"How many times have you been playing a video game and thought, "Geez, that character looks like so-and-so..." Well if you're like me, that happens a lot. I thought it would be a fun diversion to create a blog that highlights some of my favorite video game characters and their real-life doppelgangers. Some are obscure...some not so much. feel free to add to the list in the comments if I didn't include a pair you know. One rule though: if a video game character was modeled after a real person (..."

"It's hard finding a trailer that sticks with you and keeps itself glued to the walls of your memories. Trailers that manage to do such a feat are easily worthy of some kind of media recognition. So in the good spirit of acknowledging awesomeness where awesomeness deserves recognition, Blend Games has proudly put together a list of the Top 10 Coolest Game Trailers of 2008. So without wasting a whole lot of words on a pointless lead-in to the list, you can check out our top ten picks for the co..."

When it was first announced that Terra Branford was appearing in Final Fantasy Dissidia, many fans were disappointed that her updated version did not feature her trademark green hair. Well, for a small in-game price you can unlock her original green hair design as an alternate costume. Good news for retro Final Fantasy fans who wouldn't have her any other way.

And, of course, the only screenshots that show this "alternate costume" include shameless close-ups of Terra's crotch. It is also p...

"Square Enix, Inc.., The publisher of Square Enix interactive entertainment products in North America, announced that DISSIDIA FINAL FANTASY for the PSP system will be available mid-year 2009 in North America. This seems like even worse news for Europeans who will have to wait even longer to get their hands on the title."

""

While we have certainly seen plenty of how the combat and character mechanics will work in Dissidia, we have been quite ignorant up until now about how exactly the story mode will function. A recent video on Eurogamer though gives a good deal of insight into this, showing the movement grid, ordinary enemy battles and boss encounters. It's all in Japanese but you can still learn a good bit from it.

"Dissidia: Final Fantasy may not quite have an official US release announcement, but it's hitting Japanese PSPs in a scant two weeks, much to the excitement of FF fans and fanfic writers. Work on the game is done, and a roundtable of Square Enix developers -- creative producer Tetsuya Nomura, senior director Takeshi Arakawa, planning director Mitsunori Takahashi, and main programmer Ryuji Ikeda -- sat down with Weekly Famitsu magazine to discuss some of the latest revelations about their littl..."

"

1. Cloud Strife's getting his Advent Children alternate costume (I still wish we had his outfit for Don Corneo as another alt)
2. Sephiroth is getting his... uh... fanservice-for-the-females alt-costume (or the lack thereof, rather)
3. Ultros is BACK! (...as a summon)
4. The EX modes of Zidane and Kuja are shown (go, monkey boys!)
5. The EX modes of Bartz and Exdeath are also shown

* There will be no Final Fantasy XIII representation in Dissidia
* FFXII gets representation though - we're just not ..."

"Final Fantasy XIII
Final Fantasy Versus XIII
Final Fantasy Agito XIII
Dissidia: Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete
Kingdom Hearts 358 / 2 Days
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Kingdom Hearts Coded
The 3rd Birthday (The Third Birthday)
DKS3713 Event Report"

I think everyone after Advent Children wanted to play a game with the ability to do moves like Cloud and Sephiroth, and so far Dissidia is making a good attempt. A new gameplay video has emerged, featuring every one's favourite spiky haired protagonist pitted against his katana wielding nemesis. The video shows off a far more movement orientated fight, complete with classic music and both of the combatants using Limit Breaks. Go to the source to watch it.

"Dissidia Final Fantasy is featured once again in the latest Famitsu. This time, the magazine has a look at probably the two biggest characters in the game, along with a recap of the game's board-based story mode and multiplayer options.

Those two biggest characters are, of course, Final Fantasy VII's Cloud and Sephiroth. The two were previously confirmed for inclusion and have been featured in past trailers."

"Normally it would take something more substantial to warrant a news post, but this image is what we feel all those Dissidia fans out there have been craving for quite a while; a complete scan with all of the characters in squaring off against each other."

