Gametrailers released two new trailers from Dengeki Online today.

The thing that stunned me most was the one for Versus XIII:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/29006.html

Now, it's BASICALLY the same footage, with some awesome additional footage added (more KH / Advent Children ridiculous gravity-defying shit). But the big deal is this awesome Operatic vocal track. I LOVE it. It's Shimomura at her best (assuming she worked this theme together).

The FFXIII trailer shows the other protagonist, and it also includes bits of new music alongside the killer trailer music we heard from Hamauzu last time.

You'll want to check these out. I read in the comments under the Versus XIII trailer that, the day these two trailers were released in Japan, 90,000 PS3s sold.

These games are going to be what make the PS3 hot, much like how FF7 made the PS1 hot.

Drooling fanboy, you say? I probably am. F*ck the cynics, I'm gonna enjoy the hype.

Ramza

The trailer they played in the closed theater at the Tokyo Game Show was twice as long.  There is some really excellent orchestral Shimomura on display there.  I'm stoked to see her have her first darker-themed soundtrack since the days of Parasite Eve and Front Mission.

Yeah, I'm still mostly looking forward to the Versus soundtrack more than anything.  It is very unlikely I will be able to afford a PS3 before the 60 gigs sell out everywhere, so there's no point getting excited about the games themselves.

Also are we ever going to see gameplay trailers?  They've been adding little tiny shreds to the end of the same trailers for... is it literally years now?  Come on, guys, give the fans something more substantial.  And while you're at it, those of us still frothing over The Crystal Bearers could stand to be thrown a bone too.

Don't know if this is true or not, but I read somewhere that this one is stuck in development hell at the moment.

Yeah, I say.  :-)

The operatic music is cool.  That's about it.  The only all-new (read: non-remade) Squenix game I found worth playing in the last six years was Dragon Quest VIII.  I would love for them to turn it around and start making enjoyable new games again, but I just don't see it happenning.  Sorry.

loving everything about FF XIII. the look, the music, the pace of everything.

this might be the last chance square enix is getting from me. after the heavy dissapointment of FF XII and all the other lifeless production line-crap, im betting everything on this one.

thanks.

Excellent.  Nothing would please me more than being able to purchase a nice multi-disc dark soundtrack by Shimomura.  That operatic track starts off sounding like Dearly Beloved and then gets right into the darkness that is Parasite Eve.  What she did on PE still amazes me to this day.  How someone can compose that and Super Mario RPG is beyond me.  Maybe she'll use FFvsXIII as an outlet for her rage.  She's gotta have a lot of rage built up after being forced to compose all those cutesy Kingdom Hearts tracks for years and years.

Oh yeah.. and the game looks pretty sexy too.  *dusts off PS3*

-Mike

Yeah, the origin of that was the most recent EGM rumor section.  They're kind of hit or miss, but it's not a difficult guess to make the way Square's been handling PR on that game.

Also, I strongly disagree on your appraisal of current Square.  If anything, it's their fans that are the problem.  They make big changes to the typical RPG "thing" and make what is the most brilliant RPG to come out from any company in years in FFXII and, while it was critically acclaimed, all the internet fanboys cried foul because it was different.  Then look at Japanese sales - they attempt a completely new IP for the DS in Subarashiki Kono Sekai and nobody buys it at all.  It's no damn wonder that they keep doing what they're doing when something like that sells barely any copies and a crappy 3rd person shooter spinoff of FF7 starring Vincent sells hundreds of thousands of copies.

I fixed up your quote for accuracy. At least from what I've seen. Most of the complaints I've read about FFXII stem from people thinking it's not enjoyable on its' own or feeling disconnected from the main cast, not how "different" it is.

