Square Enix has announced (confirmed here) that Final Fantasy XIV will release on September 30, 2010 for the PC only. Those who purchase the collectors edition of the game will be granted early-access to begin playing on September 22, 2010. The PS3 version will not be available until March 2011.

Update 1: NA FFXIV Website has been updated to match the JP one. Check it out.
Update 2: Updated images from the North American website update. All images should be in English now. Also, the Standard and Collector editions of the game have different bonus items for pre-ordering.
Update 3: Square Enix has published the full press release covering this.
Update 4: Added a new concept art image relieved on the new website.
Update 5: To match Square Enix’s announcement, Blizzard has removed the NDA (non-disclosure agreement) on their WoW expansion (Cataclysm) that is currently in beta testing.
Update 6: Square Enix has posted some new FAQ entries on their JP site. The most interesting addition confirms that a base account will only have 1 character slot.
Update 7: Eorzeapedia has confirmed that the collectors edition only comes with the Onion Helm, while the standard edition only comes with the Garlond Goggles. This means the collectors editions does not have the goggles.
Update 8: The European FFXIV website has been updated to match the new NA and JP designs.

Standard Edition Details:

• Pre-order Standard Edition through Amazon.
• Will be able to start playing on September 30.
• Price: $50
• If you pre-order the Standard edition, you get a pair of Garlond Goggles that increases the speed of skill progression.
• PC only. (PS3 version will not be available until next year, estimated March 2011).

Collectors Edition Details:

• Pre-order Collectors Edition through Amazon.
• Will be able to start playing 8 days early (September 22).
• Price: $75 ($25 more than standard).
• If you pre-order the Collectors edition, you get an Onion Helm that quickens recovery from KO.
• There are a variety of other bonus items in the collectors edition.
  • A behind the scenes DVD with the obligatory documentary on the making of the game.
  • A travel journal with concept art pages in which players can document their in-game wanderings.
  • An in-game item called the “Onion Helm.”
  • A fully personalized “Right of Passage” certificate.
  • Special cover illustrated by artist Yoshitaka Amano.
  • A FFXIV-branded security token for use with regular password.
• PC only. (PS3 version will not be available until next year, estimated March 2011).

Monthly Pricing Details:

• Base Monthly Fee: $12.99 / £8.99 / €12.99 (includes 1 character slot and 1 retainer)
• Additional Character Slots: $3.00 / £2.10 / €3.00 per month. (8 slots max).
• Additional Retainers: $1.00 / £0.70 / €1.00 per month.

Final Fantasy XIII (13) Extra:
Those who pre-ordered FFXIII for their PS3 were given some promo-codes, which granted access to a special in-game item for FFXIV. The item is a pair of gloves, call Asuran Armguards, that can be equipped to “Enhances the effectiveness of your equipped arm or tool.” (source)

PS3 Delayed Until 2011:
Square Enix dropped a bomb on us today saying that the PS3 version of Final Fantasy XIV will be delayed until 2011. Looks like they have contradicted a statement they made last year during E3 2009 (source):

Q: Will there be a simultaneous worldwide release?
A: Yes, at the launch it will be worldwide for PS3 and PC. Four languages – Japanese, English, German and French.

Other Information:

• Beta test will start in July. So we expect around two months of closed beta and one month of open beta.
• Retainers can be used to sell items or as storage (like a bank). You are granted 1 retainer by default, and additional ones can be purchased as part of your monthly game fee.
• PC Recommended Requirements: Windows XP/Vista/7, Intel Core 2 Duo 2GHz or AMD Athlon X2 2GHz, 2GB of RAM, 15GB HDD space, NVIDIA GeForce 9600 512MB or ATI Radeon HD 2900 512MB and DirectX 9.

Third-Party Coverage

• The Japanese FFXIV website has received a complete overhaul to its layout. Check it out. Release details (Japanese) can be found here.
• Official Press Release about FFXIV Release Date.
• Gamespot has posted an article covering the details of the release.
• Monthly pricing for Europe covered here.
• IGN coverage

Gallery of images collected about the release:

As part of the upcoming Japan Expo in Paris, Square Enix may be giving away 2000 beta keys after the event. According to their Facebook post, they will be collecting the email addresses of those who visit their booth. Square Enix will then choose 2000 email addresses from all the emails they collect and grant those lucky people with access to the upcoming Final Fantasy XIV beta. If you are attending the upcoming Japan Expo, be sure to stop by Square Enix’s booth and submit your email address to have a chance of being granted beta access.

Here’s the Google translated version of the post:

JAPAN EXPO: 2000 key beta guarantees FINAL FANTASY XIV will be distributed during the Japan Expo this week. To have any chance of direct entry into the beta of Final Fantasy XIV ONLINE: visit our stand, our hosts, their spotted T-shirt FINAL FANTASY XIV, take note of your email address. Speak directly to our hostesses!

