RandomNPC – Video Game RPG Reviews, Editorials, and Features

Square Enix’s DKΣ3713 event has been full of good news for Japanese gamers, and most of it will probably end up as good news for North Americans. The biggest news thus far is that when Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children finally comes to Japanese Blu-Ray in March, it will include a playable demo of Final Fantasy XIII for the PlayStation 3 along with new videos of Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy XIII Agito on the disc. Square Enix has not announced any plans for the North American Blu-Ray release, but those willing to pay import price will be in luck. Japan and North America are in the same region when it comes to movies, and games are region free.

The next good news is both Final Fantasy XIII Agito and Parasite Eve: The 3rd Birthday will be released on the PSP, though a date has not yet been set. Previously, those two games were announced only for DoCoMo mobile phones in Japan. Since there is no North American equivalent of DoCoMo, nor is cell phone gaming nearly as common here as it is on the other side of the planet, cell phone games have almost zero chance of ever making the trip outside of Japan.

At this point, neither game has been announced for localization, but the odds are extremely good that they will. In the worst-case scenario, all PSP games are region free, so impatient gamers will be able to get their hands on them a few days after they hit Japanese shelves, depending on shipping. Sadly, another cell phone game, Final Fantasy IV: The After was not listed at the show, but new precedents have just been set, so all hope is not yet lost for it, either.

Finally, Square Enix showed trailers for a HUGE list of games including: Sigma Harmonics, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Kingdom Hearts Coded, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Final Fantasy Dissidia, and all the games already listed. With the exception of Final Fantasy XIII for the 360, none of these games were available in any form at E3. With any luck, some of these trailers will hit the internet so gamers in other countries will be able to share in some of the fun.

Sources: Famitsu, Kotaku