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As many of us are aware, Square-Enix last week announced a Final Fantasy XII-based spinoff aimed for the Nintendo DS; news of this separate side-story that's soon to be unleashed into the franchise of games that were once purely independant of one another has already left most fans either beaming with joyous anticipation or fliching in agony. With this weekend's Tokyo Game Show steadily approaching, Square-Enix has taken it as their cue to unload a bit more information regarding their latest duel screen RPG.

Known as Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, the game features a plot - one heavy on air pirates - that, according to developers, "does not tie with or take place before the stories of Final Fantasy XII..." The appearance of the characters Vaan and Penelo from the original title has already been confirmed; aside from being co-leads, the presentation and exploration of their relationship has been looked upon as an allegedly impossible aspect for inclusion in Final Fantasy XII, thereby warranting the exchange's involvement in an alternate game. If that wasn't enough, Japanese reports have implied that Revenant Wings is actually nothing more than just the beginning of the couples' adventure, indicating an even larger expansion to the so-called Final Fantasy XII series.

Much like the battle menus in the currently unreleased Final Fantasy III DS, Revenant Wings will make use of the handheld's touch screen capabilities by relying on the bottom screen for battle. Specifics on exactly what this entails have not been covered. With airship travel an obvious requirement, Square-Enix seems to have hatched a plan to stuff as many of the flying, boatlike vehicles as they possibly can into the tiny cartridges: Not only is any and every airship in Final Fantasy XII all but guaranteed to have its spot in Revenant Wings, but the game itself will feature its own personal throng of the crafts as well.

Motomu Toriyama, who's past (and present) work consists of Final Fantasy X-2 and Final Fantasy XIII, has taken the director's seat for Revenant Wings. The character designs, each of which possesses a slightly younger mien than those in Final Fantasy XII, are the creations of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance's Ryuma Itou, and the soundtrack will be constructed from music by composers Hitoshi Sakimoto (Final Fantasy XII and Final Fantasy Tactics) and Kenichirou Fukui (Einhander and Front Mission 5). Finally, Revenant Wings is produced by Yasuhito Watanabe (Drakengard), Eisuke Yokoyama (Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King) and executive producer Akitoshi Kawazu (Final Fantasy XII and Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles).

Latest Scan

Sources:
Square Insider
GAF

What with the Tokyo Game Show only a few meager days away, it's no surprise that several new game titles, all ripe for media discussion, seem to be rolling out of the floodgates left and right as of late. Among them is yet another chapter in Square-Enix's long-running Mana series - having recently recovered from somewhat of a hiatus - for the Nintendo DS, entitled Seiken Densetsu: Heroes of Mana.

Unlike the past installments of Kouichi Ishii's popular RPG franchise, Heroes of Mana is set to feature a battle system composed of the role-playing genre's traditional elements along with new real-time strategy. Placed in the shoes of a young Pedan Kingdom soldier named Roger, players will experience an implemented gameplay method similar to Square's own Bahamut Lagoon, including an airship that serves as a mobile base and monsters that can be summoned to assist the characters during battle.

No info concerning a launch date for Seiken Densetsu: Heroes of Mana has come into sight, but this weekend's TGS may prove to provide us with many more in-depth details. Until then, North American gamers in particular can take solace in the fact that the October 30th release date for Children of Mana - and its more classical gameplay - is not too far off.

In the meantime, why not pop on over to GamesAreFun.com and check out some juicy new scans á la Seiken Densetsu 4: Dawn of Mana, the RPG Square-Enix has allegedly declared to be the developer's last major game for the PlayStation 2.

Source: EuroGamer

Nintendo has finally released a firm launch date and North American price for its upcoming console, the Wii. Those of us in the United States or Canada can look forward to doling out $249.99 (USD) on November 19 and walking away with quite a package.

The console will ship with one Wii remote, the nunchuck attachment to the remote, a console stand, and a sensor bar with stand, along with the necessary cords and cables. This package will also include a Wii Sports sampler to show off the usage of the new controller.

Information regarding the Virtual Console has also been released. 30 classic titles from other systems will be available for purchase by the end of the year, and games will cost between $5 and $10 each.

New Wii games published by Nintendo will retail at $49.99.

All in all, this sounds like a great package. Nintendo really seems set to take the market by storm.

