Square Enix Checkup: Yeah, They're Still Working

If you've been wondering what the fellows over at Square Enix have been up to lately (other than the super-exciting stickers and mangas mentioned in the previous news post), you are not alone. As a result, I decided to have a look around at the company's current works in progress and give updates accordingly.

Mindjack, which you may better recognize by the title "that one game kinda trying to be like Inception," is set for a release on January 18 for both PS3 and Xbox 360. Will Mindjack follow in the footsteps of recent bombs Nier, Front Mission Evolved and The Last Remnant? I suppose it doesn't hurt to hope against likelihood.

In slightly more promising news, there is a new Deus Ex: Human Revolution gameplay trailer out (link below). The clip is rather exciting and displays several interesting gameplay features. The newest entry in the Deus Ex series is also expected to make a landing for PS3 and Xbox 360 in early 2011. To hear a bit more about the nature of the game and the multitude of choices it presents players with, check out this fairly recent interview.

There is also news coming from the rather depressing world of Final Fantasy XIV. It looks like the game has been fully ported over to the PS3, and the developers insist that they are working to make this version play as smoothly as possible (unlike last time). When the PS3 version is finally released, it will be accompanied by a PC-version upgrade as well. In addition, PS3 players will be put on the same servers as those playing from PC. This seems slightly problematic given the large time advantage, but developers assure us that there will be features added in order to even out the playing field a bit.

While there isn't really anything new to say about Final Fantasy Versus XIII, IGN has put together an article summarizing what we know about the upcoming title that would be good to read if you haven't been keeping up to date with the information as it's been coming out. Basically, we have one modern kingdom still protected by the ancient crystals of the past: "an isolated nation protected by an ancient line of kings. A modern civilization alive with the Crystal's songs of swords and sorcery." This nation is ruled by the game's main character, and it is surrounded by several crystal-less nations (one of which is ruled by the woman in the white dress seen in several of the trailers).

Remember Final Fantasy Agito XIII? I definitely forgot about it. A quick checkup, though, showed that I am entirely forgiven for having forgotten: there really isn't much information about it at all. It turns out that the game will be released for PSP as well as cellular devices(totally didn't know that). The plot appears to feature crystals (surprise) and a big bad empire (surprise). There's something about royal crests, chocobos and real-time battles in there as well.

All in all, with these new releases and the Fabula Nova Crystalis news conference on the horizon, the first quarter of 2011 should be an eventful one for Square Enix.

Source: Mindjack Site, Deus Ex: Human Revolution trailer, IGN