With VanaFest 2010 now at an end, we were given one major Final Fantasy XIV announcement. The Final Fantasy XIV Beta is set to begin on March 11th! We are uncertain about the details behind this, but we are certain more information will be making its way to the internet soon. There is some wording on the VanaFest website saying that FFXIV beta begins on March 11, but it also mentions FFXI people get alpha access. We will need to wait a day or so to hear more details on this about how this will play out.

From the VanaFest website:

With the eagerly anticipated FINAL FANTASY XIV drawing ever nearer its beta test phase, we are excited to announce that we will be conducting a closed alpha test—exclusive to our loyal FINAL FANTASY XI users!

Those who have been selected as beta testers can expect to receive further information starting from Monday, March 1.

* The tester website is scheduled to go live on Thursday, March 11.

Those who were not selected in this drawing, fear not, for there will be other opportunities to come. Be sure to stay tuned!

We expect more information on this to be released Monday Japan time (Feb 28, 10:00pm CST and beyond). If we hear any news about the alpha or beta testing, we’ll report anything we can that does not violate the Square-Enix NDA.

Here is one possible interpretation of this alpha/beta news.  a select group of loyal FFXI players will get access to the alpha version of FFXIV in the next few days.  Then the official beta will start ramping-up on March 11 but it will not actually start until some point after that.  This may mean the launch of a beta website and forums, with the game coming days or weeks after that.  But this is all speculation with the wording listed above.  We are hoping more information will be released soon to clarify this information.

VanaFest 2010 has begun. This post will be actively updated as new information is presented to us. All times are Central Standard Time (CST). Details on how to follow the event yourself can be found here.

Summary:

• FFXIV beta should open on March 11 for all those invited.
• VanaFest attendees get to start playing the beta today.
• VanaFest attendees were shown a new Final Fantasy XIV trailer/gameplay footage.
• FFXI level cap raised to 99.

Music:
During VanaFest, 2 songs were played for the crowd (and us). We have them both available for download (right-click and save-as to download them).
1) A live version of the original FFXIV theme that was played on the official website. Download it here.
2) A live version of the current song on the official FFXIV website. Download it here.

2:05am: Tanaka has kicked the event off. We’re speculating that it will be FFXI focused for a good portion of the event. We’ll post updates that are FFXIV related as they come across.

2:28am: One big piece of FFXI news. The level cap is being raised from 75 to 99. With this info, it would seem FFXI will not be going away anytime soon.

2:56am: It looks like the new FFXIV information may be for VanaFest attendees only. People watching the streaming video on the net were distracted with some other video. We’ll see what comes out.

2:58am: Possibly a new FFXIV trailer soon…

3:00am: Alpha test starts today or tomorrow. VanaFest attendees automatically get in. Official announcement due out tomorrow (Monday).

3:02am: beta test begins on March 11.

3:15am: they are now playing music from FFXIV. We also confirmed that VanaFest attendees were shown a new FFXIV trailer that was not streamed to the web. hopefully it will be posted to the internet in the next few days.

3:48am: We’ve posted MP3 versions of the 2 songs played during VanaFest above. As well, the developers are back on stage talking about FFXI, no new FFXIV information yet.

4:45am: VanaFest website has been updated with a “Secret Bonus Stage!” link. Here’s the FFXIV related text from that page:

With the eagerly anticipated FINAL FANTASY XIV drawing ever nearer its beta test phase, we are excited to announce that we will be conducting a closed alpha test—exclusive to our loyal FINAL FANTASY XI users! Those who have been selected as beta testers can expect to receive further information starting from Monday, March 1.

* The tester website is scheduled to go live on Thursday, March 11.

Those who were not selected in this drawing, fear not, for there will be other opportunities to come. Be sure to stay tuned!

VanaFest 2010, an event focusing on Final Fantasy XI, is set to begin in just 15 hours from this posting. As we are not attending, we’ll be gathering information from around the internet and aggregating it here for your viewing pleasure. The event is set to begin at 4:00pm in Tokyo, the US times are listed below:

EST: Feb 28, 2:00am
CST: Feb 28, 1:00am
MST: Feb 28, 12:00am
PST: Feb 27, 11:00pm

Check back with us tonight or when you wake up on Sunday. We’ll have all Final Fantasy XIV news posted here.

Update:

• We’re joining Eorzeapedia in their chat room. You can use the web based client or connect with an IRC client to irc.vanachat.com room #vanafestlive
• Square-Enix is running a live feed that should be starting near the times listed above.
• English Twitter covering the events can be found here.

Update 1:21am CST: Looks like Doors opened at 1:00am, but the event isn’t starting until 2:00am.

The frequently asked questions (FAQ) on the official Japanese Final Fantasy XIV website has been updated with 66 new entries. As we do not have a translator we are relying on Google translator to do the lifting for us. We’re hoping another fan-site picks this up and translates it for us. If the US FAQ gets updated we’ll be sure to post that.

Update: After further analysis of the new FAQ topics, it seems that all of these topics were written up in the past. The update just linked these older entries discussing Square-Enix Account Management with the FFXIV FAQ. There is no real information in the topics. We believe that this further shows that Square-Enix Accounts will be used for FFXIV, along with the possibility that Crysta may be used for FFXIV. Though, Crysta may just be limited to the Japanese audience and the rest of the world will use normal cash translations.

