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FINAL FANTASY X FOR THE PLAYSTATION®2 COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM TO SHIP TO RETAIL ON DECEMBER 26, 2001
"Consumer Demo Day" Event To Be Held Next Month In San Francisco
LOS ANGELES, Calif., November 27, 2001 – Square Electronic ArtsSM L.L.C. (Square Electronic Arts), the exclusive publisher of all SQUARESOFT® products in North America, announced today that FINAL FANTASY® X for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system will start shipping limited quantities to retail stores nationwide on December 26, 2001, instead of the originally scheduled January 2002. FINAL FANTASY X was released in Japan on July 19 and sold through 90% of the 2.14 million units it shipped in the first four days. It is the first PlayStation 2 title to reach the 2 million-unit mark.
"We are very excited to rollout FINAL FANTASY X before the end of the year. All efforts were put into bringing the title out earlier than expected. We hope this long-awaited title will be played by many gamers over the holiday season," said Jun Iwasaki, president of Square Electronic Arts. "As with FINAL FANTASY VII for the original PlayStation, as the first FINAL FANTASY game released for the PlayStation 2, we hope that this title will set new standards in the role-playing game genre."
In FINAL FANTASY X, the main character, Tidus, is a star player of blitzball, a full contact sport. After miraculously surviving the destruction of his homeland, he awakens among ruins and thereafter meets a young woman named Yuna. As a summoner, Yuna must travel to distant temples and learn the secret art of summoning aeons—powerful spirits of yore, in order to defeat "Sin." Tidus learns that a thousand years in the past, mankind lived in spectacular cities and relied on machines for everything, until Sin suddenly appeared and destroyed all civilization. Now, people shun technology, and no one knows when "Sin" will strike again. FINAL FANTASY X features a distinct Asian influence, bringing a fresh feel to the characters, music, settings and story.
FINAL FANTASY X will also be the first in the series to feature voiceovers for the characters. James Arnold Taylor ("A Moment of
Silence") and Hedy Burress ("Valentine") will voice the main characters in
the U.S. release of FINAL FANTASY X. In addition to the game’s voiceover dialogue and fluid gameplay-to-full-motion-video transitions, FINAL FANTASY X offers fully 3D environments that seamlessly integrate real-time movement with battles, allowing players to walk around and engage in battles on the same field map screen. Life-like, high-polygon, motion-captured characters designed by Tetsuya Nomura (FINAL FANTASY VII, VIII, Parasite Eve™, Parasite Eve 2™) bring realism to the screen. As seen in previous FINAL FANTASY titles, players will be able to enjoy new mini-games, such as mastering the sport of blitzball and the Al Bhed language. FINAL FANTASY X carries a newly designed battle system with a unique character development system using the "Sphere Grid."
Further information on the game is now available at <
http://www.playonline.com/> www.playonline.com, where visitors can learn more about the story, characters, world, game features and listen to samples of the characters' voices. A special "Behind the Game" section including interviews with the development team and voice actors will launch late next month.On December 15th, Square Electronic Arts will hold a one-day only event offering consumers an opportunity to demo FINAL FANTASY X before its release. This "Consumer Demo Day" will be held inside the world’s only PlayStation store, located at 4th & Mission streets in San Francisco. In addition to playing the highly anticipated game, consumers will have a chance to win prize packages and receive a free FINAL FANTASY related promotional item, while supplies last.
FINAL FANTASY X will be released on DVD format and is compatible with the DUALSHOCK®2 analog controller. The game carries a suggested retail price of U.S. $50 and is rated "T" (Teen). To date, the FINAL FANTASY series has sold over 35 million units worldwide, making the franchise one of the best-selling series in the history of videogames.
About Square Electronic Arts L.L.C. and Square Co., Ltd.
Square Co., Ltd. is the leading third-party developer and publisher of home video game console software in Japan with annual sales of more than U.S. $614 million consolidated base (based on average annual exchange rate of 123 Japanese Yen per U.S. Dollar during fiscal year 2001) and 1,200 employees worldwide. Square Co., Ltd. became famous for its role-playing games, including its world-renowned FINAL FANTASY series, which has sold more than 35 million units to date, and now publishes other titles under the SQUARESOFT brand spanning all genres. Square Co., Ltd. is based in Tokyo, Japan, and maintains a branch office in Osaka. More information about Square Co., Ltd. can be found on the Internet at
http://www.playonline.com.Square Electronic Arts L.L.C. is the exclusive publisher of all SQUARESOFT products in North America. Square Co., Ltd. publishes its SQUARESOFT titles in North America through Square Electronic Arts L.L.C., located in Los Angeles, Calif. Square Electronic Arts L.L.C. is a Limited Liability Company established on May 1, 1998 by Square Soft, Inc. and Electronic Arts to manage the marketing and distribution of SQUARESOFT products in North America. More information about SQUARESOFT products can be found on the Internet at <
http://www.squaresoft.com/> http://www.playonline.com.# # #
FINAL FANTASY and SQUARESOFT are registered trademarks of Square Co., Ltd. ©2001 Square Co., Ltd. Character Design: Tetsuya Nomura. Parasite Eve is a trademark of Square Co., Ltd. Based on the novel: Hideaki Sena "parasite EVE" (Kadokawa Horror Bunko). Square Electronics Arts is a service mark of Square Electronic Arts L.L.C. Electronic Arts is a trademark of Electronic Arts in the United States and/or other countries. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved.
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