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Final Fantasy XIII producer Yoshinori Kitase recently gave what appears to be the final word on the possibility of a FFVII remake during an interview with TechDigest. "If we were to recreate Final Fantasy VII with the same level of graphical detail as you see in Final Fantasy XIII, we'd imagine that that would take as much as three or four times longer than the three and a half years it has taken to put this Final Fantasy together," Kitase explained, "so it's looking pretty unrealistic!"

Ultimately, the chances of a remade FFVII getting developed are slim, but not non-existent. "If it were possible that we had all the right facilities and the right environment to be able to make and prepare a Final Fantasy VII remake within a year, we'd very much like a go at it," Kitase said. So, there you have it. If you want to see Cloud Strife in HD, all you have to do is recruit and bankroll a gargantuan Square Enix development team. Piece of cake!

You will appreciate this game no matter what, Square says.

Square Enix, apparently, is all about the cosplay. Just today, the publisher announced that it'll be rewarding the first 50 people dressed in "Final Fantasy costumes" who arrive at the March 9 launch event for Final Fantasy XIII with a free copy of the game's soundtrack. Oh, and also, Square Enix producer Yoshinori Kitase and art director Isamu Kamikokuryo will be there, signing whatever you want.

The release further entices attendees with "high-profile DJ and TV presenter Alex Zane," who'll no doubt be spitting hot fire into a mic all evening. The event kicks off at 5:30PM at the Oxford Street HMV in London and runs until the sun comes up -- or 7:30PM, whichever comes first.

At least see the high-res version before you start arguing.
Multiplatform games are rarely as scrutinized as this. However, Final Fantasy XIII's fall from a PS3 exclusive has certainly sparked countless fanboy battles that rage online and, unfortunately, in our own comments section.

Square Enix has recently released new images of the Xbox 360 version in action, and there are some noticeable differences, particularly when one looks at the Nomura-styled hairdos. We've donned the game a rather obscure nickname -- "The Reverse Ghostbusters" -- due to the visible disparity between the two versions. Regardless, it seems like a more-than-competent port -- a fact that the most vocal of you will likely ignore in the comments below.

As Square Enix developers are prone to do, acclaimed Final Fantasy lead Tetsuya Nomura recently dropped some vague information about one of the handful of Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII​ games that was announced like, a million years ago (okay, okay -- in 2006). Apparently, due to the display of the world map not being up to snuff, Final Fantasy Versus XIII may not make an appearance at this year's E3.

"We were hoping to debut it at E3, but we're not sure now," Nomura told Famitsu (as relayed by FF-Reunion.net). "For displaying characters on the world map, we were originally planning on using the method used by 'FF#,' with a small Noctus running about on the screen, but that didn't look too great, so we ended up switching to the method used by 'FF#.'" Allegedly, the "#" designations used by Famitsu in the preceding quotation were an effort to mask the particular Final Fantasy installments Nomura was referring to. "Famitsu had to block them out," explained Andriasang.

Nomura also suggested that Versus might be benched for E3 2010 in order to give other Square Enix titles at the show more time in the spotlight. Nomura did not mention Agito XIII in the Famitsu article, but did note that, in terms of other projects, "There are a number of them, along with some for which we need to begin preparations for a reveal." That's right -- forget about finally showing us more of the game that was announced four years ago, bring on Final Fantasy XV!

[Via Andriasang]

If you're an avid follower of pre-release review scores for super anticipated titles, you've probably noticed the scattershot scores garnered by Final Fantasy XIII. Most critics' biggest complaint with the game is its linearity -- a qualm which the game's director, Motomu Toriyama, claims to be a hang-up that's native to Western audiences and reviewers.

During a recent interview with Xbox World 360 magazine (via CVG), Toriyama explained, "we think many reviewers are looking at Final Fantasy XIII from a western point of view." He later added, "when you look at most Western RPGs, they just dump you in a big open world, and let you do whatever you like... it becomes very difficult to tell a compelling story when you're given that much freedom." We'd advise Toriyama to take caution when badmouthing freedom, lest he wants to become the subject of a scathing Toby Keith song.

