Square News
FINAL FANTASY YEAR 2/8/01
Based on information obtained from a press release of Square's corporate meeting last week, the company intends to host a large scale promotion next year, dubbing 2002 as "Final Fantasy Year." No specific details were mentioned regarding what manner of events have been planned for this promotion, but some industrial associates have been announced as a part of the project. One such company, the Coca-Cola corporation, who has worked with Square to promote the last three Final Fantasy installments, will be doing similar work for both the upcoming Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy XI.
"Final Fantasy Year" looks to be another long-term step in carrying out Square CEO Hisashi Suzuki's intentions of "[using] the brand name of 'Final Fantasy' to its full extent." Square's intention for 2002 is to create excitement around the various media to carry the title, as good publicity will be a necessity in getting the PlayOnline service and Final Fantasy XI running at the level they have planned. The promotion undoubtedly will incorporate other Final Fantasy items scheduled for 2002, including the the million feature film, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, which should be released in Japan by then.
In other Square news, the theme song for the upcoming Final Fantasy X has received an official title. Called "Suteki da ne" in Japanese, it translates to the English phrase, "It's wonderful." Such a theme is fairly appropriate based on the information currently known about the game. As well, the recently announced remakes of Square's three PlayStation installments to the Final Fantasy series will reportedly all ship separately from one another. Thus, the PlayStation2 ports of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy IX will each ship on an individual DVD-ROM, and contain both graphical and audio enhancements over the original versions, as well as other unannounced special features. No release date has yet been mentioned for the Final Fantasy remakes. More news on these titles will be reported as it becomes available.
2/12/01 GUIDBOOKS
According to the The Japan Industrial Journal, Square has announced to restart its guidebook publishings, related to the Final Fantasy series.
The guidebook to Square's Final Fantasy IX; "Online Ultimania", was released for free on the world wide web to strengthen the value and establishment of Square's online business.
However,Game guidebooks, selling a few million in copies for popular titles such as the Final Fantasy series, are a major source of income for game companies. Guidebooks also strengthen the sales of game titles themselves, acting as a source of advertisement and information. Square analyses that one of the reasons to Final Fantasy IX failing to sell over 3 million copies was due to the lack of information regarding the game.
Beginning from Final Fantasy X, guidebooks will be released again in published form.
For Japan Industrial Journal's internet site, check;
http://www.jij.co.jp/
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New ideas
I plan to replace the main pic folder every month to
show more pics of the certain game
I also plan to put all the reviews that I have on a rotating schedule every two weeks
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