TGS 2003: Square Enix announces Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

At a second press conference today Square Enix announced a new twist on an old favorite with Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, an original CG movie using characters from the franchise's first appearance on Sony hardware. The announcement put to rest the months of speculation on a remake of Final Fantasy VII with the revelation that Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children would revisit the characters from the classic game. A brief clip of the movie was shown that gave glimpses of Cloud's and Sephiroth's new look and the high level of detail going into the CG. At present, the movie is expected to run roughly 60 minutes. How it will be distributed and what the final incarnation of it will be remains to be seen, since Square reps at the conference didn't provide many specific details. During a Q&A session following the presentation of the movie clip, the subject of a proper Final Fantasy VII remake was brought up. Those involved with Advent Children stated that if the original FFVII wasn't playable on current hardware, remaking FFVII would be something they would consider. However, with the backward compatibility of the PlayStation 2, it is still possible to do so, which lowers the need for such a project. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children is tentatively slated for a summer 2004 release.