"We've been seeing a lot of remakes lately, and they're actually quite welcome. For publishers, it's a gold mine - they're low risk, but have high returns. For veteran gamers, playing a classic in souped up engines is a great experience. For new gamers, they get to appreciate the old games in their remade glory.

With the current situation of the gaming industry - lay-offs and realignments here and there - Square Enix president Yoichi Wada explains how there came to be a remake boom. "The pr..."

"If last week, we saw Shonen Jump feature Square Enix's FF6 duo, this week it's Famitsu's turn to bring Terra Branford and Kefka Palazzo into the Dissidia: Final Fantasy spotlight. There are a lot of things revealed in today's scans, so we'll take it blow-by-blow."

"



More scans after the jump !"

"Someone has managed to record the new trailers of Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep and The 3rd Birthday at Square Enix's closed mega theater, and although the video is in low quality it's worth a view, because we probably won't see these in a proper quality for quite some time."

"IGN;

I also played a few rounds as Tidus, who seemed to be more suited for mid to long-ranged combat. He could summon (and then subsequently kick) a Blitzball at will and also had a powerful combo as his disposal. With the push of a button, Tidus flipped across the ground and performed a fantastic set of spins before jumping up and landing a powerful strike on his enemy.

Although I only just scratched the surface of what Dissidia has to offer, considering all the special techniques, wal..."

"It's here that he then discloses some information about what gamers can expect from Dissidia at TGS. "Although characters from all the series from "I" to "X" will appear, we've yet to show all of the characters from "V", "VI" and "VII" who will appear. I think we will be able to show a few of them at this TGS."

Six characters will be playable at the show.

Arakawa tells the magazine that it was difficult deciding which parts of FF lore deserved a place in the game - and that the developm..."

"When asked about the characters in the game, Arakawa explained that the full roster was already decided right from the start. And yes, they took characters from FFI to FFX only, and nothing after.

As a recap (I've lost count of how many times I've done this already...), here are the list of characters which have already been confirmed:

* FF: Warrior of Light - Garland
* FFII: Firion - Emperor Palamecia
* FFIII: Onion Knight - Cloud of Darkness
* FFIV: Cecil Harvey - G..."

"
"

"Key;


1. Open Mega Theater
2. Closed Mega Theater
3. Chocobo Photography Area
4. Cid and Chocobo's Dungeon DS+ Demo
5. Chocobo and the Magic Storybook Demo
6. Chrono Trigger Museum
7. Square Enix Mobile titles
8. Snoopy DS Demo
9. Pingu DS Demo
10. Valkyrie Profile DS Demo
11. Square Enix x Xbox360 RPG Projects
12. Goods and Music CD Area
13. Dissidia Final Fantasy Demo
14. Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Demo
15. Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days Demo"

""

There are some new concept art and screenshots available for Square Enix's upcoming action game, Dissidia: Final Fantasy, which is set to hit Japanese shelves on December 18th. The duo from Final Fantasy IV is shown off today, with Cecil Harvey and Golbez both becoming playable in this 20th anniversary game.

Cecil will have the ability to switch between his Paladin and Dark Knight jobs. The Paladin job is better at air combat, quicker, and is more defense-oriented, whereas the Dark Knigh...

"Pre-Orders will start on the 22nd of September at 13:00 (presumably Japanese time) and will end on the 28th of September at one minute before Midnight. However, you can only pre-order if you are a Square Enix member and even then it's a lottery as to whether your pre-order will be accepted. People who were successful in their pre-ordering will be informed the week after."

Courtesy of blog Wii @ Everyday comes the scans from the latest issue of Weekly Famitsu for this week, with new game announcements and more images of those known upcoming games.

Games featured:

• [WII] Monster Hunter 3
  • Underwater hunting
  • Playable at Tokyo Game Show 2008
• [WII] Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Cross Generation of Heroes
  • 12/11 Release
  • New character: Genie from Hakushon Daimaoh (Tatsunoko)
  • Will have more characters than Arcade version
  • Will include minigames
• [NDS] Gyakuten Kenji
  • 2009 Rele...

