Thanksgiving this year will include both turkey and time travel, a magical cocktail made possible by Square Enix. The company said that it'll ship its DS throwback to SNES favorite Chrono Trigger in North America on November 25, just two days before families sit down for the annual feast.

Giving players plenty to keep them busy while fighting off the adverse effects of tryptophan, Chrono Trigger's DS debut promises new dungeons, touchable controls and an arena mode. Additionally, as the RPG keeps with the original's pixelated sense of style, Square Enix has all but ensured that Thanksgiving 2008 will play out much the same way as it did some thirteen years prior, as we ignore seldom seen family members in favor of the more interesting trio of Crono, Lucca and Frog.

With 2008's edition of E3 just days away, the role-playing steam engine that is Square Enix has revealed what titles that it will spring on press types as they shuffle past. Of the eleven titles on display, the company's lineup this year is noticeably remake and sequel heavy, with over half of the games representing a return to the well for another drink. Boasting "simultaneous global releases for several platforms," the company has also re-confirmed dates for much of its lineup as well, with the following games also noted as being playable during the show:

• Chrono Trigger (DS; Holiday 2008)
• Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen (DS; September 16)
• Final Fantasy IV (DS; July 22)
• Infinite Undiscovery (Xbox 360; September 2)
• Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes (iPod; Now Available)

In addition, the remainder listed below will be shown in non-playable form:

• The Last Remnant (Xbox 360, PS3; Winter for Xbox 360, TBA for PS3)
• Star Ocean: First Departure (PSP; October 21)
• Star Ocean: Second Evolution (PSP; January 6)
• Star Ocean: The Last Hope (Xbox 360; 2009)
• Exit DS (DS; October 7)
• The Legend of Kage 2 (DS; October 7)

And coming soon to a grocery store near you, Star Ocean: Whole Wheat Clusters.

Role-playing fans can slip on their dancing shoes and party like it's 1991. A new interview with Final Fantasy IV director Takashi Tokita in the latest Nintendo Power seems to point to the game's recent DS remake being localized for North American audiences. Oh sure, he doesn't come right out and confirm the localization -- where's the drama in that? -- but given that the article comes peppered with English language screens and the game itself is featured on the cover, we're certainly leaning towards believing that the RPG will soon be getting some domestic love.

Tokita also toys with our emotions, speaking to the possibility of a remake of SNES RPG classic Chrono Trigger provided "the demand is great enough." Though like coming down hard off a caffeine high, he sends us crashing back down to earth by adding that he really wants to "create new titles and not just series installments and remakes." Yours is a cruel love, mon cher.

[Via DS Fanboy]

1UP's Jeremy Parish has a reputation for critical reviews and an unapologetic style, but when it comes to Chrono Trigger, he's as soft and cuddly as a moogle. On his personal blog, Parish has been waxing nostalgic on the classic Square RPG, which first hit the Super NES back in 1995.

Now in his second installment of the series, the rabid retronaut is walking readers through his experience of replaying Chrono Trigger, focusing on particularly salient gameplay moments and continually wondering why no game since has thought to copy CT's style.

It's a darn good question, too. Beyond the branching, epic storyline and the flat-out amazing soundtrack, Chrono Trigger introduced variations to classic RPG elements -- same-screen battles, the Millennial Fair as tutorial area, dual and triple techniques -- that remarkably few games have capitalized upon since.

Parish will undoubtedly continue to bring to light the finer points of Chrono Trigger's greatness. We'll do our part and keep our fingers crossed for a Virtual Console release of the title, however impossible that may be.

Joystiq reader Mike Black, in purportedly his first tip ever (bless his heart), has drawn our attention to a custom Forza 2 design he made "after around 30 hours of work and over 2000 layers." We're impressed, especially given that it's one of our favorite RPGs of all time (full picture). Check out the highlights for today:

Joystiquery
Joystiq interviews Gamecock about EIEIO and E3 funeral
Readers pick best webcomic: extra baggage
Today's pitchiest video: Mega Turtle Cousins

