Chocobo's getting all set to wark all across North America! Don't worry, "wark" isn't some cool new slang term for bodily functions best left undiscussed. What that statement basically means is that Square Enix has sent 'round a press release announcing when Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon hits Wiis in the US. More in the full article.

New trailers are out for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Young King and the Promised Land. Meet some of the characters in the game, as well as the classes they can take on (including the classic classes, the Black and White mages). Check out the full article for more.

   

Take note of the capital S in the title. (It's not a typo, this writer just felt the need to put emphasis on the plural of Star Ocean, you'll know what we mean in a bit.) Square Enix held a Pre-Conference Meeting at its HQ in Shinjuku and let's just say there was a deluge of new info about the upcoming titles.

Squeenix is definitely giving the Sony PlayStation Portable a lot of love. They're releasing three Star Ocean titles, two of which are for the PSP. Yup, you read that right. Star Ocean: First Departure is a full makeover'd version of the original Super Famicom video game (it was only released in Japan). Second up is Star Ocean: Second Evolution which is also a remake for the original PSOne Star Ocean: The Second Story. Star Ocean 4 is still under development by the original devs for the series, tri-Ace. There wasn't any info on what platforms it will be released on and an ETA.

Shinji Hashimoto announced a new Wii title under the working title Chocobo's Dungeon: Toki-Wasure no Meikyuu. It will be released in honor of the 10th anniversary of the Chocobo franchise. Reportedly, it will serve as a follow up of the DS Chocobo Tales and will feature familiar characters and locations. The difference would be that the title will focus on dungeon gameplay instead of a bunch of minigames. Producer Yuki Yokoyama concluded:

Finally, a word for those who enjoyed Chocobo Tales, we are including something special that should be very familiar to you to discover, and I hope you're looking forward to this title as much as I am.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers were discussed by Akitoshi Kawazu, executive producer of the series. He indicated that Ring of Fates will be coming to Nintendo's handheld and will be utilizing the DS' WiFi capabilities. Ring of Fates will be more focused on traditional action RPG gameplay with good special effects. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates will be released in August 23 in Japan - a bit later than what Square Enix had planned. A short in game footage for The Crystal Bearers for the Wii was shown featuring sky ships and other impressive elements.

Lastly, the Square Enix announced Final Fantasy XII: International Zodiac Job System (definitely a mouthful) which is scheduled for a August 9 release. Hiroyuki Ito, producer and director for the title indicated that a secret DVD will be included. The North American version of the game will be English dubbed and will feature a 16:9 widescreen mode. According to Ito, "the Zodiac Job System now enables players to create characters that adhere more closely to classic Final Fantasy job systems, like White Mage, Red Mage and Black Mage."

Looks like we've got a lot to expect from Square Enix this year. Expect more goodies as when the party really begins. Stay tuned.

Now, we've got some talent right here. As an assignment for school, the artist Jeff C. had to do something that he's never done before, and then create a piece of art based on that experience. So what he did was line up for a Wii and then sit down with Illustrator afterwards.

Though the experience was a Wii launch, the piece pretty much summarizes the launch for the PS3 as well, and perhaps even the Xbox 360 launch back in 2005.

Looking at this piece of art, it seems that Crash Bandicoot and Wario have made it to the front of the line and got their consoles early, while our favorite Street Fighters, along with Cloud, got pelted with eggs while they slept in their sleeping bags and tent (at least it wasn't pellets from a BB gun).

Meanwhile, Otacon's sleeping bag is making my head spin, while Black Mage and Kirby are probably nuking it out on ad-hoc mode on their DS Lites. You might also notice that Mario and Luigi may have taken too long saving Princess Toadstool and the rest of the Mushroom Kingdom, that's why they ended up at the back of the line. Awww.

In any case, with a piece of work like this, we'd love to have the artist paint this on our office wall as a mural, or at least turn it into a frame which would pretty much summarize and commemorate the year 2006 in the world of video games. Oh, and this guy had better get an "A+" for this...