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.

Riottt got an interview with Devil May Cry 4's producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi, and discussed various aspects of what to expect from Capcom's next game. Last year Capcom announced that Dante would give up the lead character role to Nero, but recently admitted that Dante would still be playable at some point in the game. When asked to elaborate, Hiroyuki gives us an idea of how and when it will happen in the game:

Dante appears in the game as one of Nero’s enemies, but as the story progresses — and I can’t say how — Dante will become a playable character. This transition will take place in the context of the story, towards the midpoint of the game.

Another thing Hiroyuki touched on is Devil May Cry 4's difficulty level. Many players in America, Europe, and even Japan felt that Devil May Cry 3 was too hard, so the director plans to maintain the same level of action, but tuning the combat difficulty to make it more enjoyable without taking away from gameplay. Even though we've seen plenty of pictures and video, Devil May Cry 4 still doesn't have a target release date yet, although it's expected to come out for PS3 and 360 this Fall.

In a recent interview with Blizzard's Vice President of Game Design, Rob Pardo talked about a few StarCraft II specifics. Currently there's about 2,000 Blizzard employees, and only 40 of them are actually working on the sequel, so it should be no surprise that we won't be seeing StarCraft II any time soon. One of the main things Rob is excited about for players is the game's new multiplayer matchmaking setup. When asked for a release date, Blizzard gave the same answer as usual, except with an additional depressing clue.

"It’s a secret! I can give you the old Blizzard mantra of: “It’ll ship when it’s ready,” but it’s something that historically, we’ve learned to keep release dates really close to the vest. I think all game developers are extremely optimistic, and we used to give optimistic dates and we’d disappoint our fans when we didn’t hit them. So now, I think we’ve just gotten more gun shy. The only thing I can give you concrete is it’s not going to be this year. Some people were hoping, because of how advanced the game looks, that we’d have it out by Christmas, but that’s definitely not happening."

Another thing that Rob mentioned they're working a lot on is making single player more innovative this time around. He also confirmed that there will not be a fourth playable race in the game like previously suspected, and that Blizzard still has no plans on making console games any time soon.

Blizzard rarely disappoints with their final products, so fans will have no problem with waiting. Which of their past games would you say is your least favorite? The games they're responsible for are so solid that it's hard for most people to choose one they don't like. I'd go with the first Diablo game. While I loved its sequel, I didn't care for the first game very much.

Update:  Although it guarantees nothing, one of my readers just sent me this message: "Just a heads up, I'm a manager at everyone's favorite gaming store (Gamestop) and in our computer it has Starcraft II dated for 10/01/2008. Probably not a good sign." I didn't think it would be that long, I was hoping to kick off next summer with the sequel. Like you guys said though, another year after the nine total won't kill us. Thanks for the update CJ!

You can watch the official trailer here, but 10% of it is just Ubisoft's fancy logo and we get a lot of gameplay details in the video above. Splinter Cell: Conviction is an Xbox 360 and PC game  coming out this Winter, where Sam Fisher finally doesn't have an arsenal of weapons and strategy to choose from now that he's a fugitive on the run. I love how game developers will always talk up their game, and then when the next game comes out they talk about how their past games have just been practicing new features and how they've fixed past problems and mastered the gameplay in their series. Ubisoft Montreal certainly has been working hard on lights and shadows and the video shows it. Instead of the stealth missions you're used to the game uses "improvisation" tactics to deal with combat on the fly, grabbing and throwing weapons and objects as you go through each area. Everything looks great, but I'm buying the game for one reason: you can blow up hot dog stands. Current generation technology is so astonishing.

The actual game trailer can be seen here, but I find this interview with Randy Pitchford, the game's Executive Producer, much more entertaining and informative. Do me a favor, pretend that below the vision of the camera he's getting a blowjob during the entire conversation, everything starts to make much more sense that way. I can't help but smile when he talks, it's rare that someone is so proud and excited about their game. Randy probably had to talk about his game to a hundred different news crews and yet he's still pumped and shares how historically accurate it is . . . yet he compares it to Star Wars, hahaha.

