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Welcome to Shinra News (formerly Current Events, Midgar Press and Bonga Bugle), the propaganda machine of the Shinra Electric Power Company, now hosted at the Final Fantasy Wiki. Here, special news pertaining to the Wiki and the Final Fantasy series that grab our attention will be reported for all to read. Anyone can start a news report, but be sure to leave the date, location, source and sign your report with three tildes (~~~) before sending in to the printing press.
News reports should be structured in a chronological manner, with recent issues posted at the top. To post a reaction or write a comment, follow the links provided according to the respective news link. Remember, only news related to the Wiki and to the Final Fantasy series are allowed. Let's work together as a community to maintain the newsletter! If you find that our reports are either incorrect or incomplete, feel free to edit them as you feel fit. Just be sure to include a note that you've edited it with (''Edited by'') along with those same ~~~ below the original reporter's name.
After reporting news, please place a mention of it along with a direct link to that section on this page: /News Box, so that it will appear on the Main Page. To save space, please limit news entries on the News Box to only five.
All Shinra News stories will also be reported on our Facebook and Twitter pages.
Old news are in the Archives:
- Archive I - 2006
- Archive II - 2007
- Archive III - 2008
- Archive IV - 2009
- Archive V - 2010
- Archive VI - 2011
- Archive VII - 2012
- Archive VIII - 2013
- Archive IX - 2014
- Archive X - 2015
May
Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster released for Steam
May 12th by Keltainentoukokuu
Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster has been released on Steam. It is a remastered compilation of Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2 originally released for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. It was later ported for the PlayStation 4 and the Steam version is based on this version. The compilation is based on the International version of both games. The Steam version also has Auto-save and 5 game boosters including high speed and no encounter modes, and option for Japanese audio.
Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster on Steam
Final Fantasy Brave Exvius announced for worldwide release
May 9th by Leon95
After seven months of being a Japanese exclusive, Final Fantasy Brave Exvius has been announced for a global release on Android and iOS devices. There is currently no release date for the game, but preregistration is available on the game's official site. On May 16th, a special event to promote the game will begin, where people can perform specific social actions to add crystal points to a pool. This will unlock various in-game prizes for everyone involved upon release.
Source: Official site
April
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Outerworld Services closing
April 21st by Keltainentoukokuu
Outerworld Services for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII will be coming to an end on 4/26/2016. The following features will no longer be available:
- NEWS & UPDATES (upon launching the game)
- Submissions to Outerworld Services
- Outerworld NPCs
- Posts to Social Network Services
- Obtaining Outerworld rewards (rewards already obtained will not be affected.)
Final Fantasy IX now out on Steam
April 14th by Keltainentoukokuu
Final Fantasy IX has been released on Steam. It includes achievements, seven game boosters, including high speed and no encounter modes, autosaves and high-definition cutscene movies and character models. The game is based on the mobile version that was released earlier this year.
Final Fantasy IX at Steam Store
March
Uncovered: Final Fantasy XV report
March 31st by Crystal Tear
At the Uncovered: Final Fantasy XV event in Los Angeles, it was announced that Final Fantasy XV will released on 30 September 2016: separate Deluxe and Collector's Editions have also been announced: the former contains exclusive downloadable content, while the latter contains additional material including a Play Arts Kai figure of Noctis Lucis Caelum and an artbook.
In addition, several tie-in products would be released: a "Final Fantasy XV Platinum Demo" is available for free download, giving exclusive access to a Carbuncle summon in the main game; a minigame for iOS, Android and Windows titled Justice Monsters Five; a series of anime shorts by A-i Pictures titled Brotherhood Final Fantasy which act as a prequel to the game; and Kingsglaive Final Fantasy XV, a CGI movie directed by Takeshi Nozue that takes place in parralel to Noctis' journey and focuses on Niflheim's invasion of Lucis. Kingsglaive is set to be featured in both the Deluxe and Collector's Editions of the game.
In addition, as part of an article on the reveal by USGamer, Tabata commented on XV and its expanded media being compared to the Fabula Nova Crystallis universe. When asked whether Tabata was attempting as smaller-scale version of the subseries with the multimedia approach to XV, he stated:
"I was personally responsible for one of the games in Fabula Nova Crystalis, so I felt somewhat [unmanageable], yeah. But my focus is more making Final Fantasy XV work in this new era we find outselves in than trying to kind of reinvent Fabula Nova Crystallis."
In addition, it has been announced that the game's official theme song will be a modern cover of the 1960s song "Stand By Me" by Florence Welch of band Florence & The Machine. A one-of-a-kind model of the Audi R8 inspired by the game is also being produced in collaboration with Audi.
Source:USGamer, Nova Crystallis 1, 2 and 3
Square Enix has licensed technology to boost graphics performance in Final Fantasy XV
March 25th by Keltainentoukokuu
Umbra announced today that Square Enix has licensed Umbra's technology to boost graphics performance in Final Fantasy XV, the first game to take full advantage of Square Enix's new game engine, Luminous Engine, integrated with Umbra's visibility optimization technology. The engine has been designed to allow high density, polygon rendering performance, with Umbra's technology ensuring that only the visible objects in every frame are being processed and rendered, the end result being optimized graphics and frame-rate.
Final Fantasy XV is set to be localized in a number of languages
March 23rd by Keltainentoukokuu
Square Enix revealed today that for the first time in Final Fantasy history Final Fantasy XV will be localized into Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese text. German and French versions will see their respective voice overs and according to Square Enix German PR, players can switch between German, English and Japanese audio and the same will be of the French version as well. Director Hajime Tabata delivered the news via official Square Enix YouTube channels today.
