Welcome to the third part of this RPG historical review. When last we left off, we had just finished off the Western decade of the 1980s, and were finding out about what happened to RPGs in the East in the early 1980s.

Let’s jump right back in!

Continue reading El33tonline’s editorial by guest writer Fayyaad, A complete history of role-playing videogames: Part 3.

When last we met, we’d been taking a peek under the duvet of history and marvelling at the influences that Western RPGs had on Eastern RPGs. This influence would continue for a while, and later on even be reciprocated, but for now let’s pick up the trail of this history back in the West, and see what followed in the footsteps of Wizardry, Ultima, Rogue-likes and Telengard.

Continue reading El33tonline’s editorial by guest writer Fayyaad, A complete history of role-playing videogames: Part 2.

Mario Sports Mix is a new and upcoming Wii title that includes different sports (namely volleyball, basketball, ice hockey and dodgeball) for players to compete in while taking control of fan-favourite Nintendo characters like Mario, Bowser, Wario and Yoshi, only with the kinds of twists you would expect from a competitive sports game set in the Mushroom Kingdom.

It’s recently been revealed, however, that you won’t be limited to just Nintendo characters when you’re met with the selection screen: beloved characters from Square Enix’s Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series will make an appearance in Mario Sports Mix, too!

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Announced first at Sony’s press conference yesterday, but now a reality, Final Fantasy VII has hit the North American PlayStation Network, and is available to buy and download for $9.99.

Source: FFVII on PSN announcement site

Sony and Square Enix have announced that a massively multiplayer online game, Final Fantasy 14, is currently in development and set for an exclusive release on the PlayStation 3 next year.

More news as it comes.

Square Enix have revealed, by way of their recent corporate strategy meeting, the combined sales numbers for their top three franchises (in terms of units sold), which seem to be Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and Kingdom Hearts.

Every game in the Kingdom Hearts series of games has sold a combined 12 million units. Every game in the Dragon Quest series has sold a combined 47 million units. And Final Fantasy?

Well, the heading gave it away, but that’s right! Every game in the Final Fantasy series of games has sold a combined 85 million units!

That’s a lot of RPG gaming!

Source: Kotaku

Another part of the Final Fantasy XIII triumvirate is this title, an action RPG called Versus XIII, which forms part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII compilation, along with Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Agito XIII.

While it has been revealed that Versus XIII takes place in the same universe as regular XIII, Versus will contain an entirely separate set of characters and a different storyline as well.

Here’s the latest trailer for Versus XIII, fresh from the end of the Final Fantasy XIII demo that came with the Final Fantasy: Advent Children – Complete movie in Japan, (that’s a lot of Final Fantasy). Watch below:

IGN have gone and posted up some excellent videos from the demo of Final Fantasy XIII, which releases alongside Final Fantasy: Advent Children – Complete in Japan tomorrow.

Don’t waste anymore time with this text, watch below now!

There are two more Final Fantasy XIII demo videos awaiting your consumption below… again! Get to it:

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In what can only be described as “über geekdom,” some mega-fans of both the Halo universe and the Final Fantasy universe have created a video of what it might be like for characters from Halo to participate in some turn-based, RPG action, set to the music and visuals of a typical Final Fantasy game (most likely Final Fantasy VII).

What’s ‘worse’ is that this is probably exactly what a game of this type would look like. A fanboy’s ultimate dream, or Square Enix and Bungie’s ultimate nightmare? Watch below to see for yourself:

Thanks Escapist!

In what Square Enix claim is the first cross-platform game for the Nintendo Wii and DS, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time is a game in which not only the Wii, but the DS as well, is used to control the action, allowing up to four players to player co-operatively over any number of Wii consoles or DS handhelds. The story is explained thus:

“A triumphant return from a monster-infested forest marks the completion of the 16-year-old hero’s coming-of-age ceremony. However, the hero’s joy is short-lived as a young village girl is found to be afflicted by a mysterious illness known as ‘crystal sickness.’

Determined to obtain the cure, the hero steps out of the secluded village for the first time, only to discover a world in which crystals are merely artifacts of the past and no longer exist…”

Sounds thrilling! To see just how much fun players can have in the world of (deep breath) Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time, check out the Japanese TV trailer below:

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time releases in PAL territories, on Wii and DS, in ‘Spring’ this year.

Game Watch have posted a whole bunch of new screenshots which were released at Nintendo conference today in Japan.

Included among them is some shots of Kirby Superstar DS, which may or may not be a straight remake of the SNES game. Also particularly exciting are shots of the newly announced Fire Emblem DS which looks to be a remake of an early Fire Emblem game from the NES/SNES era. Square Enix’s games are looking beautiful as always (except for the DS Kingdom Hearts with the odd name). Anyhow, this is one amazing batch of games - check them out if you love gaming.

Why do I single out Kirby you may ask? Kirby is awesome, that’s why.

Here are the names of the games shown on that page in English and in order so you at least know what you’re looking at:

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