News

I must have missed an email earlier today, because I found out via a sponsored post on Facebook that Distant Worlds is coming to my area again, for their first ever show in New Orleans. I've already secured my tickets, so now my daughter will get her first-ever taste of Distant Worlds too!

There are quite a few new shows that have been announced since I last posted about Distant Worlds - here's your list.

• Newark, New Jersey: January 28
• Omaha, Nebraska: February 3
• Montreal, Quebec: February 11
• Seattle, Washington: March 26
• New Orleans, Louisiana: March 31
• Madrid, Spain: April 29
• Barcelona, Spain: April 30
• Amsterdam, Netherlands: May 4
• Dusseldorf, Germany: May 6
• Milan, Italy: May 12
• Zurich, Switzerland: May 13
• Edmonton, Alberta: May 20
• Calgary, Alberta: May 21
• Salt Lake City, Utah: June 3

New Orleans, all of the European dates, both Canadian dates, and Salt Lake City are all new locations never before visited by the Distant Worlds tours. However, Nobuo Uematsu fans will be disappointed by the dates announced so far this year, as he is currently confirmed to attend only Newark.

Is anyone getting a chance to go now thanks to a closer venue? I just commented recently that I was surprised that they'd never come to NOLA before, and I'm glad to have a chance to be there for the local debut!

Source: Distant Worlds

2017 is the 30th anniversary of the release of Final Fantasy in Japan (remember, we didn't get it over here for three more years). While the actual release in Japan didn't take place until December of 1987, for obvious reasons Square Enix are looking to make the entire year a celebration.

We've yet to get any new details regarding exactly what that will entail since that prior news post back in September, but the company has announced that there will be a live event in Tokyo on January 31st that will lay out the timeline for the year. There's been no announcment regarding a livestream for fans not lucky enough to win a ticket to the event, but I would be shocked to find that it is not streamed on Twitch, YouTube, NicoNico, or all three.

There have been rumors about remasters or remakes for every game in the series, but as yet those have been unconfirmed by any reliable source. Perhaps that might await us in a month's time.

Source: Siliconera

Here's some non-Square-Enix news for your pre-Christmas week, from Falcom: the eighth entry in the long-running Ys series, released earlier this year for the PlayStation Vita, will be coming out next May for PlayStation 4.

The original release apparently suffers from framerate issues, and naturally, lower-res textures in its original handheld version; the version for the more powerful console will bump up all of the visual issues into a more polished package. There will also be some gameplay additions.

There has been no indication yet regarding a Western localization. However, over time, most Ys games have made it to our side of the world, and the fact that Falcom is investing now in porting the game to a system with a larger worldwide install base bodes well for the future.

Source: Siliconera

It's been out three weeks already! And the standard edition is, today (only?) at the cut-rate cost of $34.99 for both XBox One and PlayStation 4.

http://amzn.to/2gXTPJ6

Yeah, okay, this isn't huge news, perhaps I can get some more of that together today, but it's a pretty sweet sale for a game that is brand new and pretty well-reviewed. I just ordered my copy!

After the announcement of the Switch in October, the new Nintendo console hasn't made many appearances. That will change in a big way in just over a month with a two-part Switch event, culminating in the console's first appearance on Western shores.

First, though, on January 12, there will be a streamed presentation called the "Tokyo Webcast," with investors and media live and in person but with the stream presented globally (though, mind, there's no confirmation yet that the stream will also be public). In any event, the price and exact release date are expected to be announced at this time.

The next day, January 13, the Switch will appear in New York. There are no details yet as to what further specifics will appear in this second showing, so it may simply be a new media event for people to get hands-on experience with the console who can't fly to Tokyo. No matter what, we should expect to see plenty of new information that week and will know when to expect preorders to be waiting at our local stores.

Source: Polygon