Square Enix planning FFVII spin-off?

TOKYO--Following the announcement of a computer-generated movie and mobile online game, Square Enix will continue to expand its Final Fantasy VII Compilation project, a new line of products based on the immensely popular Final Fantasy VII.

According to VJump magazine, Square Enix will announce a major game that features Final Fantasy VII’s Vincent in the near future. A promotional statement in the magazine reads, "Another intense title will be joining the Final Fantasy VII project!" This is followed by a sentence underneath that reads, "That character is going to appear in a soon to be announced major title!" Alongisde the two statements is a silhouette of Vincent, a major character from Final Fantasy VII. While Square Enix has yet to release any details on the game, some speculate that--because it is a part of the Final Fantasy VII Compilation--the game will be a spin-off of Final Fantasy VII.

Launched earlier this month, the Final Fantasy VII Compilation aims to capitalize on the success of Final Fantasy VII by releasing new games and products based on the hit role-playing game. Three products have been announced as part of the project so far: the CG movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Childen, which will be released on DVD and the PSP’s UMD format; Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII, an online game for mobile phones; and a mobile phone from Panasonic, called the "Cloud Black" P900iV model (pictured). The phone, which is already available for retail purchase in Japan, will be used by the main character, Cloud, during the Advent Children film. It comes with pre-installed animated avatars of Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith. These avatars can be used when talking to other mobile phone users.

In an interview in The PlayStation 2 magazine in Japan, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children producer Yoshinori Kitase explained the reason behind launching the Final Fantasy VII Compilation project and what to expect from it in the future. "Final Fantasy VII was popular to begin with, and it still gets support from fans both inside and outside of Japan. As creators, we have a special fondness for the game, since it was our first Final Fantasy title on the PlayStation," commented Kitase in the interview.

"The worldview of FFVII is unique when compared to the rest of the [FF] series, and there's a lot that can't be explained about the characters by just FFVII alone," continued Kitase. "We created the Final Fantasy VII Compilation project as a way to expand on FFVII and its worldview. [Tetsuya] Nomura and I have a lot of ideas, but they're very rough. We don't know if any of the ideas will be turned into products, but we hope to be outgoing in doing so. We have to be prudent about making a game sequel [to FFVII], but we hope to take various approaches."