A new crystal chronicles bundle will be released on the day of the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles release. Inside is a limited edition crystal white gamecube and some other accessories. Another news is the release of 3 Final Fantasy X-2 vocal collections. Each one will include 2 new songs for each voice actresses.

Final Fantasy XI is due to come out in NA during late 2003 for the pc version. The ps2 version will come out a bit later in early 2004 with the HDD for NA ps2s also.. The NA release of Final Fantasy XI will include the recent expansion that was out in Japan. Final Fantasy X-2 is also due to come out late 2003 around September.

Square-Enix's character designer Tetsuya Nomura spoke on the Japanese magazine Dorigma. He specifically talked about possible sequels to other Final Fantasy series, and Kingdom Hearts. Nomura said that there has been no current deal struck with Disney at the time for a sequel to Kingdom Hearts.

As for Final Fantasy VII, Nomura said it would be very unlikely. Final Fantasy X-2 was easy to produce because it was built off the engine of Final Fantasy X. To make a sequel to FFVII would require building completely new materials which would be too time consuming. The chances of an FFVII sequel coming out is unrealistic.

Holy cow, what's this? Is it a new air conditioner? A new radiator? A New turbine? Oh wait no, that's just Nvidias NV35. It's Nvidias solution to beat ATIs best graphics card. The NV35 uses the same chip as the NV30, but it uses DDR memory instead of the NV30's DDR2 memory. Now you may say, "wow this is awesome, I think I'll spend my monthly minimum wage paycheck on this." Well hold up, we haven't heard from ATI yet. I'm sure ATI will release something even better than Nvidia, but just a little bit later than May. I say hold on and wait till ATI releases some news on their rumoured ATI Radeon 10000.

The race is on again for the fastest graphics card, and from my point of view, it looks like Nvidia is losing. There is one thing Nvidia has up their sleeves though, and its the only thing that persuades people that don't know what the words "graphics card" mean buy Nvidias cards. Nvidia has advertised on practically anything possible. People that don't care for peak performance just buys Nvidia, but anyone that has half a brain know that currently, ATI is holding the crown for the most powerful graphics card. Just take a look around you, you'll start noticing all those Nvidia logos in game magazines, popular games like UT2k3, and sadly ffxi.
 

As all of you know, most of us would like the Final Fantasy series to stay on the PlayStation 2 despite it's Nintendo origins. This may or may or may not change in the future.

Microsoft is going under great lengths to win the console wars. With Microsoft's almost unlimited budget, they could buy out game companies like plucking cherries from a tree. Rumours are starting to spread that Microsoft is trying to take place in a bid for Sega. Plus, Microsoft purchased Rare, another renown company. This only shows how much Microsoft is willing to invest in order to win the console wars.

The key ingredient for an ideal console is the exclusive games. Fortunately, Sony has Square-Enix on their side so the Final Fantasy series is still exclusive to the ps2. Some would say that Final Fantasy may very well be the life stream for the ps2. Will Final Fantasy still stay with Sony in the future, or will it go with Microsoft? It's hard to say right now.
 

On May 15th, the ps2 will get a whole separate release. For now, the new releases of the ps2 will only be available in Japan for a hefty price of 25,000 yens. The new release of the ps2 will NOT effect the quality of any gameplay. This new version of the ps2 will include DVD playback enhancements, plus a progressive scan support and a significant reduction in fan noise through new design and improved airflow. This new version will go under the code SCPH-50000.

Another version, the SCPH-10420, will include all those DVD enhancements, plus a power switch. It also comes with a remote control for DVD playback, and built in IR receiver unit.

Both these versions of the ps2 will also support DVD-R and DVD-RW, but won't support DVD-RAM playback. The only loss to these improvements is the i-Link firewire port.

Final Fantasy XI North American beta has officially started on 4/11/03 near midnight pacific time. Sign up now!

Square Enix has revealed their new logo! Personally, I don't think its better than square's old logo or enix's old logo, but its still better than nothing.