We were finally able to get our greedy little hands on the Japanese sales numbers from Famitsu for the week of 12/24, and came to find that the DS had another great week.
Unsurprisingly, the DS took the top spot in hardware sales, moving 195,000 units. While this was a drop from the week before's incredible numbers, it certainly isn't a bad showing for the three-year-old handheld.
In terms of software, Final Fantasy IV is continuing to sell well, meaning that more remakes in the series are sure to follow. The other Square-Enix remake on the charts, Dragon Quest IV, managed to go platinum this week. Mario Party DS, meanwhile, was the only other DS game to make the top ten, as the Professor Layton sequel slipped to the number eleven spot.
To see the hardware and software sales numbers for the the week of 12/24, check after the break.
Another week in Japan has come and gone, which means yet another week of ridiculous success for the DS. The hardware managed to top 300k for the week, while heavy hitters like Final Fantasy IV, Dragon Quest IV, and Mario Party DS littered the top ten in the software charts. It was also a good week for baseball game Dorabase, which debuted at the number nine spot with 96k, selling 90% of it's total stock.
Hardware:
DS: 319,000
Wii: 264,000
PSP: 162,000
PS3: 51,000
PS2: 24,000
Xbox 360: 8,100
Check after the break to see the software numbers for 12/17-12/23 in Japan.
With the Final Fantasy IV remake out today, Square Enix wants to make sure to get all the crazies out lined up in Akihabara -- and maybe a few 'expanded audience' members as well. To that end, they've debuted a series of short commercials that show off the game's stunning cutscenes. They accidentally left some real gameplay in the commercials too, which you can see towards the end. Final Fantasy VII sold gobs, and its advertising was totally CG-focused, so why change?
But wait, there's more! In addition to the two commercials embedded in this post (one of which is after the break) there are three other commercials on the Final Fantasy IV website. It's so weird to see the Final Fantasy IV characters rendered like this. Especially Cecil, who we used to think of as manly.
Famitsu dropped a megaton on us: Final Fantasy IV boxart. We know, we fell down when we found out about it, too. In fact, our bottom still hurts from the force at which it slammed to the ground.
Personally, we're liking the character grouping in the center, but could do without all of the blue everywhere. We understand it's cloudy, but sheesh. Toss some color in for us outside of Japan, please!
Face it. If you've owned Final Fantasy IV for the SNES, the GBA, and plan on getting it for the DS, you're an FFIV addict. Of course, when we show you things like these miniature figurines, that just makes us enablers.
For $39.00, you can get your fix from NCXS. The figures in this Final Fantasy IV Trading Arts Mini collection are only 6cm tall, which means they're tiny. Of course, you might just want to save your money for the game instead.
Posted Dec 13th 2007 5:00PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News
... for cell phones. In February, Square Enix will release Final Fantasy IV: The After -- Return to the Moon for FOMA 903i and better cell phones on NTT DoCoMo's network, with a release on au's phones to follow a month later. The game stars Theodore, a descendent of reformed Dark Knight Cecil, and takes place on the moon. None of the things we just said matter, because those cell phones are way more powerful than anything we've got outside Japan, and we are approximately 0% likely to see this game, ever.
Yes, it is a crime and an insult that this game is not on the DS. Like it or not, cell phones are pretty much the only mobile device that Japan has more of than DSes, and the only device for which Square Enix could farm out a cheapo sequel to a major Final Fantasy game and get away with it.
We already knew that Square Enix's remake of Final Fantasy IV was going to require a whopping 1 gigabit cartridge, and this latest trailer from the company's official site neatly sums up why. Look at it for heaven's sake! FMV, full 3D models, voice acting, and all playing out to Megumi Ida's entrancing vocals. As long as our favourite line is preserved in the localized English version, Square Enix may as well take our wallets from us now.
Square Enix has announced their lineup for this month's Jump Festa, and though it's not extensive, there's enough variety to please even the pickiest of SE devotees. Final Fantasy IV, which releases right before the two-day event, will be playable, but what's really exciting is that we've been promised videos of both Front Mission 2089 and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. With the dribs and drabs we've seen so far from the very intriguing upcoming DS Kingdom Hearts title, that footage promises to be popular.
