Financial Fantasy

On 16 March Final Fantasy XII was released for PS2 in Japan and, within just four days, managed to sell a walloping 1.76 million copies. It's a figure that puts the long-awaited RPG outrageously far ahead of Animal Crossing DS, the next bestselling game, with 71,000 copies.

Should we be at all surprised, given that Japanese gamers seem to exist on a diet that's so rich in vitamins R, P and G? Final Fantasy X recently topped a poll run by Japanese magazine Famitsu, asking its readers to vote for the greatest videogame ever made.

There's still the question, however, of whether Final Fantasy XII will recoup its costs, given how much time it's spent in development. It's not been Square Enix's fastest seller of the past year, either - Dragon Quest VIII sold 2.1 million copies in its first two days on sale. No UK release date has been set for FFXII yet, but you can get hold of the gorgeous Dragon Quest come 13 April.