News

It appears that Square and Disney's relationship will last beyond their game for the Playstation 2.

http://www.ffinsider.net/news/news.php?id=308

Square and Disney have plans to release a Kingdom Hearts movie.  There is no script for this movie as of right now, but it is in the works. Since there isn't even a script yet, it most likely will be quite sometime before this movie would be released to theaters. Not much information is known otherwise as of yet either.

Other plans for the Kingdom Hearts line include a possible television series and a sequel to the PS2 game.

Source:

Final Fantasy Insider

This brings up a popular discussion topic. Do video games translate well into movies?  Tomb Raider? I haven't seen it myself, but I heard it wasn't all that spectacular.  Mortal Kombat? Eh, it was alright. One of the few video game movies that I've watched more than once.  Super Mario Bros. the Movie? It was a tad bit different.  It also had bad luck in the timing of its release though.  Street Figher the Movie? I can't remember much about it so it couldn't have been all that great. It does have the redeeming fact of Ming Na playing Chun Li (*waves to Beth* She has nothing on you, Honey) Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within wasn't so bad  if you ignored the "Final Fantasy" in the title. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. Video games do not cross over well into Hollywood.

That said,however, if there ever was any video game turned movie that had a chance of doing well, it would be this one. Especially with Disney working on it.  There are those who love and those loathe the company.  Personally, I'm indifferent. But whether one likes Disney or not, it has to be recognized that they have been quite successful.  I'm not sure how  big a role Square would play in its production. I can't see it being too large though after the hit the company took after FF:TSW didn't meet their expectations (That's probably a gross understatement, I know).  Their role will probably more conceptual than anything else.  I don't know if I'd go see or not, but can this movie possibly hurt Square Enix at all?
Let me know your feelings about it.

From: Gamespot

Square has announced that the North American release of Final Fantasy Origins will be on April 8th.

The retail price will be $30 for two games on one disc.

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Maybe a bit overpriced, but still 2 good games for the price of 1 is a plus in my book.

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2910606,00.html

Nokia, a company usually noted for its cell phones, unveiled a portable gaming device in London yesterday.  

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2910373,00.html/

Dubbed the N-Gage, it appears to have few influential companies lined up to publish games for the system. Representatives from Sega, Activision, Eidos, Taito, and THQ all were present to show their support for the system (and to display some of their demos).

The N-Gage works as a cell phone, but is meant to be used for games.  It is powerful.  Eidos had a playable demo of Tomb Raider running on it already that looked to be a port of the original Playstation version. The unit also features multiplayer support via Bluetooth.

Here is list of publishers the games that each has planned thus far (as taken from Gamespot:)
Eidos
Pandemonium
Tomb Raider
Nokia
Bounce
Kart Racing
Virtually Board Snowboarding II
Sega
Puyo Puyo
Sega Rally
Sonic N
Super Monkey Ball
Virtua Tennis
Taito
Puzzle Bobble
Space Invaders
THQ
Major League Baseball
Moto-GP
Red Faction  


Nokia currently plans on the N-Gage being released sometime next year. Pricing for the system and games is not yet known.



Will the N-Gage challenge Nintendo’s dominance in the portable gaming?
-No, I don’t think it will.
Is it a good idea?
-Maybe.  
Is it good for gaming?
-Most definitely.  

Competition, in my opinion, is a good thing. I honestly know next to nothing about Bluetooth, but if this system has a chance to be successful, it will probably be through it.  If the N-Gage can make a niche in multiplayer games, it just may survive. And I think its survival would be good for gaming.

Hopefully, there will be a good deal of competition between Nokia and Nintendo.  Many have criticized Nintendo recently ignoring customers’ requests for a backlit GameBoy Advance and then announcing the GameBoy Advance SP (which boast the feature of being backlit) after the market has already been saturated with the regular unit.  One can only hope that business practices like this will fall by the wayside because of each companies struggle for dominance. With any luck prices will fall with them.

This is just a dream though probably. Nintendo holds such dominance over the market already for it to seem unrealistic for the N-Gage to be anything but a minor success. Here’s hoping the N-Gage doesn’t go the way of the Game Gear though (not that the Game Gear was a good portable system ^_^ ).




Source: Gamespot

RPGamer has some new screen shots of the much anticipated Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

Check them out here: http://www.rpgamer.com/games/ff/ffta/fftass.html

The images look fairly nice for the GameBoy Advance. Is it just me or does it look like they are using cel-shading?

FFTA is scheduled for a Valentine's Day release in Japan. We'll have to wait a little longer before it come out in North American or PAL versions.

It was originally thought that Square was going to simply port FFT from the Playstation, but it is an entirely new game.

Sources: RPGamer
              GameForms

According to rumors, There will be an interview with the Director of Squaresoft, Yasumi Matsuno, and the Nintendo Representive, Shigeru Miyamoto, in the newest issue of Famitsu Magazine. In it, the two men discuss future projects.

Here's "leaked" snippet from the interview:
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Journalist: Is the development of Final Fantasy XII in progress?

Matsuno: Collaboration with Nintendo is positive. I should perhaps not have said that now (Laughter)?

Journalist: Final Fantasy XII will not be a play PlayStation 2 game?

Miyamoto: (Laughter)

Matsuno: We will give the details at the proper time.
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*note this is a rumor, and this interview is not confirmed as exsiting. The issue hits today, February 7th. More information will more than likely be available next week sometime. So stay tuned.

Source: Final Fantasy Insider

A couple of days old, yes, but this is my first day as a News Editor so...

http://www.gamesarefun.com/cgi-bin....,81144,

According to Gamesarefun.com's sources, Enix of America closed their doors for the final time last Friday. Enix of Japan, their parent company, is recognized for helping to start the console RPG genre with their landmark Dragon Quest title (released in the US under the title of Dragon Warrior) for the NES.

Don't worry about about the status of series such Dragon Warrior and Star Ocean over in the United States though.  With the recent Square-Enix merger, it appears the Square will handle the localization of software for their North American audiences.

For more information on the Square Enix merger, see Rubicant's update here: http://www.cavesofnarshe.com/forums/ipb/index.php?act=ST;f=2;t=637

Source: Gamesarefun.com