D.T.

I'd really dig it if these somehow became the preorder gift for us, here in the States.

Any ideas on how many save slots there'll be? I'm going to have to play through this sucker at least two or three times, but I'd hate to save over previous files.

D-5, I don't mean any offense, but I'm surprised anyone who would call themselves a "gameplay whore" isn't excited about the NES-style gameplay. It's RPG gameplay stripped down to it's purest form, without all the needless complications found in games like the later Final Fantasies.

And if it's the fact that the characters don't move to attack that puts you off, you have to think of it in these terms: the battles in VIII and its successors are very cinematic and fun to watch for the first little while, but the battles tend to drag on far too long. For a portable game like FFIII, the faster and more streamlined the battles are, the better.

Please, keep going! I'm just as excited about this game as you folks are, and every little tidbit of media or information gets me jazzed up all over again. Thanks for staying on top of the coverage, guys!

Very cool stuff - especially the shot of all four characters in that cavern.

On a related note: I don't meant to sound unappreciative, but I really wish Square would launch the North America site, already. The fact that it's still not up worries me that the October and November release date rumors might be true.

1. Animal Crossing - Beyond the addictiveness of the basic gameplay, the WiFi opens up a massive community for creativity and fun. There's so much to do, so much to collect, and there's such a strong camaraderie amongst players.

2. Mario Kart DS - I've been a fan of the franchise since the SNES days, and MKDS feels like a culmination of all of its predecessors into one awesome package. It's damn near flawless for what it is.

3. Tetris - It's freaking Tetris. The only way you can beat a classic round of Tetris is to add all kinds of wacky, fun play modes and allow you to play with three friends across the world at the same time.

4. Metroid Prime: Hunters - Incredibly fluid controls, multiplayer that rivals most PC first person shooters, and graphics so beautiful they almost have no place being on a handheld.

5. Tony Hawk's American Sk8land - Most people will think this is an odd choice, but I've been enamored with the series since day one (aside from THUG2 and Wasteland), and the concept of playing a good-looking, 3D sequel on a handheld, along with the ability to challenge people the world over, was and is very appealing to me.

The video these captures were taken from can be seen here: http://dory.mncast.com/mnc_movie.swf?movieID=180|N2006724202855

The game looks fantastic, and I can't wait. I hope the September 12th release date is still the right one; I don't think I can wait until November.