News

The ESRB appears to be regaling us with further previews of future PSN games, this time Wild ARMs 2. The Wild ARMs series was quite popular for the first couple iterations of Playstation, most recently in 2007 with Wild ARMs 5 for the Playstation 2. The particular iteration described here is nearly a decade old, and was the second and final from the series to debut on the original Playstation.

I myself only ever played the demo of WA2, but I seem to recall it being pretty solid fun, featuring the series' unique hook of being set in a fantasy/western setting. Even beyond that, though, it's really great to see that Sony is looking towards RPGs that, while not really obscure, aren't necessarily part of the Square collection that built their empire in the last fifteen years.

Source: RPGamer

At least three shops are offering unique pre-order bonuses in the States for Dissidia: Final Fantasy, which ships on 25 August in North America. Obviously, pre-order bonuses are nothing new, but the fact that there are already three announced, and you can only get them at particular retailers, is a bit more novel (and, dare I say it, moneygrubbing?).

If you're looking to get a pre-order in, here are your options: Best Buy is offering a desk calendar; GameStop has custom cover slipcases that, it appears, slide over the top of the retail case for the game; AmaCoN will ship you a CD with musical selections from the game. And, since we play favorites here, we wholeheartedly support you getting the CD.

Source: Square Enix Members Blog

Coloring Dragons, a website dedicated primarily to the hosting and discussion of webcomics, has just published an interview of Rangers51 of the Caves of Narshe (yes, that's me speaking in the third person). The initial interview took place in spring of 2008, and I sat down again with them just today to refresh the content after seeing the interview recently posted featuring CoN member Orinocou. Will you find it interesting? Well, probably not, because as a CoN reader you have already heard me spouting off my philosophies for many a year; however, since this is the first time that I can recall being interviewed simply for being an awesome webbish guy, you might as well check it out.

Source: Coloring Dragons

After ignoring it for far too long, I've now gone through and reconfigured the wallpaper section of CoN to be database-driven; additionally, I've rebranded all the offerings so they're more recognizably CoN. What this means to you, the visitor, is that you can now search through all our wallpapers by size or game, and that we've expanded the total collection from just forty-one total wallpapers across all sizes and designs to over two hundred, including the first wallpapers for both Chrono Trigger and the site itself. So, please, install a wallpaper. Don't let my work be in vain.

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

Starting next Tuesday, gamers worldwide who participate in Final Fantasy XI will have the option to purchase a physical key token that is purported to enhance account security for all aspects of the PlayOnline network (I know, that still exists. Crazy, right?)

This token appears to be similar to other security tokens that you may have seen in workplaces or other environments where active security is required for information techology; about the size of many USB flash drives, the key generates a "random" number every thirty seconds that is used as part of the server login process, thereby requiring a thief to have your username, password, and token in hand to access your account details.

It appears that this token will be optional for the near future, but as Squenix purports the token to be compatible with future online initiatives, it may someday be a requirement for S-E gaming online. Orders are being taken for the tokens now at a cost of $9.99 for American gamers; anyone who orders the token will be delivered a special FFXI item to increase their item capacity, the "Mog Satchel."

Hit the source link below to learn more and see an image of the token. I, for one, didn't realize that account security was such a problem for FFXI; however, given that Blizzard has had a similar option since last year seems to indicate that yet again Square is trailing behind in online gaming innovation (and actually charging a bit more for it, in this case!).

Source: PlayOnline - Final Fantasy XI