RPGFan has reported that Square Enix's fully-fledged DS remake of its classic RPG Final Fantasy IV will hit shelves this coming July.

Originally released in Japan late last year, Final Fantasy IV DS has not yet been officially announced for a North American release by developer Square Enix, but was recently featured in the May issue of gaming magazine Nintendo Power accompanied by English screenshots.

Shacknews has contacted Square Enix for confirmation of the release date, but the company has not responded as of this writing.

According to DS Fanboy, the May issue of Nintendo Power features a ten-page Final Fantasy IV (NDS) preview boasting English-language screenshots, suggesting a North American localization.

Though the game has yet to be officially confirmed by developer Square Enix for an overseas release, the inclusion of English screenshots indicate that localization efforts are underway for the full-fledged 3D remake of the Super Nintendo RPG.

Final Fantasy IV DS was released in Japan on December 20 of last year. Citing reports of low North American sales figures for the Final Fantasy III DS remake, series fans had expressed concern over its international fate.

The issue also includes an interview with director Takashi Tokita, who speaks on the possibility of a remake of one of his other works—the classic SNES RPG Chrono Trigger. "Chrono Trigger was a no-holds-barred, swashbuckling adventure that was a lot of fun to work on," said Tokita. "If the demand is great enough, it's certainly possible.

"But as a creator, I feel the need to create new titles and not just series installments and remakes," he added. "I realize it's a little strange for me to be saying that in an interview about Final Fantasy IV (laughs). But I need to remind myself of that, too."

The randomly generated dungeons of Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon (Wii) will hit North America on July 8, publisher and developer Square Enix has revealed.

Telling the tale of a town that losses its collective memory with each toll of the bell tower, the game tasks recognizable Final Fantasy series icons Chocobo and Cid with restoring the lost memories.

Along with a turn-based battle system and a number of character classes, the role-playing title features several mini-games and an online card battling system.

Square Enix announced that its upcoming tactical RPG sequel Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift (NDS) will be released in North America on June 24, and unveiled a handful of new screenshots.

A sequel to Square Enix's Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (GBA), Grimoire of the Rift features a return to the more storybook-like version of Ivalice, as opposed to the political intrigue and murderous themes seen in Final Fantasy Tactics (PSX) and Final Fantasy XII (PS2).

The game features seven playable races and a slew of new jobs, classes, and sidequests. The oft-maligned Law system has been revamped and retooled, offering a much more forgiving experience than its predecessor. And naturally, this DS sequel will make extensive use of the stylus to command units on the battlefield.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift will be sold for $39.99 when it's released this coming June.

Square Enix research and development manager Taku Murata announced this morning that his company's internal game engine has been renamed from the White Engine to Crystal Tools. The announcement was made during Murata's lecture at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

The Crystal Tools engine is being used by Square Enix for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC development, and has been running under version 1.0 since September of last year.

Murata also slipped in the news that the engine is being ported to the Wii, but is not yet totally functional on the system.

Square Enix announced today that its stylish action RPG The World Ends With You (NDS) will hit retail shelves on April 22.

Featuring a distinctive art style crafted by Square Enix designer Tetsuya Nomura, The World Ends With You is an adventure set in modern-day Tokyo and heavily influenced by contemporary Japanese culture.

Known as It's A Wonderful World in Japan, The World Ends With You was originally announced for a North American localization late last year. The game was developed by Square Enix in collaboration with Japanese studio Jupiter, which previously developed Picross DS and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (GBA).

The North American release of Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors (Wii) has been pushed up to February 19, Square Enix announced today. Previously scheduled to arrive on February 26, the title represents Square Enix's first retail release for the Wii. Developed by 8ing and Genius Sonority, Swords features a first person perspective and sword-based Wii Remote waggling in lieu of the RPG series' traditional turn-based battles. The North American release adds several new elements over the original Japanese edition, including four hidden bosses and a mode entitled "Payback.".

Publisher Koei has released new screenshots and details for ArtePiazza's upcoming Wii RPG Opoona, scheduled for a North American release on March 25.

Described as a "lifestyle RPG," Opoona tells the story of a lad who crash lands on a mysterious planet after his spaceship suffers a malfunction. Marooned on the strange new world, Opoona must fight a horde of evil creatures, search for his family, meet friends and find a job. Talk about dark. The game features an action-oriented combat system focusing on Nunchuk—not Wii Remote, mind—waggling, which controls all of Opoona's commands.

ArtePiazza previously developed Super Famicom, PS2 and DS remakes of several titles in Square Enix's legendary Dragon Quest series.

Following this morning's detailing of its Q1 2008 software lineup, Square Enix has issued a new batch of screenshots for each title due out in the beginning months of next year.

Included in the barrage of assets are looks at Square's PSP Final Fantasy VII (PC, PSX) prequel Crisis Core and Eighting Co. and Genuis Sonority's action-based Dragon Quest Swords for Wii.

As for the its two Nintendo DS titles, the company provided new shots of its action-RPG Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates along with those of Jupiter's stylish DS action-RPG The World Ends With You, which was fomerly known as It's A Wonderful World.

