japan

Just the sum of its parts... The following review was written by fluent Japanese-speaking veteran games journalist Ryan Winterhalter. So firstly, if you're thinking of importing a copy, in his words, here's what you need to consider: We remember the first time we had doubts that Final...

I posted up a thread around a week ago about the countdown event in Shibuya Tsutaya, where the theme song singer Sayuri Sugawara, would be giving a live performance of the song. She was accompanied by Yoichi Wada and Yoshinori Kitase as expected as well as Ai Takahashi and Maomi Yuki...

The boss of Square Enix says that the Japanese attitude to Western games in unfair Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada has (not for the first time) levelled some harsh criticism at the Japanese games market, stating that Japanese gamers still harbour an unfair bias against Western-developed titles...

With the highly anticipated game, Final Fantasy XIII, preparing to take Japan by storm, even though it's 2 weeks today (17.12.09) until the title comes out, Tokyo's Akihabara stores are preparing themselves for a mass frenzy! Source: Akihabara

Square’s been showing the first TV commercials for Final Fantasy XIII before it’s Japanese release in a couple of weeks on December 17. The first one only mostly shows stuff from the recent trailer last week, while the second ad shows a teacher telling his class he will be taking a period of...

Final Fantasy XIII fans expecting post-launch DLC could be in for a disappointment, if comments made by Square Enix producer Yoshinori Kitase are anything to go by. Speaking to CVG in a recent interview, Kitase told us: "Unfortunately, it has been decided that no DL contents will be available...

Once again, Tokyo Game Show plays host to a panel featuring the heads of the largest Japanese gaming companies. This year's panel entitled "Strategies and Visions of Top Makers in the Global Era" featured, from left, moderator Asami, Capcom's Haruhiro Tsujimoto, Konami's Kazumi Kitaue, Square's...

During their press conference at the Tokyo Game Show, Sony revealed that Final Fantasy VIII is now available to download on the Japanese Playstation Store. The classic RPG was first released on the Playstation in 1999. It will be joining Final Fantasy VII as a digital download for the...

Enterbrain boss Hamamura Hirokazu has told the Japanese press that he expects December’s release of FFXIII to result in the sale of 500,000 PS3 consoles in Japan. That’s serious shit, Ringo. Hirokazu added that the recently announced PS3 price cut will also be a driving factor for sales...

A day before it was supposed to be announced, Square-Enix has began an online ad campaign which displays the Japanese release date for Final Fantasy XIII. It will be released on the 17th December. Users on 2ch seem fairly sure it's legitimate. Square-Enix began an ad campaign today on Youtube...

Square Enix have released a new teaser site which can only be for Activision's highly anticipated game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the teaser site shows a giant "2" which is can be seen on the gamecover of MW2 and if that's not enough to convince you, Activision's trademark is also credited...

Vagrant Story can now be downloaded on the Japanese Playstation Store of the PSP and Playstation 3. The classic RPG is one of the few prestigious titles to receive a perfect score of 40/40 by popular Japanese magazine, Famitsu. There is no current news on whether the title will be released on...

Dragon Quest IX has been nothing but a catalogue of errors for Square Enix, as the game was initially planned for release in 2007. Despite this, here we are in mid-2009 and the game still hasn't been released. Most recently, the game was officially penned in for the 28th of March, 2009, after...

anctuary, the long awaited second album from The Star Onions, was released today in Japan. Unlike the original album, which featured 10, Sanctuary features 11 tracks that have been arranged from the various Final Fantasy XI soundtracks that have been produced throughout the game's duration...

Square Enix announced today that their second game for Nintendo's DSiWare service will be Dragon Quest Wars. The Dragon Quest series is massively popular in Japan, with the main series entries selling over one million units easily, sometimes even more than four million. Dragon Quest Wars is...

Following the release of Final Fantasy VII on the PlayStation Network in Japan, Square Enix has decided to follow that up with Final Fantasy Tactics. Tactics is considered a classic amongst many Final Fantasy fans, and there have been a few spin-offs from the original PlayStation One version...

Yoshinori Kitase, producer on the hotly anticipated Final Fantasy XIII, has told VideoGamer.com that Square Enix has no plans to release a Blu-ray demo of the game outside of Japan. A Blu-ray demo of the game was bundled with the release of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete in Japan...