That "entire game's worth" of content that was reported to have been cut from Final Fantasy XIII? Well, don't expect it to return in the form of DLC for the game. Speaking with Joystiq, FFXIII producer Yoshihiro Kitase said of the trimmed elements, "There wasn't all this other stuff that we wanted to include but but had to cut. It was more of a selective process you'd find in any development process, where there were a lot of ideas but then we chose the best of those to include in the final game. The things that were cut either didn't make sense in the storyline, would slow down the pace of the game or were otherwise unnecessary."

Kitase wanted to stress his "final word" on topic, telling us, "There is no plan for these things that were cut -- because they weren't essential to the game -- to be revived as downloadable content," laughing as he remarked that he wouldn't want to add back in the stuff he didn't think should be in there in the first place. We're cool with that, as long as they didn't cut out a "Meanwhile ..." segment that just happened to be a remake of Final Fantasy VII in its entirety.

Explore the history of Final Fantasy with this interview with director Motomu Toriyama.

Yoshinori Kitase and Motomu Toriyama drop details on the US version of Final Fantasy XIII.

Singer Leona Lewis plays Final Fantasy XIII on Xbox 360 in this preview trailer!

If you've been downloading demos and premium themes at a furious pace in anticipation of an upcoming 250GB hard drive for Xbox 360, you may want to rethink your data footprint. Speaking to Joystiq yesterday at X10, Xbox 360 and Xbox Live Product Manager Aaron Greenberg told us that the 250GB hard drive is likely to remain exclusive to limited-edition bundles.

"We did it with the Modern Warfare bundle, which, as people know, was a huge success, completely sold out," he reminded us. "We're excited to bring it back with the limited edition Final Fantasy bundle." Greenberg said that the limited nature of the bigger drive is "part of what makes it special."

Greenberg also mentioned that much of the Xbox 360's functionality, like Netflix, Facebook, and Twitter, and even the Zune Video Marketplace, doesn't require storing big files on the hard drive. "That said, we understand that game demos, a lot of the game add-on content does take up space."

"We're always evaluating," he said, "but for now we feel like the 120 is serving us very well as the standard offering, and then having the 250 as a limited edition is a good balance." Keep some space in your browser cache free for our full interview with Greenberg.

Enter the Square Enix members sweepstakes for a chance to win an invitation.

Go behind the scenes to see how the Paradigm Shift battle system was developed with Battle Director Yugi Abe.

All it took were a few battles, one dinosaur turtle and some baby sheep.

Partnership with world-renowned fantasy videogame includes visibility throughout the game and at NBA All-Star Jam Session presented by Adidas.

Special limited edition coming to North America?

Final Fantasy XIII may not be out in North America and Europe yet, but the development team is in full "victory lap" mode in Japan. At least, that's how it seemed when noted industry figure Jem Alexander interviewed producer Yoshinori Kitase and director Motomu Toriyama for the European PlayStation Blog. Asked about the state of the Japanese game industry, the two (no individual attribution was given to the speakers) said that FFXIII was going to fix it.

"Some people have been saying that the Japanese game industry is dead, and all that... I dunno," the creative lead said. "I will say that Final Fantasy XIII is one really epic title for high definition consoles. With this game, we are going to resurrect the whole thing." And then they immediately moved from boastful to confusing: "As for Western games that have influenced us - FPSs mostly. The Call of Duty series, for example." Influenced their desire to sell a lot of copies, maybe?

The team also suggested elsewhere in the interview that God of War Collection-style remakes of previous Final Fantasy titles are unlikely. And, while they didn't outright deny DLC (which is looking more and more likely), they said that material or ideas originally left out won't be put back in as DLC.

