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The Nintendo DS edition might share a few similarities in visual style and in gameplay to the GameCube game of the same name, but ultimately, at least in the short playtime we had with the game at the Square Enix Party in Japan this weekend, the DS "sequel" is pretty much its own game. And that's a good thing.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates opens up with a real-time cutscene that's fully voiced-over in Japanese -- we were hoping the entire game would be spoken dialogue but once the cutscene ends and leads into more interactive environments, characters speak in text exclusively. My lack of Japanese reading ability means that the story nuances were lost in the hands-on play, but I was there mostly for the gameplay and not for the tale that the game weaves. We'll enjoy that when the US version ships later this year with a full localized translation.

After a quick tutorial of the controls from Moogle-like critters that demonstrate the game's item pick-up mechanics and its combat system, it's off to the dungeons where you'll need to strut your stuff. Early on it's nothing more that swiping swords at fox critters, showing them what for with three hit combos with a simple attack-attack-attack pattern, or attacking them from the air with jump-swipes. Holding down the attack button while in the air will activate a powerful downward stab. You can even pick up enemies and attack them from underneath, or leap on their heads and whack them while they're under your feet.

Even though the game's mainly played with the D-pad and action buttons, the touch screen comes into play not just in weapons selection, but also in special attacks. Most of the action takes place on the upper screen...but hold the R button down and the two screens swap places. Then, while this is active, tapping on an enemy that's on the touch screen will activate your special attack that, if connected properly, will knock off a bit more HP from the enemy. You'll need a good amount of special points in reserve to pull off these attacks.

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Final Fantasy Tactics for the PlayStation Portable has just hit stores in Japan, but it seems all eyes are on the in-development follow-up to the Game Boy Advance design for the Nintendo DS. Final Fantasy Tactics A2 was one of the major focuses of the Square Enix Party 2007 in Japan this weekend where dozens of systems were at the ready with demo versions for attendees to play. Since I was one of the attendees, I played. Even if it was only for a short few minutes.

Just as the name suggests, Final Fantasy Tactics A2 is the sequel to the Game Boy Advance version of the series. On quick screenshot glance it might appear that the Nintendo DS version is merely a dual-screen rendition of the GBA title, but mere seconds into the game it's clear that the visuals have received a major upgrade in the move from the old to the new portable. It's still a strictly 2D affair with sprite-based characters and backgrounds, but it's hard not to see the much sharper and more vibrant visuals in this sequel.

The early and short playtest didn't, however, show how the game's going to play differently compared to the original GBA title. The story still has a lighthearted, cartoony appeal which contrasted more sharply when played just a few feet from the PlayStation Portable Final Fantasy Tactics demo station. The snowball fight tutorial of the first game is gone in the sequel, replaced with a gargantuan bird attack where you'll learn the initial set of commands, moves, and basic nuances to this turn-based strategy game.

Many of the gameplay elements of the Game Boy Advance title -- from the job system to the judge rulings -- are employed in the Nintendo DS game. Players still have a huge assortment of characters with different attacks and abilities, and at the start of the game you'll have to choose which character in your army would be best used in the fight. Some characters have long distance attacks but stink when it comes to face-to-face encounters. And vice versa -- close range soldiers might be a solid addition to the front lines, but they'll need a few turns to get into the fight.

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This weekend I had the opportunity to play a few minutes of the first Square Enix game for the Nintendo Wii: Dragon Quest Swords. There were more than two dozen kiosks dedicated to Dragon Quest Swords at the Square Enix Party in Japan, and after a short wait in a very long line it wasn't that extensive a wait to get a bit of hands-on with the Wii adventure.

The demo began with a trek through the woods. All the action of Dragon Quest Swords is seen from the first-person viewpoint of the lead character, chosen at the start of the adventure (either male or female), and control is handled via the Wii Remote exclusively. By holding the B button down, the character will move through a rigid on-rails path through the forest. Enemies will leap in from off-screen or out from behind trees and boulders, preventing forward motion; when this happens, these enemies must be taken out before the game allows you to continue on.

In battle, the B button activates the shield -- the on-screen pointer turns into a wooden shield that will block attacks if players anticipate where the attacks are heading. So, if an archer fires an arrow at you from a distance, your character will have a premonition of where it will hit with a flashing icon before the arrow's fired. Hold the B button and point the remote to the location on the screen and the shield will block the attack. Sounds easy, but when three archers fire their arrows at the same time to three different spots on the screen, you'll need a quick hand to swipe the shield across your view to prevent getting hit.

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Kingdom Hearts wasn't represented all that well at this year's Square Enix Party here in Chiba, Japan. With Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix already out, and no officially announced titles on the way, it seemed that the Disney/Square Enix crossover would be limited to a few cosplayers and some character models in the large goods shop.

And then we managed to sneak into the Closed Mega Theater video presentation, a tradition at all Square Enix events where the latest footage for upcoming games see debut under the scrutiny of a billion "no-photography" signs and dozens of Square Enix employees with ears trained on the sound of a cell phone being opened. In between the new footage of Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Disidia (details coming soon!) was a short teaser for an all new entry in the Kingdom Hearts series!

From what we could tell, the trailer consisted of nothing more than CG footage from older titles. At the end came a promise of the mysterious new game being fully unveiled at this year's Tokyo Game Show, set for September (in the same event hall as the Square Enix Party, actually).