Acclaimed RPG powerhouse Square Enix has revealed its portable-heavy lineup for the first quarter of 2008.

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, the action-based PSP prequel to the immensely popular Final Fantasy VII (PC, PSX) and the only PSP title on the list, arrives on March 25.

On the DS side of things, the action-RPG Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates hits March 11. Square and Jupiter's The World Ends With You, a stylish action-RPG previously known as It's A Wonderful World, was not given a specific release date, but is slated to appear in the spring.

The above portable efforts are joined by Eighting Co. and Genuis Sonority's Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors (Wii), which is Square Enix's first retail Wii title and its sole Q1 2008 console release. A first-person action title set in the universe of the classic RPG, series, Dragon Quest Swords arrives February 26.

Square Enix's first retail Wii effort, Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors, will hit North American stores on February 26.

The title offers up offers a sword-based and action-filled first-person perspective on the classic RPG franchise. Series creator Yuji Horii, renowned manga artist Akira Toriyama, and composer Koichi Sugiyama all contributed to the game, which was developed by 8ing and Genius Sonority.

The English version adds several new elements over the original Japanese edition, including four hidden bosses and a mode entitled "Payback."

A tally of the past four weeks of Japanese hardware sales shows that Sony's PlayStation 3 outsold Nintendo's Wii for the first time, according to magazine publisher and marketing data provider Enterbrain.

The figures, as reported by Reuters, show that the PS3 sold 183,217 units throughout November, whereas the Wii only sold 159,193.

The strong sales of the PlayStation 3 are attributed to this month's releases of Konami's soccer title Winning Eleven 2008 (PS2, PS3, X360) and Omega Force's slash 'em up Dynasty Warriors 6 (PS3). Both series are extremely popular in Japan, and tracking firm Media Create states they were the two best-selling PS3 games between November 19 and 25.

In terms of overall software sales, Winning Eleven 2008 was the third best-selling title of that time, topped only by the PS2 edition of the game and Square Enix's DS remake of Dragon Quest IV. Dynasty Warriors 6, which debuted earlier this month, came in at #13, with only two Wii games--Nintendo's Super Mario Galaxy and Sega's Mario & Sonic at the Olympics--outselling it.

We recently asked for you to execute an elegant merging of two disparate gaming properties, repurposing them for the greater good. So is it Kingdom Hearts or Rapture on Ice? The skating Big Daddy I can definitely see. Interpretive dance splicers would probably convey the horror well too.

So, without further ado, here's what you guys came up with, with following highlights:

• Helvetica has the type of face that masterminded Final Counterstrike, the N-Man and Super Mario Fortress.
• Trips puts together the peanut butter and chocolate of this seasons's Shack gaming flavors.
• Out of all of Romsteady's entries, this one really went for baroque.
• By all accounts, Yemeth is sending Gordon on a nice vacation.

The winners will be able to select from Heroes of Mana (NDS), Front Mission (NDS), Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (NDS), and Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (PSP). There were some really great entries for this contest and I hope everyone enjoyed seeing them. Even if you weren't a winner this time around, stick around for as we will surely have more contests in the future.

Given Square Enix's pedigree, it's hard not to have played something by the company responsible for Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Mach Rider and more. I for one fondly cherish my days designing Gummi Ships in the Disney-meets-Square world of Kingdom Hearts. Since the company is kind of big on constantly reusing and occasionally crossing its licenses, today we're going to ask you to craft the finest, or at least funniest license mashup game concept. This time around, we want you use a photo-editing program to merge your favorite video gaming icon (it doesn't have to be from Square Enix!) with another notable license from... well, anything. Entries will be graded on execution and humor, so serious and funny entries are both welcome. Up for grabs are copies of Heroes of Mana (NDS), Front Mission (NDS) and Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (NDS) and Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (PSP).

The contest will be open until 11:59 PM CST on Saturday, November 17. Don't forget to specify whether you've got both systems or just one of the two!

In an unusual week of Japanese hardware sales, Microsoft's slow-selling Xbox 360 saw 475% week-over-week growth in unit sales to edge out Sony's PlayStation 3 by mere hundreds of units--17,637 to 17,434, according to tracking firm Media Create.

Microsoft's console was buoyed by Namco's exclusive Ace Combat 6, which slotted in at #2 on the hardware charts with 76,708 units. Unsurprisingly, Nintendo's marquee title Super Mario Galaxy topped the weekly list with 250,585 units. The debut was lower than some expected given the higher first-week sales of Super Mario Sunshine (GCN) and other flagship games from the Big N, but still outsold any other game by more than three to one during the week of October 29 to November 4.

Despite the bitter battle between the two high-powered consoles, both machines were outsold by the Wii, which topped Xbox 360 by about 20,000 units. Still, the release of Mario's latest outing didn't significantly bump Wii sales, and PSP came in #2 with 59,714 despite having no software in the top ten. In the least surprising news of the week, Nintendo DS trumped all by besting PSP by about 20,000 units.

