News

Capcom has announced that it has posted a profit of 919 million yen ($8.5 million US) for the first six months of its fiscal year.

As we reported last April, Capcom suffered a suffered a loss 19.5 billion yen ($163 million US) total last year. In spite of the profits, sales have continued to fall (in particular Megaman X7 has had sold under their expectations). Their arcade coin-op division made up for this, however.

Capcom expects sales to pick up in the second half of its fiscal year with the upcoming releases of Resident Evil Outbreak and Onimusha 3.

Source: Gamespot

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Maybe the lackluster sales of Megaman X7 will encourage Capcom to branch out a little further, especially if Resident Evil Outbreak falters as well. That or release a Capcom Vs. Fighter with some higher resolution 2D sprites instead of the same old recycled ones from the mid-1990s (Look at the Sammy's Guilty Gear series for some good 2D sprites). I'll be sort of hypocritical now by saying that I am looking forward to the Megaman compilation, however.

Although not the first time something like this has been found, Squenix now has an official radio station where fans can listen to Final Fantasy music continuously online.

It's found on:

"America Online's Radio@ Network. It is available for listening on Radio@AOL, Radio@AOL for Broadband, and Radio@Netscape under the Soundtracks & More category, and features approximately 200 tracks from the 32-bit and onward Final Fantasy games." (Source: RPGamer)

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I can't tell if this is AOL users only or what, but either way, it's nice to have an official Final Fantasy station. I've heard other stations where it's all video game music, or all RPG music, but I don't think I've seen all Final Fantasy before.

Although incomplete, there is a Japanese website for FFVII: Advent Children that features a picture of Cloud and Sephiroth, and no doubt will soon have more information (in Japanese, of course.)

RPGamer confirms that there is still no release date for this title, however.

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It's still hard for me to believe that they're actually doing this. I've heard all sorts of rumours, from the movie being just a re-enactment of the final fight, to it being a continuation with Sephiroth not being the actual Sephiroth that Cloud killed at the end of the game. I'm anxious to see what the movie actually is.

Square Enix has announced that it will re-release a few of its Playstation 1 titles under Sony's Greatest Hits this coming December.

The titles being re-released are all Square titles: Final Fantasy Anthology, Final Fantasy Chronicles, Vagrant Story, and Xenogears. Being under the Greatest Hit means that the titles will be reasonable priced, each costing around $20 US. For those who don't know, Final Fantasy Chronicles consists of FFIV and Chrono Trigger while Final Fantasy Anthology packages FFV and FFVI together.

Source: Games_Are_Fun

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I might just have to pick up Chronicles and Anthology. I can't see myself buying either at the ridiculous price they go for on EBay and used game stores, but I can see myself plunking down 20 bucks. I think it is a good move by Square Enix. They might as well be making the profits off the games instead of the EBay-ers if there is still a big demand for them.

(Note from Phoenix: This news update is courtesy of SSJ_Cloud; he is currently unable to access the forums, and asked me to post for him.)

Japanese gaming news site Quiter has some of the first Final Fantasy XII art and screenshots I've yet seen. We appear to have good renders of the male and female leads, some early screenshots, and a cluttered scan of the logo.

If you can't hack navigating through the pics in Japanese (it shouldn't be hard), an English-language mirror is available at RPGFan..

I'm filling in for the news staff at the moment, most of whom are having intermittent troubles getting to the site as described in my news post of a few days back. That said, here's my commentary: unless they stop using Tetsuya Nomura as the lead character designer, they're going to turn a lot of people off. Aren't we all getting just a bit sick of seeing the same character designs since FF7? Thank goodness Amano came in to do FF9 and 11.

According to Bloomberg.com, Nintendo has two new consoles lined up for market release during 2003 and 2004.

The first release, Nintendo's iQue system, a console designed specifically to facilitate Nintendo's introduction into the Chinese gaming market, will be released in Shanghai this month. The controller-size iQue is designed primarily with portability and minimal power consumption in mind; games for the system, which will include popular N64 releases like Zelda 64: Ocarina of Time, come in the form of 64MB Flash memory cards. Upon release, iQue will also come packaged with a library of games and demos.
Nintendo has discussed, but not officially announced, release of the iQue outside of China.

The second release will supposedly target Nintendo's current markets, starting with sales in Japan during 2004 and eventual release in America and Europe. However, specifics about the console have yet to be released. Nintendo hopes to make up for a reported $26.6 million loss during mid 2003, blamed on low GameCube sales and the rising strength of the Japanese Yen currency, and also hopes to increase market share against competitors Sony and Microsoft.

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That iQue controller looks as large and as uncomfortable to use as the X-Box controller to me... However, since Nintendo essentially packed an entire N64 unit into that size, they're certainly more warranted. As for the second system, I can't say whether or not I'm excited yet, as nothing has been released about it.
However, Nintendo's attempt at establishing a Chinese gaming market and its push for increased revenue even while performing well against its competitors sound to me as if Nintendo is intent on establishing -- and dominating -- a global market.