It looks like that entire game's worth of removed content might be making it into Final Fantasy XIII after all. GameStop has posted the box art for the Xbox 360 version of the game and, more importantly, it has also posted the art for the back of the box. As you can see above, the box mentions that Final Fantasy XIII will support downloadable content after all, though there is no mention of what the DLC actually is. It's worth noting that the content could be something as simple as Avatar outfits or accessories, though it would certainly make sense for Square Enix to supply its most well-known franchise with post-launch DLC.

The news comes after producer Yoshinori Kitase was rumored to have stated that no DLC had been planned for the game, though he noted it was still "possible." Final Fantasy Union, however, notes that Kitase apparently confirmed DLC during a recent interview with the Dutch Official Playstation Magazine. The box art certainly seems to confirm that, though we've reached out to Square for clarification. As of this writing, GameStop has yet to post the art for the back of the PS3 version, so it's unclear if both platforms will support said content.

[Via Final Fantasy Union]

Lots of fans think it would be great to see the classic Final Fantasy VII remade in full HD glory on a platform like the PS3, but Final Fantasy XIII producers Yoshinori Kitase and Motomu Toriyama say it would be really tough to do. In a recent interview with Ultimania, they say that the limit isn't the HD technology, it's the amount of artisanship. "Considering the amount of work to make graphics that deserve HD, it is hard to make towns in the conventional style," said Toriyama. FFVII's graphics were beautiful at the time, but when you consider that we all played them on a 4:3 TV SD screen rather than the 1080p HD behemoths we're all playing games on today, you realize that it's a lot more work for artists to put in to make the game look as epic as Final Fantasy should. That's one reason why FFXIII doesn't have conventional RPG towns.

Kitase agrees, saying that "it is very hard to make games on PlayStation 3 in the same style the games in that era had. Making graphics will take enormous time." So score one for standard definition and the limits of the old pre-HD consoles. Note that neither producer says it's impossible, just a lot of work. So maybe some enterprising young developer will come along and make a solid, HD JRPG in the old-school fashion.

Square Enix hasn't announced a release for the Final Fantasy XIII soundtrack outside of Japan. Instead, it has announced a second FFXIII music release in Japan that is going to make you even more jealous. On February 26, the publisher will release a collection of eight songs from Masashi Hamauzu's Final Fantasy XIII score on a 12-inch record, including an exclusive version of "Ragnarok."

The limited-edition vinyl record, W/F: Music from Final Fantasy XIII, is exclusive to Square Enix's E-store. Importer NCSX secured a shipment of the record through one of its vendors, but that has already sold out. Maybe we'll have better luck when Square releases the eight tracks on 8-track.

[Via VG247]

It looks like 360-owning JRPG fans shouldn't get too jealous about the Lightning-clad PS3 Slim which was release in Japan late last year. A recent promotional spot for GamertagRadio's Community Vibes event featured a lengthy look at what appears to be a Final Fantasy XIII-branded 360 faceplate, seen above. We almost didn't notice the accessory the first time we watched the video -- after someone mentioned Major Nelson in a Speedo, our brains went briefly catatonic, which is our reflexive defense mechanism when faced with unsettling mental images. We've contacted the Major to find out if the faceplate is legit, and to see if we'll be getting our hands on it any time soon. [Via Gaming Angels]

Don't act so surprised.

We've been wondering why it's taken Square Enix so long to churn out another installment in the core Final Fantasy franchise, seeing as how the last game came out approximately forever ago. The answer recently came in the latest Dutch issue of Official PlayStation Magazine, which contains a revealing interview with Squeenix's Yoshinori Kitase. According to a fan translation of the interview, Kitase said "Final Fantasy XIII was originally meant to be a PS2 title, but we had to switch systems due to the arrival of the PS3. That cost us about one and a half years and was constantly a case of trial and error." Considering it took Square Enix roughly "one and a half years" to develop and release Final Fantasy IX, that's a pretty substantial amount of time lost. Hopefully the developer will have an easier time when working on the next current-gen Fantasy. [Via VG247]

