Square Acquires Quest at Thursday 20th June, 2002 by Mako
After purchasing the rights of the Ogre Battle series, Squaresoft has bought the development team Quest. The team behind games such as Tactics Ogre and Ogre Battle 64, will be reunited with the series creator, Yasumi Matsuno, who joined up Square a few years ago.With Square announcing that they will try and branch out new and current franchises and the fact that the Ogre team is back together, there is much speculation that there will be an Ogre Battle published by Square in the future.


FFXI shut down at Sunday 16th June, 2002 by Mako
Squaresoft had to shut down Final Fantasy XI's game servers this Tuesday in order to make software upgrades. The changes will improve graphics and add modifications to treasure hunting systems among other things.

Unfortunately these changes will force current FFXI players to somewhat modify thier player accounts.


Beta Testers Needed at Sunday 16th June, 2002 by Mako
Squaresoft will be accepting applications from people interested in being a beta tester for the PC version of Final Fantasy XI. Applications will accepted as of June 17th and testing will begin on August 18, 2002.


Square Forced to Make Limited Shipments of FFXI at Tuesday 11th June, 2002 by Mako
Due to the fact that the PS2 network adapters (which is needed to play onine PS2 games) are sold out now. This initially forced Squaresoft to halt shipments of the game but now are shipping the games in limited amounts.
Square's PlayOnline servers host 50,000 subscribers in Japan and anticipate 300,000 by the end of 2002. Square has had problems with FFXI since it's launch and this will add to the problems.


Square's Development Plans for the Current Fiscal Year at Sunday 9th June, 2002 by Eludite
Square has shed more light on its development plans for the current fiscal year: Two RPGs as well as one action game are to be released on the Playstation 2, two gameboy advance games (one of them was the announced Final Fantasy Tactics port) and one WonderSwan Color game which is Front Mission. Squaresoft is hoping that they sell 3.6 million copies of software in Japan during the next fiscal year.


Square Sets Release Date for FFXI PC at Sunday 9th June, 2002 by Eludite
In a press release, Square announced that the PC version of their playstation 2 online RPG Final Fantasy XI will be released late into the fiscal year. Square has had problems with the play online servers after the official launch of the survice and Final Fantasy XI on May 16th, and this has cost the company between 80 and 100 million yen (which is between $643,000 and $804,000 USD) And currently there are around 50,000 registered users.


Now I Must Get a Gamecube at Thursday 6th June, 2002 by Mike
Ex-president of Nintendo, Hiroshi Yamauchi, made a few comments during an analysts meeting that makes Gamecube owners giddy and others want to be Gamecube owners.

The recent kissing and making up of two of the giants of game developing will lead to a Final Fantasy for Gamecube.

Here is the article from the Japanese newspaper, Bloomberg:
Bloomberg: Tokyo, Japan, June 6th-- President of Nintendo Co. Hiroshi Yamauchi quoted in an analysts meeting on the 6th that the software being developed for their hardware by Square's subsidiary, "Final Fantasy", will be released as early as within the year, and that it will be "a ground breaking software to the Japanese game market."

Further on, Yamauchi commented that this title which interweaves the use of both the Nintendo GameCube and GameBoy Advance is "gaining focus from the industry, since it succeeds in the difficult task of cutting down on development time and costs, while its game quality rises".


A Bible for Final Fantasy Followers? at Thursday 6th June, 2002 by Mike
Square has reported that they be releasing a 3 DVD set, titled "Final Fantasy: The Adventure Bible", that will take you behind the scenes and present background information for Final Fantasies I through X.

A Japanese release date has been set for July 25, 2002 and will go for about 13,000 yen(about $104 U.S. dollars). No word on North American or European release.


Square + Anime at Thursday 6th June, 2002 by Mike
Kingdom Hearts has currently sold over 850,000 copies in Japan. So Squaresoft is seeking to capitalize upon the success. Nothing has been decided yet, but there is a possibility of either an animated television series of a movie with Sora and company.


40 Million and Counting at Tuesday 4th June, 2002 by Mike
Our beloved Final Fantasy series has shipped over 40 million copies worldwide. Squaresoft has reported that 24.35 million has been shipped in Japan, 9.82 million in North America, and 4.85 million in Europe. The Final Fantasy series debuted in 1987 on the Super Famicon(NES).


Square Sports Soccer at Tuesday 4th June, 2002 by Mike
Soccer simulation fans, get ready, SquareSoft will soon release their first sports game for the Playstation 2(unless you count Driving Motion Type S), World Fantasista. This game will sport teams from 35 countries and supposedly character designs from the people who brought us the Final Fantasy series(Perhaps Tetsuya Nomura?). The usual Season, Exhibition, and create-a-team features will be included. This game is due to launch June 6 in Japan. No word on U.S. or European release but it's unlikely. However, unless you are a hard-core soccer fan, don't sulk. This game looks like a typical soccer sim and not anything "Square-like".


FFXI's Problems at Friday 31st May, 2002 by Mike
Despite the fact that Squaresoft spent months testing the first online Final Fantasy, "Final Fantasy XI", the game has been ridden with network problems since it opened to the public. As reported earlier, Squaresoft has decided to provide the first month free due to the glitches.
The problems that plague the PlayOnline server ranges from, users mashing the submit button too many times, users copying down their ID numbers incorrectly in a haste to play, a traffic overload on a server that was not expected, and other minor problems.


FFXI free until July at Thursday 30th May, 2002 by Mike
PlayOnline, Squaresoft's online gaming web site, has announced that Final Fantasy XI will be free of charge until July. The PlayOnline service launched May 16, but the servers have been facing moderate technical problems since then. FFXI is still playable, but there has been downtimes scheduled for maintenance.


FFX Sequel Confirmed at Thursday 30th May, 2002 by Mike
Squaresoft has finally put sometruth behind the rumors about a sequel to their latest masterpiece, Final Fantasy X. Square has confirmed the release of an untitled sequel later this year in two "versions": a "Yuna version" and a "Rikku version". The differences between the two formats have not yet been revealed.

The game will use the engine of it's predecessor and result in significantly lower production costs. Both games will involve core members of the Final Fantasy X team. This is the first game to be part of Square's new plan to expand it's marquee series into spin-offs, sequels, and sub-stories.

It has also been confirmed that Final Fantasy XII will be released next year in Japan.


Final Fantasy XI delayed for USA at Wednesday 29th May, 2002 by Vang
Since there were some problems with the registration of Final Fantasy XI in Japan, it wont come out in the USA untill 2003. This info was released by Sony at the currently going on E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo)