Look, guys. Amazon really, really wants you to buy Final Fantasy XIII. For the millionth time this year, the retailer has cut the price of the PS3 version of the game for its Deal of the Day promotion -- this time around, you can grab the lengthy JRPG for $18.99, more than half off the usual cost.
Looks like Square Enix characters are going to have hold that spiky hair with generic product, as the company lowered its earnings forecast today for the six months (first half of its fiscal year) ending September 30, 2010. The publisher reduced new sales expectations by 10.5 percent to ¥68 billion ($846 million), which is far below the ¥90.6 billion the company took in during the same period last year. Squeenix also lowered its net income expectations for the two quarters to ¥1.7 billion ($21 million), a reduction of just over 29 percent from the original forecast.
The company said that the declining figures were due to the "challenging operating environment" in which new games experienced "relatively slow growth." Squeenix's operating income remains high, however, thanks to "profitable carryover sales of major titles released in March of the previous fiscal year" -- i.e., Final Fantasy 13 et al. Square Enix will release its actual second fiscal quarter results in the near future.
#blizzcon
Entering the press room at BlizzCon 2010 late Saturday afternoon, I overheard one of Blizzard's PR people arguing that Final Fantasy XIII was the best in the series. I couldn't help but get involved. Neither could Heroes star Masi Oka. More »
#squareenix
At the 2008 gaming expo in Los Angeles, Square Enix dropped a bombshell: Final Fantasy XIII, previously believed to be a PS3 exclusive, was headed for the Xbox 360. Could the same be in store for Final Fantasy Versus XIII? More »
The latest Game Developer Magazine has a full postmortem of Final Fantasy XIII, featuring Square Enix developers Motomu Toriyama and Akihiko Maeda revealing just what went right and wrong with the thirteenth iteration of the classic series. The main issue with the game, they say, was a lack of "shared vision" among the developers for what the title should be. Some developers wanted to create a game to answer Western concerns about JRPGs, while others wanted it to serve as a showpiece for a crossplatform engine, and still others wanted to simply emulate the feeling of that first trailer back in 2006.
In the end, what made the vision concrete was the creation of the demo available with Advent Children -- that demo changed the team's talks "from theoretical discussions based solely on abstract concepts to concrete dialogue," and helped the team realize the kind of work they'd have to do on the title before release.
The few clips of the postmortem on Gamasutra don't mention the linear aspects of the game that turned quite a few players off, but the devs say that the more realistic picture of the production brought about by that demo helped them target what to work on by "keeping in mind exactly how the asset would be used in the game." In other words, focusing on one path was supposed to help them make sure that path was worth playing. But of course it's up to players to decide how that worked out.
Despite the eventual existence of Final Fantasy Agito XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII, there's apparently still room for more "Fabula Nova Crystallis" games from Square Enix. Maybe.
In an interview in the Final Fantasy XIII Ultimania Omega guide, producer Yoshinori Kitase expressed an interest in continuing the Final Fantasy XIII story. "I'd like to at some point make a story where Lightning ends up happy," director Motomu Toriyama said. Whether or not this becomes a game depends on demand from fans.
The team also revealed content that was planned as DLC but cut from Final Fantasy XIII: an area called "Seventh Ark" that would have offered "free battles." This was axed for quality reasons, as well as for differences in PSN and Xbox Live.
If you're one of those people who performs complex time vs. price equations before purchasing a new game, Amazon's making an awfully hard sell for the PS3 version of Final Fantasy XIII. You can now lock down the 45-odd-hour adventure for $19.99, a full 60 percent off its usual retail price.
Square Enix just revealed in the latest issue of Shonen Jump (via Siliconera) that a sequel to Dissidia: Final Fantasy will arrive on Japanese PSPs sometime in 2011. Titled "Dissidia Duodecim: Final Fantasy," the new fighter was created specifically as a challenge to website copy editors.
Outside of FFIV's Kain and FFXIII's Lightning, no other playable characters have been confirmed. We get the feeling you'll see an expanded roster of fan-favorite brawlers at next week's Tokyo Game Show.
