Final Fantasy XIII Japanese release date confirmed, Dec 17

Remember, back in April, when I posted about some speculation surrounding the FF13 release date? It started with the FF13 PS3 demo that had just landed, and by finishing the demo you were treated with a screen that said "Coming Winter 2009". Don't remember? It's okay, I didn't either. Also, remember how some of the professional gaming media, 1UP at least, were betting the release date to be either 24th or 31st of December... you know what, why don't I just quote you the relevant part of my original news post.

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According to 1UP, the second half of December, more specifically the two last Thursdays of the year, have been kind to Square Enix in the past, and those crazy Japanese guys are just all about tradition and things like that, right? So, 1UP's quick glance at the calendar seems to confirm that the release date is either 24th or 31st of December. Now, I personally think that those two dates are pretty crazy to release a game on, so I'm going one week back in time and say it's going to be 17th of December. How's that for speculation?

Well, guess who totally called it? Yep, that's me. In the Final Fantasy XIII Premiere Party, held in Japan during last week, they confirmed the Japanese release date to be 17th of December, 2009.

The Premiere Party was a pretty big event, along with the release date announcement they revealed some other tidbits of various things. First and foremost, there will be a PS3 Bundle with the game. Whether it's Japanese only isn't clear at the moment, so I guess more info on that will eventually surface. Secondly, a Japanese beverage company Suntory, is producing a 30,000 unit limited edition Final Fantasy XIII Elixir drink. Details on the drink are a bit vague at the moment, but it probably doesn't have any alcohol in it. And lastly, the game's theme song is performed by Sayuri Sugawara. The track is called Kimi ga Iru Kara and if I remember correctly, it's Uematsu's work. I personally haven't heard of the singer before, but I guess that's on par with every other FF game theme's and their singers.

In the event they also performed Masashi Hamauzu's work from the game's score (I wonder when that is coming out, I kind of want it right now) with an orchestra, had a big food sculpture, and sampled the Elixir drinks. And that is all from the event, I will post a few pictures in the end of the article of the Elixir.

In other FF13 related news, the Square Enix Members Community Manager (I think), confirmed few weeks ago that the English voice over work for the game is done. And I think in an interview, after the Dec 17 was confirmed, someone, perhaps Yoichi Wada or Yoshinori Kitase, said that while they don't have a firm release date for the rest of the world, they are firmly aiming at Spring 2010. I think this was actually known since E3, but it's good to know that they still think it's possible. I have heard doubts from gaming media around the internet, but I think it sounds reasonable. Considering that the voice over work is done, and that the 360 version is 70% done, I think they can make it, no problem.

And as promised, here are the pictures of the Elixir drink, courtesy of G4TV's Raymond Padilla. Clickety click for a larger image. smile