FFXIII Offically announced...TBA 2009 Japan

Pretty much comfirming just what most people knew true

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Square Enix held their yearly fiscal meeting today, where a few bombshells were dropped, the biggest of which being the increasing likelihood that Final Fantasy XIII will be delayed into 2009.

The problem, according to Square Enix, lies with the White Engine, the in-house engine that has been under development for some time on the PlayStation 3 and with which the game is being created.

Development on the engine itself is said to be moving at a very slow pace, which is what has been leading to the slow turnaround on Final Fantasy XIII.

If you are adept at Japanese, and can weed through a very long financial report, you can access it in its entirety here

Have at it boys.

I don't think that's good. And Square-Enix must be dealing with a ballooning budget about now. This also means Sony will go another year without their trump card in Japan and even the US.

Maybe too ambitious?

2009 is not surprising, hopefully it hits that year here in the US.D3s7rUc71oN

Funny enough there was a joke about 2010 for Europe. Sadly that is starting to look true.

"Update: Our worries may be without reason -- it seems Siliconera's initial story was the result of a mistranslation. According to dedicated fansite ff-xiii.net, Impress Group's recap of the fiscal meeting simply states that development of the White Engine is not stagnant. So, you may resume hoping for a late 2008 release. Apologies for the errant information."

Good News for People who Actually Like Final Fantasy!

"Update: Our worries may be without reason -- it seems Siliconera's initial story was the result of a mistranslation. According to dedicated fansite ff-xiii.net, Impress Group's recap of the fiscal meeting simply states that development of the White Engine is not stagnant. So, you may resume hoping for a late 2008 release. Apologies for the errant information."

Good News for People who Actually Like Final Fantasy!

Gunraidan

its sort of a releif sort of not. i dont forsee myself buying a ps3 anytime soon, and thats saying a lot from someone who wanted it badly at launch. this will be the first US main final fantasy game i am not willing to buy a system for. just cannot justify the money versus the library. i am sad though :(OneWingedAngeI

I see what you mean. I'm getting a PS3 but mainly for the Blu-Ray player for my soon to be HDTV. The only current gen console I own is the Wii, so I also decided to get it for the multiplats I'd be missing such as Resident Evil 5, and for some of the exclusives mainly being Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Disgaea 3, Shin Megami Tensei Series, and Zone of the Enders 3.

"Update: Our worries may be without reason -- it seems Siliconera's initial story was the result of a mistranslation. According to dedicated fansite ff-xiii.net, Impress Group's recap of the fiscal meeting simply states that development of the White Engine is not stagnant. So, you may resume hoping for a late 2008 release. Apologies for the errant information."

Good News for People who Actually Like Final Fantasy!

Gunraidan

Really not much better here lol.

Vader: My Guess is Versus will come 6 to 12months after FFXIII...Thats not pretty at all.

Clearly opinions differ, but I need to see more gameplay footage before I can get excited about FF13. Generally speaking, I enjoy the mainline FF games (I am one of the minority who enjoy FFX-2) but the combat systems differ so radically from game to game I can't really get excited about an FF sight unseen (cinemas don't count). Right now the next big rpgs on my radar are White Knight Story and Infinite Undiscovery (both of which have shown gameplay-ish footage and are from extremely talented developers).

Also, I've got no problem with guys taking the time they need to polish a game. This Christmas there have been too promising games that have suffered from the type of problems that could have been cleaned up in playtesting because developers/publishers felt a deep need to get them out the door.

July 2009 Japan, November 2009 US and probably Feb 2010 for the rest of the world.

Yep, that sounds about right.

Next gen development is so great! I'll wait for more information as to what this all means. GS will surely add it to rumor control with some actual journalistic resources behind it.

But if this is true, I wonder if it will have any effect on Lost Odyssey ...