As usual, the kids over in Japan have found another way to work video games into their daily lives:

All the secondary schools in the city of Yawata in Kyoto have officially started using the Nintendo DS as an educational teaching tool for the English language. They held a trial run with a smaller group of 3rd year secondary school students over a period of 5 months, and have found that the vocabulary of the students increased by an average of 40 percent over the test period. Seeing the impressive test results, they decided to officially introduce it to all 2nd year secondary school students in the city. 

Students in the UK were also able to coerce their teachers into using handhelds for educational purposes recently. And then there's us Americans, who bring PSPs to school to look at porn and get the "PlayStation Pornables" banned in schools across the nation. There's a DS game coming out in Japan next week that's called The Narrow Way to the Deep North by Pencil, and you get to learn Japanese poetry by tracing over the Kanji that's written on the screen, which triggers the narrator audio to read the poem for you. American students should use this game to start the handheld education excuse tactics, and start reversing the classroom rules here before it's too late.

After announcing Final Fantasy Dissidia for PSP, and The Last Remnant for Xbox 360 and PS3, and a remake of Final Fantasy IV, and even a few new Star Ocean games, Square Enix managed to steal most of their own thunder. Square Enix also announced Parasite Eve 3 . . . for mobile phones, ugh. Then they redeemed themselves and gave out hands-on time with Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2, which has more forgiving judges and law card gameplay. FF Dissidia was up next, and it only showed a quick trailer to get people excited, where several famous Final Fantasy characters were flying around a 3D battleground fighting one another. The graphics were supposed to be great, and with an all star cast of FFIV's Kain and Cecil, FFIX's Zidane and Kuja, and FFVII's Sephiroth and more, this will definitely be a huge seller. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates for the DS ran smoothly with gameplay just like the original, although multiplayer doesn't support Internet connectivity.

Sadly no big updates were given for Final Fantasy XIII, Square Enix just showed an old CGI trailer with a few new short scenes spliced in. Quick glimpses of new alien landscapes and a few frames of Ifrit and Shiva summons was all that was new. It was the same with Final Fantasy Versus XIII, too, just a little more CGI footage stapled onto the end of old trailers. Before the party finished, Square Enix announced a new expansion for their five year old Final Fantasy XI MMORPG, and that pretty much it. FFXI's Wings of The Goddess expansion should be available this Winter. Square Enix hasn't mentioned when their next Party event will be, but with so many games in store for the next few years, I wouldn't be surprised if we get another one next year.

Sony snagged the Spider-Man font, Nintendo should push for the next 007 James Bond movie to use one of their products to solve a puzzle. We've seen the Wiimote used to break into houses and a variety of other useless tricks, but now the DS has a few of its own. Instead of making you shout "blue" into your Nintendo DS microphone to prove your intelligence, Kokoro Scan deals with stress levels in your voice, which "can be used as a cheap and portable lie detector. It can automatically measure the tension in a person’s speech and determine if a person is telling the truth." I can think of about twenty good uses for this game, although none of them involve spending money and having fun playing it.

You readers might start getting sick of all the Final Fantasy news this week and this weekend after the Square Enix Party. Squeenix refuses to abort any of their babies, even their clones are impervious to coat hangers. The new issue of Weekly Jump magazine brings news that Square Enix will be remaking Final Fantasy IV for the Nintendo DS in 3D graphics. It'll be handled by the same group of people who brought us Final Fantasy III on the DS, and even includes a few of the original Final Fantasy IV development team. That surprises me, I always thought you only worked on one Final Fantasy game and then quit into a rich retirement.

On top of the beefed up graphics, Square Enix will also be adding new "scenarios" to FFIV. FFIV isn't alone though, Square Enix decided they weren't going to wait to remake FFV-FFXI, and have also announced that they'll be re-releasing Final Fantasy XII in Japan on August 9th. All they plan to change is adding in twelve new License Boards, each pertaining to specific jobs, and to them that justifies this ridiculous gaudy title: Final Fantasy XII International: Zodiac Job System. And no, it won't be for the PS3 or PSP or Nintendo DS. Just a plain old PS2 clone. Lame.