Nintendo platforms dominated software, with two Wii titles and six DS titles. The other slots were occupied by Ace Combat 6 and a Banpresto-developed Super Robot Wars title for PlayStation 2 that slotted in at #4. Read on for the full list.... Read more

Nintendo announced several titles coming to its Wii Ware downloadable service in Japan at its Fall 2007 Conference earlier this month. Among them was Square Enix's Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Little King and the Promise Country, and the most recent issue of Famitsu (translated by 1up) has more details on the title.

A continuation of the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles series that began on the GameCube, Little King and the Promise Country will supplant the first title's dungeon-crawler gameplay with numerous strategy elements. Taking the role of young King Leo, a member of Crystal Chronicles' Clavat race, you'll dole out dungeon-exploring tasks to underlings to obtain precious power-granting crystals.

These crystals will be used to harness powers known as "The Architect" to establish towns by constructing buildings like equipment-producing weapon shops and ability-endowing magic schools. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Little King and the Promise Country debuts in Japan this spring for 1500 Wii Points ($15), but Square Enix has not revealed plans of a release for other territories.

THQ is developing a Wii title that, in some form, implements at least one Nintendo-owned property, the companies revealed today in an SEC filing.

According to the terms of the agreement, THQ has until October 13, 2009 to release the game and must pay for its manufacturing in addition to the royalty fee incurred by using a Nintendo property. All aspects of the title, including packaging and advertising, must first be approved by Nintendo.

Other examples of Nintendo handing out its IPs to external developers include Hudson's Mario Party series (Wii, DS, GBA, GCN, N64), Square Enix's Mario Hoops 3-on-3 (DS), Namco's Star Fox Assault (GCN), and Sega's Sonic & Mario at the Olympic Games (Wii, DS).

Sega has also been on a licensing kick lately, lending out beloved franchises such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Afterburner, Crazy Taxi, and Alien Syndrome to BioWare, Planet Moon Studios, Sniper Studios, and Totally Games, respectively. While most of the above games follow in the footsteps of the original series, BioWare's effort, a DS RPG starring the fabled blue speedster, marks a new direction for the IP.

Nintendo has been vague regarding the full plans for Wii Ware, its upcoming service for newly-developed downloadable games on Wii, but during its Conference 2007 Fall in Japan, the company finally laid out some of the planned initial Wii Ware offerings. The service is set to launch in Japan next March.

Among the games listed is Pokemon Bokujou (Pokemon Farm), which allow users to raise Pokemon they have caught in the DS offerings Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl, and raise them in a farm setting.

Also on tap is a new game in the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles sub-series, exclusive to Wii Ware and distinct from the in-development retail Wii game Final Fantasy Crystal Chronices: The Crystal Bearers. Unlike the other released and announced dungeon-crawling Crystal Chronicles games, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Chiisa na Ousama to Yakusoku no Kuni (The Young... Read more

Industry print publication Game Developer has released its 2007 list of Top 20 Publishers in video games, and the top slot has changed for the first time in the history of the annual feature, with third-party industry heavyweight Electronic Arts ceding the #1 crown to first-party manufacturer Nintendo. The title is the latest in a seemingly unending string of good news for the Kyoto-based hardware giant, which recently saw its stock hit a record high.

EA moved down to #2, with Activision coming in at #3, Ubisoft moving up to #4, and THQ rounding out the top five. Take-Two Interactive and Sega of America took the next two slots. As far as the other first-party publishers, Sony Computer Entertainment came in at #8, one slot above Microsoft Game Studios. Fans of niche Japanese gaming will be pleased to know that Atlus has joined the Top 20 for the first time at #18, while ailing Atari has dropped off.

Game Developer publisher CMP Game Group compiled its list by considering detailed responses from over 300 members of the game publishing community, as well as sales and review data, release portfolios, and employee pay.

A full list of the Top 20 Publishers follows. The full 100-page report is available for purchase from Game Developer Research, with a summary in the October 2007 issue of Game Developer. ... Read more

Released to little fanfare in other territories earlier this month, Sony's redesigned PSP rode the Japanese wave of Final Fantasy-related launch frenzying to sales of 250,702 units during its first week at retail. The number from Japanese media tracker and Famitsu magazine publisher Enterbrain represents the first four days of Japanese PSP slim sales, with the first day alone seeing 130,000 PSPs sold.

PSP sales the week prior to the redesigned console's release had skyrocketed to more than 95,000 due to the launch of Square Enix's Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII for the PSP on September 13. A limited edition bundle giving Japanese gamers a Final Fantasy VII-themed PSP Slim a week in advance of the system's release debuted with the game as well, no doubt adding to the already strong sales.

Before this resurgence in interest, weekly PSP sales in Japan had been in the 10,000 to 20,000 range for months. Japanese gamers had already shown the PSP more attention than it was due following its weak launch, so it's no surprise to see them throwing yen by the hundreds of thousands at Sony when a traditional Japanese developer hits that sweet-spot of gaming tripe masked by the ultimate fan-service of a Final Fantasy VII spinoff title.

The redesigned PSP could easily ride Crisis Core's success through the holiday season in Japan, and could potentially keep the frenzied mass of spendthrifts sending money Sony's way until the next big release for the system.