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Is this to make up for the delayed release reported a couple weeks back? Who knows, but that new release date of April 10 makes an appearance (for the first time in a trailer) at the end of the new trailer released today. There's actually a great deal to unpack in the new trailer, including a new theme song called "Hollow," composed by Nobuo Uematsu and sung by Yosh.

That's just the start, though; among other things, you'll get to see young Tifa and Cloud, President Shinra, Reeve, Heidigger, Hojo, Scarlet, Palmer, a ton of the Honeybee Inn and its environs, and a debut for Red XIII, whose voice is just absolutely perfect.Thanks to Noxyfied in Discord for mentioning the new video before I had a chance to get online this morning and see it myself!

Also, if you've been on the fence about preordering, and this trailer just pushed you over the edge, you might want to consider doing a preorder direct from Square Enix. Any preorder done from their store, either before now or up to release, will get you the chance to win a Cloud- or Sephiroth-themed watch; both look pretty cool, truth be told, but the darker metal of the Sephiroth one gives it a little extra punch.

Source: Gematsu

Hopefully not much longer than that, of course. Today, Square Enix announced that the previous release date for the remake, March 3, has now been pushed back about five weeks to a new date of April 10. A press release from the Remake team quotes producer Yoshinori Kitase as saying that it was a "tough decision" to "apply final polish."

I didn't realize just how close we were getting to the original release date until I read this news; I suppose that one delay like this isn't so bad, but let's not make a habit of it, eh?

While it's not really in our nature to post news about things that we found out about via naughty means, this little tidbit was just too good to pass up on this last day of the decade. Gematsu reports today that a user on Twitter was able to access Sony's server holding the demo for Final Fantasy VII Remake and not only download it but also install it and get it running. There was a video posted to YouTube, and while I'm sure it will get a takedown notice very soon, right now it's up: Again, I'm not really keen on how this was obtained, let me make that very clear, but hearing the music play over the full intro filled me with more than enough joy to get this posted!

Source: Gematsu

It's easy to fall behind this time of year, as we're all getting ready to move into 2020. But Square Enix is not taking a break, and starting with The Game Awards last week, the team has been rolling out more apertifs for the game releasing in March of next year. Below, see the newest trailer; it focuses on Cloud and his development from mercenary to hero. It's got a little bit more combat and also some good snippets from Barret's (literal) elevator pitch to Cloud in the prologue and Tifa and Cloud's reunion at 7th Heaven.

Gematsu also reported earlier this week on Squenix' publication of a lot of new images, including a couple iconic scenes, and some newly-written character descriptions. The first explanations of Aerith's abilities in-battle are detailed here, too, as well as a first look at stills of Shiva, the Train Graveyard and Shin-Ra Headquarters.

Squenix also set up some good marketing for us recently, with a load of wallpapers and avatars of Tifa, Cloud, and Barret, with Aerith apparently coming soon. Those can be grabbed from the offical site. Also on social media, there's a brief teaser of Cloud on the FF7R Twitter feed. They're showing a little more of the soundtrack with each video, too, which is pretty great. All in all, a nice little gift for fans awaiting the game's release in March.

Last time I posted about Final Fantasy concerts, the released dates for the A New World series stopped in early January, in Kansas City. Now, though, this chamber ensemble has a half-dozen more shows lined up to treat fans in early 2020:

• Chicago, January 18
• Berkeley, CA, January 31
• San Diego, two shows on February 1
• Nashville, February 8
• Ann Arbor, Michigan, March 13

All shows, as typical for the New World series, will feature Benyamin Nuss on piano and direction by Eric Roth. Tickets for all of these shows are already on sale, so hopefully there's one near you.

Source: A New World

There's a new trailer for Final Fantasy VII Remake that was just released at Tokyo Game Show today, unveiling a number of new scenes and characters. Well, let's put "new" in quotes, I guess, since it's hard to be all that new when you're remaking a twenty-year-old game, right? Anyway, Gematsu brings us the new trailer in both English and Japanese, and in it you'll get some looks at Reno, Rude and Tseng, as well as President Shinra. Naturally, Aerith appears quite a bit as well, including in battle, and we get our first look at the Shiva summon and the Crazy Motorcycle Chase too.

Oh, yeah, and let's not forget about the Honeybee Inn, because, yeah... that's teased there too.

Stay tuned for an endcap of Cloud, Barret, and Tifa looking out over what has to be Cosmo Canyon. It's gorgeous.