The German announcement video
The French announcement video
The Latin American Spanish announcement video
The Brazilian Portuguese announcement video
Source: NovaCrystallis
Final Fantasy XV Live Event
March 9th by Knakveey
Some folks from the FF community may have already heard about an event happening in Los Angeles later this month. Square Enix wanted to invite members of the community to attend. For more information, check out this post on the Final Fantasy Facebook page and the official website.
For clarification, this is NOT a Wikia event... You have to be 18 years old in order to attend...
If you are interested in attending, please let me know via my Talk Page or email; nico@wikia-inc.com
February
Final Fantasy IX available for Android and iOS
February 9th by Keltainentoukokuu
Final Fantasy IX is now available on Google Play and App Store with a special offer running from February 10 to February 21 to get a 20% off the price. The game will take about around 4GB of memory. This re-release of a PlayStation classic features achievements, game boosters including high speed and no encounter modes, autosave and high-definition movies and character models.
The game is to arrive to Steam shortly, but no official release date has been given.
Final Fantasy IX at Google Play store
January
New Final Fantasy Explorers trailer; releases next week
January 20th by Keltainentoukokuu
Final Fantasy Explorers is a Final Fantasy spin-off game for Nintendo 3DS coming out on Jan 26th (US) / Jan 29th (EU). Players can fight as classic Final Fantasy characters like Cecil Harvey, Terra Branford, Cloud Strife, Yuna and Lightning. The localized version includes all Japanese DLC for free and has local/WiFi for 4-players. Characters can switch between 20 different jobs.
The collector's edition available from Square Enix Online Store has a limited edition box with artwork by artist Yoshitaka Amano, the game and a 20 track soundtrack, a case for the Nintendo 3DS console with the game's logo, an art book and unlockable in-game quests for "legendary weapons".
World of Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy XV coming to Taipei Game Show
January 15th by Crystal Tear
The Taipei Game Show, a major Asian gaming expo which will run from January 29th through February 2nd, is to have appearances from World of Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy XV, two upcoming titles in the Final Fantasy series. Both titles will also be present in Sony's PlayStation booth.
In addition to being shown off at the event, Hajime Tabata will be present to show off Final Fantasy XV in an hour-long presentation featuring the latest news on the title, while the 35-minute demonstration for World of Final Fantasy will be supervised by producer Shinji Hashimoto and director Hiroki Chiba. An Active Time Report for Final Fantasy XV is also scheduled for "late January", but it is unknown if the two are correlated.
Source: Nova Crystallis via Sony Taiwan
Final Fantasy XV developers answer fans' questions
January 11th by Keltainentoukokuu
In December fans had a chance to ask the developers of Final Fantasy XV questions about the game. Today, three of the most popular questions were answered.
Will large buildings have multiple warp points to allow Noctis to scale and explore rooftops?
Why of course they will! The warp ability that lets you teleport instantly to high up locations is a vital part of FFXV’s battle system. The ability to use multiple warp points in a strategic manner is especially prevalent in the game’s large scale battles over urban terrain. It is not just the buildings though, and we have also created exciting aerial battles with flying foes and gigantic boss enemies, so watch out for those.
Respondent: Lead Level Designer Terada Takefumi
How much of the big cities like Altissia/Insomnia will we be able to explore?
I can tell everyone a little about Altissia at this time.
Altissia has many and varied locations, such as multiple cafes, ship-bourne market places and parks etc. The city is of a considerable scale, to the extent that even the developers sometimes get lost there!
The player is free to take a leisurely walk around the complex maze of streets, or ride the gondola to see the sights and there is also added enjoyment to be had looking for restaurants to visit! You are bound to encounter some unique characters when exploring the city streets.
So we have created lots of different things to enjoy in Altissia and hope everyone is looking forward to visiting!
Respondent: Planner Ishikawa Tomonori
How will the difficulty modes compare in terms of XP gain, enemy stats, damage and A.I?
The equivalent to difficulty level settings in FFXV is a system where you can switch between different battle modes. By having this ability to switch modes, we want to make it so that both players who like action oriented, technical gameplay and also those who want to fight at a slower, more relaxed pace can all enjoy the combat in their own style. This switching system is a key part of the gameplay that we decided to introduce based on the feedback we received from the Episode Duscae demo. We will go into more detail about the system closer to the game’s launch so stay tuned for more information.
Respondent: Lead Game Designer Takizawa Masashi
Source: Official forums
Final Fantasy IX Steam page live
January 6th by Keltainentoukokuu
Final Fantasy IX was recently announced to be ported for mobile devices and Steam. The game's Steam page is now live with the release for "Early 2016". The Steam version will include achievements, game boosters including high speed and no encounter modes, autosave and high-definition movies and character models.
Square Enix shutting down Shinra Technologies
January 6th by Keltainentoukokuu
Square Enix has shut down Shinra Technologies, its 2014-established cloud gaming subsidiary. Both Shinra Technologies, based in New York, and subsidiary Shinra Technologies Japan, based in Tokyo, will be dissolved. Shinra Technologies closed as it failed to raise funds necessary for further business operations from third party investors. Square Enix will book an "extraordinary loss" ~two billion yen in the consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016.
Sian Blake, the voice actress of Final Fantasy XIV's Yugiri, was found dead
January 5th by Monterossa
BBC reported that Sian Blake, 43, and her two sons, aged four and eight year old who have not been seen since December 13, were found dead by the London polices in her garden and a murder investigation was under way. Blake voiced Yugiri Mistwalker, a ninja from Doma in Final Fantasy XIV.
Link: BBC report