Square-Enix announced their third quarter earnings for this year earlier today in Tokyo. At the conference, Square-Enix's President Yoichi Wada revealed that sales had increased 39.3% this quarter and they're set to increase a lot more next quarter with the release of Final Fantasy XIII in Japan on December 17th.

Wada was also pressed about the release of Final Fantasy XIII outside Japan at the conference. He said that progress was good and that it's possible Final Fantasy XIII could be released internationally in this fiscal year. We aren't sure if he means both America and Europe but at least it confirms they're aiming for a pre-April 2010 release.

Source: Game Watch

Square Enix has rather subtly begun promoting Final Fantasy XIII in the West. Some English screenshots were released last week but there are still more to be had. This time around, Fang looks about ready to have words with Sazh over his perceptions of Pulse and also having to delay a "talk" with Vanille.



Source: scrawlfx.com

The theme song for Final Fantasy XIII has already been ripped (from the radio apparently) and thanks to a livejournal member, you can hear it below in full. Kimi ga Iru Kara performed by J-pop artist Sugawara Sayuri is set to be released as a single on December 2nd in Japan and the Final Fantasy XIII OST is coming out January 27th 2010.

Sugawara Sayuri - Kimi ga Iru Kara MP3 (13.4mb)

Source: 7music - livejournal

The Japanese Square-Enix store have updated their site to reveal the Final Fantasy XIII box art which confirms that the other one floating around recently is indeed fake. It's basically just the logo, it could just be a place holder but it's the same style we get every time here in Europe. Nevertheless, enjoy.



Source: Square-Enix Store [Japanese]

(Thanks, Astro.)

The lastest issue of Famitsu (either Weekly Famitsu or Famitsu PSP+PS3 according to our beloved Shuyu) has revealed that Final Fantasy XIII's lead role Lightning will be appearing in Dissidia: Final Fantasy. Small photographs of the magazine have appeared on the internet which look legit, but we'll update when/if there is some proper confirmation. It's also unclear how this will be added. Presumably it will be DLC or be a bonus in the "newer" version being released in japan but without being able to read tiny blurry writing or even Japanese to begin with it's hard to tell. We'll keep you posted.

Famitsu - Dissidia Photo 1
Famitsu - Dissidia Photo 2
Famitsu - Dissidia Photo 3
Famitsu - Dissidia Photo 4

Source: Neveryuna24 (Thanks)!

Update: Turns out it is fake. Someone over at Dissidia-France did it as a "Halloween Trick". I thought this was more of an April Fools sort of thing but props for the effort nonetheless.

Square Enix's official Final Fantasy XIII website has been updated to include more pages of the Final Fantasy XIII Novel, more information on Oerba Yun Fang as well as some new screenshots of her which aren't that exciting. As for the summons, an update in the Summon section now shows profiles for Bahamut and Brynhildr as well as a few new screenshots.

Translations will probably come shortly.

Source: FINAL FANTASY XIII [Square-Enix Official Site]

The official Japanese website for Final Fantasy XIII was updated today and one of the first things visitors noticed were the new background tracks, a grand total of four. The tracks have been ripped and uploaded to YouTube.









Official Final Fantasy XIII Website (Japanese)

Official Playstation Magazine UK have laid a small 4 page spread bringing anybody over the pond from Japan up to speed with the latest Final Fantasy XIII news.

But like anybody who uses the internet, most of the information is mearly just a repeat of what has been shown on most Final Fantasy news sites already; yet it is a nice informative preview on the Character summons and also an introduction to that of the new members which sit on the Cast list.
Enjoy.

14 screenshots from the Final Fantasy XIII feature in Thursday's Weekly Famitsu have been posted on the Famitsu website.



Thanks to forum member Cagalli for bringing them to our attention

Source: Famitsu.com

Square-Enix has released eight new Final Fantasy XIII screenshots in HD which feature Fang in battle as well as her summon Bahamut and Sazh's summon Brynhildr.