News

The Tokyo Game Show provided us with plenty of news to roll up into a ball for this Friday's tidbits; unsurprisingly, it's heavily weighted towards the new games dropping in the very near future. Sony announced a special Final Fantasy XIII bundle for PlayStation 3; it appears to be a creamy white with a screen print of Lightning on the top in a rosy shade that fades to white. Of course, this is only going to happen in Japan, so if you're one of those nutter Otakus and really need this kit, better get in line with your favorite importer now.

Squenix also brought a new trailer for Final Fantasy XIV to TGS this year. It features some fairly clumsy text in English, some strikingly pretty cutscenes, and a lot of people who one would assume to be player characters milling about and doing things that player characters do. It's pretty much exactly what you would expect from a Final Fantasy trailer in Tokyo.

If you needed any further proof that Square is craving the Yenjamins, Yoichi Wada made more news this week when he noted that a new billing model, creating a revised revenue stream for game manufacturers, will be the next big gaming innovation. Sure, I guess if motion control is now on the table for all the big players, why would there be more technological or creative innovation coming up? Let's pour all of our resources into brainstorming the cash flow, eh, boys? I kid, a bit; while microtransactions and handling of digital distribution will be critical for the next decade of console gaming, it does seem a bit harsh to make that the priority, in my opinion.

Also, hot on the heels of Final Fantasy Tactics in the US, another PlayStation One-era Final Fantasy has launched for the Japanese PlayStation Network. For those of you who immediately hoped it involved a protagonist with a tail, sorry—it seems Square is going in order and giving the Japanese gamer Final Fantasy VIII first. There's been no announcement as to whether the game will eventually make it to any Western PSNs, but I would say that this release lays the groundwork for both that to happen sometime in 2010, as well as for Final Fantasy IX to follow soon after.

Finally, my favorite news tidbit of the week, detailing an unlikely partnership; Square-Enix is doing a puzzle RPG, a la Puzzle Quest. And, if you were going to do a puzzle game, and you had the resources of Square-Enix, with whom would you make this game? Yeah, that's right, PopCap. The creators of smash casual games for a decade now, most recently the tremendously successful Plants vs. Zombies, are bringing the mechanics of Bejeweled Twist to Square's Gyromancer, where they'll be connected to a good versus evil battle punctuated by spinning jewels on a board. Not only does this sound like a pretty clever idea in theory, it makes me smile because now the company I work for has something in common with the big daddy—connections with PopCap. It's almost like I have a direct line to Wada-san now, you see?

Source: Kotaku, IGN, Feed Your Console

If you've been playing Final Fantasy Tactics recently, I hope you've been using the CoN game coverage section to help you out. If you've been using the section especially recently, you might have even noticed our unannounced beta of battle maps in our walkthrough. We've been working on firming up the quality of the maps for quite a while, and expanding their functionality, and now we're rolling out not only the battle maps, but a full maps section with maps for every situation and every location in the game.

These maps can be rotated and elevated to show you every view you get during the game, and we're giving you a birds-eye view as well to help clarify some of the trickier angles. You can also use these maps to see all of the available Geomancy and found items, and even starting positions for your party and enemies. We even created a new way of showing you the world map, using Google Maps, that you can zoom and scroll around to better find your desired town, castle, or out-of-the-way locale.

Tell us what you think about this new feature; we're pretty excited about it and would love to branch it out to more games in our series over time if you guys think it's as cool as we do. Last, a thanks to a modder named Gomtuu who created the original version of the FFT map viewer that we were able to modify and script to enable us to get these high-quality images and present them to you in a way like you haven't seen before!

The Tokyo Game Show and Yoichi Wada
Begin to bring all of us news fodder
He rumors a new Wii
And shock, in HD!
Note now that this limerick's... okay, forget it. I don't have footbigmike's boundless energy for goofy.

Long story short, Yoichi Wada, president of Square-Enix, is using his press time pre-TGS to postulate on the next generation of consoles, implying that the motion-sensing applications of PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 will have a small impact at best. Seems that Wada either doesn't think they can do it better than Nintendo, or that nobody will actually care, particularly when the next Wii comes out (for which, not coincidentally, Wada also has theories - mark your calendars for sometime in 2011 and buy a HDTV if you don't have one, says the Man). The gist is this—in a couple short years the console market could look very much like three identical entries in different colors.

Source: Joystiq

So we're coming up to the middle of September,
And I know what you're thinking - it's hard to remember
All the stories of every Final Fantasy game so far
(Even when some of them are completely sub-par)

So I bring to you some enjoyable news
And now the information even your brain can't lose
For the end of this month brings a story to you
Which'll tell you what is what and who is who

Presenting Final Fantasy XIII: Episode Zero
Start praising me here - I'm like a true hero
"But what does this contain?" - from you I hear
A novelization of the story before the world premiere

"But what's the point - I want the game for that!"
Well, sure - but what about before the fact?
Didn't the War of the Magi leave many mysteries?
And all that stuff about Zack - come on, please.

The story takes place before the game begins,
And hopefully it'll be better than the one from Skins
You'll learn about the characters and why they are where they are
But as of yet we don't know whether from near or afar

And now we'll need some help from the Shiva Indis
Because here's the final drawback - you are gonna hate this
The novelization you're now excited about
Will only be in Japanese - let's hear you scream and shout.
________________________________________________________________________

Yeah, I know, i'm awesome.

Source: IGN, Final Fantasy XIII Official Site

Here's a game that is probably worth following at the Tokyo Game Show next week, especially if you've grown a bit bored with what Square Enix has had to offer lately. Capcom has assembled a pretty solid group of names to build their new RPG, drawing one of the authors of Final Fantasy VII, the composer for Street Fighter II, Parasite Eve, and Final Fantasy Versus XIII, the character designer of Devil May Cry 4, the producer of Apollo Justice, and the developer of the Luminous Arc series of games. Not much else is known just yet besides the title and platform—"Last Ranker" and PSP, respectively—but the game will appear at TGS, for certain.

Source: Kotaku

Here's the Friday tidbits. I really do like these weekly posts, but I also wouldn't mind seeing someone else do them, heh. It's mostly release dates this week, so hope you have your debit cards at the handy.

In case you missed it last week, the finale of Final Fantasy IV: The After Years popped out on WiiWare. Finish it up and feel free to share your closing thoughts in our thread.

On the PlayStation front, you'll note that the original Final Fantasy Tactics is now DLC in the PlayStation Network store in North America. For $9.99 you can download the original - however, if you're smart you already own the original, right? In any event, just so it's clear, this is not the War of the Lions remake, but instead the nearly-twelve-year-old PlayStation One game.

If you like your games to come on discs, though, there are a couple heading that way too. The Wii will get its new Crystal Chronicles game, The Crystal Bearers, on the day after Christmas, clearly to pick up on that day's typical shopping extravaganza. Finally, if you're a PlayStation 3-only gamer, you can have a shot at the previously-360-exclusive Star Ocean 4 as of February 9, 2010. This new version is "International," and will have a variety of selectable languages, a new menu system, and some new characters.

Finally, for a non-release date bit of news, don't forget that the Tokyo Game Show is starting up next week. Square Enix have already given out a bit of information as to what to expect, but for Dragon Quest fans, note that Dragon Quest VI is going to be remade for the Nintendo DS next year in Japan. Of lesser note is that Dragon Quest III is heading to cell phones in Japan; don't forget that The After Years started the same way, though, so you may see DQ3 on WiiWare someday too.

Source: Kotaku, Square Enix Members Blog, RPGamer