Despite rumours and the sharpness of the visuals in the Final Fantasy XIII demo, the game will not run at full-HD.

The Final Fantasy XIII demo included with the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete Blu-ray does not run at a 1080p resolution.

A Final Fantasy XIII fan site, FF-XIII.net, reported that Final Fantasy XIII runs at 1080p, or full-HD, despite the game actually rendering in 720p...
» Read More 

Square Enix doesn't only make games for you to play, but things for you to buy. From figurines to jewelry, Final Fantasy XIII is no exception.

This June, Square Enix is putting out a Japan-only pendant like FFXIII heroine Lightening wears. Pricing is still unannounced, but as website Final Fantasy-XIII.net points out, Square Enix's jewelry merch tends to run on the expensive side.
» Read More 

andriasang.com writes:
"The Final Fantasy XIII demo sold, and sold well. It sold to the tune of... well, I'm not exactly sure. The Advent Children Blu-ray sold 275,000 units according to Media Create, but it's unclear how many of those were of the FFXIII bundle, which costs an additional 1,000 yen.

The Monster Hunter 3 demo, bundled with Monster Hunter G, has a lot of work to do if it's going to reach that lofty height. But it appears to be off to a somewhat good start, according to the always reliable Sinobi blog.

According to the blog, Monster Hunter G sold a total of 92,000 copies in its first day of sales this past week. This figure was split 65,000 for the Starter Pack which bundles in that sweet blue Classic Controller, and 27,000 for the standalone version of the game."
» Read More 

Detailed analysis of Final Fantasy XIII's battle system from Siliconera.

"Time Gauge System Basics

Final Fantasy XIII has a brand new battle system with visible enemies. If you touch one of them the game quickly transfers into a battle where the heroes stand on one side and the enemies are on the other. Surprise the enemies by sneaking behind them and they start in "break" status. Keep that term in mind. A meter similar to the active time gauge fills up, but this meter has three bars.

You can attack when the meter is 1/3 full by selecting fight, hitting X, and then triangle. Or you can select fight three times and wait for the meter to fill up completely before hitting triangle. The advantage to waiting is your attacks link up to a three hit combo. Each linked hit bumps up the bonus gauge which determines how much damage you deal. So, lets say your base damage is 100%. A three hit combo moves the bonus meter up to around 120% which gives the last hit, sword slash or spell, a nice damage boost.

A basic fire spell takes one of the three bars to cast. Firaga takes three, but has an area of effect. Enemies and player characters move on their own, sort of like Chrono Trigger. If you launch your spell at the right time you can hit a large group, if not all of the enemies, with Firaga or Blizzaga. You can also cast Cure, but since it's in a separate menu you can't make a fight -> cure -> fire combo. You can cast Cure three times, though. Other white magic spells will probably be grouped with Cure so you can decide if you want to do an offensive combo or a recovery combo.

Lightning and Snow have also have a launch move. Remember "break" status? When an enemy is flashing activate launch as your first move and you knock them in the air. Lightning leaps into the sky and dishes out two more attacks, providing you selected fight for your next two moves, and slams them back to the ground. An...
» Read More 

PSXExtreme writes: "Well, with the Blu-Ray release of Final Fantasy Advent Children, you may also recall that we reported 70,000, out of the 100,000 copies sold, were the ones bundled with the FFXIII demo. And how many of those 70k also bought a PS3 with their FFXIII demo?"
» Read More 

Gamer Limit writes "Gaming in high definition provides the best possible picture and sound quality and allows us to play the games they were meant to be played. The Final Fantasy series has had a long history of amazing pre rendered cut scenes and equally as beautiful real time graphics.