Of course, now that we're building it up in our minds, it will be precisely four seconds longer than the last footage we saw, and we'll still know very little about the game.
Back when we heard Japanese singer Megumi Ida was selected to provide her musical talents to Final Fantasy IV, we didn't get that long of a listen to the new jam. Now, thanks to JeuxFrance, we've got a longer version of that trailer, providing us with a good listen. The trailer also sprinkles some cutscenes from the game in, for good measure.
Some awesome soul has taken it about himself to make visually enhanced game tunes, and the result is nothing short of spectacular. Using a program called Music Animation Machine MIDI Player, which converts the musical notes of MIDI songs into art, the creator of these videos has managed to blow our minds. Sure, we always enjoy it when musical sounds are synthesized with visual imagery, but when some of our favorite songs are involved, it just makes it that much better.
We decided to put the Mega Man 2 "Dr. Wily Stage 1" song up top to celebrate Rock Man's 20th anniversary, and well, because it's our favorite. If you don't look after the break to check out the equally awesome Final Fantasy IV, Kirby, Mario, and other tunes, though, you officially fail at the internet.
After holding an open call, Square Enix found the singer for the new version of the Final Fantasy IV Love Theme. 25-year-old Megumi Ida from Hokkaido was the final choice to perform the vocals on the classic track.
Of course, a CD single will be released featuring her performance will be sold in Japan, starting on December 5th, for 1500 yen. Before you decide to put down an order at CD Japan, you can get a tiny preview: a brief snippet of the new version can be heard in this video interview. Pretty haunting! It's definitely emotional, but not to the point of being spoony.
True to the form of Square Enix, we still haven't seen much gameplay for Final Fantasy IV. But, that doesn't mean we can't enjoy morevideos showing off the prettiness. The company just added three of them to the game's official site, each one detailing a different character.
We put the one featuring Kain up top, but check after the break to see the videos with Cecil and Rosa.
*Note: The videos were enlarged from the ones on the official site, which is why they are low resolution.
The Ace Attorney games have always sported first-class localized dialogue, managing to be witty and original in whatever language they choose. What's more, some of the references are delightful -- check out this oh-so-subtle nod* to Final Fantasy IV's dodgy Engrish translation, as it appears in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations. Blink and you'd miss it.
If you're currently staring at your screen, slack-jawed and with a look of utter befuddlement, then head here for an explanation, so that you can feel as geeky superior as we do for getting it.
* Our apologies for the rather blurry pic, but it gets the point across.
Having a jukebox feature is not unique to video games, but it's not often (or never) that we have this pleasure with a Final Fantasy title. Fortunately, though, the Final Fantasy IVremake for the DS will have a jukebox component, hosted by none other then everyone's favorite spoony bard.
Once you make Edward play your tune of choice, you can close up your DS, listen, and relax. If all of our DS games let us do this, we probably wouldn't have any need for our iPods anymore (okay, that's a lie).
It's important to note, however, that the soundtrack for the DS version is slightly different from that of the original game because of sound issues on the handheld. Regardless, we find this to be a nice little feature for the game.
It's been a while since we've done one of our wacky "versus" topics for daily discussion, and when we saw these two boxes posted over at GoNintendo, they just seemed too perfect to resist. They have some similarities and yet are pretty distinct. Which would be more likely to catch your eye? Is that also the game you think you would prefer?
We were finally able to get our greedy little hands on the Japanese sales numbers from Famitsu for the week of 12/24, and came to find that the DS had another great week.
Another week in Japan has come and gone, which means yet another week of ridiculous success for the DS. The hardware managed to top 300k for the week, while heavy hitters like 
... for cell phones. In February, Square Enix will release 
Having a jukebox feature is not unique to video games, but it's not often (or never) that we have this pleasure with a Final Fantasy title. Fortunately, though, the 
