411mania talks about this week's game releases. Highlights include Dissidia: Final Fantasy, Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy, Metroid Prime Trilogy, Cursed Mountain, and Harvest Moon: Magical Melody.
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A group of teenagers from Texas called "The Speed Gamers" are attempting to complete the entire Final Fantasy series in only a week, while taking donations for ACT Today, an organization to help support families affected by Autism.

(From their front page)

TheSpeedGamers have been streaming video game marathons for over a year to raise money for various charities. In total they have raised over $32,000 dollars and played 11 marathons.

TheSpeedGamers are based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas, but have members from around the world.
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Square Enix's recent announcement that they would be bringing classic Final Fantasy to the Virtual Console was greeted as good news all round by fans, but the details of the announcement have led to some interesting speculation.
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Kotaku writes:

Square Enix honcho Yoichi Wada (above, left) is worried. Western game companies are doing really well! Meaning that competition is getting harder. Yet, Wada hopes to capitalise on the Western market, aiming to increase the ratio of overseas sales from its current 50 percent to 80 percent in the next three years. According to the exec:

"We face competition not only from Japanese videogame companies but from game companies worldwide. We also see some new players from outside the videogame industry coming in... Economies of scale and breadth of scope is getting important. It may be a business alliance or it may be us taking a stake in others, but we need to go beyond traditional Square Enix."

That business alliance sounds nice and all. But, how about stop calling everything Final Fantasy? Or make things other than RPGs? Or if you are going to make RPGs, why not make the games people have been asking for for the past decade?
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For the first time ever Europeans can now play the legendary Final Fantasy III in English. The Nintendo DS remake has shipped today and can be found at most video game stores across Europe for the MSRP of US $39.99.
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The DS remake of Final Fantasy III is about to launch across Europe this Friday, but it could have been a different story if Nintendo hadn't stepped in and persuaded Square Enix to go with the DS.

The company's original plan was to release the remake on the old, faithful PlayStation 2. But there seems to have been a bit of a last minute bidding war from Nintendo.
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The third issue of GamerZine's free handheld gaming magazine is out and includes reviews of Ratchet and Clank Size Matters, Final Fantasy II, Harvest Moon, Virtua Tennis 3 and loads more. There's also previews and reviews roundups on all the latest games, plus a feature on retro games compilations and mobile phone gaming.
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Issue 2 of HGZine, the free magazine for Sony PSP and Nintendo DS, includes an exclusive column by Steve Lycet from Sumo Digital (makers of TOCA, OutRun 2006, and Virtua Tennis) on how a game is converted to the PSP. Also in the issue are reviews of Lunar Knights, Phoenix Wright, Prince of Persia Rival Swords, Spectrobes and many more. There are also previews of Call of Duty Roads to Victory, Harvest Moon, My Sims, and a roundup of every Final Fantasy game in development for handheld devices (no small feat!).
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Gamerzines, who have already launched free Xbox 360 and PC games magazines, have just published the first issue of HGZine. Handheld Gamerzine covers Nintendo DS and Sony PSP games, and the first issue is packed with reviews of Sid Meier's Pirates, Mario vs Donkey Kong 2, Ghost Rider, Castlevania, Dungeon Siege and more. There are previews of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, Zelda Phantom Hourglass, Manhunt 2, Driver 76 and an exclusive interview with Burnout Detonator Senior Producer, Nick Channon.

As with other Gamerzines, the magazine is written by professional games journalists and published for free in PDF format. The magazine is enhanced with video and multimedia.
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It doubtless has more to do with commerce than anything else, but at least Square Enix can argue its solid little Final Fantasy III figures tie in with the newly-3D status of the DS game.
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