His facial expressions crack me up, how he tries to make his game's eight day battle seem more dramatic than all of D-Day, and how he lectures about how war games are simulator time machines -- you can tell he's stoked to be in the industry. The graphics appear slightly cartoony, possibly because of a lack of atmospheric effects and bright lighting at times, although everything the models and textures don't look bad at all. The tactics gameplay doesn't seem to be too restrictive and the destructible environments are appealing as any other game out right now with similar features. Randy's "most authentic World War II game" will be out some time this Winter for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

Ninja Theory's co-founder Tameem Antoniades gave a progress update when talking with Eurogamer recently, informing us that Heavenly Sword is 90% complete, and will be ready for its September release later this year. The full interview will be up tomorrow, but Eurogamer released this small piece of news to report on Heavenly Sword's multiplayer status:

"There's no multiplayer mode in Heavenly Sword as our focus was always to create an intense personal experience; it would have been too damn complex to deal with that as well. We did, however, develop the combat system using multiplayer test levels, as it's a great way of soak testing and balancing it. So who knows? Maybe we will decide to go down that route sometime soon. And when we do, it won't just be slapped-on to please marketing tick-boxes. You can be assured that we have our sights on multiplayer."

Well that's a big "maybe" to be talking about when it's one of PS3's most anticipated titles. Although for an action adventure game like Heavenly Sword, I don't think most players would even expect a multiplayer mode. Skipping it at the game's launch to ensure the story and controls are perfected, and then giving us a free, ahem, FREE, update on the PlayStation Network later would be great. If you haven't been following this game, be sure to check out the pictures and videos from the past and catch up.

Paul Semel on Riottt's The Wire got to sit down with LucasArts' Fracture producer David Perkinson and talk about the progress they're making on their third-person sci-fi shooter. We've seen a brief gameplay video showing off the terrain deformation effects that left a lot of unanswered questions, and Paul pried a little further into some of the topics I was curious about. The information they released along with the video made the game seem as simple as raising the ground up and down the whole time, and David described how the offensive and defensive weapons and tactics will vary:

"We actually envisioned five ways it can be used. One, as you said, is an offensive weapon. Two is for cover, so it has a defensive capability. Three is for navigation, manipulating terrain to let you access another part of the level. Four is to gain strategic advantage, being able to use “T.D.” to get to a create elevation out of nothing, thus gaining a strategic advantage on the fly. And then the fifth is for puzzle solving, figuring out terrain-based challenges."

The environment altering arsenal that you'll get throughout the game include four key grenades: Tectonic Grenades that create hills, Subsonic Grenade that create craters, Spike Grenades that create molten spikes to shoot up from the ground, and the Vortex Grenades that stir up a tornado. Paul also asked for more details about the Republic of Pacifica race that you play against, and wondered how "human" they will be in the 2161 genetic warfare setting:

The guys you fight are human, but they do look different, even kind of alien, though they’re really wearing these genetically-engineered exo-suits, which grow over their bodies out of growth nodes on their bodies. But underneath these bio-mechanical suits, they’re still human beings.

When pushed for information on how the cybernetics and genetics will impact gameplay as the plot progresses, David would only admit that the Atlantic Alliance relies more on strength, and the Pacificans rely more on speed. Perkinson closed by promising the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions should be close to identical, and said the team's now focusing on making multiplayer as fun as possible with the terrain deformation gameplay mechanics. The target release date is sometime in the Summer of 2008, and he hinted that we might get more updates in June later this year.

After this teaser video, it's been a while since we heard or saw anything new about Midway's BlackSite Area 51 tactical FPS game for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. FiringSquad has an interview with Harvey Smith up with new details on story, setting, characters, weapons, enemies, gameplay, and environments. For starters, picture Roswell but with deeper meanings:

"The game starts with a flashback mission in Iraq and eventually moves to small town USA. Allegorically, it's all about dealing with the consequences of corrupt decisions, buried secrets coming back to haunt you, and creating your own monsters . . The Reborn are the primary enemy in the game...a soldier of one program, created by the US military outside ethical norms."

Gameplay tactics break down into three different scenarios that depend on how bold and skilled you are. If you're the type who runs into combat with guns a-blazing, or fail to give orders in the heat of the murderous moments, then your squad morale will start to drop. At first they'll take cover and ask for help, and eventually it'll degrade to where they refuse to advance and tell you to retreat. Gone are the days where you can use stupid NPCs as walls in combat. If your skills are decent, and you advance slowly, the squad usually remains obedient and effective. And if you're skilled enough to rush in and pull off the head shots, they'll follow and be willing to focus their talents wherever you need them at. It seems like if you're great, the game's willing to quadruple the greatness on your side, but if you suck, then instead of having them pick up the slack, they'll just keep you from further screwing up the mission.

The other cool part of the interview was when Harvey Smith mentioned they used chunks of Stranglehold's destructible environment code within the Unreal Engine 3. I hadn't expected the same level of destructible freedom, although it looks like Stranglehold meets G.R.A.W. with aliens is a fair comparison of what we can expect.

