Final Chances - The Square Effect

by Darren Lee Taylor - 2008/07/24 1:02pm

The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2008 was an immitigated disaster, a complete mistep in the wrong direction; a confusing and clumsy attempt at drawing in a new type of crowd, a new era of gaming born from the casual markets womb. With the countless throngs of games journalists and media executives, demo pods and display stands, booths and conference halls lining the empty shell that once was, E3 was left to burn in its own cinders. A dying breath issues forth from its echoeing past, a culminated effort by all to try and reinvigorate and improve the videogame marketplace with new technology, new upgrades, new digital media and equipment, new peripherals and utilities; a complete dynamism sent forth to eradicate the once proud gaming expedition, famous for its heroes and its fallen.

The year of 2008 will probably go down as Microsoft's year. With a plethora of box exclusives entertaining the hardcore gamer and the mass family gamer this winter, they managed to address a rather entertaining lineup of software. With a few minute and singular announcements that barely shocked the audience bar a few secret developments, they were ultimately still the best in show.

Sony had a marginally better E3 than last year, and far more superior to that of Nintendo, who decided to take the long and cold road down the casual lane, staying at speed limit and within their comfort zone. Many figures were spouted around as per usual, with graphs and charts bolstering up a rather uninspiring conference period for the opening few days for the latter. Sony had several announcements also that were worthy of a few buzz words, but apart from Resistance and MAG, Sony also had a hard time addressing the crowd.



Whilst the dust settles however, Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft have all lept up off their behinds to instigate a further contigancy plan of their own. Each individual platform holder seem to be keeping several secrets and releases away from E3, and away from the consumers attention, and as such, have revealed various extra titbits of information behind closed doors.

Rather that spilling the beans about any further developments in their poor lineup of games to end the year with, they seemingly all retreated rather quickly into their impenetrable shells. Nintendo was first to comment on rumours that a brand new Pikmin, Zelda and Mario title was in the works, and following suite was Microsoft, with another back breaking moment of agony for Sony when they clarified Square Enix's Final Fantasy XIII release would in fact be released on the box at the same time worldwide.

This leaves Sony in a rather uncomfortable position. Not only are they still lagging behind the competition, even after their best few months on the market with the PS3, no thanks to MGS4 exclusivity, they are now in a position that is tenderly dangling over a very sharp bed of spikes. After losing their exclusivity over Final Fantasy XIII, they are continuing to reel in pain as Microsoft banish them to the used pile of preowned pressure.

Sony really needs to find its feet quickly for the remainder of this year, and with first party offerings such as God Of War III, Little Big Planet and Home all supposedly surfacing this winter, one can only hope that they fulfill their mission statement and get these titles on shelves in time for the festive season.



However, there is one small matter that most people seem to be overlooking. Sony has always had a fantastic working relationship with Square Enix, and with more FF titles on the way to the system, including Versus XIII and Advent Complete, the culmination and partnership still looks as strong as ever. However, on the 3rd and 4th August 2008, Square Enix are holding a press exclusive behind the scenes conference to highlight and reveal some more secret in-development titles for 2008-2009.

Much speculation has begun surrounding what these mysterious titles could be, and rumour has started to surface that Square will be unveiling a brand new Kingdom Hearts title for the Playstation 3 console, along with a closer look at Birth By Sleep for the PSP and 358/5 Days for the Nintendo DS. One more title that they are keeping very closely guarded is a particular fan favourite, and one that has been touted about for the last three years. Ever since that damned tech demo, Square teased the world with a next generation Final Fantasy VII, and are now in the position to launch this announcement onto the world. The globes gaming press will all be in attendance, and as such, they are awaiting the perfect chance to reveal the project that they have been working on for the last four years, ever since Sony revealed early impressions of the Playstation 3 console, Square were equipped with the task of revolutionising the franchise with the upmost of secrecy.

And what better game to help the Playstation 3 in its hour of need, it just has to be the one game that everyone wants, the one title that will make Square Enix more money in its first day on sale than any other game on this earth. Final Fantasy VII has more than fourteen million fans alone in Europe, and this isn't even counting its homeland of Japan, or the United States, and so the fanbase is their, the console is their, the right time to launch is now. August just might be the month that many gamers have been waiting for all these years.



To top things off, there is also talk that Sony will be preparing a complete classic advancement of the original PSOne Final Fantasy VII for the PS Network, along with Trophy support for the main game, plus PSP interaction. A short trailer for the upcoming game will be attached to the conference, and to the upcoming Advent Complete BluRay film also if rumours are to believed.

Square have always been there for Sony when it has needed it the most, and with an age when competing hardware units are stealing your exclusivity left, right and centre, what better way to attain that security, that promise, that godlen sale than to team up closely with the one outsource developer you know and trust the most, and for Sony, thats Square Enix.

Keep your eyes closely peeled to PSBeyond for the very latest on the upcoming Square Enix conferences in the first week of August.

PStars: It will certainly be interesting to see what comes about from this conference. The last time anybody did a direct solo follow up to an E3 exhibition it was Nintendo, and they showcased Super Smash Bros Brawl. I agree that Square does tend to follow the money, but as for company branding and recognition, it will always be with Sony that they will be saddled with, simply because of the years 1994-2000, where they helped beef up the PS2 catalogue quite extensively. A remake is almost an inevitable given, even if it is sligtly different to the original. Considering that FF7 is one of the biggest titles to ever sell through retail globally, it would almost be ignorant not to celebrate this fact so well, especially as its 10 years old.

ExcelBeyond: Personally, I've never really thought of Square as loyal to anyone. They always just go where the money is. Nintendo went as far as to save their company from collapse, and they turned on them without hesitation. Sony is no longer as profitable as it once was, and now they've left their camp as well. That being said, I can't wait to hear what they have to say at their conference!