News
Capcom gets Steam power
Speedball II in development for XBLA
Take-Two takes in about $50 million less
New GTA IV trailer coming June 28
Eight more tracks from Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s
New video from Chocobo's Dungeon Wii
Boy defends home from PS3 robbers with katana
America's Army exclusive to Xbox 360
EA employs Cider to bring games to Mac OS X
Adventure game Secret Files: Tunguska coming to Wii, DS
ESRB's censorship wound re-opened, user-made content to break the ratings system
Halo's Todd McFarlane controllers and wireless headset
Alone in the Dark releasing this November
Raiden IV port could hit the Dreamcast
Microsoft defends Pac-Man CE price
BioWare MMO planned for 2009
Telltale secures $6 million for multi-platform episodic content
See LotRO's Shores of Evendim in all their video glory
SimCity Societies officially building this November
Mad Tracks fills in pothole and gets patched
Soul Calibur 4 unveiled for Xbox 360, PS3 in this debut teaser
Square Enix chief: 360, PS3 too fancy for today's market
Insomniac staying out of Church vs. Sony scandal
Sony promises to 'aggressively pursue' PS3 pirates
Bungie's Marathon for 360 makes the grade in Germany

Rumors & Speculation
Crush producer considers multiplatform release, level editor
Pachter places prediction on May NPD numbers
Rumorang: Conflicting reports on PSP redesign
Rumor: New Bonk game headed to the Wii
Survey hints at PS3-PSP connectivity possibilities
Halo 3 will boost BlackSite sales, dev prays

Culture & Community
Every NES title screen in five minutes
Mega 64 to host premiere screening in San Diego
The face of Halo's Master Chief?
Massive videogame mosaics

It sounds like Chrono Triggers' auction value won't be waning anytime soon. In an interview with Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream (translated by IGN), 12-year Square Enix employee and Final Fantasy Versus XIII producer Shinji Hashimoto makes strong assertions that we won't be seeing many Square Enix titles on Nintendo's Virtual Console for awhile.

"We feel that the Japanese game market still requires media," he said. "Also, FF and Dragon Quest are played by a wide range of users, from children to adults, so there are limitations when you consider the problems that we would have with billing systems."

So the prospects of Square Enix's pre-FFVII catalog arriving in Wii's online store shelves are pretty grim in Japan, but what about elsewhere? It's certainly not ruled out by Hashimoto's words, but Europe and to a greater extent North America are much lower on the pecking order in terms of Virtual Console releases.

Ah, video game music day ... the one day every week where we can go back in time and relive our favorite tunes from the games of yesteryear. Hey ... going back in time. That gives me an idea ...

Please enjoy the following guitar selections from everyone's favorite time-traveling Super Nintendo RPG, Chrono Trigger.

Previous video game music days

Wired's Game|Life blog has posted an early, albeit vague, impression of Hironobu Sakaguchi's pair of upcoming Xbox 360 RPGs, Blue Dragon & Lost Odyssey. During today's media briefing in Shibuya, Japan, Sakaguchi took the stage and demoed (read: picked up controller and played) his studio's new projects.

While Game|Life doesn't provide many specifics, its post does draw some big comparisons, describing Blue Dragon as a fusion of Dragon Quest and Chrono Trigger, with "maybe" a dose of Grandia. Game|Life notes that enemies are on-screen (i.e. no random battles) and that the Job Change system (from Final Fantasy V) is featured in Blue Dragon.

Game|Life's description of Lost Odyssey is even more provocative, as it declares the game to look like a "much more dramatic" Final Fantasy. We're sure that Microsoft has its fingers crossed that this impression will stick -- and spread. We'll hit you with our own from the show floor in the coming days.

In the meantime, see for yourself:

• Blue Dragon
• Lost Odyssey

It appears that PLAY! A Video Game Symphony will be hosting yet another guest from Japan as well as another musical exclusive.

Yasunori Mitsuda, main composer on Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, and a number of other epic Japanese RPGs, will be attending the opening PLAY! concert in Chicago on May 27th. An "exclusive suite" of his music from the two Chrono games will be featured in every PLAY! concert worldwide.

Mitsuda will join his compatriot Yuzo Koshiro, whose "special suite" of arranged music from the Sonic the Hedgehog series "will be heard live for the first time at the world-premiere." They will engage in a meet and greet with fans--who fork over the $125 needed for VIP tickets--along with Jeremy Soule (The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind), Marty O'Donnell (Halo), and Jason Hayes (World of Warcraft).

[Via 1UP]