There's been a rumor going around that Final Fantasy XIII is no longer a PS3 exclusive. It's a rumor we're used to hearing by now, but this time people have been speculating that Square Enix will instead make new FFXIII games for other consoles and handhelds. I took the time to track down some new overseas info, and here's what I found from an Australian PlayStation magazine. FFXIII's director Motomu Toriyama said this:

"In fact, the Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII project isn't just limited to three titles - there are many different aspects. In terms of the formats we're reaching, as well, it's not simply exclusive to the PS3 and mobile phones. In Latin, Fabula Nova Crystallis means "New Crystal Story" and we're using that as a base for the project, but there are many characters and legends that are branching off from this main story and universe. It's a huge project."

You can read the whole interview from the scans below(I think there's a few new pictures too), but this is what it covers. All the FFXIII games take place in the same universe, although they're not directly related. The story in Fabula Nova Crystallis comes from the clashing factions that inhabit planets Cocoon and Pulse, and the lead character is Lightning, the girl we've seen so much of. Gameplay stems from a high speed Active Timer Battle that slows down opponents when overclocked. Magic will be included in FFXIII just like we've always experienced, and combat breaks into four choices: attack, shoot (Lightning's gunblade), defend, and V Strike (effects her overclock limit strike). This is stuff we already know, and I'm guessing that since they've also mentioned that each gun will have it's own camera controls and gameplay mechanics, that it's safe to assume "shoot" attacks will vary greatly depending on which weapon you have equipped.  Or, each character will only have one main weapon, and the variety of other characters will bring the differing shooting controls - Motomu made it clear that other main characters have been deliberately kept secret so far, and will be revealed in a certain order.

Other things Motomu Toriyama touched on were online play and mini-games. They're still considering online PS3 functions, but aren't positive if they'll include them or not. And they've got pretty much the same feeling towards mini-games, saying that if they have them, they'll just turn them into whole separate games. In other words, make you pay more for what you already expect from them.

In other Final Fantasy XIII related news, Shinji Hashimoto from Square Enix has that Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers "will exploit the Wii controller fully," as well as mentioned that the entire Final Fantasy XIII series (isn't it fucked up when you have to call ONE game a series nowadays?) will take place over TEN years. The only other way to interpet "the world of Final Fantasy XIII will be spread out over 10 years" is to hope (and I do hope) that it actually means each of the three, five, or ten million FFXIII games actually skip ahead a year or two in the FFXIII timeline, to tell a much longer story than we're used to playing through(which is pretty damn long to begin with). That, or Square Enix just wants to take all of our money for as long as they can before they have to figure out what Final Fantasy XIV will be about.

And the last FFXIII update of the day, is that Square Enix trademarked "Dissidia" in North America. The FFXIII games have already claimed "Versus" "Agito" and "Haeresis" as subtitles, and since Dissidia means "to disagree" in Latin, it's a good bet that it's the name for one of the newly confirmed FFXIII games. If there's any more FFXIII news today, I think I'll shoot myself.

Students of the Strange certainly found some strange news, yet another interview with Tetsuya Nomura has revealed even more information about Square Enix's future plans. Nomura has been quite the source of information since he's the lead character designer for Square's games, and in this game's case, lead game director as well. When asked about Kingdom Hearts III and that secret video we saw a few days ago, mainly where the heck Disney was and who were the new people that made Mickey Mouse jealous? Here's what Nomura had to say:

“They are people who have some relation to the new series,” said the producer. “However the next title won’t just be Kingdom Hearts III. If it were III, we wouldn’t call it a new series.”

Will Sora and Riku make an appearance? “I can’t say.” Details on the new title?. “First, it’s not Kingdom Hearts III. Of course, because we’re calling it a ‘new’ series, it won’t be KHIII. Also, it’s a series, so it probably won’t be just one title.” So clearly Kingdom Hearts III will be on every console and handheld in one way or another.

Damnit Square, when your piggy bank has dimes flying out of its utters, it's not a piggy bank, it's your damn cash cow that doesn't need to make ten new games in one year just to milk a profit. Just because you gave away half your money for the new Unreal Engine doesn't mean we want Kingdom Hearts III games that look like Killzone II. This is good news . . . for now. But expect this sales strategy to get really old in three years unless they start making new games and not just sequels that will sell regardless of their quality. I remember when Square did something really cool - they made a Chrono game. And then they made a Kingdom Hearts game. I suggest starting fresh again soon.