With the wait until FFXIII launches we can't help but think how good these graphics can get. The folks over at intermezzo ran a series of comparison shots of the Japanese demo on high end HD TV's and the good old family analogue."
» Read More 

PlayStation LifeStyle writes:

"The impressions you are about to read come from a long time Squaresoft, and Final Fantasy fan. I have been disappointed as of late by Square Enix, and wasn't exactly thrilled with the new battle system that Final Fantasy XII offered. I went into this demo with low expectations. Does this small glimpse of FFXIII live up to the franchise or is it yet another Square Enix disaster?"
» Read More 

Kotaku writes: "Not all televisions are built the same. For kicks, Japanese site Intermezzo compared the Final Fantasy XIII Blu-ray PS3 demo on two televisions (one HD, one analog). Let's have a look.

One of the televisions was a US$200 model 14-inch Sony WEGA from the year 2000. It was connected to the PS3 with composite cables.

The other was a US$4,000 50-inch Pioneer plasma panel from 2006. It was connected to the PS3 with composite cables."
» Read More 

The latest Famitsu magazine over in Japan features a new interview with Motomu Toriyama, FF13's Director. In the interview he talks about the game's battle system in detail, including what will be changed from the version present in the demo.

Here's the Best Bits.
» Read More 

The version of the movie that came packaged with Final Fantasy XIII demo was the best seller of all the available bundles, selling 70,000 copies. The overwhelming sales of the Final Fantasy XIII bundle would seem to indicate that the demo was a driving factor behind the package, especially considering that the game was marked up an extra 1,000 yen.
» Read More 

Following the successful joint release of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete and the Final Fantasy XIII Trial Version in Japan, fans have been clamouring to get their hands on the demo. Previously Square Enix stated that the North American version of the release wouldn't feature the demo, so anyone who wanted to play it has had to wrestle with customs fees and import it. However, a new statement from Square Enix could contradict their previous statements.
» Read More 

Several Japanese gaming websites are reporting that Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete managed to shift an impressive 100,000 copies in its first day on sale.

Advent Children Complete launched this week in various forms. The movie could be bought standalone, in a slightly more expensive special edition which included a demo of Final Fantasy XIII and in a bundle with a 'Cloud Black' PS3 console.

Needless to say, sales of 100,000 in Japan alone for the extended High Def cut of the movie is quite impressive - though it has to be asked - how many of those were imported by salivating FF Western FF fans desperate for the FF13 demo?
» Read More 

A new Final Fantasy XIII feature in the latest issue of Dengeki PS3.
» Read More 

In recent news regarding Final Fantasy XIII, it appears that the demo was approximately 5.9GB.
The hour long demo has some Xbox 360 owners worried about the game's quality, as the demo alone would use up about half of the HD-DVD's allotted memory. What changes will have to be made?
» Read More 

PlayStation LifeStyle writes:

"Included in this super sexy, ultra rare bundle, is a 160GB PS3, FFVII Advent Children Complete Blu-Ray, and a demo of Final Fantasy XIII."
» Read More 

FinalFantasy-XIII.net: Square-Enix have updated the Japanese Final Fantasy XIII website with some new screenshots from the demo, some wallpapers and a piece of artwork.
» Read More 

FF7ACC capacity of 45.9GB, AACS MKB V12 did.
Main knitting file size is about 29.8GB, BDInfo average bitrate of the video about the analysis of 27.8Mbps, the average Japanese audio Dolby True HD 5.1ch is about 1.9Mbps and the average English Dolby True HD 5.1ch is about 1.97Mbps

FFXIII Demo capacity is about 5.09GB
» Read More 

411mania talks about this week's game releases. Highlights include Demigod, Dokapon Journey, The Dark Spire, the Final Fantasy XIII Demo + Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete, and Air Conflicts.
» Read More 

FinalFantasy-XIII.net: As most of us guessed, the Final Fantasy XIII demo has been leaked early and thanks to esegk from Justin.tv, we can watch it being played live right now.
» Read More 

OPM sent e-mails round to all subscribers, linking them to the missing Final Fantasy XIII Preview Page:

Dear Reader

We're very sorry, but due to an issue with an advert that had been printed on the other side we had to remove the last page of the Final Fantasy XIII feature.

Please click here to download a digital file of the missing page. And again, apologies for the inconvenience this has caused you.

The Subscriptions Team
PlayStation Official Magazine - UK
» Read More