Square Enix have now officially launched a site for their upcoming dks3713 event which confirms FFXIII, Versus and Agito to be attending. This also debunks any earlier rumors of Agito being cancelled.

The lineup for the event is as follows:

a??FABULA NOVA CRYSTALLIS FINAL FANTASYa?

This months issue of Famitsu magazine has announced this years Square Enix party which will detail at a private event to be held on the 2nd and 3rd of August. This event is apparently named “DK

Kitase and Nomura have worked together on many past Final Fantasy titles and over the years they haven’t quite seen eye to eye. In a recent interview with LEVEL, Kitase decided to explain their rivalry.>

“Hmm, how am I going to explain this? Let me begin by pointing out that Nomura is designing characters both for FFXIII and FFvXIII and that it

This years list of developers attending E3 in July has been released. It isn’t much of a shock that Square-Enix will be attending as they do every year. What will be interesting to see is if they still believe that E3′s downsizing gives them a good excuse to only show a small exhibition like last year, where we got almost no information concerning Final Fantasy XIII or any of the other Fabula Nova Crystallis titles.

The last time Final Fantasy XIII was shown outside of Japan was when it was revealed to the world at E3 2006 and ever since then it’s been shown in private in Square’s infamous Closed Mega Theater. All we received at last years convention was an interview with John Yamamoto, Square-Enix’s European and North American CEO who divulged the possibility of a worldwide released. He even then went onto say that they were saving all their big announcements for the Tokyo Game Show. Only two trailers have been released to the public in total, one of which, some of us were actually desperate enough to pay for. All games in the compilation have been in development for over 2 years now so maybe Square-Enix will actually be confident enough to show us something new at this years E3. Let’s hope so anyway. I suppose we’ll have to wait for Square-Enix’s game line-up which should be published soon to be sure.

Be sure to keep an eye on this spot July 15th – 17th.

File Front: E3 2008 Developers List

4Gamer.net has managed to take photos of Square-Enix’s presentation yesterday and they show Final Fantasy XIII enemy models including a solider and the creature Lightning fights in the CLOUD trailer. One of the photos also shows how Square-Enix uses the Crystal Tools to render cutscenes. The Crystal Tools logo was also revealed.

Crystal Tools Logo
Final Fantasy XIII Enemy Models
Final Fantasy XIII Cutscene Editor

To see the rest of the slides from the presentation vist the Japanese link below.

Source: 4Gamers.net

1up.com have done quite an in depth interview with Square-Enix’s research and development manager, Taku Murata concerning the newly named Crystal Tools Square-Enix have developed. The interview explains issues like why the White Engine was renamed, how easily can games be ported to other platforms and if the development of the Crystal Tools has effectively delayed the developmnet of FFXIII and Versus.

GDC 08: The Technology of Final Fantasy XIII

Thanks to lightning.versus.xiii for finding the interview.

Source: 1up.com

Wired has also attended todays Square-Enix presentation at GDC with some extra details mainly about Final Fantasy XIII’s White Engine. Firstly, it’s no longer known as the White Engine anymore. Square-Enix have renamed it to “Crystal Tools” and have confirmed it’s being used to develop their unannounced MMORPG. The previously Playstation 3 only engine has now been modified to work on Xbox 360 and PC. Murata also said that Crystal Tools is compatible with the Wii.

Once again, this does not mean FFXIII or Versus are coming to any other platforms. They were in development before the engine was modified.

Thanks again to Ginryuu.

Source: Wired.com

Square-Enix has already confirmed they will be appearing at this years Games Developers Conference in San Francisco and now one of their talks entitled “The Technology of Final Fantasy” has been revealed on the GDC website. The talk presented by Square-Enix’s Taku Murata will be about Square-Enix’s White Engine, the engine behind Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII. The engine has apparently been further developed to be used in a new MMO to be announced by Square-Enix which could possibly be a new Final Fantasy title or even the unanounced Final Fantasy Haeresis XIII.

Just to reaffirm the fact that the White Engine runs exclusivly on the Playstation 3 but it may have been further developed by other teams at Square-Enix to work on multiple platforms. This in no way means that either FFXIII or Versus are going multiplatform. Had to say that because it seems any mention of “FFXIII” and “development” cause a “Final Fantasy XIII going to 360!” rumor.

Game Development Conference: The Technology of Final Fantasy

Source: FF7AC Reunion

Not as interesting as the rest of today’s news but Square-Enix are set to make an appearance at this years Games Developers Conference in February. It’s unlikely any new information will be revealed on any Fabula Nova Crystallis titles but it has been confirmed that Taku Murata, head of Research and Development at Square-Enix will be going there to talk about the White Engine which both Final Fantasy XIII and Versus are being developed on. At least it’s something.

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

Square-Enix has announced their early 2008 North American releases today. To no surprise Final Fantasy XIII or any other titles in the Fabula Nova Crystallis compilation don’t appear on this list making it an obvious certainty that Final Fantasy XIII won’t reach American shores early next year. Sorry if you were hoping for that. You can always play Crisis Core in March to help the pain. Here’s the full list of next years NA releases.

Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors – February 26, 2008
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates – March 11, 2008
Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core – March 25, 2008
The World Ends with You – Spring 2008

Source: Gaming-Age