In a surprising twist of events, the release date for Final Fantasy XIII has been revealed by a not-yet-released Youtube ad. The ad states the game will be released December 17, 2009. That’s this year, folks. Yes, Final Fantasy XIII will be out this year.

Unless there’s a delay, of course.

Seven new Final Fantasy XIII high quality scans have been released via the Famitsu website, from the magazine’s September issue. The screens depict more images of the recently revealed Jill Nabato, as well as some stunning in-game footage with Lighting in action. You can check ‘em out below and on the Final Fantasy XIII Images page.

Square Enix has been gracious enough to release several screenshots from the Final Fantasy XIV demo held at Gamescom in Germany this past week. The screens show just one area with a warrior fighting off some baddies; not much, but they’re in-game nonetheless.

Check ‘em out below and on the Final Fantasy XIV Images page.

As the wait for Final Fantasy XIII becomes smaller, the character list gets bigger. In a new batch of scans recently released, a villain we’ve seen before in previous trailers has been given a name and an identity. The character’s name is Jill Nabato, and apparently she’s a hot-tempered Lieutenant Colonel. Boss battle, anyone?

Check out the above images of Jill. You can also view these on our Final Fantasy XIII Images page.

The NA (and JP) Final Fantasy XIV site has receieved a major update. The site’s layout has been completely revamped, new music has been added, and dozens of pages have been put up, detailing several of Final Fantasy XIV’s various features. Pages added/updated are the following:

- World

• Story - Tells the background story of the Final Fantasy XIV universe.
• City-States – Gives a brief history of the 3 city-states Ul’dah, Limsa Lominsa, and Gridania.
• Races – Describes the 5 different races in Final Fantasy XIV.

- Gameplay

• Armoury System – Details Final Fantasy’s in-depth armoury system, in which equipping weapons or tools can change your character’s class instantly.
• Guildleves – Explains the Guildleve system, a feature never before seen in any MMO.
• Aetheryte – Tells of the Aetheryte, a material (presumably a stone) that can teleport your character across the world.

The Media page has also been updated with a couple new graphics. There is also an About page which displays previously known developer information.

We will be adding pages to the Final Fantasy XIV section to accomadate for this huge amount of new information. Look out for it in the coming days!

In other related news, Japanese gaming site Game Watch Impresses has released high resolution Final Fantasy XIV scans from the August 5th issue of Famitsu. The scans are even more beautiful now, be sure to check them out below and on the Final Fantasy XIV scan page.

The August 5th issue of Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu has revealed several details, such as environments, class details, and character races. Scans from the magazine depict character artwork and even several in-game shost.

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Stages:
Desert City – Uldaha
Forest City – Gridania
Ocean City – Rimsa Rominsa
(the spelling could be way off, just going from the 2ch stuff Munba posted)

Armory System:
- you can change jobs and lifestyles freely
- by changing your weapon, you are essneitally changing jobs, and can do so anywhere
- so if you are invited to a PT and there are a lot of fighters, you can switch to a caster, then when your adventures are over, go fishing or synth some stuff
- weapons and def gear all have their own merit. if you want to hone a particular skill, you can coordinate your equipment in that direction
- rather than character levels and skills, the main thing is the skill of the item you are holding
- you can play on your own and switch between fighter and caster to heal yourself, so soloing is easy
- typical jobs of the FF series, e.g. warrior and black mage, are being avoided
- you can basically enjoy this world in any way you want. (me: freedom seems to be the main point here)

The character races set for Final Fantasy XIV were detailed by IGN earlier today:

Hyuran: The race with the highest population in Eorzea. They’re split into midlanders and highlanders, depending on where they reside.

Miqo’te: A race of hunters that’s split into day and night clans, referred to respectively as Sun Seekers and Moon Keepers.

Lalafell: A small-framed, highly intelligent farming people that originates from islands in the southern seas. They’ve now spread throughout the land, although there aren’t too many of them in cold environments.

Elezen: This ancient race once ruled over Eorzea. They have excellent hearing abilities thanks to their ears, which stick out. While they once fought with the invading Hyuran, the two races now coexist almost completely peacefully.

Roegadyn: A large-framed sea going people based in the northern seas.

These races correspond, respectively, to FFXI’s Hume, Mithra, Tarutaru, Elvaan, and Galka races. FFXI fans will probably recognize them instantly once Square Enix shares official artwork.

As detailed above, the Huyran and Miqo’te races are split into sub types. In an interview with the magazine, director Nobuaki Komoto wouldn’t disclose if this character setting will play a part in the game.

Also introduced in the magazine are four job categories: fighter, sorcerer, gatherer, and crafter. These have sub jobs beneath them. Fighter includes swordsman and archer, for instance. Crafter includes blacksmith and cook. Traditional FF classes like Black Mage and Warrior are being avoided, said producer Hiromichi Tanaka to the magazine.

Using the game’s Armory System, you can instantly change your character’s class by making equipment and accessory changes. Your character earns experience in individual classes, learning new skills along the way. Based off your equipment changes, you can create a specialist in a certain job, or make your character into a jack of all trades.

Recent scans from Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu have introduced a new character to the Final Fantasy XIII universe, Hope Estheim. The scans reveal Hope to be a cute faced kid, looking in his young teens.

“Hope is a delicate kid, one whose youth makes his feelings easily hurt. His mother lent a hand to Snow’s resistance effort in order to protect her son, sacrificing her life for the cause. The way Hope sees it, however, Snow reeled in her mother without a second thought — and now he works alongside Snow while plotting for revenge against him. He acts very hesitant around the party at first, but exactly how he acts upon this desire for revenge will become one of the highlights of the story.”

Despite his charming looks, it seems as if Hope has some sinister intentions.

Just a informational post, nothing too snazzy.

A few of our pages have gone under intense modification and several others have received small patch ups. Most important on the list of updates is the new descriptions for the three Fabula Nova Crystallis titles, written up by the irreplaceable Shannon, aka Medomai. She’s only just joined the staff and already helping the site in more ways then imaginable.

Second up, the previous scan pages have been completely wiped and combined into one convenient scan page. There’s some scans missing, but most that were taken out were far outdated. Feel free to use the scans for whatever you desire, but please ask permission first via email or comment.

Apart from those two major updates, several other pages, including our Staff page, have been given subtle make-overs. Nothing too special, but it’s all pushing towards our getting back up and smooth again.

As well as in-game art spectacles, Square Enix has always been known for its amazing concept art. Of course, the art for Final Fantasy XIV is no exception. The first piece of concept art, released on the official site, shows off the obvious community factor of Final Fantasy XIV. The art style for the game is shaping up to be something phenomenal, expect to get a look at even more of it in the coming months.

You can view the full piece at the Final Fantasy XIV image page, here.