The existence of a new Kingdom Hearts game shouldn't come as a surprise, as producer Tetsuya Nomura hasn't been too shy with the Japanese press about the matter. But now that the game's existence has been formally announced to the world through the trailer, the real speculation can begin. What platform? Is it Kingdom Hearts III, or is it a spinoff (the latter is more likely given Nomura's previous comments). We'd suggest that you pace your message board posts on the matter, as TGS is still a few months away.

via ign ...

The slick-looking off-road racer, MotorStorm, is quickly becoming the poster child for PlayStation 3 updates. For its next official patch, slated to release on June 7, the game will add a brand new Time Attack mode that allows users to race against their own ghost in an effort to best their most efficient times.

As an added bonus, the fastest ghosts will automatically be uploaded to the global leaderboards so that others can compete against them. Additionally, phantom opponents aren't limited to just one -- in total players can race against seven different specters in a single race; these ghosts include ones made by the user, the previously-mentioned "best time" ghosts, or special developer-made "Evolution Ghosts" made up of a range of different skill levels.

But a brand new mode isn't the only extra that Sony has added for the new update. A host of other improvements have been included as well. Listed below are all the fixes that players can expect to see when the patch hits the servers:

Now your best times make for additional gameplay.
Game List Improvement
"Game Status" is now displayed with the game list in the online lobby making it easier to find a session where you'll be able to join and race promptly.


Host Identification
Within the game lobby the host is now clearly identified by a 'host' icon visible to all players and updated during host migration.


Boost Exploit Fix
A bug involving the boost system that allowed a player to use boost in an exploitative manner has been resolved.


Buddy List Size
This has been updated to support up to 50 friends.


Text Cut-off fix for SD
When playing in standard definition, all messages will now display as intended.


Improved Stability Online
Online gameplay stability has been improved.
Just how fast can you go?
Audio Fix
All known issues with 5.1 / 7.1 surround have been fixed. Audio issues within the front-end have been resolved.


Player Ranking Reset
Players were found to be ranked incorrectly due to a bug. Because of this all online rankings will be reset and the ranking system should now function correctly (Evolution and Sony apologies for this measure but it will result in a fairer and more stable system).


Auto-Start
Races will be forced to start after a fixed countdown which should dramatically reduce the waiting times in lobbies. Hosts may delay this countdown up to three times.


Save Data Corruption
When quitting the game using the PS button it was possible to corrupt the save game data. This will no longer occur.


Lobby Information
Upcoming track and current lap details will be displayed in lobbies.


Vehicle Damage Reset
When restarting a single-player race during a death camera the damage wasn't always reset at the start of the next race. This has now been resolved.


Missing Audio
Audio effects were missing from the death camera, these have now been reinstated.


Name Tag Toggle
Added ability to switch the player name tags on / off during online races using a single button press (L1).
To install the update, players simply need load the MotorStorm Blu-ray disc, select "online" and install the prompted updat

Via IGN ...

Today at the Final Fantasy Anniversary party in Makuhari Japan, Square-Enix showed-off two new missions Crisis Core missions at the Closed Mega Theatre. Fans lined up for hours to get a taste. We managed to dip in and see for ourselves what all the fuss was about.

In our first Crisis Core hands-on last December, Anoop explain how technically marvelous the game is. Let me piggy back on that by say he is unequivocally right. This is the watershed game that genuinely demonstrates just how powerful the PSP is.

Quick refresher: Crisis Core follows Cloud Strife's famous pal Zack, an elite soldier in the Shinra Corporation who made a brief appearance in Final Fantasy VII. This game is all about his adventures fighting for Shinra in the build-up to FFVII. These are the times when Sephiroth was still a decent fellow, and Cloud was just a rookie trying to get into SOLDIER.

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If you heard the rumors, or caught the Japanese magazine scans, this might sound familiar. You may have doubted what you saw, but I assure you, the stories are real. There is a Final Fantasy All-Stars game on its way, and it's headed to PSP.

Today at the Final Fantasy Anniversary party in Makuhari Japan, Square screened a brief but satisfying trailer in its Closed Mega Theatre. The video streamed in a small psp-scale-box on the screen, similar to how the Crisis Core trailer was done. The first scene opens with a pre-rendered CG shot of a brown and barren rocky terrain. The screen flashes white, and dissolves to a close-up of Cecil Harvey's face, the hero from Final Fantasy IV. A few moments later we see him fight in what looks to be gameplay footage. The battle itself feels very Kingdom Hearts. In fact, if I would have walked into the theatre at this exact moment and saw the footage at a glance, I would have assumed I was looking at a PSP version of Kingdom Hearts.

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Though franchises like Gran Turismo, God of War, Ratchet and Jak, along with third-party franchises like Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy, are the tops of Sony's exclusive titles list and help sell more systems than pretty much anything else on any of its platforms, arguably the most important series from a technical standpoint is SOCOM. The series helped launch the PlayStation 2's Network Adapter and headset support, and pushed the PSP's networking capabilities further than any other title. And let's not forget that it also introduced the underutilized voice support on the handheld system. So it's no surprise that the series is seeing another PSP release this year that will continue to push some changes.

But this isn't the SOCOM that you might be expecting. Rather than sticking to its first/third-person shooter roots, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Tactical Strike is more of a strategy game, though one that features just as much action as its predecessors. Indeed, this isn't your father's turn-based strategy title where every move is thought out and planned to perfection, but rather a reactionary title that tasks you think on the fly while bullets whiz around your squadron's heads.

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