News

Yesterday Nintendo announced a special new accessory, the "Wii Remote Jacket," to be used in conjunction with the Wii Remote. These new covers will reportedly both serve as a protection for your Wii Remote and also provide a firmer grip to prevent from slipping out. These new protective sleeves will be bundled with all new Wii systems, but current Wii orders can receive one for free from Wii.com or nintendo.com if they can provide their Wii's serial number over the phone.

Hopefully, this should reduce the number of Wii accidents that were so widely reported following the release of the system. Nintendo claims that these new sleeves will "supplement, not replace, the basic game-play instructions: keep a firm grip, don't let go of the controller, use the wrist strap and make sure your play area is free of people or objects."

Source: Nintendo's Press Website

Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, the PSP prequel to FF VII starring Zack Fair, is selling awfully well for only a week on the market. According to VGChartz (linked below), Crisis Core sold approximately 350,000 units on its first day and an additional 100,000+ units in the following week - VGChartz admits that these estimates, while impressive, are still probably lower than the true numbers. And These sales figures don't include the special limited-edition 77,777 units sold along with a customized new-model PSP, bringing the total to a minimum number of 527,000.

There is still no confirmed release in North America or Europe for Crisis Core, but once it's announced it should be posted here shortly after. With sales numbers like those in Japan and FF VII's popularity in the United States, it's a foregone conclusion that we'll see it eventually.

Source: VGChartz, via Digg.com

So we're still not blazingly fast. But we get there when we can.

We've got 35 brand new pieces of fanart this time round, from artists old and new alike. These awesome new submissions grace our
Final Fantasy 4, Final Fantasy 5, Final Fantasy 6, Final Fantasy 7
and Final Fantasy Tactics galleries, so mosey on over and enjoy great art courtesy of:

• 
  Cloudyfan
• Frozen_Aura
• Galsic
• 
  Kaine
• LilGrim1991
• 
  Narratorway


• PrinceofDamycan


• Rujuken


• Llucilla

Let's all thank them. And thank me and
Mimic, too, for putting this update together.

The fourth main-series entry in Tri-Ace's series of RPG space odysseys is in the works, according to a recent article in Famitsu magazine. Evidently SO4 has been in production for quite a long time - the storyboards are already finished and most of the basics of the battle system are already in place. More information will be revealed at the upcoming Tokyo Game Show,

Unfortunately, one object of concern was missing from the Famitsu article - the platform on which Star Ocean 4 will be playable. The source article stated that SO4 will be on a system "capable of displaying beautiful visuals," but this is too vague a statement to make any conclusions.

But console concerns aside, the article reveals some promising details. The battle system is to be made in the Star Ocean tradition and characters and races from earlier games are confirmed to make appearances. Assistant producer Hajime Kojima stated that the previous games never felt like a true star ocean - Star Ocean 4 will feature outer space segments, spaceship battles, and a huge world containing several planets instead of only two or three. The game's protagonist is a blonde boy named Edge Maverick, and the game's principal heroine is his childhood friend Reimi.

There is currently no release date, no platform, and virtually no other information regarding Star Ocean 4 at this time - at least until we learn more at the Tokyo Game Show on the 20th of September.

Source: RPGFan

Last Monday, Square-Enix launched an English-language online store full of merchandise dedicated to various games. Most of the merch seems to be figurines, jewelry, and other accessories. This marks the first time that many of these items are available directly to the US market, if at hilariously high prices.

Source:
RPGFan
The Store

Square-Enix's penchant for remaking their most popular games has been obvious since Final Fantasy III appeared in glorious 3D on the Nintendo DS. In fact, all of the 8- and 16- bit have found their way onto one of Nintendo's handhelds, with a totally new remake of FFIV also on its way. With our favorite series apparently tapped out, what's next?

The answer is SE's other RPG series: Dragon Quest.

According to screenshots from Shonen Jump, remakes are underway for Dragon Quest IV, V, and VI. It appears that graphics will be redone in the vein of FFIII/FFIV.

Will these games make it out of Japan? Square-Enix isn't saying. The series has never been as popular in the United States as it is in Japan, but some of the more obscure series titles have made its way here--Rocket Slime is already available on the DS, with a Wii title and another DS title on the way. Until we have a press release, though, here's hoping!

Source: GameSpot