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.

This weekend is the Square Enix party we've been waiting months for, and Squeenix is revealing little pieces of their puzzle a few days early. Final Fantasy Dissidia is now officially being planned, which is no surprise to us, but it's now known that it will be for the PSP. As usual, Tetsuya Nomura will be the lead character designer, and the only listed descriptions of what to expect are "Fantasy is endless" and "Fantasy has no limited form" as well as the genre being labeled "Dramatic Progressive Action." "Dissidia" in Latin means "to disagree" so Tetsuya should have lots of freedom in his designs, characters we've always seen in one shape with one set of feelings might be stretched to new extremes.

Ever since Final Fantasy X where the one summon was the enemy's dead mother, I always wanted a Final Fantasy game where you collect summons, and then go around reviving them back to life, so they turn into a dead relative who can join your party and tell you where to find the next family member set of summons. I think a reverse process to that aspect of RPG gameplay would make things more interesting. To tide you over for the next week, keep checking this fancy flash animation teaser site for future updates.

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.

I've said this on countless occasions, "once a whore, always a whore." Now what that quote has to do with Lindsay Lohan attending a Gears of War party for God only knows what reason is well, irrelevant at this point. I'd love to sit here and convince you that I can do a good Brendon imitation and completely wreck Lindsay Lohan to pieces, but who am I trying to kid? Brendon has that talent mastered. So instead, I'll divert my attention to something else: the lack of titties in these pics. 

While we continue to wait for the Wii's launch, and finally a chance to play Zelda: Twilight Princess, other more fortunate gamers will get a chance to try it out over the course of a two day party beginning on Halloween. But Mommy, how come their Halloween lasts 2 days and ours is only two hours of the door bell ringing and the cat freaking out? This takes the treat out of trick-of-treat, and suddenly I have no longing for gallons of chocolate and trashcans overflowing with 100 Grand wrappers. My new mission is to find this party's location in Redmond, Washington, and totally trick-or-treat them doorbell and all. And when they open up I'll dash in wearing a Kaz Hirai costume and grab myself a Wii and run off. Hopefully my identity will be concealed, and Kaz Hirai will goto jail. If the American PS3 launch gets delayed you'll know. If not I'll be waving a Wiimote in jail with no regrets.

Sony has announced that their premiere party will be on November 8, and is holding a contest to decide which 10 lucky gamers get to attend for free. How do you apply? Sony wants you to "Say my name, bitch!" by expressing your love for them in a video, essay, poem, homicide, PowerPoint, or something else they don't deserve. I'm still waiting for make up sex in the form of Heavenly Sword, Sony is not the pornostar I married 12 months ago. The best entries will win about $2,200 in prizes, including a PlayStation 3, but the fine print allows them up to 20 weeks for the prizes to be delivered, so you might not want to get too loveydovey with them.