News

I just got another email from the good folks at Square Enix, advertising even more Distant Worlds shows from the ones I spoke about late last year. Most of that old news is still valid - there's still a CD coming out in June, the contents of that CD will be played at the summer Distant Worlds shows, and they're still going to Stockholm, San Francisco, San Diego, and Chicago.

The new news this time around is the addition of a series of new shows between San Diego and Chicago this summer, and after Chicago as well. Perhaps you're lucky enough to be nearby:

Houston, Texas - 24 July 2010
Washington, DC (Vienna, Virginia) - 30 July 2010
Toronto, Ontario - 27 November 2010

And again, if I can find the new CD on AmaCoN, I'll get it to you here.

Source: Distant Worlds

Good afternoon, fellow CoNers. These past two weeks have been interesting - a lot of Square-Enix's different franchises have been newsworthy recently. Yes, even their lesser-known "Final Fantasy" series. Weird, huh?

First up, our favourite classic Final Fantasy artist, Yoshitaka Amano, is directing his first feature film. It's title is Zan, which just makes me think of the evil robot in UT that's the alpha and omega - but that's neither here nor there. Unless the film is about that, which would be awesome. In addition, "The 4 Heroes of Light" has been trademarked by Squenix, which means that the DS game, Final Fantasy Gaiden, that was "announced" last year, may be seeing a Western release sometime in the near future. Also, an interesting documentation of someone's journey through the Final Fantasy XIV playtest, which gives insight into many of the upcoming MMORPG's features.

What do Square-Enix and Hideo Kojima have in common? Apart from both being mainly Sony until last year's E3 where they both (partially) defected to Microsoft, I mean. Well, the former are creating some figurines for the upcoming Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Interestingly enough, there will also be some cross-functionality with Square-Enix's upcoming game Front Mission: Evolved. If there was one great thing about MGS4, it was piloting Rex. This is what I am hoping for.

Finally, Dragon Quest! As everyone should know, I know nothing of Dragon Quest, but I've never even heard of Dragon Quest Arcade. But apparently it's getting a Wii port, which will also make use of the DSi's connectivity and camera and technological gubbins, which you also need to download an application for. Seems a bit overly complicated, but hey, Square-Enix LOVE their money.

<3

Source: Kotaku, 1Up

Here's some news that seems to be all over the internet already, but happily won't impact, well, probably any of our regular readers. However, for those of you with ties to South Korea, note that the next time you visit you might not be able to play some games in the wee hours of the day.

The Korea Herald reports that the government is going to shut down various online games for six hour windows every night, with the windows being selected from three choices by each household. Apparently, homes in Korea have unique identifiers that are used for any sort of online registration, and this will allow the central government to shutter access as the central clock ticks over to the start of the selected window.

The government in South Korea is testing the system out now on four games, with another fifteen to be included in a few months. The entire list is unclear to me at the moment, though with the nineteen total games inclusive of "79 percent of the online gaming market," it would not surprise me to find that at some point Square Enix' online entries might soon find themselves under the restriction.

Source: Korea Herald

Yes, you read that correctly. Pokemon will officially begin its fifth generation this fall with Pokemon Black and Pokemon White for the Nintendo DS. A worldwide release is inevitable, but for now has no official date. Nintendo will reveal more in a press conference on 15 April.

The second source listed here is an unconfirmed leaked image of the Pokemon found in the game. It seems genuine, but it should not be assumed true as of yet.

Source: Kotaku, The Black & White Pokedex

1up.com published today a feature detailing the storied history of video game fansites, and among the sites discussed is our very own CoN. 1up interviewed Rangers51 for the article, which also includes discussion of and interviews with other major fansites of the past and present, including The GIA and The Mushroom Kingdom. While we're buried a bit at the back of the article, we're proud to be mentioned among these influential sites, and we'll be more than content to outlive them all and then see who is laughing and then the people who are laughing will be us ahahahahah.

Ahem. In any event, please have a look at the article over at 1up, and be sure to share it with your friends via Twitter and Facebook. Additionally, for those who might be interested in the full text of the interview beyond the abridged version, you can find the complete version right here on CoN. Thanks to 1up for talking with us, and thanks to all of you for keeping us large and relevant enough to be a part of this feature!

It's been pretty slow for Square-Enix recently - everyone's been playing Final Fantasy XIII instead of talking about it. So what's next? Well, of course they're going to release merchandise. Figurines of Snow, Lightning and Vanille, and Serah's earrings are now available from the US store. The figurines, as always, look kind of dodgy. But now that XIII is out of the way, Why, Final Fantasy XIV is of course next. The first wave of beta testers have been selected, but that does not mean there aren't still opportunities. There will be more chances in the future, so you can still sign up! And what's more, Square-Enix have started a new website containing more information, video blogs, and a wiki! Development seems to be progressing well on XIV. And here, take a look at the new "tribes" of the game. Neko Neko Mawaii.

But enough with all the newer Final Fantasys. Remember how awesome IX was? Yeah. It looks like Final Fantasy IX will be soon heading towards the Playstation Network. This is very excellent news. I still have my discs, battered as they may be, but I demand that anyone who hasn't played IX should choose that over XIII if given a choice. It would be the next game we covered if I had my way. But alas. UPDATE: Wait, it's been confirmed. Hooray! Oh, but they're still looking at Final Fantasy VII remake possibilities. Still. This has got to stop.

Yeah, that's all for now. What news will there be in the coming weeks, I wonder?

Source: Kotaku, 1UP, Square Enix