It's been over three years since we saw the first Final Fantasy XIII trailer at E3 2006 and I bet most of you never thought you'd have to wait this long to see the last one. Square Enix has updated the official site with a countdown for the last Final Fantasy XIII trailer and we have 4 days to wait. We can only assume it's going to be the launch trailer for the Japanese release less than a month away now. The countdown finishes at 4am GMT this Wednesday (25th November).

Final Fantasy XIII Official Site

We also have a photo thanks to our forum member des of what looks like the launch poster with completely new artwork. You can see it below.

Game Watch have posted a huge amount of new Final Fantasy XIII screenshots including Hope fighting with Alexander and loads of new pictures of the games land and cityscapes.



Source: Game Watch

Shonen Jump's latest Final Fantasy XIII feature has worked it's way onto the internet and it comes with a host of all new gameplay screenshots. Scale is the focus in these screenshots with many images showing off the vast landscape in the game as well as the huge monsters that'll be wandering the environment. Oh and another surprise. We get our first look at Final Fantasy XIII's Cactuar and he seems to have a girlfriend.

Famitsu have uploaded the direct feed screenshots featured in the Final Fantasy XIII feature from the 26/11 issue of Weekly Famitsu - 17 of them. They include Hope and his summon Alexander, the Crystarium character growth system and some stunning new environments - featuring dancing monsters, Vanille touching things she probably shouldn't and Siren appearing on a monitor.



Thanks to forum member Squirrel Emperor for the heads up.
Source: Famitsu.com

Microsoft sure know how to market Final Fantasy XIII for their console. To go with todays announcement, Xbox.com is calling all Twitter users to "Retweet" a message for the chance to win an exclusive Xbox Live item for Final Fantasy XIII. We have no idea what the item is but you can bet people will tweet regardless. Here's the message:

Retweet this message to help unlock an exclusive Xbox LIVE item for Final Fantasy XIII #FFXIIIXBOX http://xbox.com/ffxiii

Twitter is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to marketing and it's a good way to get people to advertise for free. If you're one of the people thinking about getting Final Fantasy XIII on Xbox 360, there's no harm in giving it a try.

Also Square Enix have announced their new "Lucky 13 Campaign" where new information will be delivered about Final Fantasy XIII on the 13th of every month until release. Let's hope the wait is worth it.

Source: Xbox.com

As promised, Yoshinori Kitase posted his announcement on the European Playstation Blog just moments ago. The announcement is in video form but it's loading extremely slowly because of thousands of fans trying to watch it all at once. Try your luck at trying to view it for yourself below. I have to say it's maybe a bit overly epic for what it is.

For those of you who want to know now, here's all the details announced in the video.

Final Fantasy XIII is coming March 9th in North America. We assume it's a simultaneous release with Europe from the way it was revealed in the video but I'm sure we'll get confirmation soon.
Leona Lewis will be performing the theme for the English version with her song song "My Hands".
The video includes never seen before battle footage as well as the first time we've seen Chocobo's being ridden in motion.



Source: EU Playstation Blog

Shonen Jump's latest issue includes a new feature on Final Fantasy XIII with new screenshots and for the first time, proof that characters will be able to acquire new weapons. In the second screenshot included in the first scan, you can clearly see Lightning fighting a Flan with a new, never seen before weapon. We'll update you when we find out more info.



Thanks to our forum member john tora volta for finding them.

The US Playstation Blog has posted an update on what we can expect from the super special Final Fantasy XIII announcement this Friday. Apparently a "never-seen-before" Final Fantasy XIII Video is going to be aired in the 10-Screen Theatre on Playstation Home. We aren't sure if this is going to be a trailer, cutscene or gameplay video but at least we know the wait isn't all for nothing.

We don't know if this will be the only part to Friday's "Huge" announcement but we are promised that Yoshinori Kitase will be part of it in some way. Who knows, if the video does turn out to be a trailer it could possibly be the last we'll ever see.

Source: US Playstation Blog

Last week, scans from Weekly Shonen Jump popped up and everyone was introduced to Hope's summon, Alexander, and the fact that the series staple chocobo can be ridden whilst journeying Pulse. The week prior to that, scans from Weekly Shonen Jump showed up depicting the character growth system, Crystarium.

Now the time has come, as per usual, for Famitsu to run a full, detailed feature. The issue on sale tomorrow covers all of the above, along with some new area screenshots that look rather pretty - as far as you can tell from the small, low-quality images, anyway.



Source: 2channel

Yoichi Wada, President of Square Enix, has been interviewed by gameindustry.biz about Square's endeavours so far this year. In the interview, he comments on the current development status of Final Fantasy XIII saying "We've completed the master of the Japanese version, and for the US and European versions we're just adding the final touches. The last stage of development has gone very smoothly this time."

Although most of us are used to delays from Square, this is a good sign that FFXIII will arrive on time in Japan. Even though we don't have a date for the Western release, Wada said last week that it should possibly come out before April. If only the finishing touches are being added, he's hopefully right.

Source: gameindustry.biz