News

The president of SNK Playmore USA recently announced that the North American Wii Virtual Console will start to receive Neo-Geo games very soon, at an average of "around two a month." SNES VC games cost 800 Wii points ($8 US), and Neo-Geo games will cost "a little above the SNES point."

SNK has been a popular video game company for well over a decade, getting their start by developing video games exclusively for arcades and eventually creating a home version of their arcade hardware with the SNK Neo-Geo. They have created several popular series over the years, including King of Fighters, Metal Slug, Samurai Shodown, and many more. As Neo-Geo systems are outrageously rare and expensive, this is an excellent opportunity for the both enthusiastic and curious fan who wish to enjoy Neo-Geo games through legal means without spending a great deal of money.

Source:
IGN interview with SNK president

According to Famitsu, the main character from Final Fantasy Tactics A2 (the DS sequel to FF Tactics Advance) is going to make an appeareance in the PSP remake of Tactics, Final Fantasy Tactics: Shisho Sensou. This new character, Russo (or possibly Luso or something similar, depending on how it's localized in English), encounters and takes on Ramza while he's on the way to rescuing Alma; it isn't clear exactly where in the game this takes place.

This marks the second character from a recent FF game announced to have a supporting role in the FF Tactics remake, after Balthier from FF XII was announced as playable a few months ago. Is Square-Enix taking this cross-promotion a bit too far, or do we want even more? Depends on the person, I guess.

Source:
RPGFan

Square-Enix's official website for Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII recently updated, giving us a great deal of new information. The game takes places seven years before Final Fantasy VII, when Shinra is gaining influence in the world by controlling the planet's supply of Mako energy. Sephiroth, Zack, and a third SOLDIER named Angeal Hewley are dispatched to Wutai in order to investigate the mysterious disappearance of another SOLDIER unit and also to resolve the military situation taking place there. Many other characters from Final Fantasy VII, including Cloud, Tifa, and Aeris, are confirmed to be in the game, but their role in the plot is unclear as of yet.

So that's all. Crisis Core does not have a confirmed release date, but is slated to be released in Japan later this year.

Sources:
Crisis Core's official website
RPGfan

According to an interview with SCE France CEO Georges Fornay, the upcoming PS3 game Final Fantasy XIII may be available on more than one platform. This only qualifies as hearsay at the moment, but such words coming from the mouth of an important Sony executive are worth notice. The interview was published in the Francophone newspaper "Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace" ("The Final News from Alsace").

Sony's PS3 has had it rough recently, to say the least. Without going into too much detail, it can be surmised that the young system has been recently suffering from a great deal of criticism from game developers and publishers, from gaming news media, and from the gaming public themselves while the Nintendo Wii and the Microsoft XBox 360 have been thriving in the new generation of video game consoles. Of particular note is the diminishing list of potential blockbusters for the PS3 - several extremely promising games that were originally billed as exclusive to Sony's new-gen hardware have announced releases for Microsoft's Xbox 360, among them Saints' Row, Assassin's Creed, and most recently Devil May Cry 4.

If this tidbit from France turns out to be true, then Sony will probably have yet another bevy of expectant gamers leave the PS3's bandwagon. Final Fantasy has been one of the most powerful franchises in video games since its birth, and its main-series games have been among the crown jewels in Sony's library from the past two generations. If FF XIII decides to shed its exclusivity status, then Sony is in even worse trouble than anyone may have suspected.

Source: Gamespot

Earlier today Nintendo announced that the Wii Virtual Console would support Neo-Geo and MSX games in future releases. There is no such announcement for the release of MSX or Neo-Geo games in Virtual Consoles of any other regions, but it may only be a matter of time at this point.

SNK's Neo-Geo is a very expensive cult-favorite system, with specs almost identical to SNK arcade machines; the Neo-Geo was probably most notable for featuring iterations of SNK's chief franchises such as King of Fighters, Metal Slug, and Samurai Spirits. The MSX was a personalized home computer borne from Microsoft's Japanese branch that had four different versions between 1983 and 1992; the MSX had a great deal of early successes but soon fell behind Nintendo and Sega's early systems in the 1980s. However, its legacy is significant, as several storied series such as Metal Gear, Dragon Quest, and Bomberman all had their debuts on MSX technology.

In related news, earlier today the European Virtual Console received the iconic N64 game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It's probable that Ocarina of Time will become part of the North American Virtual Console when it undergoes its scheduled update on Monday.

Source: Japan's Virtual Console website

Around four months ago, Capcom dissolved its Clover Studios development team, citing financial reasons. Clover Studios had been behind Capcom's Viewtiful Joe series, as well as the 2006 hits Okami and Godhand.

However, we may have seen a new beginning for Clover Studios in the form of SEEDS - an independent studio run by Shinji Mikami (the mastermind behind Resident Evil), Hideki Kamiya (creator of Devil May Cry and Viewtiful Joe), and Atsuhi Inaba (of Steel Battalion fame). Those three developers, all of whom have produced blockbuster titles as part of Capcom's production studios and the late Clover Studios, announced yesterday that they were leaving Capcom to work as a freelance developer - given the track record of those three producers, and the fact that they are essentially severing official ties with Capcom, this is some pretty big news.

Also of interest is that they haven't assembled a team yet. The revealing of their new studio also came with sort of a casting call. Here's a translation of their announcement:

Sounds a little self-indulgent, doesn't it? Of course, even though they are no longer iwth Capcom, it isn't out of the question for any of these designers to work on Capcom games, or even further sequels to their signature franchises. If Nobuo Uematsu can still provide musical numbers to FF games (he was credited as Smile Please Inc. for his work on FF VII: Advent Children and his contributed song to FF XII) and Masahiro Sakurai can direct and design SSB: Brawl despite leaving Nintendo and HAL Laboratories nearly four years ago, then the SEEDS team can still work for Capcom, but not as part of Capcom.

SEEDS hasn't revealed any games in development, as they are still working on personnel, after all.

Sources:
WIRED
SEEDS official website (Japanese)