Posted by Zidane007nl on 7 July 2020, 23:43 - 0 comments
On this day 20 years ago, on 7 July 2000, Final Fantasy IX was released on the original PlayStation in Japan. The game returned to the roots of the Final Fantasy series with it's medieval fantasy setting (unlike Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII) and references to past Final Fantasy games.
Square Enix celebrates this with an interview with creators involved in the original development of the game: Kazuhiko Aoki (Event Design), Toshiyuki Itahana (Character Design) and Hiroyuki Ito (Director). They have split the interview into three parts and part 1 is an interview with Kazuhiko Aoki. You can read it on the official website.
In 2019 Square Enix released the Inside Final Fantasy series on YouTube . In these series a dive-in into the making of several Final Fantasy games will be shown together with interviews with the developers of the game. If you haven't watched the one about Final Fantasy IX, you can see it below.
Posted by Zidane007nl on 19 September 2018, 23:29 - 0 comments
Today Sony has announced that they will bring back the original PlayStation experience in a new miniaturised version: PlayStation Classic. This mini console is approximately 45% smaller than the original PlayStation.
The PlayStation Classic will come preloaded with 20 PlayStation titles in their original format: Jumping Flash, R4 Ridge Racer Type 4,Tekken 3, Wild Arms and Final Fantasy VII. The other 15 titles will be announced soon.
Each unit will come with two controllers and a HDMI cable and will be available for $ 99.99 / £ 89.99 / € 99.99 on 3 December 1998, 24 years after the release of the original PlayStation in Japan.
Posted by Zidane007nl on 16 April 2014, 21:35 - 0 comments
Sony Computer Entertainment has announced today that they are selling all their 9,520,000 Square Enix shares to a company called SMBC Nikko Securities. This will generate an income of 15.3 billion yen, around $ 150 million USD / € 108 million which will be marked down Sony's financial report for the year ending 31st March 2015.
Sony is lately in severe financial weather and this is a financial boost for the company. This marks the seperation of a long partnership that resulted in a strong presence of the Final Fantasy series on PlayStation hardware over the years.
What the exact reason is for the sale is unknown.
17-04 Update: Sale price was incorrect and has been updated after Sony's announcement.
