October2012
News Dragon Quest VII Set to Venture Onto 3DS
If in doubt, release a re-make
While Dragon Quest X for Wii U was shown off recently during a Japanese Nintendo Direct broadcast — though it's already been released on Wii in the Land of the Rising Sun — Square Enix hasn't yet finished re-releasing earlier entries in the series. According to JUMP magazine, at least. A scanned page from the...
News Final Fantasy's Battle System Is Based On American Football
Who knew?
Square Enix's Hiroyuki Ito has revealed to 1UP the origin of the turn-based battle system in the original Final Fantasy - and it's somewhat unexpected, to say the least. Driven to create an efficient system for Hironobu Sakaguchi's seminal NES RPG, Ito turned to professional sports for his inspiration. 1UP: So did you create the battle...
News This Bravely Default: Flying Fairy Soundtrack Packaging is Rather Special
Pop up CD case, anyone?
We've been paying a lot of attention to Bravely Default: Flying Fairy here at Nintendo Life, mainly because it looks like a high quality 3DS RPG from Square Enix. With an attractive art-style and seemingly plenty of interesting gameplay to offer, we're sure that others are also keen to see a Western release. One thing that's...
Rumour Square Enix Triple-A Title Being Ported to Wii U
Straight Right employee can't keep a secret
Straight Right is the Australian development studio that's becoming a little better known to Nintendo gamers, courtesy of it handling the Wii U port of Bioware's Mass Effect 3. The company is showing plenty of enthusiasm for Nintendo's new system, saying the following when addressing its desire to meet...
September2012
News Kingdom Hearts 3DS Sold Rather Well, Thanks Very Much
200,000 copies shifted stateside
Nintendo recently released sales figures which suggested that Kingdom Hearts 3DS: Dream Drop Distance shifted 180,000 copies. This is a pretty respectable figure for an RPG, but it's not entirely accurate. Siliconera has been told by the
News Many Happy Returns, Final Fantasy - You're 25 This Year
A quarter century of turn-based bliss
Square Enix's world famous Final Fantasy series celebrates its 25th birthday this year. What started life as a last-ditch attempt by series founder Hironobu Sakaguchi to make a success of his then-flagging career in the video game industry - hence the title of the game - Final Fantasy has gone on to sell over...
August2012
News No Sequel From The World Ends With You Teaser
The end of the world?
A week ago we brought you the news that Square Enix had launched a teaser website that strongly suggested a project related to DS title The World Ends With You, which was enough to get some people rather excited about a potential sequel. As the countdown on the site continued a worrying story spread around the web that this was...
News Nintendo In The Game For Golden Joystick Awards
Your votes can help
It's awards season, once again, with nominations for the 30th Golden Joystick Awards now confirmed and Nintendo games or exclusives featuring in a number of categories. These awards are decided entirely by the public, so if you feel that the big N deserves a chance to win you can have your say. Below are the nominations for...
News Kingdom Hearts 3D AR Cards Drop Into Club Nintendo UK
Full of spirit
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance has been one of the biggest releases on 3DS this year, and made good use of the system's capabilities. One feature was to scan AR cards with the handheld's camera in order to recruit Spirits to your party, with two of these cards included with the game. For those that enjoyed the feature and...
News Bravely Default: Flying Fairy Japanese Box Art Revealed
Title meaning also uncovered...
The time is nigh for Japanese RPG fans, Bravely Default: Flying Fairy will be fluttering over to the 3DS console on 11th October. Square Enix has now revealed the official and finalised Japanese box art for the game, and incidentally uncovered a reasonably high age rating for an RPG on the 3DS - CERO C (15+). Since...
News Take a Ride in the New Dragon Quest 'Slime Car'
Nissan gets Slimey
Today Japanese automaker, Nissan, has announced its partnership with Square Enix in creating a special Dragon Quest themed car, the Serena S-Hybrid mini van 'Slime Car'. The collaboration was unveiled at the DQ-themed restaurant, Luida's Cafe in Roppongi. If you happen to be a Dragon Quest fanatic, then you might be out of luck...
News Square Enix Takes Quarterly Earnings Hit
Still plenty more hit points left, though
Japanese super-publisher Square Enix has made public its financial results for for the opening quarter of 2012, posting a net loss of 2,077 million yen. The figures — which take in the first three months of the financial year up to June 2012 — are attributed by the company to poor console sales. Dragon...