I find XLord's assessment pretty accurate. I've pretty much left Square for dead, as they haven't made anything noteworthy to me since FFX and that was a "love-hate" thing that ended up on the positive side (although Aeris DID look hot in a couple Crisis Core screenshots, so I can't say this didn't make anything noteworthy). Their flagrant franchise-mongering just smells of desperation, as it has for years. And after HEARING what is associated with Subarashiki Kono Sekai, I fully understand why the game would sell like shit. Who wants to have to play a DS game with it almost mandatory to have the sound off?

As far as I'm concerned, Square stopped making games about six years ago.

I definitely agree with your statement. To mention another new IP, Code Age was an absolute disaster in Japan in terms of sales. This encourages SQEX to rely more heavily on well-known franchises. I wonder if they really have faith in their upcoming PS3/Xbox 360 game, The Last Remnant... Because of this doubt, one could say they don't even try to spend a lot of money in creating challenging new IPs.

In a recent interview, SQEX president Yoichi Wada said original titles generated 40% of the company's profits. He also said many fans asked for more remakes and sequels. RPG Fan reports it as such: "while the company was trying to further reduce its dependence on these franchises, he remarked people kept asking about new installments of either series." (Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest)

At the same time, some pre-established IPs may be in trouble as of now. For example, the new Crystal Chronicles for DS, Ring of Fates, sold less than 400.000 copies in Japan, while Final Fantasy Tactics A2 sold around 260.000 copies. It is quite surprising, since DS is extremely popular in Japan -- FFIII remake and Dragon Quest Monsters sold more than 1 million copies. Subarashiki kono sekai sold 200.000 copies, that is to say a bit less than FFTA2...

About Subarashiki, or The World Ends With You, since this is its US/PAL name, I have to say I find it really nice to have fresh games like this, set in a completely different world than what one would expect from SQEX. Having played the beginning of the Japanese version, I also have to say graphics and soundtrack really work very well together. I happen to enjoy the soundtrack very much, it has some good and catchy music. I've seen many positive opinions about both game and soundtrack, and the announcement of the game's release in Europe triggered enthusiastic reactions, so I am really surprised to witness such vehemence. I won't say more about this.

Finally, concerning FFXII, it is clear that this is an excellent game, since I tend to rely more on critics than players, especially when these players are fans. I think critics are more objective. They judged the game for what it is, that is to say an extremely refined and exhaustive RPG that offers a great freedom to the player. Fans, on the other side, tend to compare FFXII with previous entries in the series, and also want the game to be their own way, refusing all signs of change -- especially when this change affects the way story is told. Another problem is that FFXII is clearly not as easy to understand as other entries such as FFX, making it a hardcore gamer title like Vagrant Story. Its scenario was criticized for lack of depths, which is quite unbelievable since I think it is wonderfully crafted and expresses several interesting themes.

Code Age Commanders was also a mind-product of Akitoshi Kawazu, a man many RPG fans feel has no right to be alive, much less employed as a game developer at SE.

I tend to trust players a lot more than critics, because they have a lot less to gain by enjoying the game and nothing to lose (except their $50) by pointing out flaws or simply that they didn't enjoy the game. Hopefully you can tell what I'm implying here...I'm not surprised at all by any positive critical reception of FFXII because no critic in their right mind would badmouth the game (similar to Chrono Cross or even FFVIII when it first came out). The fanboy backlash and loss of ad revenue would be a disaster. Everyone keeps a smile, everyone shows up on time, everyone plays the game, everyone goes home happy...I'd rather listen to the dissenters because maybe some of them make good points. It's not "clear" it's a good game by any stretch of the imagination.

With all due respect to you and Joe, I think it's absolutely silly to blame the "players" for voicing dissent over a game the both of you think is brilliant or to jump to the idiotic conclusion that people who don't like the game don't like it because its' different. I find it hard to believe it would be that universal (although true in some cases).

Can someone tell me what Code Age is like? I heard the OST and thought it was just ok, but I don't know anything about the game.

Likewise. I'm a big fan of anything Kawazu.

Code Age Commanders is a PS2 Action-RPG set in a futuristic post-apocalyptic world, hence Tanioka's electronic soundtrack. Kawazu is only executive producer, the game is mostly influenced by producer Yusuke Naora -- FFVII, VIII, X art director -- and director/character designer Toshiyuki Itahana of Crystal Chronicles fame. The game sold 40.000 copies the first week. As I said, a complete disaster. It was quite nice though, despite its strange gameplay.

To answer you GoldfishX, indeed I respect players, but what I wanted to allude to was the fact that many express their dislike in a very rude manner. Words like "shit" and "crap" pop up very easily, and this is a shame. It is not really interesting to read such comments. Of course, praise can also be uninteresting. Most of the time, critics are more explicit than players.

With all due respect to you, then, my saying that is based on the majority of comments I've seen on the game focusing on changes made to the battle system, the game not seeming like an FF game, etc..  If I actually regularly saw people complaining about things like the characters, maybe I'd feel differently.  It just seems like a lot of people didn't give it a chance.  I know I was leery about it at first, but a few hours totally changed my mind.

Oh, and gotta love anyone who quotes someone and changes it to reflect their opinion as fact.  How NeoGAF of you. 

Edit:  ANYWAY, I ought to point out that whether or not people LIKE FFXII is irrelevant to what I'm trying to say.  They can feel free to like or hate Square's games, but I think it's a disservice to a lot of talented people who work there to flat-out dismiss the company as crap just because one doesn't like the direction that they've gone.  And frankly, ignoring the "polymorphic content" stuff, they REALLY aren't that different of a company than they used to be.  Hate Kingdom Hearts for selling out to something more popular and making an easy RPG mostly aimed at kids?  Super Mario RPG says hi.  Whoring out the Final Fantasy name?  I seem to remember Mystic Quest and Seiken Densetsu.  Remakes/ports aplenty?  Try the Wonderswan.  Too new for ya?  FFI+II rereleased together on one Famicom cartridge.

Consider this - most of us here were kids back when the "classic" Square games were coming out.  Isn't it more likely that we've changed than they have?  With gamers these days being more interested in jumping online and spending more time trashing games they've never played than they do actually playing them, I'd hate to see what kind of stuff would get said about things like FF6 or Chrono Trigger.

I didn't change anything as far as fact goes. Um, WAS there any "fact" in there to begin with? It's not as if I made any magically appear. I changed it to reflect my findings and personal experience.

Eh, whatever...Hopefully you can tell my point still stands that it's really childish to place blame on the players, since that's who the game is made for. Besides, obviously many people bought the game, so it's not as if it's struggling along, so I REALLY don't get where that comes from. Leave that to the producers, developers and PR people, who have to come up with reasons why people don't dig what they put out...You know, the people whose jobs are actually on the line if their shit doesn't sell as well as it's supposed to.

Edit (leik, wut?): Joe, if you can sit there and honestly tell me Mystic Quest or a double cart of FF1 and 2 was anywhere close to what those idiots are doing with the brand name now...Man, I just don't know what to say to you other than take a good count of how many games with the FF name have come out in the last six years. Especially considering the important people responsible for the franchise are long gone (read: Sakaguchi and Uematsu).

And no...Mario RPG was a different set of circumstances than KH. There's no way you can even possibly begin to compare Disney's drawing power with Mario's (especially back in 1996). And I don't recall a game-breaking, spazztastic camera in Mario RPG either.

GoldfishX, what I'm trying to say about the fans is that they're essentially the reason that we're getting a ton more remakes and brand whorage these days.  The moment Square tries to do anything different, there's a huge amount of backlash, whether it be immediately in sales or resulting in lower sales from word of mouth.  It's no wonder they're sticking with things that you don't like.  Honestly, no matter how good FF13 might turn out, can you honestly say you think that an FF7 remake wouldn't sell better?

And as far as audiences go, I think Mario RPG to Kingdom Hearts is an apt comparison for drawing power, ESPECIALLY considering when the game came out.  Who with a SNES at that time didn't love Mario?  Heck, I knew a lot more non-RPG fans who bought that game because of Mario than I know Disney fans who bought KH because of Disney.

But.... but... you forgot about the game-breaking, spazztastic jumping controls! 

In a sense, I agree...As repulsive as FFX-2 was when it came out, a lot of people bought it and an FF7 remake would definitely sell. On the same hand, I don't think you can make the connection between the quality of XII and people wanting the "same old same old" as easily as you make it out to be. I thought it played like shit and looks terribly unappealing, regardless of what else I like.

In any case, this doesn't excuse the NUMBER of games coming out...I almost lost my lunch when I heard not one, but 3 FFXIII's were coming out. Say what you want...That's not artistic integrity, that's just plain old milking right there. As is this whole "Compilation of FFVII". Combined with the remakes, combined with the rehashes, combined with the amount of games I simply don't like or care about...Yeah, can you blame me for thinking of Square as a bunch of capitalist pigs?

And how many kids WITHOUT an NES/SNES knew about the various Disney franchises? Everyone in Middle School knew the Little Mermaid and Aladdin, but SNES owners were few and far between. Plus, Disney had 1 or 2 entire generations ahead of Mario. And did Mario RPG receive anywhere near the hype that either KH did? I think not.

Like I said...You can't compare the two.

I think you can't compare the two simply because Super Mario RPG is the far superior game.  Kingdom Hearts had a number of shallow, half-baked elements (button mashing combat, gummi ship, etc) and it relied greatly on a nice presentation to achieve success.  Super Mario RPG on the other hand is incredibly well-designed, varied, and just plain great.  It was an amazing marriage of platforming and RPGing, taking the Landstalker approach and giving it that unbeatable Square polish of the late SNES era.  If the isometric perspective is difficult for some folks to get accustomed to, it's not something to be blamed on the jumping controls, which are solid.

the discussion about anything besides the music should have ended at this post because nothing anyone else says will ever provoke so much wonder about the taste of gamers

Dais, I love you.

Uhh... I was talking about Kingdom Hearts with the jumping comment.  KH is really a guilty pleasure at best for me - I play them and enjoy them like I enjoy bad movies - I was merely comparing the initial concepts, not the final results.  I still stand by that, because both were video games and both sold to people who owned video game systems - the Disney franchises are obviously a bigger name, but it's not like that drew an enormous amount of people into buying a Playstation 2 who wouldn't have otherwise done so.  They were still selling a game to video gamers.

To clear any confusion, I'm not all that happy with the direction Square's going these days either.  I just think a lot of people write them off without actually giving any of their stuff a chance.  Making assumptions based on the work of some of the company's teams and looking at message board rants without actually trying things isn't a very fair way to make an appraisal (nor is simply listening to a game's soundtrack - by all accounts if that's the criteria by which a game is good, Mystic Quest ought to have been amazing).

To GoldfishX, just forget about the FFXII comparison, as you not liking it and me liking it really have nothing to do with what I'm actually saying here.  KujaFFman brought up Code Age, which is a far better example anyway of why I think Square is doing what it's doing these days.  Based on sales figures, fans want rehashes and franchises.  Those are what sell.  They vote with their dollars.  THAT is all I was trying to say.  I'm frankly not sure how you can argue that it isn't the fans who are responsible for Square's current direction, whether you think that direction is good or bad.

Whether you agree with me or not, I'm done arguing, and certainly not continuing it if it strays away from that point.  For that matter this thread has strayed from its original subject far enough, so I'll just say that I'm still holding my belief that the best thing to come out of this FF13 mess is going to be the Versus soundtrack.  I've always wondered how great the Parasite Eve stuff would sound if it used real voice instead of the horrible, unlistenable cheesy synth thing that's in the OST.  Maybe this will have a fair bit of that, so I'm pretty excited!

Matsuno Yasuno's FFXII is when Final Fantasy grew up--boldly evident in it's art direction, but most conspicuously in it's narrative.  It was a narrative flushed with florid, even occasionally literate, dialogue, a story arc concerned with political intrigue and worldly repercussions rather than the vanity of a girl-boy-girl love triangle, and a manner of characterization and direction that placed greater value in nuances of expressiveness rather than the gauche, teenage bravado and superficiality of Tidus, Cloud, Squall, or any of their similar spawn.  A Final Fantasy without Matsuno (FF Tactics, Vagrant Story, or FFXII) is akin to a Jerry Bruckheimer production but with a Dawson's Creek ethos slathered in, very thickly. 

While FFXII eschewed the teenage melodrama and ungainly storytelling of recent and past Final Fantasies, it also melded the best in western and Japanese RPGs and did away with long outmoded mainstays and annoyances in both: no more random battles or time wasting end-battle EXP/gil summary screens; seamless integration of exploration and battle modes creating an amplified sense of immersion; a choice to micro- or macro-manage battles allowing for leisurely or frantic fighting via the Gambit system; the creative synthesis of single player RPG and MMORPG mechanics; a 3D camera control allowing for full view of Ivalice's grandeur, again adding to the immense sense of immersion; a strong female lead (Ashe is inarguably the lead) who is neither feeble nor whiny nor a submissive stereotype; locales (especially the metropolises) that felt alive with the denizens and not a static contrivance of NPCs.  The innovations, evolution, and discarded conventions are considerable.  FFXII is not without its faults, even though it's one of only six games to get a perfect rating in Famitsu (not that Famitsu still holds value for everyone), but it does represent the first time Final Fantasy can be considered entertainment for more than mostly kids and teenagers.  Along with games like FF Tactics, Ico, Bioshock, and Half Life 2, FFXII is one of those rare times where a video game has a story to tell that won't make you blush too much.  It's not on par with finer cinema or literature, very far from it, but at least it displays an ambition to get there someday.

(And here's a decent summation by 1Up's Jeremy Parish of why FFXII "is easily the best in the series": http://www.toastyfrog.com/toastywiki/in … FantasyXII )

Qui-Gon Joe and KujaFFMan, those who dislike FFXII are likely to enjoy FFXIII.  It's a return to the maturity level before Matsuo came in; a return to the cliches of a vapid but sullen hero with an elemental name (Lightning meet Cloud) and a farcically huge sword, zippered sportswear and asexual garments, and--because of the staff involved--a story that might rival FF7-10 in it's attempt to perfectly mirror a Ben Affleck summer blockbuster with inconsequential love interest and inconsequential ass kicking of inconsequential baddies who are equally as vapid as the hero and his love interest. 

And yet inspite all that, I am completely hyped for FFXIII.  FFXII's art director, Kamikokuyrou Isamu, is XIII's art director and as the trailer's have revealed, Isamu's breathtaking baroque aesthetic seems to have tempered the plastic, futuristic-sacharinity and over-simplicity of everything that Nomura Tetsuya touches--ostensibly the character designs are still very Nomura.  The worlds the trailer briefly unveils looks like something I wish to immerse myself in. The music sounds as captivating, though not as ornate, as Sakimoto's FFXII score.  So while my expectations for the direction, story, dialogue, and voice acting remain low, the art direction, music, and gameplay adequately retains my considerable interest and excitement.

The tune in the FFVersusXIII while competent does sound a bit like a poor man's opera--watered down for an audience that doesn't know of Bellini or Puccini.  The game itself looks dreadfully Nomura.  If FFXII is an indictment of the maturity level of previous Final Fantasies and FFXIII a tearing down of the maturity level FFXII had achieved, FFVersusXIII looks to abolish all adult ambitions by winning the hearts of the demographic not quite old enough to get a driver's license--or those who enjoyed Kingdom Hearts.  I don't know if I have the patience for a main character more sullen looking than a Prozac-popper on Medicare and so exceedingly self-absorbed he wears all black cause he thinks it's slimming.

