In the newest LEVEL Magazine issue, there were several interviews with Final Fantasy XIII employees talking about the direction the three new games were headed in. The main thing they confirmed, was that each of the FFXIII games they're working on will be mostly independent of each other:

Motomu Toriyama: "The development of the three games was started at the same time and we gathered to try and find a common platform to stand on and try to build from. But since then, we've been working completely independently of each other. Each game is evolving in its own direction and take place in separate worlds with their own main characters. There exists basically no cooperation between the different teams. I wouldn't even want to claim that we communicate with each other."

Tetsuya Nomura: "The only similarity between the games that you can find is in the vague crystal theme."

The other thing the interview finally addressed head-on, was how far Square Enix is willing to go with the futuristic setting. In the past, every Final Fantasy game nails down a visual theme, then staples a story to the graphics. Or maybe it's vice versa. When asked how far they would take the futuristic story, Square Enix answered with "we took the futuristic theme to its limit. FFXIII will truly define the term futurism. You've never seen anything like it." Nomura even elaborated a bit more:

"There's been times when I've wanted to take FF in a completely different direction than the game's producer has wanted. I'm not saying that his or mine opinions have been right or wrong, just different. One thing I've always wanted to explore deeper is human emotions. By going in that direction, you risk to make the target group for the game narrower, and FF is appreciated by a very large audience. But with Versus XIII, it feels like the right time to take that risk. Since the script isn't done yet, I still don't know exactly how far I dare to go, but I know I want to squeeze humanity out of these characters. I want Versus to feel in the entire body."

Me too, Nomura, me too. I want to feel Versus in my pants, we're all hoping your you'll fulfill our fantasies. Since we didn't see too much of FFXIII at the Square Enix Party, hopefully more will be revealed at E3 or other approaching events. You can read the other interview exerts here.

Four months ago I confirmed this unbelievably obvious news: Square Enix probably won't have Final Fantasy XIII ready for a release before the end of this year. It was friggin' January then, and we all knew it already, but apparently there's still a lot of gamers who can't cope with this possibility:

"In fact, Wada says investors shouldn't expect the epic RPG until after their coming fiscal year, which means no Final Fantasy XIII in Japan until at least May 2008. North America will probably receive the game sometime in the fall of 2008."

There's no Square Enix enigma to unravel, they've got a lot of projects right now and Final Fantasy XIII is easily the most anticipated one of them all. And while we're on the topic of PlayStation 3 games people really want, Metal Gear Solid 4 is likely to not come out until March next year, so you can stop hoping for that game soon as well. It's called waiting, Nintendo gamers can tell you all about it.

It's getting late and you don't want to read, I understand. I'll shut up, just check out the high resolution pictures for yourself - there's plenty of new pictures to make it worth your while. The full one page EGM article is in the gallery below, plus write ups from two other magazines' May issues. Don't expect many FFXIII details though, most of it is just glorifying the console with technical possibilities we're all already aware of, but Shiva sure does make a good spokeswoman for the PlayStation 3.

More details about the Square Enix Party 2007 event have popped up on IGN, here's what you'll get to see and play if you attend the event over in Japan:

Dragon Quest Monster Joker (DS, playable)
Final Fantasy XII Revenant Wing (DS, playable)
Final Fantasy Tactics (PSP, playable)
Itadaki Street DS (DS, playable)
Dragon Quest Swords (Wii, playable)
It's a Wonderful World (DS, playable)
Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII (PSP, playable)
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (DS, playable)
Final Fantasy XI (PS2, X360, Windows, playable)
Final Fantasy (PSP, video)
Final Fantasy II (PSP, video)
Dragon Quest Monster Battle Road (Arcade, video)
Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete (Blu-Ray, video)
Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, Mobile, video)
Before Crisis Final Fantasy VII (Mobile, playable)
Seiken Densetsu (Mobile, playable)
Seiken Densetsu: Friends of Mana (Mobile, playable)
Chocobo de Mobile (Mobile, playable)
Dragon Quest Monsters Mobile (Mobile, playable)
Dragon Quest Mysterious Dungeon Mobile (Mobile, playable)

Plenty of free collectibles will be given away, and they're promising that their Square Enix Goods Shop will be filled with limited edition items too. Two years ago they announced the release date of Final Fantasy XII at this event, so this year we get to look forward to a possible Final Fantasy XIII release date for the PS3 announced in May.

After Devil May Cry 4 PS3 exclusivity was stolen from Sony, people have been asking if Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy XIII will follow DMC4 to the Xbox 360. Kojima isn't interested in taking MGS4 multiplatform, but Square Enix doesn't look too sure yet, a Sony Computer Entertainment Europe vice president was quoted saying "Lastly, for Final Fantasy XIII, I can say to you that exclusiveness is under discussion," in a recent French interview. Doesn't confirm anything, but I never thought Square Enix would be considering it.


Makes me wonder if Capcom would have jumped ship on Dead Rising and Lost Planet if the PS3 had been out for as long as the 360. Companies are starting to get greedy.

Flame War Advance found a new interview with the FFXIII lead character designer, Tetsuya Nomura, about the game's progress, and this time he sticks to just the gameplay details. The last time this guy gave an interview he maybe kinda sorta mentioned that Final Fantasy XIII would not be coming out this year, but he does give some good insight this time around the globe.

Tetsuya describes gameplay as adopting styles from Kingdom Hearts and even Dirge of Cerberus. Depending on the type of battle you face, and which weapon you choose, the game's perspective will switch from third person to first person views to complement your combat needs. Pulling that off smoothly sounds difficult, although I like the idea of different bosses requiring completely different controller strategies. Although, adjusting the artificial intelligence of either your enemies or your teammates depending on which viewing mode you're in could be a disaster.

I still want to know more about the rumors that the main character might let you play the role of the villain in the story, but Nomura didn't offer anymore details for FFXIII. However, he did mention that Kingdom Hearts 3 is on hold until Square Enix is completely finished with Final Fantasy XIII, which is probably for the best.

Can you imagine being the one responsible for the impressive scenes in a PS3 game? This video not only shows you one of the levels in Final Fantasy XIII, but it also shows you one of the level designers. Watch as he zooms around in and out of wireframes to give us a good luck at something we won't be seeing in stores for a while. I wish more companies gave out these previews more often.

Microsoft's X06 event was a while back and BioWare finally felt like showing us an extra video from the event. But much like reheated Pizza Hut pizza, their left overs are damn good. I was excited about Mass Effect months ago but still underestimated how well they would pull off certain features. The character dialogue system in this demo footage looks solid, especially the interruption capabilities. Gameplay seems fun too, but I worry it will end up being a very empty game, much like my Blue Dragon worries.

No Xbox 360? No problem - here's an equally exciting teaser for Final Fantasy Versus XIII: