Final Fantasy XIII release date: March 9, 2010

Square Enix today officially announced the North American street date for its next Final Fantasy game. And what a fitting day for such an announcement - Friday the 13th. Final Fantasy XIII will be released in North America on March 9, 2010 and will be available for both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (see the brand new announcement trailer for some inside info from the developers).

The game is being produced by Kitase Yoshinori (Final Fantasy VII, X and X-2), directed by Motomu Toriyama (Final Fantasy VII, X and X-2), will feature character design by Tetsuya Nomura (Final Fantasy V, VI, VII, VIII, X) with art direction being handled by Isamu Kamikokuryo (Final Fantasy X, XII). Rounding out this reunion of sorts is Misashi Hamazu (Final Fantasy X, Dirge of Cerebus) who will create the orchestral score, and Takeshi Nozue (Advent Children), who will direct the cinematics. The game will also feature “My Hands,” a single from Leona Lewis’ upcoming album Echo (set for release Nov. 17, 2009).

Final Fantasy XIII features a brand new world, an improved Active Battle System (ATB), an all new summon system that features the ability (Gestalt mode) to let players combine with their summons (Eidolons) to deliver devastating amounts of damage, a brand new game mechanic called Paradigm that lets players assign roles to part members that can change the tide of battle and high definition graphics and sound enabled by development on the Xbox 360 and PS3.

Look for the game in stores March 9, 2010. Square Enix promises to reveal more about this game in the days, moths and weeks leading up to its release next year so stay tuned. You can learn what there is to know about Final Fantasy XIII by visiting www.finalfantasyxiii.com. The site features new info on characters Fang, Hope and Serah today.�

Microsoft E3 2009 press conference recap

Microsoft fired the opening salvo a day before the Electronic Entertainment Expo officially opens, revealing new social networking functionality, changes to Xbox Live, new clips from its key franchises - and those from third-party publishers - and revealing its way of doing motion controlled gaming. It was a pretty impressive showing that will set expectations for Nintendo and Sony’s events later this week. What follows is a brief rundown of the press event (check out this additional information, released after the press conference):

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East meets West: Square Enix reveals E3 line-up

Square Enix revealed its lineup of titles that will be on display at the E3 Expo, taking place between June 2 – 4. Highlighting the steps it has taken to become a more global entertainment company, Square Enix will feature games developed in partnership with U.S. and European developers such as Front Mission Evolved, Order of War and Supreme Commander 2 and its own properties including Dissidia Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XIII, Kingdom Hearts: 358/2, Nier, and new downloadable only content like Final Fantasy IV: The After Years and Final Fantasy Chronicles: My Life as Darklord.

While many of these games are already familiar to us, Front Mission Evolved and Nier, are fairly new. Front Mission Evolved is being developed by European developer Double Helix Games for the Xbox 360, PS3 and Windows - and doesn’t have a release date as of this writing. Front Mission Evolved eschews its turn-based strategy roots, instead putting players into a single Wanzer for some third-person shooter action in both single player and multiplayer campaigns.

Nier from Cavia (Drakengard, Drakengard 2) is an action role-playing game being developed for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, with a tentative release date of “2010.” Nier is named after the game’s protagonist, who along with some friends he meets along the way, is in search of a cure for his daughter, who is infected with the Black Scrawl virus.

Square Enix will be situated at booth 1546 in the South Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center all next week.

Final Fantasy XIII pushed to 2010

A billboard going up in Los Angeles reveals that Final Fantasy XIII has been pushed to 2010. A picture of the billboard being put up -as revealed on the Square Enix Blog shows the familiar character (”Snow”) and a “2010″ date. Interestingly enough GameStop.com’s listing s for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game contain no date at all.

Prior to this billboard sighting, the game was believed to be on track for a Winter 2009 release, though rumors had it as far out as April 2010. We suspect Square Enix will nail down its actual release date in all regions at E3 next week.

You can check out that billboard picture right here.

Final Fantasy XIII Demo Video - Translated

You probably have already seen the Final Fantasy XIII Japanese demo video around the internet showcasing character Snow Villiers, but chances are you haven’t seen it with English subtitles.

Luckily, G4tv.com has posted direct-feed videos of the Snow demo with English subtitles in two parts.

These videos showcase some gameplay and a bit of the character’s story arc.

Follow the links below to check them out:

Part I

Part II

Final Fantasy XIII in 2009 for Japan

Square Enix announced over the weekend that it would launch Final Fantasy XIII in Japan in 2009. Prior to this weekend’s announcement, Square Enix had not laid out a timeline for the game’s release. At E3 in July Square Enix revealed that it would bring the latest game in its popular role-playing game series to the Xbox 360 as well as the PlayStation 3 in North America in Europe. The game remains a PS3 exclusive in Japan.

Square Enix did not not reveal a release window for the North American and European versions of Final Fantasy XIII.

No FF XIII in 2008, Says Square Enix

Square Enix decided to issue a statement this week to reign in rumors that the first Final Fantasy game to grace the PlayStation 3, Final Fantasy XIII, would be coming out this year. The rumor sprung forth from a misinterpretation of some page scans taken from Japanese magazine Famitsu. In those glossy little pages, director Motomu Toriyama talked about a possible demo in 2008 and the first details on both Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII. It would seem that the information somehow got muddled in an Internet version of psst…pass it on…, which lead to a rumor that the game would be released this year. So what does the North American arm of Square Enix have to say about all this officially? Not much, but here it is:

Although information regarding the release date of FINAL FANTASY XIII has been reported by certain video game websites, Square Enix itself has yet to make an official statement on this topic. Any reports of a confirmed release date are erroneous and should be disregarded.

Square Enix will make an official announcement in the future concerning the release date when it has been determined.

So there it is, as plain as day — no Final Fantasy XIII in 2008, but (if you believe Motomu Toriyama’’s Famitsu quotes), we might just get a look at a demo this year.