NEWS
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This is the news section, here you will find the most recent updates from sources like Videogames.com and other sites like Gamespot .

This update is from vodeogames.com :
TOKYO - In the new game magazines, there's an ad for Final Fantasy VIII featuring Rinoa Heartilly (it shows a few screens of her attacks as well). It's interesting to note the little wing design on the back of her shirt (hmm...). These scans are from Final Fantasy VIII's opening movie. In the opening, Squall and Seifer are fighting -actually, training at Balamb Garden. During the training, the use of magic and pulling the trigger of the GunBlade are prohibited. But Cifer wanted to stop Squall and used both of them. When the GunBlade hit Squall's forehead, Seifer pulled the trigger. That's how both Squall and Seifer have scars in their foreheads. We've learned that the land Squall lives in is called Dukedome of Balamb. The garden is also actually called Balamb Garden. In the Dukedome, there's a train, which is the main means of transportation. Also new is an artwork of Ifruit, one of the Guardian Forces featured in the game (and a familiar face at that). By Yutaka Ohbuchi
This is Ifruit



This is from PSM online about the release of the demo:
Inside Final Fantasy VIII Hands-on impressions of Square's latest Final Fantasy, including first-ever movies and more than 120 new screens Square's most ambitious game yet has showed its face in Japan. Coming packed with the recently-released Brave Fencer Musashiden, the playable Final Fantasy VIII demo gives a good taste of what can be expected from the game when it arrives this winter. Initial Impressions Beginning with a portion of the same FMV screened at Square's E3 press conference, the demo shows Squall and party streaking towards a coastal city on a futuristic attack boat. There's a battle in progress. Beaching itself like an amphibious troop transport, the boat's bow opens in a seamless transition from CG to gameplay, and the party empties out. Right off the bat, the most obvious improvement over Final Fantasy VII lies in character movement and appearance - it's far more realistic and emotional. The characters' lifelike proportions and full texture-mapping is partially to thank here, but superb motion capture is the real key. Backgrounds remain similar to FFVII's in detail and animation, but now the view can pan, sweep, and rotate while characters move. Many familiar themes - including the classic battle music - return in the MIDI score. Overall, the initial tone conveyed by the game is very mature, very cinematic, but still unmistakably Final Fantasy. Battle System After landing on the beach, Squall and his party must make their way through the embattled city and to a mountain-top communications uplink. There's plenty of opportunity for combat along the way. And despite the series' substantial change in tone, the battle system remains amazingly familiar. Squall is joined by two party members for the demo: Zell and Rinoa. Squall is armed with his Gunblade (which is just what it sounds like: a sword with built-in gun), Rinoa uses a boomerang blade, and Zell uses nothing but his bare fists. When attacking with Squall, pressing R1 when his Gunblade impacts an enemy makes it fire, delivering an added punch. All three characters have limit breaks, which are selectable when a flashing arrow appears next to their standard attack. Much as in FFVII, the limit breaks are awe-inspiring to behold. Zell, for instance, is engulfed in glowing energy before being thrust into the air and striking downward through his target. All the while the camera pans with cinematic flair. The party also comes prepared with several heal potions and various spells. But easily the most intriguing abilities presented are the Guardian Force (formerly known as Summon) and Draw. Rinoa in the only character in the demo with a Guardian Force - Leviathan. And if you thought he looked good in FFVII, you haven't seen anything yet. Guardian Force Leviathan appears out of a formless mass when summoned, causing a gigantic cliff to sprout from the ground beneath him. From atop this cliff, a rushing torrent of water crashes down on the enemies below. It's easily one of the most impressive sequences yet seen in a videogame. And this is just the demo. Draw System Draw functions in a similar fashion to its equivalent in Parasite Eve. Party members can attempt to "steal" items and magic from enemies once per turn. It may also be used to draw abilities, such as the option to execute double magic attacks per round. Access to inventory functions is not enabled in the demo; pressing start instead brings up the option to turn Dual Shock support on and off. The vibration effect itself is subtle, and is only used during Guardian Force attacks at this point. Monsters En route to the communications uplink, Squall and party encounter enemies ranging from soldiers to frightening beasts: a mutated cobra, horse, and a bizarre floating reptile. Larger enemies (bosses) now show visible weakness. Following an incredible CG sequence atop the communications array, the party goes head-to-head agains its operator, who is subseqently killed by a gigantic flying demon. After that, well, you'll just have to wait until the demo arrives this November with Brave Fencer Musashi... let's just say that Square's flair for drama and CG artistry has reached an unprecedented level. Final Thoughts As much as we'd like the demo to have gone on forever, it eventually had to come to an end. From this short - yet sweet - taste of Final Fantasy VIII, we've come away with a sense of great evolution, but not necessarily revolution of the series. Final Fantasy may have a bold new look, yet it's still a familar game underneath. And that's not a bad thing.
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This is a source from Videogames.com written by Yutaka Ohbuchi.
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Square Announces Final Fantasy VIII TOKYO - Friday, May 15th was "F Day," the day Square officially announced Final Fantasy VIII. Videogames.com has in attendance at the unveiling press conference, and here's what we saw: After a brief address from Tomoyuki Takechi (president of Square), and Hironobu Sakaguchi (vice president, executive producer of the game), we were shown a Final Fantasy VIII promo video. At first, a huge parabola antenna appeared on the screen. Then the screen changed to sky and about a half dozen fighter jets flew in formation creating a vapor trail with moon-like stars in the background. Finally, the Final Fantasy VIII logo appeared on the screen. Then a fleet of huge ships forged ahead in the sea. Among the fleet, standing on the deck of one of the ships was the game's main character, Squall Leonhart He glances at a map, reading it, possibly to see where he is headed. Then the screen showed several images as if in a flashback: memories from his past, no doubt. One flashback was of Leonhart being chased by an armed vehicle in a desert. After the cut, lots of images flashed across the screen, including battle scenes. The video ended with a final showing of the FFVIII logo. It was no more than ten minutes of footage, but was a good look at the game. Needless to say, the quality of the CG is top notch, and the characters in the movie sequences looked much more natural than FFVII - meaning that they are more life-sized. They have smaller eyes, and longer legs and arms. It's not in the style of typical Japanimation, but they move really convincingly. With the massive orchestrated sound, it was like we were seeing a full CG movie. Of course, it was just as Square had intended. This promo video showed us only a limited look at the game's battle scenes, but it seems to have highly dramatic effects and very cool looking enemies. During his speech, Sakaguchi told the crowd that he want to pursue a more in-depth and detailed story line for the game and that he is seeking a more effective graphical expression for the storytelling. He added that he hasn't forgotten about the interactive elements which, makes it a video game. After showing the video, Shinji Hashimoto explained several things about the game. Contrary to its 32-bit predecessor, the characters in the game are all texture-mapped. It means the characters will be more detailed in battle scenes. Hashimoto said that the characters are now much closer to the ones that appeared in the movie sequence we were shown. More surprisingly, all of your party members will be shown on the field screen. This is a first in the series. Hashimoto also told us that Square's next title, Brave Fencer Musashiden, will be released in Japan on July 16, and that the game will come with FFVIII demo CD as a bonus. The demo CD will contain a playable demo of FFVIII and the movie sequence shown at the conference.. At the end of the conference, we had a Q&A session with Square. When asked about the theme of FFVIII, Sakaguchi answered "There are lots of elements in the game, but one of the members of the development team, Tetsuya Nomura, the character designer, is saying that the theme is love." Sakaguchi also addressed the fact that Square's overseas offices contributed to the technical aspects of FFVIII - specifically the game's CG and development tools. When asked about FFIX, which he once said was already in-the-works and might have been announced with FFVIII, he only said, "Spare me, please." And when asked about company's expected sales of the game, Hashimoto commented that Square is expecting sales of FFVIII to exceed those of FFVII (which sold in excess of six million copies worldwide) and that Square expects to sell seven million copies worldwide. Final Fantasy VIII for PlayStation is expected to be released this winter in Japan. For overseas gamers who can't wait to play the game, Takechi mentioned that FFVIII is being developed with an overseas release in mind. He promised that overseas gamers will have their version of FFVIII with less of a time lag than gamers experienced between the Japanese - and subsequent overseas - release of FFVII. In the case of FFVII, there was a six month lag between the Japanese and overseas release dates. As the press conference ended, attendees were given special gifts from Square. One was a pair of telephone cards - one with a picture of Musashi and the other with the image of Princess Filet from Brave Fencer Musashiden. The other was a small, chrome-cased alarm clock with a FFVIII logo on it. We're going set our alarms to July, when the FFVIII demo is due from Square. We'll have more on Final Fantasy VIII as it develops.
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And this was written by Chris Johnston.

