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#finalfantasy Fears of a new chapter in the Final Fantasy XIII saga bringing another 40-80 hours of battling the same old beasts were put to rest this evening, as art director Isamu Kamikokuryo showed off a series of decidedly different mythical beasts for Lightning Returns, from gigantic dragons to decaying undead. More »

The "new direction" Square Enix is taking the story of Lightning is ... actually kind of the same direction as before. As in, it's another sequel to Final Fantasy XIII. "Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII" was unveiled at tonight's Final Fantasy event at PAX.

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#finalfantasy Over in Hong Kong, PlayStation's Asia branch just announced a limited edition Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII-2 pack. More »

#finalfantasy Final Fantasy XIII heroine Lightning will be back in a new game, Square-Enix announced today. Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII More »

#theworldendswithyou Looks like we might be getting a sequel to The World Ends With You after all. A new teaser image at the end of the iOS version, sent in by Kotaku reader Michael, hints that the franchise could continue soon, and translator Brian Gray confirmed its legitimacy on his Twitter account today. More »

#finalfantasy Square Enix is being tight lipped about Final Fantasy Versus. And from the sound of it, that game could still be a while off. More »

Square Enix today announced the Final Fantasy 'Ultimate Box' compilation set, as part of the series' 25th anniversary celebrations. The compilation, priced at roughly $450, includes every main series game up until XIII (no dash-twos for you) and is available in Japan from December 18.

Square Enix unveiled the box set at today's opening of the Final Fantasy Gallery in Tokyo. The first nine Final Fantasy games included are PS1 copies, with the exception of Final Fantasy III on PSP. Final Fantasy XIII is on PS3, and the rest on PS2, with XI as the 'Vana'diel Collection.'

Andriasang reports the compilation's extras include a commemorative DVD, an art collection, and a two-disc soundtrack among other goodies. Ultimate Box releases in Japan for ¥35,000, which translates into just under $450.

Square Enix also announced four 'Ultimania' encyclopedia-like books, which cover the entire main series of games and include previously unseen artwork. They too become available on December 18.

We've reached out to Square Enix to see if any of these products are headed west. Meanwhile, look out for some pristine photos of the compilation after the break.

#finalfantasy At Square Enix's 25th Anniversary event today in Tokyo, company honcho Yoichi Wada took the stage and briefly mentioned Versus. Very briefly. Here's what he said (via Japanese Final Fantasy blogger Marshal.Alloc): More »

#finalfantasy This year marks the 25th anniversary of Final Fantasy. And what better way to say Happy Anniversary than with a FF box set? That weighs 11 pounds? And costs US$445? More »

#finalfantasy Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn producer and director, Naoki Yoshida wowed audiences with the beauty and splendor of the revamped game at the GamesCon event two weeks ago. On stage and off, Yoshida has been proudly and enthusiastically showing expectant fans what he had in store for them in A Realm Reborn. He should be proud, considering that essentially recreating an entire MMORPG world while the original is still in service is kind of unheard of. More »

#pullquote Square-Enix explains why they're letting users of their new Core Online service play some old games for free, so long as they watch about a minute of ads for every 10-20 minutes of game time. Quoted from their FAQ. More details on how Core Online works here. More »

Square Enix has announced a new cloud gaming service called Coreonline, which will bring "high definition" gaming to browsers. Specifically, the service will "allows users to easily play popular, console quality games on the web." Coreonline will be accessible via Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer thanks to "a combination of Google and Square Enix's proprietary technology."

Currently there are only two titles available, Mini Ninjas and Hitman: Blood Money. In the case of Mini Ninjas, the Coreonline site merely redirects users to the Chrome Web Store, where a streaming version of Mini Ninjas has already be available for some time. Blood Money, on the other hand, will play directly in the Coreonline store. We loaded the game, at which point we were asked to watch an ad, which "earned" us 10 minutes of play time. Ads can be skipped by purchasing individual levels or entire games, according to Square Enix.

Lara Croft: Guardian of Light will be released on the service in October. Gyromancer and Tomb Raider: Underworld are also in development. At present, Mini Ninjas, Blood Money and Lara Croft support Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7. On Mac, Lara Croft and Mini Ninjas will only work in Chrome, while Blood Money does not currently support Mac at all.

