It's not as much of a shocker as, say, Cactuar being already taken, but it's just as much of a news. ESRB has finally come out with their rating for Final Fantasy XIII (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360). Like with the other iterations of the franchise, XIII has been tagged with a T for Teen rating.

The guys at Final Fantasy XIII.net got another scan from Shonen Jump, showing landscapes here and monster enemies there. It's getting a bit old, really. But on the lighter side of things, the scans did reveal how Cactuar would look in Final Fantasy XIII, which is...exactly the same. Don't be dissin' the same old look, it seems to be working for our thousand-needled friend - scans also reveal that Cactuar now has a lady friend.

I'm sure I'm not the only one curious about what exactly Alexander is. Sometimes, he's a castle, sometimes a machine, sometimes he's like a statue. For Final Fantasy XIII, the big boy's a mecha. New screens and info popped up again, featuring the Esper in action, plus some Chocobo-riding, and the new Crystarium system.

Good news, RPG faithful. Final Fantasy XIII (Xbox360, PlayStation 3) now has a North American and European launch date. Hit the jump to find out when Lightning strikes the West.

It's not the November 13 announcement we've been waiting for (and it'd be a big disappointment if it was), but it appears that's not the only thing that Square Enix is putting together for on that day for Final Fantasy XIII. PlayStation Home is getting another round of updates, and one of them is a "never-before-seen Final Fantasy XIII video."

When the Japanese gaming mag, Famitsu broke the news on a Final Fantasy XIV (PS3, PC) code coming with the purchase of Final Fantasy XIII (Xbox 360, PS3), many folks went, "Ah, beta access!" over the supposedly good news. As it turns out, it's not a beta code. Famitsu now explains that it is in fact a campaign code, and it doesn't give you access to the FFXIV beta.

The Final Fantasy XIII (Xbox 360, PS3) launch preparations are "going very steadily," this according to Square Enix president, Yoichi Wada. What's even more exciting than that is the reassurance that the US and European versions of the game are in the final stages of development.

When it comes to AAA news, no one does it like Square Enix. I'm not talking about their AAA titles, I'm talking about their habit of making Announcements that Announce Announcements. They even made anagrams to hype this one up for pete's sake. You have to hand it to them though - when they put the word out, people listen. Just a quick update for their November 13 announcement - it's pretty big, so be sure to tune in when it comes.

The guys at FinalFantasyXIII.net got their hands on the latest issue of Shonen Jump and we now have new scans for Final Fantasy XIII (Xbox 360, PS3). From the looks of it, the Japanese gaming mag made a feature on the Espers, putting Alexander and a Chocobo taking center stage.

Earlier today, Square Enix posted an anagram on their forums, teasing something about Final Fantasy XIII (Xbox 360, PS3). A mere couple of hours later, the anagram has been figured out.