News Square Enix Targets Ten Years of Support for Dragon Quest X
X marks the content
Dragon Quest X has now arrived on Wii in Japan, with a Wii U version also said to be on the way in the future, and publisher Square Enix will no doubt be hoping that the substantial online play will attract a lot of loyal gamers. Any title like this with a focus of online play needs consistent and new content to keep gamers...
July2012
News Nintendo Talks Dragon Quest X in Latest Direct Broadcast
Spot the Treevil
Nintendo has published its latest Nintendo Direct broadcast, this time focusing on the upcoming Japanese release Dragon Quest X. The broadcast began with an introduction from Satoru Iwata, and then included gameplay commentary from Dragon Quest designer Yuji Horii, series producer Yousuke Saito and director Jin Fujisawa, who you...
News Bravely Default Demo Flutters onto the Japanese eShop
Get a job
Square Enix has announced that the next Bravely Default: Flying Fairy demo will be heading to the Japanese 3DS eShop on Wednesday. This will be the fourth playable demo available to the public, and is entitled 'Job and Ability Volume'. Those who download the demo will be able to sample five of the jobs on offer in the game: Knight, Mystic...
News Kingdom Hearts 3D Composers Praise 3DS
Making dreamy music
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance is already in stores in Japan and Europe, with North America joining in on 31st July. While the series is loved for many things, whether it's the Disney influences or the storylines, its music has played a big role in making it memorable to fans. In an interview with Destructoid, the three...
News Dragon Quest X Nintendo Direct Confirmed
Free 3DS app on 22nd August in Japan
Dragon Quest X is being shown a lot of love in Japan at the moment, and Nintendo has confirmed that there'll be another short Nintendo Direct broadcast focused on the title on 30th July at 8pm Japanese time, which is 12pm British standard time, 1pm central European time and 7am U.S. eastern. This is the second...
News Heroes of Ruin Updates and DLC a Possibility
Discussions and fan support vital
Heroes of Ruin is now available in both Europe and North America, so the online action-RPG will have adventurers from both sides of the Atlantic hacking and slashing their way to loot and glory. In terms of functionality alone, it's one of the most substantial titles on 3DS, with a major online co-op component and...
News Dragon Quest X App Adventuring Onto 3DS
StreetPass and game updates included
Dragon Quest X, the Wii and Wii U exclusive with substantial online play, is currently only confirmed for Japan, which may bother those who got so engrossed in Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies on DS. To compound the anxious wait for news of localisation, it's being reported by Andriasang that a...
News Square Enix Presents the Bravely Default: Flying Fairy Collectors Pack
Heaven-sent goodies
The rather oddly named Bravely Default: Flying Fairy is heading to 3DS consoles all over Japan on 11th October, and to celebrate the release of one of the prettiest games on the system Square Enix has compiled a rather amazing Collectors Edition of the game. The pack includes a copy of the game, the original soundtrack, a 3DS...
News Kingdom Hearts 3D Flows Into UK Top Ten
Dreaming of top spot
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance was a high-profile arrival in Europe last week, bringing the popular franchise to the current generation of handhelds. Square Enix and Nintendo — the latter dealing with distribution in PAL regions — invested plenty of hype, particularly online, behind the title; has it paid off? The...
Out Now Heroes of Ruin Lands in North America
Yes, we're one day late
On occasions when European and North American release dates are weeks apart, in this case a full month, then it's worth giving a quick reminder for anyone that hasn't kept track. This one is all about Heroes of Ruin, the action RPG developed by n-Space and published by Square Enix, and it's in North American stores now. It's...
News Check Out Kingdom Hearts 3D Worlds in the Latest Trailer
A virtual Disney World
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance hits EU stores this week, and at the end of the month in North America, so Square Enix is duly winding up the hype-generator. How does it do that? With a flashy trailer showing off cool bits of the game, of course. This latest trailer, below, shares a number of environments and areas,...
News Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy Earns Passing Rank in UK Chart
Fantasizing about top spot
The UK charts can be a tough place for Nintendo system exclusives in recent times, but Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy has secured a reasonable 19th place in the UK all-format charts in its first week. While that may not sound like something to celebrate, we should consider that the excellent Rhythm Thief & the Emperor's...
June2012
News Kingdom Hearts 3D Trailer Goes With The Flow
Flashy production values included
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance is happily aboard the hype train ahead of its EU release on 20th July and North American arrival on 31st July. Alongside mentions on Nintendo Direct and the news that Nintendo will manage distribution in PAL regions, Square Enix has released a demo in Europe and started to...