The key word in my post was "enjoyable."  I don't care that FFXII was different than previous FF games.  My problem with it is that it's simply not fun, mostly due to the battle system.  Games should be captivating, both from a gameplay standpoint and a stylistic one.  Tetsuya Nomura's cookie-cutter teen anime productions have gotten old.  Very old.  Watching the FF vs. XIII trailer, I couldn't be more bored with all the flying anime jumping nonsense.  It's tired.  Let's do something else.

As for Squenix's original games, I know Code Age sold poorly in Japan, but I don't know why.  My bet would be bad marketing.  From my perspective, Code Age looked like Squenix's attempt to clone .Hack's success.  Clearly they didn't execute properly.  I've heard so little about the actual game that I have no idea if it's supposed to be good or not, but the soundtrack was good.  It's a Wonderful World, however, I have heard mixed to negative things about the gameplay, and the soundtrack is pretty bad.

You wonder why these original games fail to sell?  Let me explain my theory.  Even though the Japanese are buying decent amounts (hundreds of thousands) of low quality franchise vomit like Dirge and Crisis Core, let's be clear that these aren't selling as well as they should be.  If these games were actually good, their franchise power combined with their quality would yield sales results similar to those of mainline FF and DQ games.  Japanese gamers, having experienced these lesser spin-offs, have to come expect the drop in quality and that affects their perception of the the Squenix brand.  In much the same way as I continue to buy the awful Mana games because of my fond memories of the series' former glory, they continue to buy these poor franchise titles out of some obligation to the series' bright spots.  However, they recognize the lower quality, and I don't think it's a stretch to say that if Squenix can't even put the effort into big franchise titles, why would they put the effort into original no-name titles.  If I'm a Japanese gamer and I know Squenix can't even get the big games right, why would I risk my yen on an original property?

Notice how Square used to have three major franchises: Final Fantasy, Seiken Densetsu, and SaGa.  Two of these have been completely destoryed by Squenix's repeated production of poor titles.  Even the Japanese ignore Mana and SaGa games these days because it's been a decade since good titles were put out in either franchise.  They replaced these with Kingdom Hearts and Dragon Quest, but there's no reason they couldn't have been kept alive if the product lines had been managed correctly.

Squenix can't expect to be able to launch successful new franchises unless it can redeem its reputation for producing quality software.  The brand's image is at risk.  And so Japanese gamers demand remakes, because they hope Squenix won't be able to screw these up as badly as new titles.

FFXII-lovers love to pull out the phrase "political intrigue" when it comes to the game. Political bore is more like it. There are games that have dealt successfully with the topic (FFT being one of them) but FFXII is mostly just a bunch of undermotivated characters stabbing each other in the back because the plot (what little there is of one) demands it of them. I appreciate that the game tried to tell a more "adult" storyline but it was all in a void. If I don't give a damn about the characters, why should I care if one nation is blowing up another nation with some shiny plot device?

I don't think FFX is a perfect game by ANY measure of the imagination but at least the characters have some personality.

Come to think of it, I don't think there's a Square-Enix game I've enjoyed since FFX. That doesn't especially bode well for FFXIII (which I'll probably never play given the console).

I'll agree with you there. That piece doesn't sound one whit like opera. More like pop with an orchestral backing. They might have been better off using "Nessun Dorma."

retracting my previous statement

Honestly, I don't think FFXII was so much a departure from the FF "Feel" so much as a return; I feel FFXII is closer to FFVI in aesthetics than any of FFVII ~ X were (wait, was there an FFXI? Huh).

I think FFVI was pretty "grown-up" but Nintendo definitely must've scaled down some of the cursing, especially for the U.S. audience; there were a few romances, but they were on the side, and they were adult romances; not silly giggly teenage/adolescent romances.

FFVII ~ X brought in a whole new fan base, and probably more revenue than any of the previous installations in the series.