17:00, 01 April 1998 Gamers had to know that after Parasite Eve was released (well, after Musashiden) in Japan, word on Square's next big RPG would soon follow. Well, hold on to your Active Time Battle Systems, because informed sources tell GameSpot News that Square is indeed preparing to make an announcement concerning the next instalment in its epic RPG series, Final Fantasy. An announcement on Final Fantasy VIII is in the works. A specific date has not yet been finalised, but the source says May 15 could be the day that Square announces details of the game. GameSpot News contacted Square Tuesday regarding FF8, and we were told that nothing could be confirmed at this time. It's expected that the announcement in the coming months will be for the Japanese release only, and that US gamers will have to wait to find out specifics sometime later
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Hot on the heels of Final Fantasy VII, Square is constructing the eighth wonder of the RPG world, Final Fantasy VIII. Many fans of the series were asking about the game long before they'd finished playing VII. But it's going to be at least six months before the game falls off trucks in Japan and slightly longer before it swims ashore here. However, the good news is, a playable demo has shipped with Square's release of Brave Fencer Musashiden in Japan and will come with its US debut later this year. At Square's official press conference to announce the title, Tomoyuki Takechi (president of Square) and Hironobu Sakaguchi (vice president, executive producer of the game) presented a demo of the game to reporters. As reported in GameSpot News, "At first, a huge parabola antenna appeared on the screen. Then the screen changed to sky and about a half-dozen fighter jets flew in formation creating a vapor trail with moonlike stars in the background. Finally, the Final Fantasy VIII logo appeared on the screen

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