Joystiq

Watch Square Enix's next-gen engine get a real-time demo at SIGGRAPH

Ben Gilbert — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 12:50:00 EST

The three-plus minutes of Square Enix's next-gen Luminous Engine debuted during E3 may not have been enough for your hungry eyes. Well good thing for you, Eric Carmen, that Square showed an even more nerdy walkthrough of its engine demo during a presentation of SIGGRAPH 2012.

4Gamer captured the dazzling video above, wherein ridiculously detailed on-the-fly changes can be made to effects in the engine. Now all Square Enix needs to do is build a game in the engine and we're all set.

Watch Square Enix's next-gen engine get a real-time demo at SIGGRAPH originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 28 Aug 2012 12:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Square reaffirms existence of Versus XIII, continues not to show it

Ben Gilbert — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 09:30:00 EST

Final Fantasy Versus XIII, it seems, may still be a project in the works at Square Enix. After rumors this week put the game out to pasture, CEO Yoichi Wada tweeted last night, "It seems someone is spreading a false rumor about Versus being canceled." He added that he had just exited "a regularly scheduled meeting for Versus," and that "if you were to see the city etc. presented today, you wouldn't be able to stand from surprise."

Wada's talk, of course, doesn't change the fact that the game disappeared over a year ago. Having been announced back in ~~2007~~ 2006, news about the game has been spotty at best. It wasn't at this year's E3 Expo or at last year's Tokyo Game Show. The last trailer we saw was back in January 2011.

The last news we heard was that the game was getting help from Square's gorgeous Luminous Engine - could that mean it's making the jump to next-gen? We don't know, but you should probably watch this Luminous Engine demo and think about that possibility for a bit.

Square reaffirms existence of Versus XIII, continues not to show it originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 24 Jul 2012 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Final Fantasy 25th anniversary celebration includes FFXIII 'developments' talk

Ben Gilbert — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 09:30:00 EST

Square Enix's "Fabula Nova Crystallis" world - the occasionally bizarre and often beautiful universe of several Final Fantasy XIII titles - is scheduled for a big exposé as part of Square's 25th anniversary celebration for the Final Fantasy series. A stage presentation on September 1 in Tokyo's Shibuya district titled, "Final Fantasy XIII Lightnight Saga: New Developments Presentation" apparently features "details on the future of the FFXIII project" (via Andriasang's translation).

Beyond Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2, the Fabula Nova Crystallis series extends to Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy Agito XIII (renamed Final Fantasy Type-0). Of the planned "trilogy" of games, the only one yet to see release is Final Fantasy Versus XIII. In fact, nothing has been heard of the title in quite some time - it was a no show both at last year's Tokyo Game Show and this year's E3 Expo. A demo of the next-gen technology supporting Versus, the Luminous Engine, was given at E3, but Versus wasn't part of the presentation.

Kotaku's reporting that the game may be in flux or cancelled, though Square Enix reps refused to comment on the status of the title. With any luck, we'll find out more this September.

Final Fantasy 25th anniversary celebration includes FFXIII 'developments' talk originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 20 Jul 2012 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This is what Final Fantasy might look like on next-gen tech

Ben Gilbert — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 00:04:00 EST

Square Enix may not be showing any new Final Fantasy games this year at E3, but that isn't stopping the company from giving fans a glimpse at what's next for the acclaimed role-playing series. "Agni's Philosophy" is the title of a fancy new "real time tech demo" of what Square Enix is calling "cutting edge game development technology."

We're taking that to mean "next-generation," and apparently so is Square Enix. "Agni's Philosophy was produced with Luminous Studio, Square Enix's game production environment (engine) for creating next generation quality games," reads the press release. Take a look for yourself at the (admittedly gorgeous) video, just above.

Gallery: Agni's Philosophy (Square Enix Next-Gen)

Continue reading This is what Final Fantasy might look like on next-gen tech

This is what Final Fantasy might look like on next-gen tech originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 06 Jun 2012 00:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Final Fantasy Versus XIII getting help from Luminous Engine, Kingdom Hearts 3DS coming next spring

Ben Gilbert — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 16:00:00 EST

Despite Final Fantasy Versus XIII not appearing in any form at this year's Tokyo Game Show, project director Tetsuya Nomura shared some new details on it with Japanese magazine Famitsu. Apparently, the long-in-development Fabula Nova Crystallis game's lighting has been overhauled with some help from Square Enix' Luminous Engine, while Versus XIII's action is handled by another, unique engine.

More excitingly, Nomura said that he recently ran through the game's entire world map, as well as its dungeons/side quests, and he's "impressed with how expansive everything is." He also spoke to his other project -- Kingdom Hearts 3DS, or "Dream Drop Distance" if you will -- pinning its release to next spring, at least in Japan. So, um, get your keyblades sharpened.

Final Fantasy Versus XIII getting help from Luminous Engine, Kingdom Hearts 3DS coming next spring originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 21 Sep 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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