More random bits of Final Fantasy XIV information have made their way to the internet today. One of the more popular topics on generic gaming news sites is that FFXIV will not be coming to the Xbox 360 anytime soon. The main reason being quoted is that Xbox Live’s rules prevent an MMO type game from launching on the service.

On the interview front, Eorzeapedia has translated an interview done by 4Gamer. There isn’t anything in this question and answer session that we haven’t seen before, but it consolidates almost all questions answered during E3 into a single article.

Looking forward toward the start of beta, 2 pieces of information have been leaked on the BlueGartr forums. First is a thank you letter from the director of FFXIV to the alpha testers. Second is some details on Retainers that were brought up during E3. Retainers are a way of having an NPC run your bazaar for you while you are offline. Details on the system are still rather scarce, but we’ll keep our eyes open for anything new.

Today begins day 3, the last day of E3. Be sure to check out the information from day 1 and day 2 if you haven’t already.

Videos from GameTrailers (8:20am):
GameTrailers has posted 2 videos. The first is a walk-through of the character creation process that we saw announced a week ago. The second is a video showing how the battle system work.

Massively interview (11:00am):
Massively has posted an interview with Hiromichi Tanaka. There isn’t anything really new in this interview, but it does ask some more basic questions that many of the fan sites have not asked. It’s a nice read to get an overall feeling for Final Fantasy XIV.

Eorzeapedia interview (1:20pm):
Eorzeapedia has posted an interview they had yesterday with Square Enix. Here’s some high-level points from the interview:

• The game will only be 32-bit (no 64-bit specific build or support, but it will run on 64-bit Windows)
• The in-game text translator will return.
• More talk about “Companies” for large guilds. There is mention of out-of-game company content: “You will be able to enjoy the game even if you are offline.”
• Surnames are mandatory and will have to be unique (does this mean we can’t grant surname access to others?). Once you “friend” someone, you can send a tell to them using their first name.
• No male Miqo’te at launch. They may add it later.
• No gear management system at launch to assist in equipping gear on class switch.
• MP is designed to not recover without a user action. You have to plan how you use your mana.

Stepura Creation/Gameplay Videos (4:30pm):
Stepura has posted three videos showing character creation and some gameplay from E3. Check them out: Lalafell Creation, Hyur and Miqo’te Character Creation, and Lancer Gameplay.

1Up interview (6:15pm):
1Up has posted an interview with Square Enix. They were given a few more details about “Companies”:

… players [will] be able to create and join groups called “Companies.” Similar to player guilds in other games, Companies can themselves “level up,” presumably offering additional benefits to the members therein. When asked if Companies would have shared housing or other group-owned assets, they smiled and said that players would have real-estate to call their own, but “weren’t ready to announce anything more at this time” – sounds like a “yes” to me!

FFXIV Live Report 3 from SE (8:30pm):
Square Enix has published another video from E3 to their Youtube Channel. The video shows off their booth at E3. The only information in the video was that FFXIV Alpha test will end this week and they will be begin preparing the test servers for the beta version after that.

E3 has ended (11:20pm):
The hall doors of E3 closed a few hours ago, and we have come to the end of the media blitz known as E3. We’re still hoping that Square Enix will post some Final Fantasy XIV related answer to their Fan Power Q&A. If anything is posted there, we’ll be sure to let you know.

Thanks everyone for taking part and reading our site for the last 4 days.

Dengeki interview with SE (6/18 9:45am):
(original) FFXIVCore has translated an article by Dengeki. There are some rather interesting pieces of information in this article. Check out the full interview after the break.

Day two of E3 has begun. We’re uncertain what information Square Enix may still release, but we’ll update this post as new information is released. Be sure to check out the information from day 1 of E3 if you haven’t already.

Triple Monitor and 3D (8:00am CST)
Square Enix has published a short video showing off Final Fantasy XIV being played across 3 monitors in 3D. This is most likely using 3D Vision from Nvidia.

FFXIVCore interview with SE (10:00am)
FFXIVCore has posted a short Q&A session they had with Square Enix. Square Enix wasn’t forthcoming with a lot of their answers, but they did reveal some new information.

• There is more robust Linkshell system called a “Company”. You may be able to have something like a community website with these.
• Linkshells will also be in FFXIV, along side the Company system.
• There may be something like player-owned land or shops, no details at this time.
• End-game content will focus around the story, but it is uncertain if it will be open world or in dungeons.
• No new classes announced yet, but more will be added after release. It’s unclear if more will be added before release.
• There will be an achievement type system to show off your accomplishments.
• Retainer: a new system that sounds like it will leave their character online after you exit the game (to show off your bazaar?).

11:00am: We’ve added 24 new images taken by GameWatch to our E3 gallery. Check it out. The screenshots are from the beta client, with a focus on character creation.

