Hiromichi Tanaka, lead developer for Final Fantasy XI, is set to be the international keynote speaker in this year's Austin Game Developer's Conference (GDC), joining speakers such as Blizzard president Mike Morhaime, and Habbo Hotel's lead designer Sulka Haro. In his keynote address, Tanaka will talk about the challenges and triumphs of designing a massively multiplayer online game across platforms.

Scheduled for September 5-7 at the Austin Convention Center in Texas, the Austin GDC will focus on advancing game development with lectures, panels, and round table discussions on the latest issues facing the industry, such as online programming, future trends, the most up-to-date production techniques, and how-to's in creating new games. Jane Pinckard, content manager for the event, states that "Tanaka's presence at our conference is indicative of the event's global appeal."

The Austin GDC will host discussion tracks on online gaming, game audio, creative writing for games, and will introduce a new People's Choice Track, where community members can vote on what topics will be discussed in the conference. Stay with us as we keep you updated on further developments.

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, when Hiromichi Tanaka, senior vice president of software development was asked if Square-Enix is too reliant on the immensely huge Final Fantasy brand, Tanaka said that despite the Final Fantasy in the title, if you look at the games that they create, you'll see that every title has a different story, and each game has used a different engine, so things aren't always similar.

He goes on to note that they don't really have an answer to the question "What is Final Fantasy," but then yes, they do admit that perhaps because the brand is so big, that they are reliant on it sometimes. He goes on to note that they to try to expand their portfolio. He explains:

Maybe it's harder to see from abroad but in Japan we are constantly working on new titles, like Dragon Quest. So it's not only Final Fantasy, we're always [trying] to add new titles to our company's catalogue.

When asked about the difference between Western and Japanese gamers, Tanaka notes that perhaps Japanese are more used to their games being closer to comics and cartoons where things aren't so strict. Whereas in Europe he says that gamers seem to ask for more realism. Sage Sundi, global online producer for Square Enix, notes that at the moment the market it changing as Western markets are becoming more familiar with Japanese cartoons through cartoon channels and that they are now more open to that style.

On the subject of next-gen consoles, Tanaka notes that up to the Sony PlayStation 2, all consoles had basically the same concept of how to deliver a gaming experience. Now, each console has different features that he feels are targeted at different audiences. So he notes that he has to make different titles for different platforms; and then those games should deliver what the audience of that platform is expecting. On a different note, Sundi says that online games might be different. He cites their cross-platform title FFXI and says that perhaps it is also purely the content within the title that they're offering that attracts the player.

And speaking of MMO gaming, when asked if they plan to try to achieve the number of subscribers the dominant World of Warcraft has, Sundi notes that no, they do not have a clear target of 8 million, nor do they have the objective of getting WoW players onto their side. He notes that "poaching players" would be ineffective since WoW will just try to get those hardcore players back anyway. He says that they prefer to target a different market.

For the complete interview feel free to head to it via our "read" link below.

This one goes way back. We have to untangle a lot of weeds here, so bear with us. During the first part of 2006, around March and April, there were rumors about a new Square Enix MMO as well as rumors about Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy VII. A lot has changed for the FF titles but regarding the MMO one, it seems that things are still pushing forward as planned.

Director and Executive Producer Hiromichi Tanaka was recently interviewed by gaming site Pro-G about the DS version of Final Fantasy III. We were quite excited about the interview but you all know how those go: game features, details, developments, and stuff. But toward the end of the discussion, something glimmered and caught our attention.

Accordingly, Pro-G asked Tanaka regarding his and Square Enix's future plans. Wonder what his response was? All smiles, the game director stated, "I'm still working on XI as it's on-going but we are also working on a next-generation MMORPG for 360 and Vista but PS3 is a possibility."

Wait, hold on. An MMO between Xbox 360 users and Vista is not entirely new as Microsoft has revealed this already in the past. But a PS3 and Vista MMO? Now, that is something. And honestly, we can't imagine PS3 users meeting with Xbox 360 players in a virtual environment.

Nope, we really can't picture the two meeting. But we most can certainly imagine them fight. This is going to be good.

Cubed's Adam Riley was able to get an interview with Square Enix's Senior Vice President Hiromichi Tanaka. Several new bits of information were revealed and several clarifications were made. Below are the finer points of the interview.

Anniversaries and Consoles - When asked about the Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary project and whether or not Nintendo systems will see something special, considering that the franchise started on the NES, he responded by saying that games will be made for as many platforms as part of the project

Tanaka notes that the Wii will not be able to cope with Final Fantasy XI. Apparently, it has nothing to do with the hardware since the game has already appeared on the previous gen PS2. It has more to do with Nintendo's current online stance - which is not wanting people to interact online without the aid of Friends Codes. The bright side to this part is that Square Enix is currently in talks with Nintendo about coming up with a solution for this problem.

