Take note of the capital S in the title. (It's not a typo, this writer just felt the need to put emphasis on the plural of Star Ocean, you'll know what we mean in a bit.) Square Enix held a Pre-Conference Meeting at its HQ in Shinjuku and let's just say there was a deluge of new info about the upcoming titles.

Squeenix is definitely giving the Sony PlayStation Portable a lot of love. They're releasing three Star Ocean titles, two of which are for the PSP. Yup, you read that right. Star Ocean: First Departure is a full makeover'd version of the original Super Famicom video game (it was only released in Japan). Second up is Star Ocean: Second Evolution which is also a remake for the original PSOne Star Ocean: The Second Story. Star Ocean 4 is still under development by the original devs for the series, tri-Ace. There wasn't any info on what platforms it will be released on and an ETA.

Shinji Hashimoto announced a new Wii title under the working title Chocobo's Dungeon: Toki-Wasure no Meikyuu. It will be released in honor of the 10th anniversary of the Chocobo franchise. Reportedly, it will serve as a follow up of the DS Chocobo Tales and will feature familiar characters and locations. The difference would be that the title will focus on dungeon gameplay instead of a bunch of minigames. Producer Yuki Yokoyama concluded:

Finally, a word for those who enjoyed Chocobo Tales, we are including something special that should be very familiar to you to discover, and I hope you're looking forward to this title as much as I am.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers were discussed by Akitoshi Kawazu, executive producer of the series. He indicated that Ring of Fates will be coming to Nintendo's handheld and will be utilizing the DS' WiFi capabilities. Ring of Fates will be more focused on traditional action RPG gameplay with good special effects. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates will be released in August 23 in Japan - a bit later than what Square Enix had planned. A short in game footage for The Crystal Bearers for the Wii was shown featuring sky ships and other impressive elements.

Lastly, the Square Enix announced Final Fantasy XII: International Zodiac Job System (definitely a mouthful) which is scheduled for a August 9 release. Hiroyuki Ito, producer and director for the title indicated that a secret DVD will be included. The North American version of the game will be English dubbed and will feature a 16:9 widescreen mode. According to Ito, "the Zodiac Job System now enables players to create characters that adhere more closely to classic Final Fantasy job systems, like White Mage, Red Mage and Black Mage."

Looks like we've got a lot to expect from Square Enix this year. Expect more goodies as when the party really begins. Stay tuned.

Now, we've got some talent right here. As an assignment for school, the artist Jeff C. had to do something that he's never done before, and then create a piece of art based on that experience. So what he did was line up for a Wii and then sit down with Illustrator afterwards.

Though the experience was a Wii launch, the piece pretty much summarizes the launch for the PS3 as well, and perhaps even the Xbox 360 launch back in 2005.

Looking at this piece of art, it seems that Crash Bandicoot and Wario have made it to the front of the line and got their consoles early, while our favorite Street Fighters, along with Cloud, got pelted with eggs while they slept in their sleeping bags and tent (at least it wasn't pellets from a BB gun).

Meanwhile, Otacon's sleeping bag is making my head spin, while Black Mage and Kirby are probably nuking it out on ad-hoc mode on their DS Lites. You might also notice that Mario and Luigi may have taken too long saving Princess Toadstool and the rest of the Mushroom Kingdom, that's why they ended up at the back of the line. Awww.

In any case, with a piece of work like this, we'd love to have the artist paint this on our office wall as a mural, or at least turn it into a frame which would pretty much summarize and commemorate the year 2006 in the world of video games. Oh, and this guy had better get an "A+" for this...

We have a little update on the exploits of our little yellow feathered friend within the magical book Bebazu. In this update for Chocobo to Mahou no Ehon, we have a little more knowledge about the characters and the battle system. It seems that for this game, there will be three playable characters. These are Chocobo, Shiroma, and Chromo. The main villain in this game is the evil Bebazu who has been sealed in the book that bears his name.

We all know that a black mage named Chroma drops Bebazu on Chocobo - quite literally. This black mage gathers books from around the world. When he encounters Bebazu, he seals Bebazu's wicked character in a book and drops him off on an island, where Chocobo finds him. When Chocobo opens the book, he gets sucked into the magical world inside Bebazu's pages.

Chocobo won't be travelling this adventure alone. With him is Shiroma, a daughter of a white mage who happens to run a Chocobo farm. Together, it's their objective to find different cards in the book and restore them in order to fully revive Bebazu to his true good form.

The battle system of Chocobo to Mahou no Ehon is a card game. You must choose cards that you have gathered in your battle and then you will use them to defeat some monsters. Don't worry about losing cards as the rewards for each battle are cards as well. But make sure that you use your cards well because, like FF8, some of 'em could be important character cards that can really aid you in battle. Losing them would be a problem. There are other Final Fantasy characters that will be making a cameo in the game. We guess we'd just have to buy the game to find out who they are.

1UP has recently posted a review of Mario Hoops 3-on-3 on their website, and the game's overall score was a rather disappointing 6 out of a possible 10. Now, you may be wondering, "Why did this happen? This is Mario!" One word: controls. Mario Hoops 3-on-3 uses a unique control system designed with the DS's stylus in mind.

Everything - taking shots, stealing the ball, blocking, and passing - is done using the stylus. While in theory, the optional touch-screen control system (you can still use conventional controls) work much better, what 1up found is that in reality, stylus-based control is just not that hot.

