Final Fantasy VII to get a Remake (?)

According to a report by Andriasang, There had been talks over dinner about a possible Final Fantasy VII remake. The most high rated Final Fantasy game which spawned a CGI movie, specials, and spin off games.

Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima has had a talk over dinner about a remake of Final Fantasy VII. The dinner in question was also attended by Kojima Productions’ art director Yoji Shinkawa, Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada, and Square Enix artist/producer Tetsuya Nomura.

Kojima tweeted about the dinner to his fans, who then asked him to pass along a few messages to Square Enix’s upper echelons. Along with the message about a possible FFVII remake, Kojima also passed along messages about Kingdom Hearts 3D, and a request for a new Seiken Densetsu/Secret of Mana game.

Apparently, talks about a remake of Final Fantasy VII has been going on since the PS3 came out. Is it really the right time to bring it back for the new generation?

Sources:
IndustryGamers
Andriasang

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KIBA the DARK KNIGHT GAIDEN

Following the 25 episodes of the series GARO, Beast of the White Night and Red Requiem, another movie will be added to the GARO franchise. This time it will feature the series' antagonist, Barago, as the main character. The story will focus on how he became the Dark Knight, Kiba.

It will be released in DVD and Blu-Ray in September. Here's the trailer for KIBA the DARK KNIGHT.

*edit* 2nd trailer added.

Sources:
Official Site
KeitaAmemiya - Youtube

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Tekken to have a new movie: Blood Vengeance

The details are still coming in. Namco Bandai has announced a new Tekken film coming out this summer which will be titled Tekken: Blood Vengeance

Finally, we can start forgetting about the Tekken 2010 Hollywood film which was a critical failure.

Blood Vengeance will be a full length CGI feature and will be led by Digital Frontier the animation company that behind the Tekken 6 and Tekken 5 opening cinematics, 2004 movie Appleseed and 2008's Resident Evil: Degenration.

Tekken producer Yoshinari Mizushima, who is the head of the art and graphics department at Namco Bandai, will also be involved.

Dai Sato, whose works include Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell, will be writing the script and Evangelion's Shinji Higuchi will be working on the storyboards.

Here is the first trailer for Blood Vengeance:

Sources:
GamingUnion.net

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What could have been Final Fantasy VII...

(just a re-post of one of my very first entries)

I stumbled upon this when I was searching for fan translations of Japanese RPG SNES Roms. Then on a fan site of Final Fantasy VI, I saw this article about Squaresoft's plans back then for the next Final Fantasy after FF6 which was called Final Fantasy SGI and made it as a demo. This is where Squaresoft first worked on 3D graphics. It was intended to be a direct sequel so that means no Cloud, Aerith or Tifa, instead it features the characters from FF6: Terra, Locke and Shadow and many assumed that it will be for the Nintendo 64 consoles.

And the rest was history...

Here are some screenshots of the demo:

Sources:
The Real Final Fantasy 7
Lost Levels
Final Fantasy Wiki 

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Metal Gear Solid: Philantrophy Review

Searching for any movie or animated film about the Metal Gear game series, I stumbled upon a trailer for non-profit, fan-made film titled Metal Gear Solid: Philantrophy.

MGS: Philantrophy is created by Hive Division, a team of Italian students and filmmakers. It is written, directed, and edited by Giacomo Talamini, an Italian student filmmaker who also stars as Solid Snake in the movie.

Philantrophy is intended to have three parts. The movie that's out so far is the first one, subtitled "Part One: The Overnight Nation".


Summary:

The Overnight Nation follows Solid Snake as he teams up with the organization called Philantrophy. Their aim is to stop the Metal Gears around the world. Snake (Giacomo Talamini) teams up with Elizabeth Laeken (Patrizia Liccardi) and Pierre Leclerc (Nicola Cecconi) as they go on a mission to rescue Senator Abraham Bishop and to attempt to find out what is really going on in the so called "Overnight Nation".


Overall:

To sum it all up, MGS: Philantrophy is an AWESOME WORK. The action scenes, special effects, locations and the CGI shows how much effort is exerted for this fan made film. Giacomo Talamini looked a lot like "the" Solid Snake that we see on the MGS Games, Harrison somehow resembles Otacon, Elizabeth is the sexy, mysterious but deadly soldier and Pierre serves as the, somewhat, comic relief to the team. This is a good example of what movies adapted or based from video games should be like. Now, that's a product made by a group of talented, dedicated fans to you. Even Mr. Hideo Kojima, creator of the Metal Gear series, loved this movie.

There's still no word about the making of the second and the third part yet but still, Kudos to Talamini and the rest of the Hive Division team for a job well done.

Here's more screenshots from the movie:



Links:
MGS: Philantrophy Official Page

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Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection review

One of the few new PSP games that I grabbed recently. Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection is basically a compilation of enhanced ports of Final Fantasy IV (SNES, PSX, GBA, Nintendo DS) and it's sequel Final Fantasy IV: The After Years (Nintendo Wii, Mobile) plus an additional story which is an Interlude between the two games.

Just a quick summary. Final Fantasy IV follows the quest of a young Dark Knight named Cecil, commander of the Red Wings, which is the airship squadron of the kingdom of Baron. After leading an unprovoked attack to a nearby village followed by the theft of it's crystal, Cecil began to doubt his loyalty to the kingdom and his way of life. Voicing out his concern didn't go well with the king of Baron's apparent new personality disorder. Cecil had his rank stripped off and was sent off to a delivery routine to re-establish his worth for the kingdom.

To prevent further spoilers I'd just say that the mission didn't go well. That started Cecil's quest to atone for his mistakes as a Dark knight and to determine the reason behind Baron's thirst for power and the unusual monster attacks as well.

Interlude is set roughly a year after Final Fantasy IV to bridge the first story with The After Years.

The After Years takes place 17 years after Final Fantasy IV. Cecil survived in the story of the first game, he is now a hero, married to Rosa and now has a son named Ceodore. It starts with Ceodore's test to become a part of the Red Wings like his father. After succeeding in his trial, he and the Red Wings returns triumphantly  to Baron but they were attacked by monsters on their way.

The After Years is divided into 11 Chapters following the stories of each new and returning characters as they solve the mystery of the return of the Second moon and the return of sudden monster attacks.

Overall:

Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection was well presented. The gameplay graphics are based on the GBA version, enhanced for the PSP's screen. The FMVs look good just like any other new gen Final Fantasy game. For the audio, You can select the original musical score as you play for a bit of nostalgia or you can select the new arrangements.
The gameplay is the same as the original games. It still implements the Active Time Battle (ATB) system on battles and a top view perspective as you explore places.

For the record, I grabbed this game for The After Years and the Interlude (I have finished Final Fantasy IV on the DS). I was a bit disappointed with the plot of The After Years, some scenes and events just repeat itself and it's not very challenging. Well it's not bad enough to be labelled as Electric Boogaloo so I'm still thankful. I'm happy with how Interlude goes so far.

So for Final Fantasy fans out there, Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection would be a sweet addition to your collection. It's always good to have a full saga in one game.

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