Pre-E3 Square Enix Roundup

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