While the trailer on the website is in Japanese, the official English trailer is below:

The game will be produced by Yoshinori Kitase and directed by Motomu Toriyama, the same key staff personel from FFXIII.

While Lighting will make a return to the game, Square Enix has confirmed that she will be joined by new characters.

Source: はちま起稿

Of course, the store also took the chance to promote some of the related figures from the Play Arts lineup and related character goods.

Source: Akibamap

I thought the cosplayers looked really good except that Sazh looked kinda funny with that afro wig (probably not puffy enough).

Specifically, 1,516,532 copies of the game was sold, while 24,5406 PS3 consoles were sold within the opening week. I think this is one of the best sales  figure for the PS3.

Source: Famitsu

So how many of you have already gotten yourself a copy of the Japanese edition of FFXIII? I have been playing it over the weekend and I’m totally blown away by the awesome graphics.

As it reads on the top corner of the TV sets, “If you are going to play Final Fantasy XIII, then you should definitely go for the big screen!”

「ファイナルファンタジー１３を遊ぶなら、やっぱり大画面！」

Source: AkibaBlog

Sony should just come out with a package that bundle the PS3, a 52inch Bravia HDTV and Final Fintasy XIII together. But then again, that would probably cost like 400 000 yen, so probably no one would buy it =P

As you can see in the magazine scan above, there were four reviewers of the game and Famitsu had FFXIII for having excellent in-game cut scenes and the new battle system. However one of the reviewer mentioned that until the mid-way point of the game, the story seemed be linear and didn’t have any twists in the story, which is why he awarded a 9/10.

Source: Kotaku

Regardless of what one guy says, this game is definitely one of the most anticipated game on my list. For info, there were four games that obtained perfect score on Famitsu: Dragon Quest IX, Monster Hunter 3, Bayonetta and New Super Mario Bros.

Here’s an interesting Playstation showing that even schoolteachers are taking vacation:

Source: Kotaku

So what will you be doing on 17 Dec 2009?

Here’s the trailer that was uploaded onto GameTrailers as well:

Here’s a quote for his recent interview with Ars Technica:

“For the last three years, we have worked very hard to close the gap between Japanese release timing and North American and European release timing,” Wada said. “We tried to go for the global, simultaneous release but that was something that was inconceivable, in a sense. But we have been able to close that release window gap to three months. For us, it was a very big step forward.”

In the future, Wada says that these kinds of games, which are released so close to one another, will actually be held back in Japan to make way for a simultaneous worldwide release. However, FFXIII was an exception.

“We couldn’t delay it any longer,” he said, with a laugh.

Source: Ars Technica via Kotaku

Actually if they just used the original Japanese voice with English subtitles, the game could be released much faster for the international market. I don’t really care for English voice dubs anyway.

Do check out Famitsu for more screenshot of the game. I was wondering if there will be black chocobos that allows you to fly around.