Uh oh, looks like we missed the news roundup for Friday, my bad, but here it is anyway. This week's been particularly slow with regards to anything Final Fantasy related. Last week had a whole slew of news on Square Enix's next MMO, Final Fantasy XIV and it looks like the momentum has carried on into this week as well.
Now on to the star of this week. The Final Fantasy XIV PC Beta Test has been dated, and starts, well, today actually! So if you've got your keys, congratulations and good for you. Do feel free to share your experience with the community. While PC users get to enjoy the beta as well as play the game this September, PS3 users will have to wait until March 2011 due to technical difficulties the team has run into with the PS3 version. Keep in mind that March 2011 is a tentative date and should Square Enix fix the issues, it might just release earlier than that. We've got our fingers crossed.
Square Enix will be re-releasing its hit fighting mash up game, Dissidia: Final Fantasy, this Fall in both retail and downloadable formats under the Ultimate Hits label - that means lower prices! It's not too surprising that it's taken Dissidia this long to attain Ultimate Hits status, what with its battle against the pirates and five million illegal downloads.
Both the original Dissidia as well as Universal Tuning will be made available in Square Enix's budget line up come September 16 and are set at a lovely ¥2940. Their online counterparts are slightly cheaper, coming in at ¥2100. Apparently there are slight changes between the two versions such as the voice acting.
The addition of Dissidia to the Ultimate Hits label is, according to Square Enix, to commemorate the label crossing its three million shipped mark. Whether this makes it across the Pacific remains to be seen, hopefully it does.
According to the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association, aka CESA, Square Enix's hit portable title Dissidia: Final Fantasy has been downloaded well over 5 million times - and no, that's not downloads from the PlayStation Store. In fact, that is the number of times that Dissidia has been downloaded illegally.
CESA has apparently been tracking these illegal downloads for the top handheld titles available for both the DS and PSP. Dissidia has been downloaded 5,281,223 times since its release, easily costing Square Enix roughly 30,631,093,400 yen in damages.
Piracy has been quite the issue in regards to handheld consoles like the DS and PSP with custom firmware enabling users to run custom applications; however, an unfortunate by-product of custom firmware is also the ability to download ripped games.
Other top-downloaded titles include Phantasy Star Portable 2 which was downloaded well over 4 million times, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite was downloaded almost 2 million times and another Square Enix game that topped the charts is Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, which was downloaded just over a million times.
For anyone still holding out in Europe for the downloadable version of Dissidia: Final Fantasy, today is your day. Square Enix has announced that as of now, the Final Fantasy fighter is available for download on the PlayStation Network via PS3 or PSP, for £24.99.
The game was previously released in Europe on disc around the same time as it did in North America, but for whatever reason North America received the PSN version of the game way back in November, leaving Europe and other PAL regions out in the cold.
Dissidia: Final Fantasy, one of this year's biggest releases on the PlayStation Portable, is now available on the PlayStation Store.
Fans have been clamouring to download the game for a while now, and Square Enix have finally made the option available - something which is sure to see a short surge in sales of the title.
This might even help to increase the Western sales enough to warrant Square Enix talking again about a sequel to the title. Previously they stated that they would only consider a sequel if the sales were strong enough in the West.
Dissidia: Final Fantasy has now been out for a few months in the West, but its sales figures are actually quite low in comparison to those from Japan, and even lower when compared to that of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII's.
While this might not seem like a big deal on the surface, it may actually prohibit the release of any kind of sequel, as Square Enix stated that a sequel would be based on its Western sales.
Check out why Dissidia 2 is hanging in the balance inside the full article.
Gaming Union Network are giving you the chance to win a copy of Dissidia: Final Fantasy, as well as a selection of other Dissidia related goodies.
All you have to do is send us an email and tell us who you're most looking forward to playing as when you get the game, and why. You're limited to 250 words, so try to keep it as concise as possible.
The best two entries will win the following:
- Dissidia: Final Fantasy for PlayStation Portable
- Dissidia: Final Fantasy Promotional Soundtrack
- Dissidia: Final Fantasy Calendar
It's also possible to win just by entering though, as we'll be giving the same prize away as a bonus prize. However, this will only be available to people who have registered at Gaming Union, and have at least 5 posts on the forums.
Square Enix have been busy since E3 2009, with a ton of information filtering out about their games. The majority of it has come from Japan, but that doesn't mean that Square Enix don't care about their European audience.
Their line-up for GamesCom is pretty extensive, with the only notable exceptions being Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep; their exclusions are quite understandable though.
Both Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIV will be represented at the convention, with the lead producers of both projects attending the event. This could mean that some new information is squeezed out of them, and that's probably going to be the most likely source.
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