!
Kefka: Wait he says! Do I look like a waiter?

Quote (Bum Rush Blitzer @ 2nd June 2009 03:22)

Dante's Inferno looks pretty sick

That'll definitely be interesting, especially if it has even half of the stuff in the book.

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Praise Be To Helix!

Quote (BlitzSage @ 2nd June 2009 00:34)

That'll definitely be interesting, especially if it has even half of the stuff in the book.

Half will be about all you could reasonably get, I'm sure. Renaissance-era political and social figures tend not to port well to modern video games, were I to guess - however, the circles themselves do create a pretty cool setting for a game if they don't mess it up.

That being said, though, might be better for conversation if we leave this topic to the Squenix content and fork off other threads for unrelated games as we go along. At least keep some focus in place among all the fangirl squee-ing.

Edit

DP: There are a number of websites that have free streaming video of live press conferences. I had the best luck yesterday with Gamespot.

This post has been edited by Rangers51 on 2nd June 2009 14:51

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Quote (Rangers51 @ 2nd June 2009 14:48)

That being said, though, might be better for conversation if we leave this topic to the Squenix content and fork off other threads for unrelated games as we go along.

Fair enough. So, do you think they will talk about FFIV's sequel today?

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Praise Be To Helix!

I receive Square Enix's email information on a regular basis, and this morning I had one come in from them. FFIV sequel is for Wii ware, downloadable for 800 wii points.

http://release.square-enix.com/na/2009/06/01.html

Theres all the info for ya guys.

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think you're a true rp dork - try it live action shifted lands

Quote (r_c_cola2001 @ 2nd June 2009 12:58)

I receive Square Enix's email information on a regular basis, and this morning I had one come in from them. FFIV sequel is for Wii ware, downloadable for 800 wii points.

http://release.square-enix.com/na/2009/06/01.html

Theres all the info for ya guys.

There was a CoN newspost on this topic yesterday: BOiNg

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

FFXIV! Did you all hear about that?

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Praise Be To Helix!

Quote (BlitzSage @ 2nd June 2009 16:23)

FFXIV! Did you all hear about that?

Yeah, and if I get around to posting a Sony thread, I'll probably also mention there that they presented it as an online game and gave very little other information. If it's a follow-up to FFXI, you can count me out as we speak.

Edit

Also, here's a trailer for FF4:After - http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09-fi...v

This post has been edited by Rangers51 on 2nd June 2009 20:59

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Screw G4, GameTrailers is much easier to navigate. Thanks.

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Sabin: Kefka! Wait!
Kefka: Wait he says! Do I look like a waiter?

Quote (Rangers51 @ 2nd June 2009 20:33)

Quote (BlitzSage @ 2nd June 2009 16:23)

FFXIV! Did you all hear about that?

Yeah, and if I get around to posting a Sony thread, I'll probably also mention there that they presented it as an online game and gave very little other information. If it's a follow-up to FFXI, you can count me out as we speak.

I know, I was surprised until I heard that. I'm not an online gamer at all. But, and this is my opinion, I like the look of it more than 13, at least the look. I'd have to 1) buy a ps3 and 2) get into online gaming first.

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Praise Be To Helix!