Square Enix earnings mixed, no FF XIII 'til '08?

Two weeks after its massive gamers day outside Tokyo, Square Enix has reported its earnings for its 2006 fiscal year, which ended March 31, 2007. The prior 12 months saw the company's revenue soar 31.3 percent year-on-year to 163.4 billion yen ($1.3 billion), its best-ever annual haul.

The AFX news service quoted Square Enix chief financial officer Yosuke Matsuda as saying, "Packaged game sales did well, in particular in North America and Europe, led by such titles as Final Fantasy XII."

"It will take a bit more time," Wada reportedly said about FFXIII. "At the very least, this fiscal year is definitely out of the question." When contacted by GameSpot, Square Enix USA reps claimed they were unaware of Wada's comments and were waiting on official word. "We'll get a translation to you as soon we receive one," was all a rep would say.

First Blu-ray Movie, Game Combo Disc

Sony has long preached about the gaming benefits that the Blu-ray Disc drive is affording to the PlayStation 3. While we may not yet be seeing the direct advantages of the extra 40-plus gigabytes in gameplay, John Woo’s Stranglehold game offers PS3 owners an exclusive not found on the DVD version for Xbox 360 and PC.

In addition to the game, a collector’s edition of Stranglehold on PlayStation 3 will include a full-length, 1080p version of John Woo's critically acclaimed action film Hard Boiled on the same Blu-ray Disc. Stranglehold collector’s edition will retail for $69.95, $10 more than the regular edition, and marks the first movie and game hybrid disc for the Blu-ray format.

DailyTech - John Woo Snags First Blu-ray Movie, Game Combo Disc.

PS Home: William Gibson's Vision Realized

I should preface by saying anyone who hasn't read William Gibson's Neuromancer should run, not walk, to the nearest bookstore and pick up a copy.

Neuromancer, the 1984 cyberpunk thriller, is one of my favorite books of all time. Over the years copious amounts of little details in Neuromancer have become everyday components of daily life today.

The matrix (not capitalized) was Gibson's virtual reality in 1984. Hackers portalled around on "decks" -- personal consoles that were more like appliances than computers. Ultra-rich denizens of the supercities picked up cybernetic matrix implants as casually as executives today run out to an afternoon liposuction.

Growing up to see large portions of Gibson's fantasy come true had always intrigued me, but the latest announcements from Sony put me over the edge. Gibson often describes his cyberspace as if it's a real place; people mingle with each other, programs are objects you can pick up and use. I say his cyberspace because the term did not exist before 1982, when Gibson first used it in his novels. The equivalent of a website in Gibson's novels is always described as a physical place, yet surreal and manmade.

In Gibson's 1996 novel, Idoru, large portions of the book takes place in personal cyberspaces. A primary character, Chia, spends almost all of her time listening to music in her virtual room as an avatar. Sound familiar? It should, because it's exactly the roadmap Phil Harrison lined up for the PlayStation Home.

It's not to say Sony overnight duplicated what Gibson has been writing about for 25 years. Even many of Gibson's ideas are not unique, just evolutionary advances on older ideas. What makes me excited about Sony's announcement is that PlayStation Home will be the first ubiquitous virtual reality, if Sony can pull it off.

Now, I should give Second Life some credit here as well. If anything, Second Life is actually closer to Gibson's descriptions of the matrix -- yep, Gibson called it the matrix 15 years before The Matrix and a decade before Ghost in the Shell. The difference between Second Life and Playstation Home is that Sony wants the interaction between virtual and reality to be transparent, especially with media and the internet. Gibson anticipated this dozens of times over the last 25 years in his novels.

When Neuromancer was re-released in 2000, a quote from Jack Womack was added to the epilogue. "What if the act of writing it down, in fact, brought it about?"

Final Fantasy Net

Final Fantasy Net - Your #1 Final Fantasy Reference - XII / 12, XIII / 13. Very nice fan-site for globally popular Final Fantasy franchise. Simple, effective, intuitive. Lovely.

Microsoft bans modded 360s

Console maker nixes Xbox Live access for systems that it determines have been altered "to try and maintain a fair gaming environment."

Earlier this month, Microsoft cracked down on Xbox 360 users bypassing regional lockouts on downloaded content. The system's Spring Update included updates that would prevent users from using dummy profiles to access Xbox Live Marketplace content intended for other regions. However, the update had no punitive measures for those who had done so in the past.

Now it appears the company is taking a stricter stance with respect to piracy and online cheating.

Microsoft bans modded 360s - News at GameSpot.

Q&A session details Starcraft II

Blizzard Entertainment holds Western media press conference after announcing its highly anticipated sequel, covering key points about the game and its future.

According to the panel, the game is being developed by a team of approximately 40, though on the matter of the budget and the schedule, Morhaime simply said, "We don't really have a budget; we'll spend as much time and resources as we need to make this game great."

To address concerns from hardcore fans, Blizzard commented on questions specific to gameplay and the competitive community, such as the play speed of the demonstration videos, which didn't run as quickly as the original Starcraft. This is because, according to Pardo, the game played during the demonstration was set on a slower speed; Pardo suggested that Starcraft II will have multiple speed settings, similar to Warcraft III.

The panel also confirmed that the sequel will have only the three factions of the Protoss, Terrans, and Zerg; there will be no fourth faction. To address another question, the panel suggested that the resource management system in the sequel will feature "some enhancements, but it will still be very similar to the resource management in Starcraft, and just as important."

Q&A session details Starcraft II - PC News at GameSpot