All of the new entries are after the break.

Another week has passed with zero new Final Fantasy XIV information being released. This means no new magazine articles or website updates. We’re all hoping for some new information to be released next weekend at VanaFest 2010. Be sure to check back with us throughout the week as we’ll report any news we hear. And be sure to watch us regularly next weekend as we relay any information we gather from VanaFest 2010.

• Official VanaFest 2010 website.
• Official VanaFest 2010 Twitter feed.

We should note that we will not be attending VanaFest 2010. We will aggregate information from various news sources to bring you any FFXIV news we find from the event.

We wanted to apologize to anyone that tried to visit our site over the last 8 hours. Our hosting company had a hiccup (fire suppression system went off by accident), which caused a number of servers to go offline. The good news is we’re back online with no problems. We are ready for next weekend’s VanaFest 2010 to bring you the latest news about Final Fantasy XIV.

There has been a lot of small news and rumors going on, so we thought we’d wrap them all up into one consolidated post.

VanaFest 2010
VanaFest2010 is a Square-Enix run event that focuses on FFXI. The official site says that there will also be “A mysterious FINAL FANTASY XIV event!” Check back here on Feb 27 and 28 for the latest Vanafest news. Square Enix has also setup a Twitter account that you can follow for the latest news from this event.

This should be an exciting event. We look forward to any type of information that may come from VanaFest.

Lack of news
A few FFXIV fan sites have been doing a roundup of all the news we’ve seen since the June 2, 2009 announcement of this game. Our last real news update was mid-December. We are guessing we’ll have some more news start leaking up a few days prior to VanaFest (due to magazine leaks), then some legitimate updates to come out right around Feb 28.

RUMOR: selling beta keys?
FFXIVCore has been accused of selling beta keys for FFXIV. Zyuu (a FFXIVCore Admin) started PMing select members of his forum and asking for a donation of money ($100 in this case) to be put on a list to be given a beta key once he gets them. Later Zyuu posted on his forums saying that they would not be giving out beta keys for donations and that they have stopped taking donations. Eorzeapedia, FFXIV Vault, ZAM forums, and TenTonHammer have topics on this issue.

There isn’t anything else to this. It sounds like FFXIVCore is going to play nice and give out any keys they may get via contests or other methods. The selling of beta keys will not happen. If you read the comments over at the ZAM forums, it seems that Zyuu had a short lapse in judgment and is trying to make up for it now. If nothing else, he’s learned his lesson.

Update: FFXIVCore has posted an apology about the events that have transpired and gave an explanation as to what occurred. Give it a read and decide for yourself.

In yet another unexpected move, Amazon is now taking pre-orders for the Xbox360 version of Final Fantasy XIV. This after being the first online retailer to start taking pre-orders for the game. The only recent rumor we have heard that FFXIV would be released for the Xbox360 was the recent LinkedIn leak. This means Amazon is either following the Final Fantasy XIV rumor-mill (fan sites like us) or knows something we don’t. We are leaning toward the rumor-mill option due to the timing of this change along with their extremely early pre-order listing for the PS3 and PC. If you are looking to pre-order Final Fantasy XIV for the PC ($49.99), PS3 ($59.99), or Xbox360 ($59.99) please consider using our affiliate link to Amazon.

Update Feb 12: Amazon has pulled the Xbox360 version of the game.

(source)

It’s been another quiet week in the world of Final Fantasy XIV news. The most news we saw this week was an accidental leak confirming that Square-Enix is still developing FFXIV for the Xbox360. All we can do at this point is continue waiting for any official, real, content updates.

News:

• Feb 2: Profile of Square-Enix animator confirms Xbox360 version is still in development.

Forums:

• Jan 31: Write-up discussing the background story of Eorzea.
• Feb 4: Interview with FFXIV producer Hiromichi Tanaka.

A computer animator by the name of “Yuuki Akama” at Square-Enix has updated her LinkedIn profile to include that she has worked on Final Fantasy XIV for the PC, PS3 and Xbox360 (pictured above). This can be interpreted a number of ways. She incorrectly updated her profile, she is referencing past work on the Xbox360 version (which has since been canned), or hinting at something that has yet to be announced. And even if this rumor comes to be true, remember that the PC and PS3 are the only ones currently guaranteed to be there for launch. We may see Xbox360 support a few months or years down the line.

If we were Square-Enix, we would want our game to be as accessible as possible to as many people as possible. That would mean making it available for the Xbox360 at some point down the line (much like they did for Final Fantasy XI). We’ll have to see if this rumor holds any truth as time moves forward.

Update 11:00pm: The LinkedIn profile has been updated again to remove all references to Final Fantasy XIV.

Update Feb 3, 9:40am: It looks like the LinkedIn profile has been completed pulled now. Luckily we saved a copy. See her full profile after the break. With the all-out removal of this page, it makes us think that this rumor is true. Square-Enix is most likely working on an Xbox360 version of the game, but it would come out after the PS3/PC release.

(source)