Courtesy of blog Wii @ Everyday comes the scans from the latest issue of Weekly Famitsu for this week, with new game announcements and more images of those known upcoming games.

Games featured:

• [NDS] Phantasy Star Zero
  • Publisher: Sega
  • Winter 2008 Release
  • Character Designer : Toshiyuki Kubooka (Lunar, Idolm@ster)
  • Scenario : Tooru Shiwasu, Teru Arai
  • New in the PSO series
  • Multi play over Nintendo WiFi connection
  • Chat system supports sending of stylus sketches
• [NDS] Item Getter
  • Publisher: 5p...

Square Enix has created their website for the upcoming Tokyo Game Show, and has uploaded their show lineup:

[NDS] Snoopy DS: Let's Go Meet Snoopy and His Friends [Playable, Video]
[NDS] Cid and Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon: Toki Wasure no Meikyuu DS+ [Playable, Video]
[NDS] Valkyrie Profile: Toga wo Seou Mono [Playable, Video]
[NDS] Pingu's WakuWaku Carnival [Playable, Video]
[360] The Last Remnant
[NDS] Chrono Trigger [Video]
[PSP] Dissidia Final Fantasy [Playable, Video]
[NDS] Cho...

""

""

"Hit the source link for the video."

Here are some new screenshots of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep for PSP, 358/2 Days for DS, and Coded for Mobile, courtesy of NeoGAF. As well, a few are available for Final Fantasy: Dissidia for PSP.

Tons more images available through the source!

You can see a little gameplay footage of Dissidia -Final Fantasy-, Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days in this trailer here.

Square Enix have released a truck-load of screenshots from all their newest games: Final Fantasy XIII. Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Parasite Eve 3: The 3rd Birthday, Final Fantasy: Dissidia, Final Fantasy XIII: Dissidia, the various new Kingdom Hearts games, and so on.

Most of them have already been seen in low-quality magazine scans, but some (namely the wedding shots from Parasite Eve) are 100% brand spankin' new.
It sure is strange seeing tomboy Aya in a wedding dress!


(go to the s...

"

quote Dissidia Final Fantasy

While the story behind the title is still being closely held under wraps, the concept behind the game is rather easy to understand: the forces of Chaos and Cosmos (respectively, forces of evil and good) go up against each other, presumably in a final showdown. However, while the trailer didn't give away much of the story, we were shown a large number of villains and heroes that will take part in the game, including characters like Sephiroth, Kefka, Palamecia and Ga...

"

Gemaga has been liveblogging Square Enix's DKΣ3713 Private Party that is currently underway right now, with a bunch of megatons and other news to report (via GAF and other blogs):

• Parasite Eve The 3rd Birthday to be on PSP, 2009, Nomura's team working on it
• Dissidia: Final Fantasy PSP Bundle confirmed, December 2008
• Final Fantasy Agito XIII to be on PSP
• Final Fantasy Versus XIII to be worldwide PS3 exclusive
• Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete PS3 bundle confirmed, March 2009
• FF7A...

"The latest scan of Famitsu July 2008 shows Onion Knight and Cloud of Darkness from Final Fantasy III joining the fold of Final Fantasy heroes and villains. Nothing much is said of what their moves will be, but you can take comfort in knowing they're joining the fight. Remember: the original cast of Final Fantasy III had no names and were all Onion Knights at the beginning, so those wanting to ask why he has no name should take this into consideration.

Now what games remain? FFIV, FFV, FFVI..."

"DISSIDIA: Final Fantasy? 50 percent done. So says the game's character designer Tetsuya Nomura in the upcoming issue of Japanese game mag Famitsu. This shouldn't come as a huge surprise as only half the cast has been revealed. That, and Square Enix does like to take its sweet time putting out its games. There's no rush, we guess."

"Square Enix reveals yet another character for Dissidia Final Fantasy in the latest issue of Shonen Jump. Tidus and Jecht from Final Fantasy X are the latest characters to join the all star cast. It has been a year since Square announced this “Dramatic Progressive Action” game and news were few and far between since [...]"