David Bateson will reprise the role of Agent 47 in Hitman Absolution, after it was revealed last year that IO Interactive dropped the long-serving voice actor. Square Enix confirmed the news yesterday, shortly after the above video of Bateson announcing his return found its way online. The video was on a USB key given to a fan by IO Interactive community manager Nick Price

Bateson's return was a struggle, with IO Interactive initially asking him to audition for a role he'd served since 2000 and Codename 47. Then, around this time last year, the developer confirmed Bateson's absence from Absolution. This sparked a number of online petitions pleading for him to be reinstated as 47, including one that received over 3,500 signatures.

IO Interactive's brand director Jon Brooke revealed the developer brought back Bateson after a change of heart, saying that on reflection the developer was "just playing hard to get." That's certainly one way of putting it.

Bateson will finally return as the dapper, bald assassin on November 20, when Absolution releases worldwide for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.

#sleepingdogs Set in Hong Kong, Sleeping Dogs didn't just look to the city's rich cinema tradition for inspiration. It also tried looking to the city itself. More »

#theworldendswithyou Look, nothing justifies what Square Enix did. Setting up a weekly countdown that everyone giddily expects will be a sequel to beloved DS game The World Ends With You only to reveal that it's actually a $20 iOS port? Indefensible. More »

#dragonquest Dragon Quest X is an online MMORPG. That might've made some fans pleased, but one in particular—legendary actress Keiko Awaji—is not happy. More »

#theworldendswithyou A rogue online store listing last week meant today Square Enix more confirmed than that The World Ends With You-Solo Remix will be released for iOS devices, both in the west and Japan. The game goes on sale tomorrow. That's its launch trailer above. More »

#randomencounters Let's go back in time. It's 1990. The Company Then Known As Squaresoft is living large, riding the waves of success earned by 1987's surprise hit Final Fantasy. Piles of money. Mountains of cocaine. You know the deal. More »

#finalfantasy The folks over at Square Enix Europe are charging a whopping $28.99 for upcoming mobile RPG Final Fantasy Dimensions, they revealed this morning. More »

#dragonquest Kids? They don't have money. So thirteen bucks might not be much to working adults, but it is when you are a child—a MMORPG playing child, that is. More »

Square Enix won't acknowledge a retail "field destroy" has been ordered for Final Fantasy XIV. Yesterday, a NeoGaf user posted a document alleging the publisher had requested retailers to destroy all remaining inventory of the MMO. Square Enix is currently preparing a full reboot of the game entitled A Realm Reborn.

"We haven't announced pricing and launch time for the title yet," a Square Enix rep told us when asked about the company clearing inventory. "However, we have publicly stated that beta will begin at the end of this year."

Sooo, no comment? Final Fantasy XIV's A Realm Reborn is expected later this year for PC and PlayStation 3, and is said to be scalable for next-gen platforms.

Update: Square Enix has clarified its previous statement: "In anticipation of the upcoming Alpha and Beta tests for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, Square Enix, in coordination with our retail partners, has decided to discontinue sales of the current version of Final Fantasy XIV. This move was done to help ensure that new customers who register their copy of Final Fantasy XIV will have full access to the 30-day free trial period prior the servers shutting down to prepare for the Alpha and Beta tests of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn."

Final Fantasy Dimensions - the iOS and Android version of episodic Japanese mobile game Final Fantasy Legends - will be available August 31. Andriasang reports Square Enix confirmed the release date this morning for the game, which previously had a "summer" release.

The game's prologue will be free, with subsequent chapters requiring some gil. We're currently getting in touch with Square Enix in the States to confirm pricing details.

Dimensions features a 2D art style like the classic adventures on the Super NES.

Square Enix won't acknowledge a retail "field destroy" has been ordered for Final Fantasy XIV. Yesterday, a NeoGaf user posted a document alleging the publisher had requested retailers to destroy all remaining inventory of the MMO. Square Enix is currently preparing a full reboot of the game entitled A Realm Reborn.

"We haven't announced pricing and launch time for the title yet," a Square Enix rep told us when asked about the company clearing inventory. "However, we have publicly stated that beta will begin at the end of this year."

Sooo, no comment? Final Fantasy XIV's A Realm Reborn is expected later this year for PC and PlayStation 3, as well as being scalable for next-gen platforms.

