FFXIII given official winter 2009 date

By Robert Purchese Published 15 April, 2009

But European whereabouts still "TBC".

Square Enix has confirmed to Eurogamer that Final Fantasy XIII has been given a winter 2009 date in Japan.

That date was pictured at the end of the PS3 FFXIII demo, which is included in the Blu-ray release of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children - due out tomorrow in Japan and in June in North America.

However, European dates for both Advent Children and Final Fantasy XIII are still to be confirmed, the publisher told us this morning.

The demo, according to a Famitsu preview (read by Gamezine, lasts for over an hour and lets players control characters Snow and Lightning. Perhaps they listen to Earth, Wind and Fire.

Square Enix also had nothing to say about a trademark filing for Front Mission Evolved, spotted by a keen-eyed Kotaku.

Front Mission is a strategy series in which robots beat each other up. Evolved could be a series reboot, a revamped instalment for XBLA or PSN, or simply one of the many Japanese releases heading West. [Or just a random trademark. - Ed]

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (22) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Chrono-Kun #1 3 years ago

    Oh, so when you think about it. It isn't much of a huge gap between Japan and Western Territories.

  • alimokrane #2 3 years ago

    I'm sorry since when is WINTER 2009 a date ?????

  • ZuluHero #3 3 years ago

    well for people who care about that sort of thing it kinda narrows it down doesn't it? I mean its slightly better than TBC, right?

  • alimokrane #4 3 years ago

    @ZuluHero

    but we knew it was coming to Japan in winter 09 AGES ago..... it's not like the information is new. Anyway, nevermind. I just want to play the damn thing already.

  • YoungPayters #5 3 years ago

    do you think that will give me enough time to learn fluid japenese?

  • neilka #6 3 years ago

    Try English first.

  • Evolution #7 3 years ago

    So Europe is Winter 2010?

  • butler` #8 3 years ago

    Really need this gameeeeeeeeeeeeee

    I'm playing through 8, 9 and 10 again as well as Lost Odyssey on 360 just to fill the void in RPG goodness.

  • sneetch #9 3 years ago

    @alimokrane
    I'm sorry since when is WINTER 2009 a date ?????

    I guess 2009 would also be a "date".

    They may as well tell us it'll happen before the rebirth of the sun after the winter solstice.

  • DoctorZoidberg #10 3 years ago

    time to learn fluid japenese?

    Oh.
    Dear.

  • Gastrian #11 3 years ago

    Are we talking 2009 in a calender sense or business sense? If its the calender sense its December 09, if it the business one (year ends in April) then it could be released in Feb 2010.

  • Grogmonkey #12 3 years ago

    I'll take a new 360/PS3 Front Mission, please Square Enix. Was fairly recently re-playing Front Mission 3 on ye olde PSone. That game is still kickass amounts of fun.

  • metallicorphan #13 3 years ago

    if this game sucks monkey balls then i am kicking off

    i would prefer my FFs to have a medieval look to them like number 9..but i suppose this could be like numbers 7 and 8

    as we havent got a chance in hell to find out when this game is being released this year here(as in we wont find out this year)...when are we supposed to be getting the Blu-Ray and Demo?

  • retr0gamer #14 3 years ago

    Give us Front Mission 5 you fuckers! It's the only decent game you have made in years.

  • hiddenranbir #15 3 years ago

    So needs a PC release...

  • Vertius #16 3 years ago

    Well, Square-Enix are saying that they're working closely with their American and European localisation teams earlier in the development process this time around, and hope to have it released here no later than six months after the Japanese release, according to an interview in the latest issue of OPMUK.

    Wouldn't that have been a better story to post, EG? :p

  • knightmt #17 3 years ago

    But they have eschewed the fight scheme from XII I loved that game because the AI did all the hard work.
    Winter 09 is a date even though it is a bit broad, just like 1066 is a date? Or about 3 is a time.

  • MisterCraig #18 3 years ago

    I'm playing through 8, 9 and 10 again as well as Lost Odyssey on 360 just to fill the void in RPG goodness.

    Holy McPoo, you must have an unlimited amount of time available. That must be about 350 hours of gameplay!

    For those who have seen this game in action: does no one find that, because of the more tradional FF battle system, the fluid animations during a move followed by a static standing-stillness (!) is all a bit strange?

    It stands out pretty obviously to me. I liked how The Last Remnant kept your players battling regardless of whether they were actually doing a move or not. Would have been nice to see it further developed in XIII.

    And if its Winter in Jap, the 360 version will not be in this country by until Q1 2011

  • Sulphur #19 3 years ago

    Hrm. That's what I was afraid of, MisterCraig. It might not be 2011, but we're certainly looking at some time in 2010. Because of localisation and all that...

    Plus, is Squeenix looking at holding back the PS3 version for the western world until they're done with the X360 version? Questions, questions!

  • MisterCraig #20 3 years ago

    [link url=http://www.gametrailers.com/player/us ermovies/314383.html?playlist=featured
    ]http://ww w.gametrailers.com/player/userm...[/link]

    That there is a link to the entire demo.

    25 minutes long.

    Enjoy!

  • CitizenGeek #21 3 years ago

    The footage from the demo looks absolutely incredible! This game will be well worth the wait, I think.

  • NegativeZero #22 3 years ago

    Well the US PS3 release won't be regioned, so if they try and give us the usual runaround we can just import. I would imagine they'll do the 360 port and the localisation simultaneously though, and the delay for the 360 version should leave them with no excuse not to have a concurrent EU/US release.