Square Enix has confirmed the forthcoming release of FFXIII on Xbox 360 in Japan, dubbed "Final Fantasy XIII Ultimate Hits International." The game will be released in December and features English voice acting with Japanese subtitles (other subtitle options are also available). Despite early reports of the release, no additional content will arrive with FFXIII -- it differs from the PlayStation 3 version in Japan in that it will feature content originally only in the US release. It will also add an easy mode and "Final Fantasy XIII - Episode 1" (a short story book).
Square Enix producer Yoshinori Kitase told Famitsu (via Gamasutra) that the new version was spurred by the launch of the remodeled 360 earlier this year, which aimed to bolster the console's install base in Japan. "We feel that there are ... a lot of people in Japan who own nothing but 360s. Thanks to the new system and such, the situation's a lot different than it was in July 2008," he explained. FFXIII will be the first Xbox 360 title released under Square's "Ultimate Hits" budget line, dropping at ¥4,980 ($59.50) on December 16.
#finalfantasyxiii
These days, it's standard for video games to get downloadable content after they are released. Final Fantasy XIII is not your standard game. More »
#yoichiwada
Final Fantasy, which was previously an PS3 exclusive in Japan, is coming to the country's Xbox 360 console. Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada has been catching all kinds of hell from Japanese gamers for the decision. More »
#xbox360
Back in 2008, Japanese game company Square Enix revealed that role-playing game Final Fantasy XIII was coming to the Xbox 360 — everywhere except Japan. That has changed. More »
#psp
Square Enix has revealed the follow-up to its portable Final Fantasy fighting game, Dissidia: Final Fantasy, in the latest issue of Japanese magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. More »
According to Telegraph.co.uk, the UK group Advertising Standards Authority has concluded that a recent advertisement for the Xbox 360 version of Final Fantasy XIII is "misleading." It seems the commercial in question used footage from the PlayStation 3 version of the game. While it's acknowledged that the Xbox 360 version looks slightly inferior to the PS3 version, what makes the ASA's claim interesting is that the commercial is composed entirely of pre-rendered FMV footage.
Using a side-by-side comparison of each version of the game, the ASA reached the conclusion that the PS3 version "appeared sharper and colours were more vivid" and thus the commercial "exaggerated the quality of the footage available on the XBOX 360, albeit marginally."
For its part, Square-Enix admitted that the FMV was captured from a PlayStation console but added that there was "no substantive difference" between the footage on either console and that only those watching in HD would notice the "slight difference." The ASA has ordered that the commercial not be shown again.
#ffxiii
A commercial for Final Fantasy XIII has been reprimanded by Britain's Advertising Standards Authority for using PlayStation 3 footage in an advertisement for the Xbox 360 version of the game. More »
#republished
"Gnhhh!" ... "Whhhhaaaah!" ... "Bah….ah...gahhhhhh"... "Hmmmf!"... "Ehiehhh" ... "Mhaemm!".. These grunts, sighs, squeals and miscellaneous other vocalizations compose roughly 1/4 of the dialogues in the early hours of Final Fantasy XIII. More »
#xbox360
The big, breaking news of the 2008 E3 gaming expo was that role-playing game Final Fantasy XIII was coming to the Xbox 360. The game had been previously thought to be a PS3 exclusive. More »
If you value function over form -- or, rather, Fantasy over form -- you may want to examine an alternative to purchasing the newer, slimmer Xbox 360. Amazon's current Deal of the Day is the Final Fantasy XIII Xbox 360 bundle, which has had its price reduced by one Grant, down to $300.
#squareenix
Final Fantasy XIII was released last year, and Final Fantasy Versus XIII is forthcoming. Now might be as good a time as any to clean the slate and start over. More »
#squareenix
Final Fantasy Versus XIII was first made public in 2006. Square Enix has shown screenshots and trailers. And now, Versus XIII's designer is happy to report, the game's story is finished. More »
#ps3
When role-playing game Final Fantasy XIII went on sale in Japan in December 2009, it was priced at ¥9,240 (US$101). Now, one retailer is offering the game for a discount. A huge one. More »