Franchises and dream teams - Tanaka san does not believe that the Secret of Mana franchise and the Seiken Densetsu franchise will see a remake or port in the near future, he does not however rule out working with Koichi Ishii on a future Mana title.

When asked for a clarification regarding the future for Chrono franchise, he says that it is certainly not out of the question that Chrono will make a return, it is just that it will come down to working out copyright details between the various members of the original team (Toriyama, Uematsu, Sakaguchi) most of whom are no longer staff of Square Enix.

Saving on development - In light of the FFIII engine, and the speculation that it might be re-used for other DS games, Tanaka notes that Square Enix has a habit of starting engines from scratch for each game. He says that this is proving to be inefficient and they are looking to amend this. Especially given the rising development costs of next generation titles. Aha! Reasoning behind the Unreal Engine 3 license.

That outlines most of the points covered. For a more in-depth look at Cubed
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6#@%!'s interview, feel free to use our "Read" link below

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UPDATE: More PSP rumors - 1UP reports Squeenix looks to be bringing the recently announced PSP remakes of the original Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II to the States. The evidence that sparked this rumor? A removed listing of the games on EBGames.

EBGames says that the game should be available on retail in June and July at a US$ 39.99 price point. 1UP notes that while EBGames listings are a good tool for prognosticating the reality/existence of games, the listings are not trustworthy when it comes to release dates and prices.

In an interview today, Square Enix Senior Vice President of Software Development, Hiromichi Tanaka, discussed the recently released Final Fantasy III. The game has sold 99% of its shipment in Japan so far, making it a very successful title. And the demand is much higher than the supply. After all this success, Square Enix is definitely looking at the whole remake business in a better light.
 

This is the first time for this game to come to the US. Alongside the plans for FFV and FFVI, we'll soon have seen remakes of every classic FF game. Where do you go from here?

Tanaka: FFIV, V and VI have been ported to the GBA. As you have seen FFIII is not a port but more of a remake. In the future, since FFIII has been received pretty well so far, we're actually considering remaking some of the other Final Fantasy games.

Seeing as Final Fantasy I, II, IV, V have just been released on the Game Boy Advance, it seems unlikely that these titles will be receiving the treatment first. Maybe a Final Fantasy VII port to the DS? Or maybe the much obsessed-over Final Fantasy VII remake for the PlayStation 3? We just might find out soon enough!

Final Fantasy is arguably the best fantasy-themed title in the history of gaming. Heck, you have to be more than special after being called "final" more than a dozen times. As a testament to that reputation, news have leaked out that a sequel to Final Fantasy XI is already in the works and will come out on next-gen platforms PS3 and Xbox 360, and will also be on Windows Vista formats.

Yep, Square Enix is already deep into preparation for the upcoming adventure of the Children of Vana'diel. Apart from the confirmation that it is indeed being developed, no further details on exactly what plot the upcoming game will follow (if it's a direct followup of the Vana'diel quests or not), who actually will be the people handling the project, and when it will be out (or at least the date when we can actually start to expect it).

As usual, speculations were abound on who exactly is shaping up the project. IGN thinks Final Fantasy XI producer Hiromichi Tanaka and his team are still the crew manning the ship, given the said producer's previous announcement that they are currently working on another game (apart from FFXI).

We can all guess as much as we want but judging from the already-rich lore that surrounds the said franchise, it's hard to do anything wrong with it. But then again that strength may very well be the source of its weakness. We all know how touchy we are when it comes to well-established institution on any media (cough * Star Wars * cough). Sometimes, there are just expectations that can't be reached; not because the people doing it underachieved, but because the bars set were ridiculously high. Well we've been humbled before, we're dying to be again, bring it on Square Enix!

Update: Square Enix has just issued a statement denying that they are making the reported sequel. In the statement: "The Company did not make such an announcement and has not made any decisions resembling those detailed in the media report. As the Company announced in May 2005, it is currently developing an online title for next-generation platforms including game consoles and PCs; however, this title is being developed as a completely new MMORPG. We will disclose further details of this title, including platform compatibility, immediately after any relevant decisions are made."

Although they did mention that "In addition, the Company continuously plans to release expansion packs for Final Fantasy XI, available on PlayStation 2, Xbox 360 and Windows, as well as perform version updates." All hope isn't yet lost I guess...