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Final Fantasy XIII may not be out in North America and Europe yet, but the development team is in full "victory lap" mode in Japan. At least, that's how it seemed when noted industry figure Jem Alexander interviewed producer Yoshinori Kitase and director Motomu Toriyama for the European PlayStation Blog. Asked about the state of the Japanese game industry, the two (no individual attribution was given to the speakers) said that FFXIII was going to fix it.

"Some people have been saying that the Japanese game industry is dead, and all that... I dunno," the creative lead said. "I will say that Final Fantasy XIII is one really epic title for high definition consoles. With this game, we are going to resurrect the whole thing." And then they immediately moved from boastful to confusing: "As for Western games that have influenced us - FPSs mostly. The Call of Duty series, for example." Influenced their desire to sell a lot of copies, maybe?

The team also suggested elsewhere in the interview that God of War Collection-style remakes of previous Final Fantasy titles are unlikely. And, while they didn't outright deny DLC (which is looking more and more likely), they said that material or ideas originally left out won't be put back in as DLC.

Square Enix has applied to trademark Deus Ex: Human Revolution in Europe (#008862153). A quick scan of other international trademark bureaus hasn't revealed anything similar. As Siliconera notes, it could very well be the official name for the upcoming Deus Ex 3, but that may simply be a conspiratorial assumption based on logic.

Information on Deus Ex 3 is still quite scarce, with the little tidbits we do know highlighted by Square Enix handling CG cinematcs and that whole PC-exclusivity kerfuffle. Hopefully, this trademark signals that the Deus Ex prequel is ready to pull back the fiber-optic curtain.

[Via Siliconera]

According to Square Enix's financial report covering the first nine months (ending this past December) of its fiscal year, the company is going to finish its annual business cycle with plenty of glistening gil. Overall, the company's profits are up 48 percent from the same period last year, and it forecasts a profit of ¥10 billion (which is far less shocking when converted to $112 million) for the fiscal year ending in March 2010.

The company's games division saw limit breaker sales and profits during the period due to Dragon Quest IX, Final Fantasy XIII, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days and Batman: Arkham Asylum -- which it obtained as part of the Eidos buyout. Square Enix's games group saw sales of ¥72 billion ($806 million, a 97 percent increase over last year), along with a profit of ¥18 billion ($202 million, a 99 percent increase during the same time). Kupos to you, Square Enix.

It looks like that entire game's worth of removed content might be making it into Final Fantasy XIII after all. GameStop has posted the box art for the Xbox 360 version of the game and, more importantly, it has also posted the art for the back of the box. As you can see above, the box mentions that Final Fantasy XIII will support downloadable content after all, though there is no mention of what the DLC actually is. It's worth noting that the content could be something as simple as Avatar outfits or accessories, though it would certainly make sense for Square Enix to supply its most well-known franchise with post-launch DLC.

The news comes after producer Yoshinori Kitase was rumored to have stated that no DLC had been planned for the game, though he noted it was still "possible." Final Fantasy Union, however, notes that Kitase apparently confirmed DLC during a recent interview with the Dutch Official Playstation Magazine. The box art certainly seems to confirm that, though we've reached out to Square for clarification. As of this writing, GameStop has yet to post the art for the back of the PS3 version, so it's unclear if both platforms will support said content.

[Via Final Fantasy Union]

Two noteworthy pieces of information came out of a recent Famitsu interview (as translated by Andriasang) with Square Enix's Tetsuya Nomura regarding the prolific Disney-Final Fantasy mash-up franchise, Kingdom Hearts. The first isn't all that surprising -- when questioned at the end of the interview about Kingdom Hearts III, Nomura simply replied "Regarding III, fans and partners alike are pressing us for it, so we'll work to realize it as soon as possible."

Here's the more intriguing (or disturbing, depending on how you look at it) tidbit -- when asked about Sora's character design, Nomura remarked that the Disney staff made a few alterations to his outfit, explaining his stupid big shoes and pants. He went on to reveal that, in addition to wielding a chainsaw-sword instead of a giant key, Sora once possessed a tail and "beast-like ears." That can only mean one thing in our book: Furry. We'll take outrageously baggy pants over unsettling therianthropy any day of the week.

Square Enix hasn't announced a release for the Final Fantasy XIII soundtrack outside of Japan. Instead, it has announced a second FFXIII music release in Japan that is going to make you even more jealous. On February 26, the publisher will release a collection of eight songs from Masashi Hamauzu's Final Fantasy XIII score on a 12-inch record, including an exclusive version of "Ragnarok."

The limited-edition vinyl record, W/F: Music from Final Fantasy XIII, is exclusive to Square Enix's E-store. Importer NCSX secured a shipment of the record through one of its vendors, but that has already sold out. Maybe we'll have better luck when Square releases the eight tracks on 8-track.

[Via VG247]

In the land of Twitter, Just Cause 2 developer Eidos is a fairly new entrant. Having just, 10(ish) hours ago, joined up via Square Enix Europe community manager Keir Edmonds, the company account has already dropped one bombshell: a Just Cause 2 demo is "on its way." Though the account merely alludes to "details to follow," we'd be downright surprised if the demo hit any later than the game's March 23 release date.

