News

And none of them are games!

To commemorate the series' 20-year anniversary, Square-Enix are releasing the full soundtrack to the series, on 20 discs! In addition to the soundtrack(s), the package also comes with a bonus DVD filled with unspecified extras. "How much?" I hear the crowds cry! Well, this little bundle is just a bargain at a mere $220! Aren't Square-Enix so generous?

Honestly, i've never played a SaGa game, but I have heard selected parts of the soundtrack, and while i'd rather take a Final Fantasy collection, SaGa definitely has a soundtrack worth listening to.

Source: Kotaku

Apparently Japan isn't running out of ways to transform nostalgia into gold, because we have another handheld remake of a popular RPG on our hands. Lunar: The Silver Star, which has already seen remakes on the PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and Game Boy Advance, is receiving a new coat of paint on the PlayStation Portable as Lunar: Harmony of Silver Star. The game is being remade from the bottom up, with new visuals, gameplay, cutscenes, and voice work.

All we have on the game so far is a magazine ad and a few screenshots (right here), but really, it's a remake. You should probably know what to expect, and if you're a longtime Lunar fan like I am, then you have another difficult choice on your hands: do I like this game enough to buy a remake and play it again, or have all the times I've played it in the past been enough? Gamers in the West can probably expect to receive this remake, since goodness knows we have a thousand other PSP remakes lying around (From Ape Escape: On the Loose to Ys Chronicles I and II) and most of the games in the Lunar series have made the trip across the Pacific. Personally, I'm not sure if I have any nostalgia left at this point.

Source: Kotaku

To anyone interested in the potential of a Chrono Trigger sequel, here is some news for you. It's not the good kind. But not bad, either, unless you were following it. You don't know what I'm talking about, do you?

Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes was a fan-made sequel created by hacking the original ROM. If you remember Chrono Resurrection, you'll see where I'm going with this. After over four years of production, the developer received a cease and desist letter from Square-Enix. The project was due to release at the end of this month. A bit of a harsh move on their part, in my opinion, but if you're an optimist, it may mean that they have plans for a CT sequel of their own...

Here's hoping.

Source: Slashdot

Final Fantasy XIII Producer Yoshinori Kitase recently revealed some interesting titbits on demos and PAL releases for FFXIII. Following the recent release of a blu-ray demo in Japan, the prospect of an English demo was always on the cards. Kitase however has stated that the demo would not be on a disc, but if there is one, they are thinking of making use of the Playstation Network and XBox Live to release the demos as downloads.

He also stated that localisation, translation and English voice recording is already underway partially, which hopefully means a fairly speedy translation to English and a release date for North America fairly soon after Japan. Those of us in PAL regions will be thrilled to hear Square's famed ability to quickly release their games in PAL regions after the Japanese and North American versions come out is being upheld, with Kitase saying those of us in such blighted regions can expect to see it "within a year" of the Japanese release.

The most interesting news of all this is of course the prospect of the demo, and sarcasm aside it is nice to at least hear something that can let us guess release dates for outside Japan. However, the word on the demo is still leaving the bases covered on Square-Enix's part. Potentially, this leaves up in the air the question of in what format, if any, American and EU gamers will see a Final Fantasy XIII demo.

Source:
FF Insider
Some new Demo screencaps

That's about all we have. A website went live a few hours ago, with the only clues being a city on a cloudy day and a quote from John F. Kennedy. Writers at Kotaku speculate that it is one of two existing S-E trademarks: either Front Mission Evolved or Vanguard Storm. We know nothing concrete about the game other than the info on that teaser site, but those two theories seem to be solid guesses.

Also, tomorrow at 2 PM ol' lasz will have taken his last exam as a college undergraduate. History of Rock and Roll. Woo.

Source:
Kotaku
The site