Well that didn't take long. Forum members hintonmj and Squirrel Emperor have already worked out the anagram posted by Square Enix about an hour ago. The anagram says "Announcement Nov Thirteenth" so we're obviously going to find out something then.

It could be plenty of things ranging from the announcement of an English demo or the confirmation of a Western release date but it looks like we'll have to wait a week to find out what they're holding from us.

Source: A puzzle for FINAL FANTASY XIII fans! - Forum thread

Square Enix North America has posted a puzzle on the Square Enix Members blog for fans of Final Fantasy XIII to solve. The puzzle is an anagram which they'll reveal the answer to on Monday. Here's the message:

Solve this anagram to find out what lies ahead: A Henchmen Inventor Tent Unto

If you have any idea what the solution is or would like to see how members of our community are getting along with the puzzle, visit this thread.

Thanks to our forum member lightning.versus.xiii for finding this.

Source: Square Enix Members Blog

Shonen Jump has two new pages full of brand new screenshots including a preview of the first full size Chocobo and also Hope's now confirmed summon, Alexander. Shonen Jump also says that Final Fantasy XIII will come with Final Fantasy XIV beta codes when it's released in Japan.

If you look closely at the screenshots, you can see Vanille riding the Chocobo. Thanks to this, you can judge just how huge the Chocobo's are in the game.



Thanks to our forum member NeoLightning for finding them.

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)