#nipponichisoftware Souhei Niikawa is the CEO of Nipponichi Software, the maker of such hits like the Disgaea series, and Phatom Brave. In 1996, Niikawa joined Nipponichi Software to work in marketing, publicity, and game development, and after a successful career, in July 2009, he became CEO. Even after his rise in rank, Niikawa continues to have a hand in the game development front lines as scenario writer or producer. However, games weren't always Niikawa's heart and soul. More »

#opinion Like many of my Kotaku brethren and sistren, I really dig United Front's Sleeping Dogs. I'm taking my time playing it, doing a lot of the sidequests, and I can tell that when I do finish, I'll gladly pay for add-on content to expand the game. More »

Due to "political" issues, Hitman: Absolution's "contracts" won't be transferable across platforms for developer IO Interactive to feature, but there is a way for the community to do it. The recently revealed contracts mode is a major part of Absolution's package - receiving co-billing on the title screen with the campaign - but we wanted to know if IO could help promote prominent challenges accomplished by the community on one platform for another.

"We'll have to deal with something within the political rules that allow us to do that," Torben Ellert, game designer on Hitman: Absolution told us. "We're interested in featuring community contracts so that we avoid that whole wasp's nest."

The way to do that will be for the community to decode the file numbers of contracts after the game's launch. Contract IDs begin with a two-digit number, determining their platform (currently 03- PC, 05- Xbox, 07- PS3), with the following set of digits expressing rules of the scenario.

"[Contracts] was built in a way for people to asynchronously share things," said Ellert. "The trick is you have to do it yourself. You have to be able to pull it off yourself."

Update: To stress, codes can't simply be swapped across platforms. Players on separate platforms will need to complete the aspects of a contract to make it live on that platform. The contract ID simply gives the blueprints for a scenario's rules.

Due to "political" issues, Hitman: Absolution's "contracts" won't be transferable across platforms for developer IO Interactive to feature. The recently revealed contracts mode is a major part of Absolution's package - receiving co-billing on the title screen with the campaign - but we wanted to know if IO could help promote prominent challenges accomplished by the community on one platform for another.

"We'll have to deal with something within the political rules that allow us to do that," Torben Ellert, game designer on Hitman: Absolution told us. "We're interested in featuring community contracts so that we avoid that whole wasp's nest."

Currently the community can only share files on the same platform. Contract IDs begin with a two-digit number, determining their platform (currently 03- PC, 05- Xbox, 07- PS3).

"[Contracts] was built in a way for people to asynchronously share things," said Ellert. "The trick is you have to do it yourself. You have to be able to pull it off yourself."

Update: IO has reached out to say contract codes do not reveal the blueprint of a scenario. Currently talking with company to resolve miscommunication. Have altered piece in meantime.

#sleepingdogs As I played Sleeping Dogs this past weekend, I kept getting into car accidents. Every time I'd hop onto my motorcycle or into a car, I'd find myself getting into head-on collisions with the residents of Hong Kong; I couldn't keep a car in good condition for thirty seconds of driving, and I couldn't manage to stay seated on my bike. Needless to say, this made escaping from the cops a real chore. More »

Due to "political" issues, Hitman: Absolution's "contracts" won't be transferable across platforms for developer IO Interactive to feature, but there is a way for the community to do it. The recently revealed contracts mode is a major part of Absolution's package - receiving co-billing on the title screen with the campaign - but we wanted to know if IO could help promote prominent challenges accomplished by the community on one platform for another.

"We'll have to deal with something within the political rules that allow us to do that," Torben Ellert, game designer on Hitman: Absolution told us. "We're interested in featuring community contracts so that we avoid that whole wasp's nest."

The way to do that will be for the community to decode the file numbers of contracts after the game's launch. Contract IDs begin with a two-digit number, determining their platform (currently 03- PC, 05- Xbox, 07- PS3), with the following set of digits expressing rules of the scenario.

"[Contracts] was built in a way for people to asynchronously share things," said Ellert. "The trick is you have to do it yourself. You have to be able to pull it off yourself."

#sleepingdogs Kotaku likes Sleeping Dogs very much. Kotaku also likes magic. You, hopefully, like Sleeping Dogs and magic, too. More »