Square-Enix had pretty much sold out to what is otherwise an MTV crowd; teenagers and adolescents concerned with their vanity and relationships more than anything, other than "Big Picture" stuff, like politics.

That said, I believe FFXII was a step in the right direction, and I'm pretty optimistic about FFXIII.

For that matter, I'm looking forward to Last Remnant.

Just wish I could see Code Age Commanders, after hearing the soundtrack. And I'd like to see Front Mission V, as well.

I guess I ought to get a PS3 now, while the getting's good? I mean, I got the money...

Hmm, should I go for 40GB or 60GB?

Kawazu --- besides being responsible for several of the best RPGs of all time, but never mind that --- had no creative involvement with Code Age anyway.  The lead designer was Kazuhiko Aoki (incidentally one of the first few developers at Square, about which more below).

The "everyone at Square from the old days has left" meme is greatly exaggerated.  For instance, the design team from FF1 and 2 consisted of Sakaguchi (gone), Kawazu (still there), Hiromichi Tanaka (still there, in charge of FF11 and the FF3 DS remake) and Koichi Ishii (still there, in charge of Mana series).  For 3, Kawazu left to do the SaGa series and was replaced by Kazuhiko Aoki (still there, was in charge of Crystal Chronicles and Code Age).  For 4, Tanaka and Ishii left to do Secret of Mana and were replaced by Takashi Tokita (still there, in charge of the DS FF4 remake), Yasushi Matsumura (still there, recently worked on Crystal Chronicles and Code Age), Hiroyuki Ito (still there, worked on FF12 and FF4 DS), and Akihiko Matsui (still there, working on FF11).  That's 8 out of 9 members of the planning staff for the first four FF games who are still at SE.

It's interesting you mention that because Mana and SaGa are two series that have always been and still are closely controlled by their original creators, unlike FF, and the fan rejection you describe (which isn't that total --- Romancing Saga Minstrel Song which though a "remake" was about 70% new content was well received and sold over half a million copies) probably has a lot more to do with the creative direction chosen by those series creators than any choices made by SE management.  So people are discontented with the FF series and blame it on the original director being gone (although the rest of the design team is mostly still there) but with Mana and SaGa it's blamed on the original directors still being in control (though at least in Mana's case the rest of the design team is mostly different at this point).

For a game that isn't out yet for a long time, maybe even 2 years? For Last Remnant, you could get an 360 if you don't have one already.

Seeing what a mess 2007 was for all the different PS3 SKUs, there's bound to be several in 2008 as well. Maybe you'll get a 120 gig with hardware BC for $399, and maybe they'll cut the prices down by $100 again, making 40 gig $299 or something. Basically, unless you really really care about hardware BC, you're better off waiting. If you don't have a PS2, get a PS2. If you really really want a PS3 with hardware BC, get the 60 gig and nothing else (except maybe the discontinued into oblivion 20 gig), because the other models don't have hardware BC.

In short, now's not the time to get a PS3 unless you really want a 60 gig (and even that investment may prove unsatisfactory later on).

By BC, I take it that would mean "Backwards Compatibility?" And yes, I already have a PS2...since the past 6 years or so (since 2001).

The prospects of getting a next gen console, along with some new games, is exciting for me, especially in the case of Wii and XBox 30, and if FFXIII is going to be released on the PS3 in the U.S.

So, I guess we're looking at late 2008, early 2009 for FFXIII, eh?

BackCompat, yeah. Guess you might not need that if you keep your PS2 around. However, the 20 and 40 gigs are variably missing other features as well like wifi and memory card slots.

I'm seeing a lot of Japan: 2009 for FFXIII, and I'm guessing it might be autumn or holidays 2009 for the English version.

That's a long wait, and those looking for the next Final Fantasy fix might want to turn to games like FFXII Revenant Wings, FFIV DS, Crisis Core and FF Crystal Bearers for Wii, or maybe even Lost Odyssey.