Source: IGN via Elessar (maybe he should just be a newsposter)

A brand new display dubbed "Television Game Museum", courtesy of Tokyo Game Show producer CESA, has been designed for this year's event. The exhibition will outline all the major steps taken throughout the history of console gaming, beginning with Nintendo's Famicom (or the Nintendo Entertainment System, as it's known in the Western world) and leading up to the current generation of game systems.

Sadly, in a neglectful yet not too surprising manner, all pre-NES consoles - to name just a few, the Magnavox Odyessy, the revolutionary Atari 2600, and even Nintendo's very own obscure Color TV console series, all circa 1970's - appear to be completely left out.

This "museum" goes one more step further: Within each credited video game year will be a small assortment of notorious titles set alongside their corresponding console. Young gamers will be able to experience the fun via the "Retro Gaming Corner", an exhibit dedicated to educating the younger crowd about ye olde gaming days while also allowing the seasoned veterans an almost virtual trip back in time to bask in a more nostalgic era.

The "Television Game Museum" display is cosponsored by Nintendo, Sega, Sony Computer Entertainment, and by Microsoft. The Tokyo Game Show will begin September 22nd and go on through the 24th.

Source: GameSpot

Play! A Video Game Symphony, the established, aptly named game-based concert series which made its live debut this past April, will continue its world tour as scheduled by stopping off in Toronto at the end of the month, marking the tour's first visit to Canada. The concert will be held at the Hummingbird Centre for the Performing Arts on Saturday, the 30th of September at 8:00 PM.

"The Canadian debut of the Play! concert series is highly anticipated in Toronto by video game fans and serious symphony-goers alike. The Hummingbird Centre, located in the heart of downtown Toronto, is the perfect venue to host this concert series which pulses to the beat of modern life," stated the show's producer, Jason Michael Paul, the head of JMP Productions. As the individual most accountable for conceiving the two American concert tours inspired by Final Fantasy, the Dear Friends and the extended More Friends series, he has certainly transfered into sight to fans of music and RPGs.

Play! A Video Game Symphony shall produce about two hours worth of musical pieces from a wide variety of today's (and some of yesterday's) most popular video game titles that span several genres: Anything from Super Mario Bros. to The Legend of Zelda; across Sonic the Hedgehog and beyond World of Warcraft; through Halo and back to Final Fantasy. As each performance trails on, detailed in-game scenes and other relevant visuals highlight the massive projection screens as the themes play on.

"Many of today's most thrilling musical scores are being produced by composers working in the video game genre," Arnie Roth, a highly acclaimed conductor, says. "This spectacular concert series speaks to the artistic sophistication of this form of entertainment. It sends a clear message that video game culture has crossed into the mainstream and is capable of attracting the attention - not only of gamers - but of aficionados of orchestral music."

Check out Ticketmaster for regular and VIP tickets; both are still available at the present moment. Although it's priced at a rather hefty sum, VIP access grants fans the fortuity to personally meet Jeremy Soule, Arnie Roth, Nobou Uematsu, and Takenobu Mitsuyoshi.

Source: GameDaily

It's probably old news for a lot of you by now, but if you want a PS3 anytime soon you're probably in a world of hurt. And yes, that goes for everyone, everywhere reading this. If you're an American, you're going to be fighting everyone else for only four hundred thousand launch consoles on 17 November. If you're Japanese, then, MAWAII - but you're going to be diving into a pool that only has one hundred thousand on their 11 November launch.

If you're anywhere else, I am sincerely sorry. You're not getting anything at all until March 2007, and there's no word yet whether Sony will be able to catch up with their projected two million units shipped by that time. Obviously the odds aren't looking that great, but you never know.

Wonder why this is the case? You'll be shocked. Sony's having problems with Blu-Ray production! Factory production issues are slowing the production of working drives for the units, and it seems that shipping of the console can't really ramp up until the lone optical media device on the box actually works.

Microsoft, of course, finds this hilarious - Neil Thompson, head of the Xbox group in the UK, had this to say: "We know how challenging it is to pull off a global launch, so it's not surprising that Sony has backed away from their previously announced launch plan, due to the unproven technology they are trying to pack in to their console." Someone might want to let Neil know that it's not as if his parent company has ever launched anything but Xbox on time, though, don't you think?

Sources: HEXUS.gaming

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