When you're talking about a Square Enix game featuring the Dragon King, Bahamut, it's a given that the other Aeons / Guardian Forces / Eidolons / Espers will be tagging along for the ride. This time, instead of being trusty helpers that bring the pain onto seriously outmatched monsters, the stars of Summon Magic will be doing their thing against you and your party. Blood of Bahamut screenshots galore in the full article.

This is gonna be a good one. Square Enix has announced the upcoming release of the Kingdom Hearts Piano Collection, featuring the relaxing music from the Kingdom Hearts franchise. Even the battle music is relaxing, and having them on piano just makes the perfect gaming RnR.

Cid has been a staple character in the Final Fantasy series since time immemorial. And it's high time we celebrate (i.e. geek out on) this iconic character that's been around through the ages. Join us for a look back on the life and times of Cid. Are you sure you know them all? We got a chain-smoking pilot and a frog - there's also the guy in the Mega Man suit and even one that looks like Robin Williams. Think you're a Cid buff? Well, it's time to celebrate twenty years of Final Fantasy!

Thanksgiving is the season where people can be thankful for all their blessings and hope that the next year will be as good as the one that preceded it. Since QJ is in the gaming business though, I've decided to note a couple of things that I'm thankful for, gaming-wise.

You probably have your own list of gaming-related things you're thankful for having, so feel free to note them on the comments. That being said though, here's a short list of things I'm thankful for, after the jump!

A couple of hours ago, the Square Enix Store has finally opened to the public revealing a wide range of merchandise to appease fans all over the world. Characters from the different well-known games such as Final Fantasy III and Kingdom Hearts can now be purchased in cute, collectible figurines and other memorabilia via their website.

In a press release, Hidemi Matsuzuka, Merchandising Division General Manager for Square Enix Co., Ltd. said:

We are extremely excited to answer our fans’ requests and sell our goods directly to them. Now, fans won’t have to hunt for particular Square Enix collectibles, and will always have a place where the merchandise is simply a few clicks away.

Featured items on sale will be highlighting the different trademark characters, summons, and items which has made each of their respective gaming titles well-known to gamers everywhere. Please note however that online purchases coming from the States will have a US$ 23 minimum order fee (excluding tax).

Well, what are you waiting for? Hop on over to their site by clicking on the Read link below and pick the Square Enix collectible of your choice. Personally, I have my eye out for something from the Final Fantasy VII Advent Children series.

 

Power ups aren't there just to make the game easier. Poor titles use power ups as an excuse to have "progressive gameplay." Scratch that. Getting stronger shouldn't be tossed aside because the game got difficult enough, that it doesn't even matter. Power ups are supposed to give players an edge, making the task at hand much easier.

In this list are power ups that, while not broken or imbalanced, make players think "Now, I'm gonna own!" Acquiring these offer significant advantage over your adversaries. In other words, purely bad ass power-ups that make games fun.

Jehuty v2 (Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner)
Matching the power of the dreaded Anubis, Jehuty in its full glory can destroy anything. The Vector Cannon can sink gigantic battle airships with a single shot. For everything else, there are subweapons - the most powerful only available to v2. If delicate kills are required, v2 can simply zero in on the opponent using Zero Shift, before disposing the target with lightning fast strikes using its blade, homing lasers that can destroy multiple targets, or a fully charged energy ball of death. Jehuty v2 is the ultimate mech, period.

The full list awaits after the jump!

  

At Comic-con where thousands of hobbyists flock together, there are more than just collective sweat and cosplayers. An event so big can host all sorts of gimmicks, from dance contests to acting competitions. For us gamers, there are only two things to look out for: game demos, and game related merchandise.

Nintendo may be a no-show, but other big names in the industry were present to show their goods. Square Enix, for one, held nothing back as hundreds of figures went on display.

We're still wondering why no reports of stampedes or sudden aggression have surfaced, since any Final Fantasy fan of late will go crazy after seeing SE's offering. Plenty of characters that spawned during the beginning of the 3D era up to now are present, meaning FFVII and beyond. Don't be fooled though, because Cloud and his crew aren't in their original form - the FFVII characters are in their Advent Children versions.

Of course, the timeless classic Final Fantasy Tactics was also around. Tetsuya Nomura's Kingdom Hearts II got enough love, too. Other games under SE's belt also got their own space, such as Full Metal Alchemist and Valkyrie Profile.

Many of the goods displayed during Comic-con were available off the bat, but some are yet to fly off the shelves. Pretty much everything will be available from Squeenix' online store. To find some more of the photos IGN took, including the ones above, click on the Source link below.

