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.
E3 2010 was a pretty crazy time for everyone, but Colin and I managed to find some time to sit down and speak to two of the key figures behind Final Fantasy XIV; Hiromichi Tanaka, the game's director, and Yasu Kurosawa, the game's community manager.
We thoroughly enjoyed the chance to chat with them and ask them about their upcoming game - they seemed pretty happy too. You can check out the full interview over at GamingUnion.net, our parent site, but here's a little teaser from the interview.
Gaming Union: In Final Fantasy XI, people felt it took a long time for the story to get going - especially with the later missions. Is this something you'll be addressing in Final Fantasy XIV?
Anyone who's been following Final Fantasy XIV will be aware that the game features exactly the same races as Final Fantasy XI, albeit with different names.
However, speaking at E3, Hiromichi Tanaka, director of Final Fantasy XIV has hinted that more races could be added. "From a game design point of view, we do have other races already prepared, but during the development process we had to put priority elsewhere and due to the schedule we had to give up. In the future, if we have enough man power, it is very possible to add it to the game" he said.
Hopefully they can get some extra staff in because it would definitely be great to see some additional races in Final Fantasy XIV.
Due to the "closed" nature of Xbox Live, the director of Final Fantasy XIV, Hiromichi Tanaka, has said that Square Enix's latest foray into the MMO space will not be made available for Xbox 360 owners. Square Enix and Microsoft were in talks, however neither could come to a mutual agreement.
"The main reason why we couldn't go with Xbox 360 was the Xbox Live system," said Tanaka to Eurogamer. "[Live is] different to the normal internet environment, so when we wanted to introduce this game in the same environment as Windows PC it had to be PS3, so that was our choice.
Other MMOs have also faced the same problems with Microsoft's online service. In wanting to keep their service closed and controlled, third parties aren't able to "freely design different business schemes." Ironically, Final Fantasy XI is still available on the 360.
Speaking with Famitsu about The 3rd Birthday, director Hajime Tabata and art director Isamu Kamikokuryou revealed that the portable title isn't really being made as one. Instead, the devs look to be making a full blown experience comparable to that of a console title.
Kamikokuryou also revealed that members from the Final Fantasy XIII staff have hopped over, becoming core members to The 3rd Birthday's dev team since the development ended on Final Fantasy XIII. The art director also explains that they're "aiming for the highest level of PSP graphics" and that "the creation of resources is PS3 class."
Both Tabata and Kamikokuryou have emphasized that their team is putting their full efforts into The 3rd Birthday and won't be bested by "foreign games." Kamikokuryou said, "We're putting our full efforts in the graphics as well. We're confident it's a game that will pierce your heart, so please look forward to it."
Hello hello people! Colin here and I've commandeered the staff blog for the week. Well, I was supposed to do it last week but it seems that I had neglected to. The site's looking great, activity-wise, not visually. No no, I would be praising myself if I said that!
Well it's been about two weeks since we relaunched FFU with its new look and reception has been great. Not only that but everyone loves the new comic, so thank you for that, I really do appreciate it. Just so you know, I really would've broken some musical instruments if the comic hit rock bottom, it's a lot of hard work. The second chapter was due last week though, but thanks to some unfortunate circumstances, I couldn't complete it in time. Quite sorry about that, fret not though as I'm hard at work this week, trying to finish it up in time for this Wednesday.
Now, what exactly was that aforementioned "unfortunate circumstances" I mentioned? Well, it was E3! In fact, it was just last week and hectic as it could be. The good news is that Darryl and I spent some quality time at Square Enix's booth during the event and got plenty of chances to demo most of the games on the show floor as well as get some sneak peeks at other games. Surprisingly, most of the show floor was rather Western in nature, but the line-up did also include Final Fantasy XIV and Four Heroes of Light.
Last year, Square Enix claimed that Final Fantasy XIV would be released in 2010, but since then they've been pretty quiet about the game's release. However, in an interview with RPGSite.net, they have reaffirmed their statement.
Hiromichi Tanaka, the producer of Final Fantasy XIV said "Yes, that (2010 release) is the plan. In fact, we were planning to bring the Director, Komoto-san to this interview as well, but he had to remain in Japan to work on the game, so it is really at a critical finishing stage at the moment. We hope you and your readers will enjoy the game when it arrives later this year!"
Hopefully things go as planned, because Final Fantasy XIV is shaping up to be a great title - one that MMO fans, and fans of Final Fantasy should definitely check out.
E3 is over, and GamingUnion.net, our sister site, managed to spend quite a lot of time at the Square Enix booth. Unfortunately, there wasn't really much shown from the perspective of Final Fantasy, but some hands-on time with games was still possible.
First up is Final Fantasy: The Four Heroes Of Light, a new title coming out on the Nintendo DS. It's not too dissimilar from the Crystal Chronicles franchise, as it's possible to play it co-operative with three other players. It's been designed so that just as much fun can be had with the single player campaign though.
To check out the full preview, written by GU staffer Nick, please follow this link.
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