In reponse to the latest February NPD game / hardware sales figures for the US, Microsoft has commented on “formerly Sony-exclusive series’” expecting them to sell more on the Xbox 360 in the future. This includes the recently released Resident Evil 5 as well as Final Fantasy XIII.

This is a bold statement considering Final Fantasy is biggest in Japan and is still PlayStation 3 exclusive in that region.

Looking at previous data for Final Fantasy XII, the game launched with three times as many copies sold in comparison to the US release. Only the release will tell, but their comment is more likely to antagonise than anything else.

Source: Gamespot

Advertisements for the demo of Final Fantasy XIII in the special edition of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete have begun in Japan a whole month before it’s release on April 16th. You can watch it right here.

The latest issue of Japanese magazine V-Jump released recently and it contains some new screenshots in the same area as seen in the >recent trailer.

Thanks to Lux for finding them.

Official Playstation Magazine UK has a new feature on Final Fantasy XIII summarising the news we’ve recieved over the past couple of months. This is a surprise considering that there is usually several months between the Japanese press and Western magazines printing new information. Like usual there isn’t anything new in the article that we haven’t already read. They’re actually wrong about a few facts such as the April 2010 release date for the UK which was never fully confirmed and was actually stated as “After April 2010″ rather than the actual month. In any case, enjoy a scan in English for a change.

Earlier today, Square-Enix revealed in a press release that they would be delaying Dragon Quest IX’s Japanese launch from March 28th to July 11th. Apparently they’re having trouble tackling a lot of bugs during development stating that “It’s not in a state we can deliver to players”.

Yoichi Wada has come out with a statement saying that the delays in the debugging process of Dragon Quest, may affect the 2009 Japanese launch of Final Fantasy XIII. He said that they may instead be aiming for a fiscal year 2009 release which could be anytime up until April 2010.

Source: ITMedia

It seems the EU Playstation Store has released the Final Fantasy XIII Trailer which debuted on the internet yesterday in full 1080p HD glory.

If you have a EU account looks like you can hit the PSN straight away and download.
If you aren’t so fortunate, here’s a direct link to the full HD Trailer in MPG4 format, courtesy of one of our forum members RadicalDreamer.

Final Fantasy XIII Trailer HD 1080p (Right Click > Save As)

Square-Enix’s official site countdowns have finally finished after a week of torture. However the wait has been worth it with the release of a new Final Fantasy XIII trailer, titled the English launch trailer. It contains new footage which we haven’t seen before and the first new gameplay we’ve seen since 2006. Go to the official sites below to view the trailer. We’re pretty sure they’ll be going slow with thousands of people trying to access them all at once so try out all the sites.

Update: They’re being overloaded but I did just see about 3 seconds of the trailer on the Japanese site. Try that link guys.

US Final Fantasy XIII English Launch Trailer Site
European Final Fantasy XIII English Launch Trailer Site
Japanese Final Fantasy XIII English Launch Trailer Site

Update 2: For those of you having trouble, the European site is working now and it has English subtitles for the trailer. If you can’t get any links to work, watch the trailer without subtitles below.

Square-Enix have just sent out a PR email concerning the trailer being posted on their three official sites today. In the email they put an embargo on the press ripping the trailer and posting it on other sites before Thursday. The big news though is that they actually detail what will be included in the trailer. It is supposed to be the “English Launch” trailer which will include both new and old footage.

Seems like good news for us non-believers. In just under an hour we’ll find out if the wait was worth it.

The Japanese Final Fantasy XIII Official Website has been updated today with a profile for the recently announced character Sazh Katzroy and some of the latest screenshots in a slightly better quality. In addition to this, a new countdown has been added that reads “Trailer open” and shares the same countdown as the US and EU sites.

Does this actually mean we might be seeing the latest gameplay trailer? It would certainly come as a surprise from Square but it does seem likely.

Source: Official Final Fantasy XIII Website (Japan)

Famitsu.com have posted the direct feed screenshots they published a few days ago in their magazine. Hopefully these high quality screenshots can tide some of you over until the official sites countdown finishes in 3 and a half days.

Source: Famitsu.com