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Mike Fischer, CEO of Square Enix of America, has stepped down from his role with the beloved game company in favor of taking up the position of vice president of digital music and video for Amazon in Japan. Fischer has declined to comment extensively on the decision, other than to say that the departure was made on good terms. Phil Rogers will be filling Fischer's shoes as new CEO of Square Enix America while maintaining his current duties as CEO of Square Enix Europe.
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As it was announced today that the official release of A Realm Reborn will be August 27, 2013, there are several key factors when buying A Realm Reborn. I went ahead and summarized for anyone in our community wishing to play. If you're planning on playing A Realm Reborn in the future and currently play FFXIV on PC, you won't have to buy the new version to keep playing. You can continue to play until you want to upgrade. Players won't have to buy since A Realm Reborn will be a free download. That means players of the Collector's Edition will be able to get a free download for A Realm Reborn. PS3 players will have to buy A Realm Reborn even if they have the first version.

Any registration codes that haven't been used will still be usable for the PC version of A Realm Reborn. Players of the Collector's Edition will receive in game bonus items for free: Helm of Light, Baby Behemoth Minion, Behemoth Barding, and Coeurl Mount. These bonuses will be delivered via Moogle Letter at the time of the release. Any players who took part of the Legacy Campaign will have early access and be able to play before the release date. There will be a digital upgrade service for the Collector's Edition. Players will be able to upgrade their standard account to Collector's Edition status via FFXIV Service Center. This will be opened at the time of the release too.
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So you always thought Cloud Strife's famous Buster Sword was too large and unwieldy to be reality? Think again. By popular demand, the Man at Arms crew took it upon themselves to bring the "ridonculus" sword to life as part of AWEme, a YouTube channel project showcasing "the amazing feats, wow moments, and fascinating phenomena from the world around us."

An amazing feat indeed. The attention to detail is rather staggering, especially considering what heavy equipment and materials were required to rough it through the job. In the video below, the team demonstrates a summary of what was required, as well as a few of the complications they dealt with. In short, this is not something you'll want to try at home. The finished product was said to weigh 75-80 pounds (roughly 35 kg), and at 6 feet by 12 inches (1.8m by 30cm), that's a lot of weight to lug around.
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Square-Enix has revealed the official release date for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. Both the PlayStation 3 and the PC versions of the game will be available to officially download and to purchase from usual store shelves on the 27th August.

Available will be both the standard edition of the game, and a collectors' edition for both formats. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is a subscription MMO, so be aware that there will be monthly fees.

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Kupopopo!

Remember us, kupo?! Mysterious creatures, flocking around humans, closer to man than beast?! We communicate via Mognet, and above all, we’re fluffy as a kupo nut, kupopo!

Now, the time has come for us, Kupo! We’ve been waiting for this moment a long time, we’re finally in the process of becoming one of your very own, kupopo! Just like the Tonberries and Chocobos, even though they had a chance to shine before we could, we will be available as custom emoticons, kupo!

Don't lose your kupo-nuts, kupo! Let me explain a few things first!

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Hi guys!!

I hope that everyone had a fantastic week last week and a restful weekend!

As we head into the new week, I bring you a fabulous Final Fantasy tale by Kyreaan. Got any questions for Kyreaan? Ask them below! As always, make sure your comments are positive!
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Mmm, that wonderful aroma of vapourware. Go on forth and wear this scent of vacuousness, as your friends and admirers gaze at your bottle and ask why it is empty.

That's right, folks. Square-Enix has revealed the next must-own Final Fantasy-related merchandise for this season. Hot off the success of the Cloud Strife and Lightning perfumes, here we now have the Noctis perfume. Noctis is of course, the main protagonist of the mysterious Final Fantasy Versus XIII.

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When SquareSoft released the very first "Final Fantasy", it was seen as a make-or-break effort by the struggling little company. With the might of Enix on the Japanese gaming market and beginning to claim a monopoly with its hugely popular Dragon Quest games, few expected the humble swansong "Final Fantasy" to defy its name and expectations. Fewer anticipated its blossoming into an entire long-running series and the global titan it would become.

