As many of you expected, Square Enix has announced the North American release date for Final Fantasy XIII
Aside from being hosted by a total tool, the video is pretty slick. I love that it features the game and its creators. March 9, 2010 is just around the corner. I’m pretty sure I’ll have Dragon Age out of my system by the time FFXIII is released. I can’t wait!
Are you psyched for FFXIII? Is it a day one purchase for you? What did you think of the developer video?
In addition to working with Bon Jovi for Crystal Chronicles, Square Enix has enlisted the aid of Leona Lewis for Final Fantasy XIII
Multi-platinum, Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter Leona Lewis has come on board with Square Enix to provide the theme song for Final Fantasy XIII. The song is entitled “My Hands,” and is featured on her highly-anticipated second album ECHO (J Records/Syco Music) set for release on November 17th. Leona Lewis took the music world by storm with her 2008 6x platinum debut album Spirit which features her chart topping, biggest selling single of 2008 “Bleeding Love,” and mega-hit “Better In Time.”
I like “Better in Time”. It’s a cute and catchy song. More importantly, Leona is totally hot. I’m all for her promoting FFXIII.
What do you ladies and gents make of the news?
NPD Group has released its console software sales information for October 2009. The month pretty much went as expected with Sony’s Uncharted 2
Borderlands
Anything on October’s NPD software list surprise you?
I know this might come as a shock to you, but I’m going to be playing Dragon Age: Origins
While the game certainly has its flaws, it’s also everything I love about BioWare. I love the combat, the music, and the storytelling. The dialogue is just frickin’ brilliant. The interaction between your different party members is so well done. There are times when it’s hard for me to choose my companions. Do I go with the most effective characters? Or do I go with a mix of people that will have hilarious conversations on the road?
While I should play Borderlands
Anyway, what are you guys and dolls going to play this weekend?
Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, the awesomeness of Oddworld’s Lorne Lanning, Cotto vs. Pacquiao 24/7, or the brilliance of Eddie Izzard, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
A lot of gamers have been bad mouthing Activision for its penchant for churning out sequels and licensed games as fast as a nine-year old churns out Nike’s in China. People have said that Activision is a circle of hell and CEO Bobby Kotick rules it with a pitchfork. Yet a lot of the gamers that denounce the company happily snatched up Modern Warfare 2
It’s an interesting predicament. Do you buy MW2, simply because it will provide you with excellent entertainment? Or do you boycott Activision because you believe the company is bad for the business? Taking a stand, one way or the other, is fine, but too many gamers say one thing and do another. I can picture Chris Jericho telling all the ATVI haters that bought MW2 that they’re “parasites and hypocrites”.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to be all holier than thou. I fully admit that I’m part of the problem. For example, I think that releasing paid downloadable content in conjunction with a game’s release is a bad practice. It’s a disturbing trend that’s surely going to become more prevalent in the next year. I don’t want to encourage it, yet I bought the Dragon Age: Origins
I wanted to see where you stand on the “entertainment vs. principles” matter. Do you just buy whatever games you want because you’ll enjoy them? Do you pass on titles you’d like to play because you want to take a stand? Or do you make exceptions (and wince on the inside when you do) for your favorite developers or series?
Check out this wicked trailer of the animated feature being made to flesh out the world of EA’s Dante’s Inferno
Witness a different take on Dante’s descent into the underworld! From the creative teams behind some of the boldest animated films of all time, including Ghost in the Shell, Samurai Champloo, Blood the Last Vampire and others, experience Dante’s Inferno in an all-new form. In this new trailer, Dante descends into the depths of Hell and encounters many gruesome forms of evil while pursuing the soul of his beloved lost love, Beatrice. This animated feature will release in February 2010, the same month Visceral Games’ Dante’s Inferno is unleashed upon the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and the Sony PSP.
Let me know what you think of it when you get a chance.
The excellent Anoop Gantayat at Andriasang has translated a recent Shonen Jump article detailing Final Fantasy XIII’s
FFXIII lets you make modifications to your weapons. You do this by combining materials that enemies leave behind and that you find in treasure boxes. You’ll find over 100 such materials in the game. Depending on your combinations, your weapons will rise in experience and become stronger.
Normally, I would think that this method of improving weapons through leftovers is silly and nonsensical, but compared to the completely ridiculous gestalt mode it sounds totally reasonable. Still…this is the 2010 release I want the most. I’m not going to lie about that.
In an effort to maintain its important position as the premiere American specialty retailer of videogames, GameStop COO Paul Raines has said that the company will be introducing downloadable-content (DLC) kiosks in its stores. Variety’s Chris Morris reported:
GameStop COO Paul Raines, speaking at the BMO Capital Markets entertainment conference today, detailed plans for the company to install kiosks in its stores next year, letting people buy digital add-ons for titles as they buy the retail game.
While I understand that some customers, like younger gamers without credit card access, will have to trek to a brick-and-mortar store to buy a points card, a DLC kiosk sounds completely stupid to me. I should probably reserve judgement until a demo of the kiosk is shown, so for now I’ll just say the idea is mostly stupid.
Of course, I could be wrong. Do you like the idea of DLC kiosks at GameStop? Would you purchase content from one of these machines?
Nintendo of America president and COO Reggie Fils-Aime dismissed the motion controllers coming from rivals Microsoft and Sony at BMO Capital Markets’ Digital Entertainment conference in New York. According to Gamasutra, the Reginator said:
All of this talk around new motion controllers does make me think about the people who initially said that the Wii Remote was just a fad. I wonder what happened to those people?
Yes, it could be that our current 100 percent marketshare in motion control could lose a couple of points, but…with a head-start of over 51 million controllers, I still like our chances.
I still find it amusing that people consider the Wii a fad. Merriam Webster defines a fad as “a practice or interest followed for a time with exaggerated zeal”. Whether you love it or hate it, there’s no denying that Nintendo has been outselling the competition for years. The Wii has consistently outsold the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. People are still buying more of these consoles today than any of the others. Explain to Reggie and me (mostly to me, because Reggie will zap you with his eye beams) how this is a fad.
Square Enix has some big plans for Final Fantasy XIII
What are you expecting from Final Fantasy Friday the 13th? North American release date info? Exclusive NA features revealed? An amazing act of kindness in which the company sends me one of those awesome white and pink limited edition FFXIII PS3s?!? Leave a comment and let me know (please)!
