January 2007

Here you can find news items that were posted on Hell and Heaven Net in the past.

Square Enix

Square Enix has released some worldwide stats of games that have been sold between April 1st and December 31st, 2006.

- Final Fantasy XII (PS2)
USA: 1.66 million copies

- Kingdom Hearts II (PS2)
Europe: 690,000 copies

- Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria (PS2)
Japan: 420,000 copies
USA: 160,000 copies

- Dirge of Cerberus - Final Fantasy VII (PS2)
USA: 450,000 copies
Europe: 250,000 copies

- Dragon Quest: The Journey of the Cursed King (PS2)
Europa: 450,000 copies

- Final Fantasy III (NDS)
Japan: 950,000 copies
USA: 340.000 copies

- Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (NDS)
Japan: 910.000 copies

Currently Final Fantasy XI has around 500,000 accounts.

Final Fantasy VII

Tomorrow it's 10 years ago that Final Fantasy VII was released in stores across Japan. So far it's unknown if Square Enix will plan something on this birthday, because also the Final Fantasy series will celebrate its 20th anniversary in December.

A few days ago we posted an article about Square Enix releasing 5 titles in Japan this year, but Tetsuya Nomura didn't say what the 5th title will be. But it should be announced soon.

So maybe Square Enix will announce something around Final Fantasy VII tomorrow on its 10th anniversary. We will keep you updated.

Square Enix

In an interview with the Japanese magazine Famitsu Tetsuya Nomura from Square Enix has said that this year 5 titles will be released in Japan for sure that he will be the director from. This is the list:
- Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix + (PS2)
- Subarashiki Kono Sekai: It's Wonderful World (NDS)
- Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP)
- Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete (Blu-ray Disc/Movie)
- A not yet announced title

The big game that is not on this list is Final Fantasy XIII which will probably not be released this year in Japan.

Square Enix

This year its the 20th anniversary of the Final Fantasy series and because of that Square Enix will release Final Fantasy Anniversary Edition and Final Fantasy II Anniversary Edition for the PlayStation Portable in Japan. Both games will be graphically enhanced and will have new features and have been completed for 80% and 75% already. See the enclosed scans from Famitsu for the first screens.

Final Fantasy I and II have been remade so far on the WonderSwan, PlayStation and Game Boy Advance.

» Scans: 1 2
Source: GameFront

Edit: Square Enix has opened the official website which can be founded here.

Final Fantasy XII

Square Enix has confirmed the that European release date of Final Fantasy XII will be the 23rd of February. Square Enix also said that the game will have no borders (like Final Fantasy X has), will also run on 60Hz and in widescreen.

Final Fantasy reports on the third spot as best selling videogame franchise ever with 68 million reported sales beating other popular franchises like The Sims and Grand Theft Auto.

The number 2 and 1 are (with insane distance) Pokemon and Mario with 155 and 193 million respectively.

The full top 20 list, with sales figures, is as follows:

  1. Mario, 193 million
  2. Pokémon, 155 million
  3. Final Fantasy, 68 million
  4. Madden NFL, 56 million
  5. The Sims, 54 million
  6. Grand Theft Auto, 50 million
  7. Donkey Kong, 48 million (centre)
  8. The Legend of Zelda, 47 million
  9. Sonic the Hedgehog, 44 million
  10. Gran Turismo, 44 million
  11. Lineage, 43 million
  12. Dragon Quest, 41 million
  13. Crash Bandicoot, 34 million
  14. Resident Evil, 31 million
  15. James Bond, 30 million
  16. Tomb Raider, 30 million
  17. Mega Man, 26 million
  18. Command & Conquer, 25 million
  19. Street Fighter, 25 million
  20. Mortal Kombat, 20 million

source: CVG

Square Enix

The official teaser site for Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales is now open an can be found here:

Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales Teaser Website (try clicking the feather).

Square Enix

According to the German website Wunderlampe Square Enix is going to sell 2 of their series. This is because of the high development costs the company has. Buena Vista Games is one of the companies that can take over the Kingdom Hearts series and Mistwalker the Chrono series rights. Let's just hope this is a rumor.

-- addition by alexanderpas: --
Wunderlampe doesn't state anything which franchises will be sold nor who the buyers are, just offered some possibilities
However! GameFront say that it could be the Mana and Kingdom Hearts franchise, which will go to Disney, because they started their own developement studio named Fall Line in November 06. Now for the wildest thing (imo) in this speculation: Fall Line was created to produce for Wii, DS and GBA.

thanks to NeoGAF

A Belgian games program called Gamepower showed a video about Final Fantasy XIII. The footage is from the Jump Festa trailer, which hopefully soon will be released by Square Enix. The video isn't really good quality, since it has been recorded from a TV. Thanks goes to wottervm for bringing it online.

» Watch it on YouTube