Just to make sure Eidos didn't want to say anything else, we've reached out for more information and we'll update this post if we hear anything else.
[Via CVG]

It looks like 360-owning JRPG fans shouldn't get too jealous about the Lightning-clad PS3 Slim which was release in Japan late last year. A recent promotional spot for GamertagRadio's Community Vibes event featured a lengthy look at what appears to be a Final Fantasy XIII-branded 360 faceplate, seen above. We almost didn't notice the accessory the first time we watched the video -- after someone mentioned Major Nelson in a Speedo, our brains went briefly catatonic, which is our reflexive defense mechanism when faced with unsettling mental images.

We've contacted the Major to find out if the faceplate is legit, and to see if we'll be getting our hands on it any time soon.

[Via Gaming Angels]

According to a purported Square Enix employee résumé, Final Fantasy XIV could follow the multiplatform trajectory of its older MMO sibling, Final Fantasy XI. Before being removed mere hours ago (following the proliferation of the apparent reveal within), the supposed LinkedIn profile of lighting designer Yuuki Akama referenced work on Final Fantasy XIV for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. Only the PC and PS3 platforms have been officially confirmed for the company's upcoming online RPG.

While a "Yuuki Akama" has been credited with previous Square Enix work, specifically, lighting work for Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, we can't currently confirm whether or not the pulled profile was authentic. We've contacted Square Enix for an explanation as to why the Akama profile was pulled (and not simply "adjusted") and for comment on the possible Xbox 360 version of Final Fantasy XIV.

Did you read the news of Japan's Nier release date with abject jealousy, wishing you had such a clear idea when you'd get to play Cavia's cursing-at-a-book simulation? Seethe no more -- Square Enix announced the North American release date, and it's April 27, only five days after the game arrives in Japan!

Of course, real Nier fans are going to have to import Nier Replicant to get the full story, and that means learning Japanese is also a requirement. But it's a small price to pay to learn more about some shirtless guy who fights giant sinewy oil-monsters to rescue his daughter.

Square Enix's angriest game ever, Nier, recently received a firm Japanese release date: Both iterations of the game (Nier Gestalt and Nier Replicant) will be landing on Japan's store shelves on April 22. Considering the current U.S. release window of Spring 2010, we wouldn't be surprised if we got our hands on the game soon after. However, we've been wrong before! Like that time we saw Nier at E3 last year, and were all like "man, there's no way they're actually going to finish and release this."

Now that we've lost both Gygax and Arneson, we have to learn as much as we can from the still-living legends of gaming. One of these is Ian Livingstone -- he co-founded the great Games Workshop back in the day with John Peake and Steve Jackson. Currently, he's serving as the "life president" of Eidos, and lambasting the mass media for their portrayal of games (because if there's one thing a living legend should do, it's tell the kids these days that they're doing it wrong). And now De Nederlandse Gamedagen (NLGD, for short) has announced that Livingstone will be speaking at its annual Festival of Games in Holland this coming June. He'll be talking about his career and how he's integrated Eidos with Square Enix over the last year or so.

Just do us a favor if you do end up going to see the show: Start your Q&A question off with, "Mr. Livingstone, I presume?"

With Dragon Quest VI in stores in Japan for almost one whole week, Square Enix wasted no time in announcing another upcoming Dragon Quest game for DS. The latest new announcement is Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2, a sequel to the Pokemon-like DS Dragon Quest spinoff from 2007.

The new sequel, out April 28 in Japan, will feature over 300 catchable monsters and online multiplayer for up to eight people. And in a post-Dragon Quest IX Japan, with millions of people happily playing online, this game would seem to have a built-in audience.

[Via Andriasang]

We love Nobuo Uematsu's work on the musical accompaniment for the Final Fantasy franchise, but we often find ourselves wishing those games' scores were infused with a touch of Jay-Z. Maybe a light smattering of Outkast. The faintest hint of Ghostface Killah.

The mixologists from Team Teamwork (creators of the similarly-spliced Ocarina of Rhyme album) have once again worked their magic on a classic video game soundtrack. This time around, it's the score from Final Fantasy VII, which has been mashed together with tracks from over a dozen hip-hop artists, as well as Tom Waits, which is just weird. You can pay whatever you want to download the cleverly-titled Vinyl Fantasy 7 -- though we're betting you'll probably settle on zero dollars.

[Thanks, Mike!]

As confirmed by parent company Koch Media to Develop, Cursed Mountain developer Deep Silver Vienna has apparently been closed. Citing "the overall economic situation" and noting "this decision is not easy for us," the 20-person staff was recently cut and told they would receive pay through the end of March. Develop posits that the studio's other game -- Ride to Hell -- will likely remain unaffected by the shutdown, as UK dev house Eutechnyx is handling development and Koch Media's Munich offices will oversee the game's management.

Deep Silver Vienna was formed in the wake of Rockstar Vienna's closing back in 2006, and originally called itself Games That Matter. Ex-Rockstar Vienna heads Hannes Seifert and Niki Laber launched the studio, and it is said that Siefert has moved on to a position at Square Enix Europe as a creative director. As with every case like this, we'd like to wish those affected the best of luck.