As of yesterday, Square Enix have revised their sales and earnings expectations for the first half of the fiscal year (April 1 to September 30)
Square Enix previously expected 76,000 million yen in sales but now expect 68,000 million yen instead. Although they expect a drop in sales, the company still predicts a rise in earnings: from an initial 4,000 million yen 5,700 million yen.
According to Square Enix, the drop in sales is due to a slower growth for new software releases whereas contributions from March as well as the company's publishing branch aided in the increase of operating income.
The Final Fantasy games, like most RPGs, have upheld the tradition of immersing that one person, the player, into the game entirely. Trying to sink two people into the sixty hour plots simultaneously might be spreading themselves too thin, surely.
But multiplayer in the series stems ten years now, since 2000 when Final Fantasy IX was released. Sure, it wasn't advertised at all and it wasn't a well-developed feature, but it was a step in the right direction. You can assign characters to controllers port 1 or 2 through the configuration menu so that a second player can share your party. It's a basic system, but it latches onto an idea that is synonymous with the new-age Final Fantasy fans. A lot of them grew up watching the games being played by an older sibling. The same story over and over:
"I never played Final Fantasy VII at first, I just watched my big brother play it."
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.
Today, Nintendo finally revealed the 3DS and boy was it quite the presentation. The rumours about a graphical upgrade? All true, albeit a tad exaggerated. The visuals are stunning and are quite on par with the Wii.
The great news is that developers from all over are going to support the 3DS, including Square-Enix. During the presentation, Reggie showed off the number of developers and games that will be supported for the 3DS, and yes, Final Fantasy was one of them. Not much information was revealed aside from the fact there would be Final Fantasy titles for the 3D handheld device.
There's also a 3D Chocobo racing games in the pipeline alongside Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts. On an interesting note, Nintendo has yet to reveal the price point of the new handheld console.
UPDATE: Hold that thought people, it looks like this will be more of a 3D demo rather than a full fledged game to show off the 3DS tech.
The upcoming Nintendo DS RPG, Final Fantasy: The Four Heroes Of Light, has received an all new trailer to go with the recent release date announcement. The new trailer doesn't reveal anything new, however it does dive into some gameplay footage as well as showing off the new direction in art style.
For those that have been neglecting Final Fantasy: The Four Heroes Of Light, this game will return to a more traditional style of gameplay as seen in older Final Fantasy titles, but still adding new elements like the new active points battle system.
Square Enix has officially listed all of the games that the company will present to attendees at E3 later this month. There are a lot of titles that were expected, like the many Eidos games that Square Enix have acquired. However, on the Final Fantasy front, there is not a lot on show unfortunately.
As expected, Final Fantasy XIV will be there along with the upcoming DS title, Final Fantasy: The Four Heroes of Light, and... thats it, folks. Final Fantasy Versus XIII is still down as a no-show, even though the game's director, Tetsuya Nomura, is flying out especially for the event. Could it truly mean he is only there for Kingdom Hearts?
If thats the case, all we can hope for is a surprise unveil like Final Fantasy XIII had in the past. However, does that also mean it may be at a different surprise press conference, mimicking Final Fantasy XIII?
We will find out sooner or later as E3 gets underway in less than a weeks time.
Square-Enix have been opening the lids on a lot of their secrets recently, with Square-Enix Europe giving an autumn release date for Final Fantasy: Four Heroes of Light on the DS earlier today. However, not to be outdone by their neighbours across the pond, the North American branch went one better.
That's right people, not just a release window, but a definite release date that you can mark on your calendar. October 5th 2010 is the day when you will be wanting to have your DS fully charged and stylus in-hand.
Final Fantasy Gaiden: The Four Warriors of Light has been rated in Australia under the name Final Fantasy: The Four Heroes of Light with a PG or parental guidance certificate.
This rating by the Australian OFLC confirms that Final Fantasy: The Four Heroes of Light will be heading to Westerners sooner than we may have anticipated.
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