Considering that an entire game's worth of content was supposedly cut from Final Fantasy XIII, one could imagine there's a veritable gold mine of content waiting to be polished and released as DLC. Apparently not, however, as producer Yoshinori Kitase has allegedly indicated, "at present we're not considering [DLC]." The quote is said to originate from a brief interview featured in an Ultima Guide for the game (via FFReunion), and Kitase apparently added that DLC is still "possible," but it's just not something Square Enix is working on right now. Kitase cited the team's drive to create a complete experience in the final retail game as one of the contributing factors to putting DLC plans aside. He also pointed to the game's exceedingly long development time and the developers' focus on getting the game finished as soon as possible. Clearly, "asap" has a different meaning in Japan. [Via Andriasang]

click for more Limited Collector's ImagesThe European "Limited Collectors Edition" of Final Fantasy XIII first teased in Square Enix's newsletter is now official. The company announced the package today, revealing what dedicated Final Fantasists will get for their extra cash. The Limited Collector's Edition, available for both PS3 and Xbox 360 on March 9, will include the game (obviously), a soundtrack sampler CD containing tracks chosen by outbound composer Masashi Hamauzu, and a "The World of Final Fantasy XIII" artbook. Also included in the package: three art prints of the main characters' Eidolon summons, and a decal of the "Brand of the l'Cie," guaranteed to cause millions of internal struggles about whether to devalue the collection by applying the sticker to a laptop or car window.

Hot off the release of Final Fantasy XIII, composer Masashi Hamauzu has ... left Square Enix, according to a report on Square Enix Music Online. Hamauzu has been with the company since 1996, and composed the soundtracks for SaGa Frontier II, Musashi: Samurai Legend and others, while contributing to many others including Final Fantasies VII and X. If true, Hamauzu will likely join the growing ranks of Japanese game industry figures to go freelance -- with the most famous example in game music being Square's own Nobuo Uematsu, who left in 2004 to form his own company. Previous to Hamauzu's reported departure, Square Enix Music Online notes, Square Enix sound team members Kenichiro Fukui and Junya Nakano left the publisher. The site also suggests that more of Square's composers will exit in the next few months. [Via Siliconera]

Our first try at the English-language version, complete with sky robots.

It turns out there once were many more labyrinthine paths and dungeons in Final Fantasy XIII, but they got cut. An interview (in Japanese) over at FF-Reunion with art director Isamu Kamikokuryou ("No you!" to his friends) has him saying that the team removed enough extra locations from the title to make up a whole other game entirely. Sections cut include a secret base for Snow's hero squad, a character's home that included a park, and even a zoo inside one of the game's amusement park areas. This is all more impressive when you consider that Square Enix is expecting to need three DVDs to hold everything that's still in the Xbox 360 version of the game. But FFXIII completists, don't worry too much -- we're sure some of that content will appear sometime during the game's 10-year cycle.

Download in HD from BigDownload Two months from now, Final Fantasy fans in America and Europe will be able to play the franchise's first numbered release since Final Fantasy XII -- roughly four years ago. To promote the game, Square Enix has released yet another five-minute trailer, thankfully devoid of Square Enix PR dudes trapped within humongous calendar mazes. New to this trailer is the English theme song for the RPG, "My Hands" by Leona Lewis. "When Square Enix approached Leona about including her song 'My Hands' in Final Fantasy XIII, she was honored to be partnered with such an iconic and groundbreaking video game series," RCA Music Group's Tom Corson said in a press release. "Leona is a natural fit with the game's powerful themes and strong female protagonist." Y'know, themes like being able summon a giant ice motorcycle-robot-thing while falling from an exploding dragon airship-thing.

Square Enix is showing off Final Fantasy XIII this week around the San Francisco and Bay area, using an environmentally friendly, Chocobo-drawn tour bus as a base of operations -- not really, but that sounds amazing. Beginning tomorrow, January 13, through January 16, a bus will tour the area with playable demos. Those interested in getting some hands-on time with the game can stalk the operation through its @PlayFFXIII Twitter account. The bus features a "never-before-seen demo" of FFXIII. For those of us not in the Bay Area, we hope to get a playable demo before the game's March 9 release.