"「FABULA NOVA CRYSTALLIS FINAL FANTASY」シリーズ

・FINAL FANTASY XIII (PLAYSTATION® 3)
・FINAL FANTASY Agito XIII (Mobile)
・FINAL FANTASY Versus XIII (PLAYSTATION® 3)

「KINGDOM HEARTS」シリーズ

・KINGDOM HEARTS Coded (Mobile)
・KINGDOM HEARTS 358/2 Days (ニンテンドー DS®)
・KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep (PSP®)

DISSIDIA FINAL FANTASY (PSP®)
The 3rd Birthday (Mobile)
シグマ ハーモニクス (ニンテンドー DS®)
FINAL FANTASY VII ADVENT CHILDREN COMPLETE (Blu-ray)..."

"The allure just isn't there anymore for the Final Fantasy titles and we have to ask why. Loyal fans try to create hype, but the games are just not combining new and old expectations. Maybe it's because every game, we have to warm up to new characters and worlds. Square sets itself up for hit and miss titles with no character regularity. The only motif running through the series I can identify is a blond guy and clueless protagonists. Most of the recent Final Fantasy games (dare I say Square ..."

"A fighting game based off the Final Fantasy franchise brings up memories of Ehrgeiz, the old arcade and PlayStation 1 fighter that featured several characters from Final Fantasy VII. But to our pleasant surprise, Dissidia is actually nothing like Ehrgeiz, and in fact, we get the feeling it might even be fun enough to stand on its own without the FF characters.

Unlike most traditional versus-style fighters, Dissidia is more akin to a one-on-one combat game. Characters are free to move aroun..."

"We now have the EGM Scans from this months issue. There isn't much new but a short summary of each TGS trailer which we've read before.


Pieces from the scan:

Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core: This long-awaited PSP prequel might actually redeem the hitherto underwhelming "Compilation of FFVII".

Final Fantasy XIII: We spied a third potential party member - a scantily clad brunette with pigtails.

Final Fantasy Versus XIII: Here, the vibe isn't sci-fi/fantasy, but rather a slick mashup ...

"

Well it was bound to happen, we've got yet more screenshots for TWO final fantasy games this time: Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core and Final Fantasy: Dissidia.

Please Go To the Source to View The Rest Of The Screens.

""

"Dissidia: Final Fantasy is an all-new original titles in the FF franchise, however not part of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VIII or the Ivalice Alliance. Not a standard RPG rather described as a "Dramatic Progressive Action" title, and Tetsuya Nomura, known from Kingdom Hearts, has signed on to be the character designer of the game.."

"Japanese gaming magazine Dengeki PlayStation, through PSPHyper, finds out why Final Fantasy Dissidia's nature is to be an action game. According to the report, this was because it was thought that a 3D action game using the expertise of the team of Yousuke Shiokawa was "the best way to gather all the characters from the Final Fantasy series."

Who is Mr. Shiokawa? Square Enix's Yousuke Shiokawa was the lead programmer for boss battles in Kingdom Hearts II. He is now directing Final Fantasy..."

Attendants of the Square Enix 2007 Festival received a special promo cd, which was soon after ripped by a GameFAQs poster NeoStrikeDamon. It includes tracks from Final Fantasy: Dissidia and Crisis Core. I wonder why one of them is titled "Secret". Maybe it's from another game they have yet to reveal?

Click here to download the zip file.

"The veil of secrecy has come off of Final Fantasy Dissidia, this week's surprise PSP announcement. While we previously had nothing more than just a name and a teaser website for the game, the latest issue of Jump Magazine has provided first details on the characters and gameplay systems.

Dissidia seems like it could be the perfect way to celebrate the Final Fantasy 20th anniversary, as it brings together characters from past entries. Jump offers a look at just two members of the cast. Maki..."

Square Enix has opened up a new website for Final Fantasy Dissidia. Other than the flashy intro there's no information. However, the game will be released for the Playstation Portable gaming system. The logo this time looks to be Shiiva and Ifrit, perhaps? No matter, it still looks good. So, for all you lucky PSP owners, prepare for a FF game.