Aussie gamers wait til '07 for FFXII

SYDNEY--Square Enix fans in Australia are used to waiting months longer than Japanese and US gamers to get their hands on the publisher's latest titles. Now with the highly anticipated Final Fantasy XII, it's going to be same-old, same-old for gamers down under.

While Final Fantasy XII for the PlayStation 2 will be released in the US at the end of October (after having been available in Japan since March), Australian retailers won't receive the game until early 2007. Ubisoft is distributing the title down under and has confirmed that Final Fantasy XII will be released in Australia, New Zealand, France, Belgium, and the Nordic territories including Iceland no sooner than next year. Ubisoft did not disclose a specific date.

Ubisoft is also distributing the PS2 title Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII in Australia. Dirge of Cerberus was released in the US in August. An Ubisoft spokesman told GameSpot Australia that Dirge of Cerberus, which follows the adventures of Final Fantasy VII character Vincent Valentine, is set for release locally in mid-November of this year.

The last Square Enix game Australians waited months for was Kingdom Hearts II. The Disney-infused role-playing game was released here on September 28, which followed the US release by six months and the Japan release, in December of 2005, by almost a year.