Looks like a lot of people are becoming more and more interested in Wii Fit and its introduction of the Wii Balance Board to the gaming industry. Two of which are none other than Motomu Toriyama and Eisuke Yokoyama of Final Fantasy fame.

As pointed out by Ishaan in a recent blog post, an IGN-conducted E3 interview with the Square Enix big wigs revealed some interesting plans for future games. While the most part of the sit down focused on their upcoming Ivalice Alliance installment, Final Fantasy: Revenant Wings, they touched on certain E3-related developments.

In response to a question on incorporating the DS's Wi-Fi and microphone features to future titles, Toriyama also expressed interest in the whole concept of Wii Fit. Here's what happened immediately afterward:

Is there going to be a Final Fantasy-themed fitness game?
Toriyama: There are no actual plans to take Final Fantasy into the fitness genre, but that whole system and mechanism of using your weight and balance to control games is something we're interested in incorporating into future RPG titles.

What are your new projects now that Revenant Wings is about to launch?
Yokoyama: We're considering a sequel for Revenant Wings, and of course Toriyama-san is working on Final Fantasy XIII. And perhaps we'll start working on Final Fantasy Fitness.

This might actually be interesting. An RPG - a Square Enix RPG, at that - using the Wii Balance Board? Although how using your weight and balance to scroll through menus and submenus in a Final Fantasy game totally baffles us, maybe a more loose definition of RPG could be used here. The same kind of sense that Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales was an "RPG."

Maybe they're planning a spin-off title that's part-RPG part-minigames, complete with snowboarding (FFVII, anyone?) and Chocobo Racing thrown into the mix? What's your take on it though? If I'd hazard a guess (or maybe I'm just wishful thinking here!), it's a Final Fantasy: Blitzball Wii using a Wiimote+Nunchuk+BalanceBoard combo framework!

Independence Day aside, July 4 marks the canonization of Saint Ulrich of Augsburg, Saladin defeated Guy of Lusignan, the abolition of slavery in the state of New York, and the day Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was published.

But for otakus, hardcore and casual gamers, it could only mean one thing - it's time for Anime Expo. People who were able to join Anime Expo '07 definitely had a blast, but we can get our share of fun by looking at these cosplay snapshots from Siliconera.

  

On the left is what Siliconera brands as the best Final Fantasy related costume at the show. Looking at the detail put into it: the wings, and metal claw very close to Vincent's FFVII: Dirge of Cerberus look, saying so ain't a far shot. On the right is a bunch of Solid Snake wannabes, along with other cast from the Metal Gear Solid series. Props go to the Metal Gear Solid 4 version of Snake for looking the part, and we give special mention to the poor guy under the box.

More after the jump!

Shinji Hashimoto of Square Enix gave quite a meaty lump of information to Japanese magazine "Nintendo Dream". The whole interview focused much on the whole concept of the Final Fantasy franchise. We know that the epic RPGs stand alone with each installment, but how come there are other spin-offs for certain games?

In a nutshell, you can basically subdivide the FF franchise into four different developing groups: a) Fabula Nova Crystallis (FFXIII), b) the Ivalice Alliance (Tactics, FFXII, Revenant Wings), c) Crystal Chronicles (Nintendo-exlusives), and d) FFXI. Each of these major groups develop their own sub-installments. Like how the FFVII team further developed other spin-offs like Crisis Core for the PSP, the Advent Children movie, etc.

But as for specifics on the more current games being developed, Hashimoto had quite a bold (albeit reassuring) statement about how they created FFXIII:

Different from something like VII, which we expanded upon afterwards, with Fabula Nova Crystallis FFXIII, we've thought about an expansive world setting from the start. Under the idea of wanting everyone to be sucked into the world for 10 years, we're preparing a number of categories.

So they have further plans eh? After giving that statement, he even compared FFXIII to other series like Harry Potter, Star Wars, or LOTR. Seems like there's nothing that'll stop Final Fantasy from being final. Or is there? On the subject of bringing the early FF games onto services such as Virtual Console, it seems as if that idea is being set aside to the back burner:

We feel that the Japanese game market still requires [physical] media. Also, FF and Dragon Quest are played by a wide range of users, from children to adults, so there are limitations when you consider the problems that we would have with billing systems.

Physical media huh? In short, they won't make the previous games available as downloads, but something physical. Like... The UMD. Final Fantasy I & II are being released for the PSP, after all, and not ported onto an online service.

There's lots of big stuff in the full interview, which IGN had kindly translated for everyone. More talk about chocobos, potions, Dragon Quest, Square Enix parties, and "a Final Fantasy not known by anyone." Take a look, just right behind the Read link below!