News

Square has shipped 1.8 million copies to japanese retail stores.
Over 200 fans were waiting outside of Shibuya Tsutaya's ( A retail store in Tokyo ) at 7 a. m. to get their copies.

Square's President Mr. Wada Youichi, Enix's president Keiji Honda and Koda Kumi, the singer of the main theme, were on hand to greet the assembled fans.

Source :  Square Insider

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Wow, 200+ is a  good bit of people to be waiting outside a single store for one game..
Geesh, I wonder how fast this game will sell out it's first shipment.

I wonder if I could get my hands on an import soon.

Thanks to the great members of the CoN forums, we now have new, good FAQ sections for you all to enjoy. We currently have them up for FF4 and FF6, and will be adding FF5 when we have a few more questions and answers.

This is part of an ongoing effort to make CoN more user-friendly and useful for all of our visitors. You may feel free to submit any more questions that you think might be useful - just visit the game's forum for information!

According to RPGFan and the Japanese site Quiter, Kingdom Hearts 2 has been confirmed by Square to be in devolpement.

No other details have been released yet, except for the KH ending teaser, and the Deep Dive FMV in KH : Final Mix, though you can't get much out of them.

Source : RPGfan Article

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Ok, raise your hand if you didn't think this game would get a sequel? :-P

I'm really looking forward to this. From the rumors that have been circulating from the two hidden FMVs, this one will have square's complete control. A darker world, with darker characters. Who doesn't want to see a Dark Mickey?

Popular Japanese gaming magazine recently reviewed the upcoming Final Fantasy X sequel:

http://www.gamesarefun.com/cgi-bin....,33794,

The game was given scores of 9, 9, 8 and 8 by the magazine's four reviewers for a very respectable 34/40 and a Gold Award.  In comparison, the original FFX received a three scores of 10 and one 9 when it was reviewed.  

Games Are Fun also has some new screenshots of the game HERE


Source:Games Are Fun

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I don't think one can't base if he or she will enjoy a game solely based on how a magazine reviews a particular game. It is a good initial sign at least.  There are still those who are not even willing to even give this game a chance.  Hopefully, the review will help lighten some of these people up (specifically you 19 who voted "I think it'll be terrible" here: http://www.cavesofnarshe.com/polling/index.php?dispid=9&vo=9)

Pop Idol Yuna aside, I'm willing to give the game a chance.  Another one of the Final Fantasy games might have led to a better sequel in my opinion, *coughFF7cough* but I'll at least rent it.  I enjoyed FFX's story.  Plus they are bringing back the job system.  I think that just might be interesting.  We'll just have to wait and see how the game will end up turning out.  There isn't any reason (even if it is an "Oh my God" Final Fantasy sequel) to not give a game a chance before it has even been released to the public.

And a question for those among the "19" mentioned earlier:  Why will this game be so terrible? I have complete respect for your opinions, but I'm just trying to feel out the reasoning behind your feelings.  Discussions are always nice and encouraged. :-)

We've added a new topsites - we were the first member at the brand new topsites hosted by our friends at FFGurus.

You'll find the voting button at the bottom of every site page, nestled between our two W3C compliance buttons. It's also been added to all forum skins - look near the top of every page, on the right-hand side. The button looks like this:

I ask that if you like the site, please help us net some traffic by voting for us once a day when you come here to visit. As always, the more traffic we get, the happier the staff is to keep improving the site for you. Thank you!

EDIT: This is now confirmed. More details when I get home from Uni.

This is yet to be confirmed, but the next installment in the Earthbound series (which goes by the name of Mother in Japan) is again in development. This time it is for the Nintendo GameCube.

http://www.gamesarefun.com/cgi-bin....,24103,

For those who missed out on it,  Earthbound was quirky, comical RPG for the SNES that stared Ness, a boy on an adventure to save the universe (just your typical kid, right?).  It still remains a favorite of many RPG fans.

This installment of the series was originally in development for the Nintendo 64.  It was plagued by developmental problems and other issues though.  The game was canceled as a result.  There is no word on a release date in North America, but it is believed to be ready for gamers in Japan by August.

In other Earthbound news, Earthbound Zero and Earthbound (Mother 1 and Mother 2, respectively) are also planned for the GameBoy Advance.  Neither one is a straight ports; both are believed to have reworked graphics.

Source: Games Are Fun

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More Earthbound?  I think this is fantastic news.  I have neither a GameCube nor a GBA, but this makes me wish I had both.  I found Earthbound to be a breath of fresh air the first time I played it.  I was quite disappointed when I heard Mother 3 was cancelled for the N64.  I still don't think I'd get a GameCube because of this (it wouldn't change the fact that I can't justify spending money to buy a second console when I probably shouldn't have bought a PS2 to begin with),  but it is just another reason why the GBA would be a decent purchase.

This brings a good topic up for discussion.  Would anyone here buy a GameCube or GameBoy Advance solely on these games alone?  If not, would they help contribute to the purchase of either?  Or are you someone who just doesn't care about the Earthbound series?  As a bonus, you can substitute Zelda: The Wind Walker (with its release soon) for the new Earthbound game for the questions.