If you’re still reeling from the Final Fantasy VII blowout in the latest issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, we have even more to keep you going. In the new, October issue of Official US PlayStation Magazine (with the sweet Shadow of the Colossus demo!), there’s an interview with Square Enix executive producer Yoshinori Kitase, the man overseeing all things Final Fantasy VII related these days.

Through a little bribing and late-night pillow talk, I’ve managed to wrestle the full interview transcript out of OPM, chockful of more info. about the upcoming assault of FFVII-related games and even Kitase’s current relationship with Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi.

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Square Enix has announced that Romancing SaGa will ship to US retailers on October 11, 2005. The game, a remake of the original Super Famicom game Romancing SaGa, was released in Japan under the title Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song.

Romancing SaGa will be rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and Older and will carry an MSRP of $39.99 USD.

Source: RPGFan

Square Enix today announced a new battle style to be featured in the upcoming action RPG sequel Kingdom Hearts II. In the series’ second PlayStation 2 installment, protagonist Sora can use “Drive” to change his form during battle. One of those “Drive” forms is called Wisdom Form. If the player chooses to use this particular form in battle, the standard (physical) attack command will be replaced by the “shoot” command, allowing Sora to attack his enemy with magical bullets rather than his Keyblade. The shoot command and other features will make the Wisdom Form the battle style of choice for magic users.

Kingdom Hearts II will be available in Japan sometime later this year.

Source: RPGFan

Square Enix today announced the main theme for its upcoming DVD movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Titled “Calling”, the song is being performed by popular artist Kyousuke Himuro. The song was originally featured on Himuro’s 1989 album Neo Fascio. Director and character designer Tetsuya Nomura highlighted the influence of Himuro’s songs on his own creations. For his part Himuro said he was happy to see that one of his songs was being used in “the best CG movie ever made in Japan”. “Calling” will also be part of the two-disc Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Original Soundtrack which is scheduled to go on sale in Japan on September 28th.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children will be available in Japan on September 14th. Following a recent delay, publisher Sony Pictures Entertainment will release both the DVD and UMD version of the movie sometime during this year’s holiday season in North America.

Source: RPGFan

Konami announced recently that their upcoming game Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, will feature free online multiplayer for players in Japan. The game is an updated version of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and besides containing the new online multiplayer mode, will also contain the first two Metal Gear games as well as some other goodies.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence carries on the “update” tradition for Metal Gear Solid titles, which began with Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance and Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes.

Source: Game Pro

Those waiting for a new Pokemon fix on their GameCube won’t have to wait too much longer with today’s announcement from Nintendo that Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness will be released on November 18th 2005.

Following the story of a young boy and his friends as he tries to stop the evil CIPHER organisation and purify their Shadow Pokemon – including the seemingly impurifyable Shadow Lugia. Thanks to the work of Professor Krane, a Purification Chamber has been developed to rid the Shadow Pokemon of their darker sides. Along with a few ‘normal’ Pokemon, the chamber helps to purify the Shadow Pokemon and open their hearts; their old moves are removed but a range of others become available instead.

Several mini-games feature alongside the two main game modes (Story Mode and Battle Mode) and gamers will also be able to connect to a host of GBA Pokemon titles and swap various Pocket Monsters between the games.

We’ll have more news on Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness in the coming weeks…

Source: Total Video Games

The last time we saw The Legend of Zelda’s Link in a proper console adventure was in 2003’s The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. He was just a wee lad back then, barely taller than the shield he wore in the stellar Ocarina of Time. The elfin hero of Hyrule is coming back in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and this time he’s all grown-up.

However, it’s apparently taking Link a little longer to mature than expected. In what could be the most disappointing delay to fans rabid for a sequel since Bungie’s Halo 2 was knocked back a few seasons, Nintendo today announced that the Twilight Princess will miss its original ship date of 2005’s holiday season.

“After much discussion, the Zelda development team has requested extra time to add new levels, more depth, and even higher quality to Zelda: Twilight Princess. Consequently, we’re announcing a new global launch in 2006,” stated Perrin Kaplan, Nintendo of America’s vice president of marketing and corporate affairs.

The new release date is now no sooner than April 1, 2006, as the game is pegged to hit shelves sometime after Nintendo’s next fiscal year kicks off.

“While this may come as a disappointment to many eager fans, it will absolutely enrich the game,” said Kaplan.

Nintendo let out a trifecta of big news stories today. In addition to the disappointing Zelda delay, Nintendophiles will be happy to know that the Game Boy Micro now has a release date of September 19, and the DS will be $20 cheaper as of August 21, to coincide with the release of Nintendogs and Advance Wars: Dual Strike for the DS. Stay tuned to GameSpot for more information.

Source: GameSpot

Rising Star Games has today announced the development of Lunar Genesis, to be released on Nintendo DS this November. Set a thousand years before the events of previous Lunar titles, Lunar Genesis follows a band of youngsters as they discover a battle being waged between the forces of good and evil.

Utilising the various features of the DS (including a rather interesting idea of using the built-in microphone as a panic button when blown into), Lunar Genesis is controlled via the lower touch screen with aspects including character movement and navigating maps. Battles are split between the two screens with ground battles taking place on the lower screen and aerial combat in the higher screen.

With an estimated gameplay length of over 70 hours, Lunar Genesis looks set to keep DS owners very busy when it finally arrives in Europe in November. We’ll have more on the game soon…

Source: Video Game News

In a busy news day for the publisher, Rising Star Games has announced a follow-up to the GBA title, Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town, called Harvest Moon: More Friends of Harvest Moon. Taking control of a female characters, gamers have to redevelop a run-down farm into a successful business – with the help of the Harvest Moon friends of course.

But tending to a farm isn’t the only goal of gamers, as they must also attract suitor from the village and eventually marry him (if the female lead can find the time.)

Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town will be released in October 2004; we’ll have more news on the game shortly…

Source: Total Video Games

Regardless of whether you’ve heard or not, speculation is undeniable.

Sam Houser of Rockstar has registered the domain name http://www.grandtheftauto4.com/

But as to whether this is leading anywhere, who knows? The same thing happened with gtatokyo.com. As for a new grand theft auto anytime soon. Who’s to say?