This PSP port of the original PlayStation game has been enhanced to include two new classes, multiplayer gameplay, and new cinematics as you can see above. On May 10th, Final Fantasy Tactics: The Lion War will finally be released in Japan for 4,800 yen, and then we hope that Square Enix decides to bring it over to the states. The video above shows new artsy cinematic sequences and more gameplay and interface screens. If you want to slow it down and see what it all looks like up close, check out this picture gallery from the past.

Here's Hori's "Compact TFT Monitor EX" - a 12 inch LCD monitor that easily attaches to your Xbox 360. It launches in Japan this July for 36,750 yen (about $300), and its 720p picture and stereo speakers run on an AC adapter. In other words, it's as useless as the Xbox 360 Core package, and I doubt it'll ever be coming to America. Besides, the only reason you'd have for using it is on long car rides, and you'd be foolish to trust the 360 disc scratcher in the back seat, let alone play any next gen game on a twelve inch TV.

Evil Avatar found these pictures of Nintendo's recent Pokemonstrosity from the latest Famitsu article. During a meeting with Japanese retailers, Tomy and AQ Interactive revealed their new Pokemon arcade game that offers uniquely pricey gameplay. "Pokemon Battrio" has a virtual playing field, with the incentive of buying Pokemon battle coins and placing them on the battlefield to play out your real time duels on the arcade screen. It's pretty much Pokemon Pogs, with the appeal of the Pokemon collectible card game all over again, so I'm sure it'll be a huge hit in Japan.

I want to know where Japanese kids get all their money, and why they keep spending it. Nintendo should make an official fashion line of Pokemon costumes and start marketing to the furry community. Eventually they'll run out of evolution ideas and Pokeporn will be the only remaining option for new combinations of creatures.

Okay anime readers, this one's for you. Studio Pierrot's first episode of Blue Dragon airs in Japan this Saturday. If you're looking forward to Blue Dragon on Xbox 360 in America, then downloading this show online is your only way of getting a look at the story until the game comes to the states in August. This video is a preview of how much more annoying the show looks than the game. At least the lame characters keep their mouth shut while you run around in the game. Some of the show's graphics are done in 3D, like in the anime series Last Exile, except it still looks terrible. Don't worry if you miss the first episode, in typical anime overkill fashion, there's 51 episodes planned for the series, you'll have plenty of time to catch up.

My exposure to the Disgaea games was as short lived as going to a friends house once, seeing him fighting or dancing with penguins or something, and then saying "Let's play something else . . ." He insisted the game was awesome, and that the freaky vampire manga dude was hilarious, so I told him I'd give it a try later. Total lie. I've still never tried the series, even after the second game got great reviews too, but the series has sold really well, so my loss. According to IGN, the Disgaea Portable game that's been out in Japan since November, will be coming to America in August. Maybe I'll finally pick up a PSP for the God of War game, and then give this series a try. Doubtful. Oh yeah, FF Tactics: The Lion War, too. Damn, maybe.

Square Enix released, in daily Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, a publicity page  to  announce  their  special  event  "Square Enix Party 2007" which will take place  the  12th and 13th of next May at Makuhari Messe, a few kilometers east of Tokyo, Japan. We also find the logos of all of the shutters of the Final Fantasy series in development, as well as a phrase that's intriguing enough, but leaves us dreaming; "Evolution will never stop, the series continues ... and a new Final Fantasy that no one knows will enter the scene." So, will a new Final Fantasy really be presented on the 20th anniversary of the series? Something to follow very closely.  

Damn, it's hard to keep track of all the different projects Square Enix is working on lately. Now that they've got the Unreal Engine for their games, I'd guess their new game will be another PS3 title, or will this be one they're giving to Xbox 360? I've got a feeling the next game might not be an RPG at all, but they said it's a Final Fantasy title. Is FF14 going to be unveiled already? Make some predictions and we'll take a look back here once May comes around.