Fast forward to the present and it has grown and multiplied into a franchise with countless installments. Naming and providing short descriptions of each of the mainline (numbered) Final Fantasies from the first to the fourteenth installment is a reasonable task for the ordinary fan. Now try and do that for every single prequel, sequel, spin-off, re-release, movie, anime series and Final Fantasy-related media that has ever graced the presence of a shop shelf or digital distribution service. How does one keep track of this army of Final Fantasies?

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With Final Fantasy XIII, XIII-2, Lightning Returns: FFXIII, along with XIV, no word on XIII Versus, and Phase-0 seeming like it is going to not see an overseas release anytime soon, it is likely that more and more fans are smashing the Final Fantasy series. Is it a bit harsh to give up hope on the franchise now? With a series that had arguably XIII great main series games, many good spinoffs and often was the “console RPG to beat” for any RPG company, do we dare shake our head at this franchise now?

Let us take a little look back on the main series. We all know the story. In 1987, Square said they were going out of business so they decided to make one last game, and it was going be an RPG. The game ended up being called Final Fantasy. To the surprise of Square, it made huge success in Japan. They decided to make Final Fantasy II and the game was a huge success.
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(A1) What is "World Building"
World building refers to the art of creating an imaginary world. Although called "world" building, the scale of creation can vary greatly. At times it can be as small as a town, or as large as a universe. The world that is made typically depends on the scale of the story and how willing one is to explore it. A self-contained tale of a young boy growing into man hood, or other slice off life tales, can be contained within a small rural town, but tales involving conflicts between nations require national scale at a minimum.

(B1) How detailed should I be in my world?
As detailed as the story requires! In open ended RP's or stories you might need to decide on the daily comings and goings of the shop keeper on the edge of town, or the life of soldiers before the war, and so on. In small scale and self-contained stories or RP's, you might only needs one house and two people fully developed. the world should be built to accommodate the story.
It's best to break down your world into four parts;
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This week's issue of Famitsu magazine has confirmed a resurfacing of the PC version of Final Fantasy VIII for Japan. This digital re-release will follow the footsteps of the Final Fantasy VII PC re-release, which appeared exclusively on Square-Enix's own digital online store.

Famitsu has not tentatively provided any release date, or a word on the method of digital distribution. There have been registries in the Steam database for both FFVII and FFVIII, though whether anything will emerge in the near future will remain to be seen.
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Following reports of significant losses for FY 2013, Square Enix has revealed plans to re-release Final Fantasy XIII-2, which debuted on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 about a year and a half ago in December of 2011. Ultimate Hits: Final Fantasy XIII-2 will simply repackage the original, and Final Fantasy XIII-2: Digital Content Collection will feature the main game along with 19 previously released DLC packages as a single unit.
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This article is essentially my response to Ohri-Jin's Square-Enix News thread on the company's recent ¥13.7 billion loss (approximately 134.7 million USD). Square-Enix' primary source of concern according to their own reports is the 'competitive' console market, a particular reference to the failures of Sleeping Dogs, Hitman Absolution and Tomb Raider in hitting sales expectations.

The company has promised extensive restructuring, and the most notorious casualty of recent company woes? Yoichi Wada, CEO of Square-Enix since late 2001, stepped down from his position in favour of the little-known Yosuke Matsuda. This week, Square-Enix has revealed further details and slideshows of the turbulent first quarter of this year. I will analyse extracts and piece together what I think the company will aim to do next from a business point of view.

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Many felt that FFXIV had a lot of problems when the game came out in 2010. Square Enix even apologized for the game's lack of luster. There was a promised redesigning, so Square Enix picked up a new producer from Dragon Quest X in Japan. The new development was named A Realm Reborn. It has been in a closed beta testing period, and people can expect its release this summer. A Realm Reborn will feel like a new experience for fans with a new story line, system, and a new graphics engine. It'll seem like a new gaming experience to those playing FFXI or new to MMOs.

The developers have stated that there are many changes to come, such as chocobo riding battles and new player versus player battles. Magitek Armor from FFVI is also to be expected. A Realm Reborn has a new system called the Hunting Log. This is much like a bounty hunter's list. If you kill a set of monsters on the list, you'll get extra experience. You'll go through a list of monsters that you'll need to hunt down for the log. Players can travel anywhere while keeping this log. It's meant to give an extra reward to players who see different areas.
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