We're well aware that only two groups of people are going to be interested in this particular bit of news. The first, of course, is the set of people eagerly awaiting the English version of Square Enix's portable Final Fantasy VII prequel, Crisis Core. Though American fans are due to receive the PSP game later this month, folks in the UK have to wait a bit longer. The wait may not be without reward, however, as a "Special Pre-Order Edition" of Crisis Core: FF7 (complete with obligatory art book and slipcase) has been spotted on certain retailer websites. Eurogamer notes that an announcement is "imminent," and suggests that offers for the rest of Europe may differ.

Oh, and the other group? That would be the smaller and decidedly more eccentric bunch that absolutely hates the F7 key for no apparent reason. We apologize if Google search picked up on our headline and led you astray. Personally, we've never cared much for that tilde key.

[Update: You can now see the special edition (animated and spinning!) on the official Crisis Core website.]

[Via PSP Fanboy]

Remember back in the late '90s, when Square was so frustrated trying to fit their opus Final Fantasy VII onto the cartridge-based Nintendo 64 that they made their famous defection to Sony? Well, just a short decade later, China's Shenzhen Nanjing Technology Co, Ltd has apparently done what Square couldn't, squeezing the PlayStation epic onto a cartridge. And not just any cartridge .. a Famicom cartridge. How's it feel to be shown up, Square?

Of course, the conversion isn't perfect. According to a write-up from intrepid blogger CinnamonPirate (who unearthed the 2MB ROM from a Chinese blog) the polygonal graphics and cut scenes are gone, replaced with an impressively wide array of sprites, many stolen from other Final Fantasy games. The story remains surprisingly authentic, though, encompassing the entire three-disc epic while only leaving out a few optional side stories (bye bye, Yuffie and Vincent). The wide array of weapons, magic and materia from the original is a bit restricted in the port, but frankly, we're impressed that features like materia-leveling made it on to the 20+ year old hardware in any form.

The company behind the cart is apparently now primarily makes MP3 players, so our hopes for a Colecovision version of Final Fantasy XII will probably remain unfulfilled.

Care to see just how useful the new Sony firmware update can be for the retro gamer on the go? GameVideos tested out the new Remote Play feature for PlayStation One games, specifically the target of so many remake requests, Final Fantasy VII.

Check out the video after the break, and hope for a time when a PlayStation 3 firmware updates allows for streaming PS2 play.