Final Fantasy XIII is under a week away now in Japan (ignore what I said last week, my math skills failed!). With that, one can assume that the news about the game will soon start to die down; for now, though, let's talk about Famitsu (spoilers in the link, be warned!). The Final Fantasy XIII cynics will be pleased to note that Famitsu did not give the game a perfect score; it scored only a mere thirty-nine. However, some would argue that Famitsu's scoring isn't what it used to be—four games this year have already gotten the perfect forty (Bayonetta, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Monster Hunter 3, and Dragon Quest IX). The only Final Fantasy game to ever score a forty, by the way, was Final Fantasy XII.
Yoshitaka Amano is still a Final Fantasy fan, though, Famitsu notwithstanding; the artist responsible for concept art for more than half the games in the main series has now contributed new art with his interpretation of the characters of Final Fantasy XIII. Beyond the game's logo, this is Amano's only involvement with the game; the characters are exactly what you would expect, with broad features, very pale skin (not you, Sazh), and a very sketchy nature.
Finally, there's a new commercial out in Japan for Thirteen. There's some new footage, not yet seen anywhere, in this ad; I'm not sure that I can recognize it myself after the torrents of Final Fantasy XIII promo media in the last few months, but the sources swear it's there. Maybe you can watch it and then tell me.
Finally, for those of you out there who still think a career in the gaming industry is all you could ever want from life, Square Enix is hiring. There's one job in Los Angeles for a job that's way too senior for anyone who's likely to read CoN; otherwise, plan on a trip to London to be a localization tester. You'll also have to speak English and one or more of the following: French, Italian, German and/or Spanish. Also, the pay seems pretty abysmal to me, but maybe that's just because I'm so rich and famous myself. I must say that I'm a bit surprised to see hiring so soon after the European division had significant layoffs. The timing seems awkward, and it begs the question as to whether more of the laid-off jobs could have been saved. Some of the folks laid off might just feel the same way.
The holidays are coming up, starting right now, in fact, if you celebrate Chanukkah. I'll be taking a couple days off myself to be with my family, so feel free to send me tidbits and save me some time!
Source: Kotaku, Final Fantasy XIII-Net, Siliconera