Let's take passing for example. Here's what they had to say: "Passing is, in theory, as simple as stroking the screen in the direction of the teammate you want to pass to, and when it works, it works well. "When" is the operative word,  though." The control issue becomes more of a factor at later levels, where the AI starts to kick things up a notch and becomes something that "borders on criminally efficient."

Not everything about the game is as gloomy, though. The review also stated that Mario Hoops 3-0n-3's wireless multiplayer action alleviates the situation slightly, as multiplayer basically puts everyone on an even playing field. Another big draw for the game is the addition of some Final Fantasy characters (ike a White Mage, a Ninja and a Black Mage) to the usual Mario gang.

Have you guys played the game? Do you agree with the review? Do you disagree? Please let us know your thoughts and opinions by clicking on the comment link. For the full review, click on the 'read' link below.

It's now time for some magazine scans, people, and today we have one (count 'em. ONE!) mag scan for Chocobo and the Magic Picture Book. This is the latest Final Fantasy spin-off game that will hit the Nintendo DS soon.

Now, since our Japanese ain't something to brag about, we can't tell you guys about what's here on this scan. The game's visuals look quite nice, though. Good to see the white and black mages appearing again (the black mage looks a lot like Vivi from FF9, but then again, they all look pretty much alike, eh?).

The artwork is also looking pretty snazzy, as expected from a Square Enix title. As the title suggests, we expect that there will be a lot of different chocobos introduced in this game. Seems that there's even a burglar chocobo! And here we thought these birds were all nice and fluffy.

A lot of people (quite a few of us here included) are praying that this title doesn't remain a Japan-only release, so again, here's hoping that this game gets a stateside release.

Chocobo and the Magic Picture Book is slated for a winter release in Japan.

A few details on the upcoming game, Chocobo and the Magical Picture Book has become known. The story kicks off when a Black Mage brings a picture book to a Chocobo farm. It seems the book is magical and a demon named Bebuzu lives within. The book sucks in everything on the farm as Bebuzu tries to use the farm's power to return to his full strength! As Chocobo, you must journey on with Black Mage and White Mage to stop Bebuzu.

You will move around the worlds of the picture book like you would in any ordinary RPG. Battles, called "Pop Up Duels," will be turn-based affairs in which you and the opponent send out cards to do attacks.

The producer, Yuki Yokoyama, previously worked on Drakengard 2 and FullMetal Alchemist. This is his first game in the role of a producer and he promises that the game will live up to Square Enix-expecations when it comes to story. He assures us this is not just a dungeon-crawler. Hopefully more details will be known soon!

Square Enix strikes again, but this time with the help of the good people from Nintendo.

Featuring the remake for Final Fantasy III for the Nintendo DS, many people have wondered first, about how the heck the old-school characters would now look in their modern incarnation, and second, how in the world is it supposed to be played on the DS.

A far cry from its 8- and 16-bit predecessors, FFIII for the DS gives a new twist to an old game. For one thing, not only is the environment now completely fleshed out, but the lead characters themselves have now also gained some more personality. The black mage, for example, is no longer simply called "Black Mage" but instead now gets a default name, as the rest of your party. Gameplay is still turn-based that is reminiscent of its older version though lots of new features in battle have of course been added.  Hopefully, this new chapter in the Final Fantasy series will finally put purist fans to rest, as well as answer some questions that have been floating around in the Final Fantasy universe.

While we eagerly await for the title's release, here are some videos to download that lets us see for ourselves how the combat, exploration and storytelling aspects of the game are expected to appear.

Download: [Final Fantasy III - Combat Sequence]
Download: [Final Fantasy III - Exploration]
Download: [Final Fantasy III - Cutscene]

Apparently, people love Final Fantasy. Word is getting around that there have been more than 450,000 pre-orders for the Nintendo DS remake of Final Fantasy III. Strangely enough, Final Fantasy III was the game in the series that actually hasn't had a global release, so the amount of pre-orders is quite astounding.

Especially since most, if not all, of those pre-orders are from Japan. It's definitely going to become a gaming revolution for the DS, as hype about this game grows and even more people are tempted into grabbing a DS or DS Lite. Whether they're new to the Final Fantasy franchise or those waxing nostalgic over the earlier Fantasies, it's almost certain that Final Fantasy III for the DS will be a big hit when it goes global.

Besides, you can never have enough of a black mage.

If you have a Final Fantasy scratch that need itching, you can also watch FFIII videos to take care of that need of yours. Enjoy!

NINJAS! THOUSANDS OF THEM!

Well, not really. However, Square Enix's official website for Mario Hoops 3-on-3 reveals that there will be a few new characters from the Final Fantasy series in the game and Ninja is one of them. Here's a full list of the characters that have been confirmed so far!

Character	Type	Special Skill
Mario	All-Around	Fire Shoot
Luigi	All-Around	Green Fire Shoot
Peach	Technique	Heart Shoot
Daisy	Technique	Flower Shoot
Yoshi	All-Around	"Straddle" Dunk
Wario	Power	"Doki Doki" Dunk
Waluigi	Technique	Screw Dunk
Donkey Kong	Power	Konga Dunk
Diddy Kong	Speed	Barrel Jet Shoot
Bowser Jr.	Speed	Graffiti Shoot
Bowser	Power	Bomber Dunk
Ninja	All-Around	"Hiding in Leaves"
White Mage	Technique	Holy
Black Mage	Tricky	Meteo
Moogle	Tricky	Moogle Dance
Cactuar	Tricky	Thousand Needles

Bowser, Ninja, White Mage, Black Mage, Moogle, and Cactuar are unlockable characters. Thank you to NeoGAF for the translations!