Paul

On the heels of its notification of the beta testers for Final Fantasy XI, Square Enix U.S.A. recently opened its Final Fantasy XI site with general information and screenshots on the MMORPG.

Square released new images (and even more images) and game details at the official site of Final Fantasy X-2. Those teases. Read on

BlogAfter some on-and-off design and coding over the last few weeks, this weird thing showed up. The mystery feature that has been alluded to endlessly on the SHMFoD has now been revealed to the masses! Read on

Masafumi Miyamoto, Square's founder and owner of 40% of the company, has voiced discontent about the conditions of the merger between Square and Enix. A dispute over the exchange ratio of shares (100 of Square shares for 81 of Enix) threatens the merger, according to Enix chairman Yasuhiro Fukushima, who has called a special shareholder's meeting to vote on going ahead with the merger under the current plan. Gamers.com

Square EA has announced that Final Fantasy Origins, a compilation of the PlayStation remakes of NES games Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II, will be released in North America sometime in April. Details about the remakes were revealed last August.

The year's Square-related album list starts with the original soundtrack to Unlimited SaGa, followed by a Nobuo Uematsu arranged album and two Final Fantasy Tactics Advance albums. Read on

Square has announced its game lineup for Jump Festa 2003 at its official website. Aside from the requisite promotional stuff, Square will showcase three GameBoy Advance titles (Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Chocobo Land and Shinyaku Seiken Densetsu), three PlayStation 2 games (Hanjuku Hero VS 3D, Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix, and Final Fantasy X-2), and its lone GameCube project, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles.

While forum speculation has abounded regarding the censorship of the North American version of Xenosaga, Namco reps confirmed that all of the gratuitous violence will remain intact. (Xenosaga has received an ESRB "Teen" rating.) But, one scene will be omitted; let(s just say fanboys will have one less reason to bust a nut... read for yourself (if you dare). The Monolith Soft RPG and spiritual predecessor to Xenogears is scheduled for release February 25.

The latest info on Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles was revealed in a magazine spread headlined by this curious statement: "Crystals and mana interweave." Its plot is based on a quest to purify the world's crystals by using rare "mana water." The GameCube action RPG gives you the choice of choosing among four main characters each corresponding to a different race. Up to four characters can play Chronicles simultaneously, and the game also interfaces with the GameBoy Advance, which displays status info and field position for a character. Quiter

Square has revealed more information on Shinyaku Seiken Densetsu (roughly interpreted as "Seiken Densetsu New Testament"), which appears to be patterned after Legend of Mana. As in LoM, one may choose between two main protagonists (a male "gladiator" and female heorine). Rabites (a familiar enemy in the SD series) and even Lil Cactuar, (a character from LoM) appear in the action RPG. Shinyaku is being developed by Nintendo second party Brownie Brown. Quiter

Please refrain from thinking the terms "dominatrix," "butch," "s&m chick," "grrl power" ... Read on

Fourteen of the forty normal classes purported to be in FFTA have been revealed, along with six minor characters and some gameplay details. Read on

Former industry rivals decide to hop into bed with each other for the money. In other irrelevant news, flying pigs were sighted somewhere and spurious comments about RPG crossovers were made. Read on

Since Square actually expects to sell more games in Europe than in North America, that means we stupid Americans should stop bitching about every damn trivial thing you don't like about Final Fantasy Tactics Advance or Final Fantasy X-2, you myopic, self-absorbed idiots! (Point of view shift intended.) Read on