11:10am: Looking at the 24 new images, SE has redesigned the pop-up menu along with the stat/equipment pop-up. Check out the new one, compared to the one from alpha.

1:25pm: Added another 27 images to the E3 gallery. (source)

2:10pm: One of the larger changes in the beta client is the updated Action Menu (see the alpha action menu here). There are some new and interesting features to this dialog:

• There are 3 rows the actions that can be assigned now. Was 2 in alpha.
• The Action Points available for active abilities increases as you level. (52 in the screenshot above)
• Actions cost variable number of action points to equip. This probably means higher-level or more powerful abilities will cost more.
• Actions/Skills list their affinity now. The screenshot shows the ability Rousing Provoke has an affinity to Earth. This probably means that if your earth skill is high, you will be better at using this ability.
• A “Trait” section was added. This looks like it will let you choose what passive abilities to equip on your character.
• A “Synthesis Action” section added. It is unclear what this will be used for yet.

10:15pm: ZAM has posted a video interview with Square Enix. The questions didn’t seem to be translated all that well, but here’s what we got:

• Mid to end game content will be the story and guildleve system (at least at launch).
• They didn’t think jump was an important part of the game, so they decided not to include it. “Even if you jump around, nothing is going to happen.”
• The only UI customization at launch will be the ability the move around most/all parts of the UI. Square Enix is investigating the ability for users to create custom addons, but they are uncertain if it will be implemented.
• They didn’t add more races, as each race is another character that they have to model armor/weapons for, and it was too time consuming.

10:40pm: Famitsu has published (translated here) an interview as well. Though it’s in Japanese, we can make out a few pieces of information.

• The beta version of FFXIV is almost ready. Because of all the changes, they are working on balancing. Once that is complete they beta will launch.
• The beta should begin in the next month or so.
• Voice chat will not be included in FFXIV.
• This may be the last week of the alpha test.

The new Final Fantasy XIV trailer that we found out about a few days ago was published today for everyone’s viewing pleasure. You can watch the trailer above on Youtube, or you can view screenshots from the trailer in our gallery. Here are some of the highlights from the new trailer:

• The opening seems to show what will be Gridania.
• Goobbues are back and are attacking a city.
• The beast tribes look like they will play a major role in the story.
• The elements from conjurer’s seem to be creatures that will help you in some fashion.
• Treants are back to play.
• Moogles have been spotted!
• (UPDATE) There is a boy with horns in the new trailer that we saw a long time ago.
• Chocobo’s look to be rideable, and you may be able to summon them while out in the world.
• Miqo’te in silk underwear…
• And the closing slide: “Beta Test coming soon!”

We’re guessing there are other little hints we haven’t pointed out or found in the trailer. Have you found anything else of interest in this new trailer?

Alongside the start of E3, Square Enix partnered with Nvidia to launch the Final Fantasy XIV Official Benchmark utility. This is a 172MB utility you can download from Nvidia. The utility plays through the opening cinematic that is currently in the alpha client of FFXIV. It depicts the story of the hero riding a boat destined for the city of Limsa Lominsa. During the boat ride you have a vision of sorts, then find that the boat is under attack by creatures of the sea.

We have taken screenshots from the benchmark and posted them to a gallery.

This utility is useful to understand how well your computer will be able to handle Final Fantasy XIV once it is released. This utility uses the graphical rendering engine from Final Fantasy XIV, so it uses the same game files and everything that are currently found in the alpha client of FFXIV (but is a much smaller version than the full alpha client). You should have a score of around 1500 or higher to be able to run FFXIV smoothly on your PC. Here are a breakdown of what the different scores mean:

• [8000 and over] Extremely High Performance
  Easily capable of running the game on the highest settings.
• [5500–7999] Very High Performance
  Easily capable of running the game. Should perform exceptionally well, even at higher resolutions.
• [4500-5499] High Performance
  Easily capable of running the game. Should perform well, even at higher resolutions.
• [3000-4499] Fairly High Performance
  Capable of running the game on default settings. Consider switching to a higher resolution depending on performance.
• [2500-2999] Standard Performance
  Capable of running the game on default settings.
• [2000-2499] Slightly Low Performance
  Capable of running the game, but may experience some slowdown. Adjust settings to improve performance.
• [1500-1999] Low Performance
  Capable of running the game, but will experience considerable slowdown. Adjusting settings is unlikely to improve performance.
• [Under 1500] Insufficient Performance
  Does not meet specifications for running the game.

Note #1: if you are having problems running the benchmark (such as “d3dx9_41.dll” is missing), make sure you are running the latest version of DirectX. You can use this utility from Microsoft to update your DirectX.

Note #2: There is no full-screen mode for this benchmark. Full-screen mode will be there for the release of the game.

E3 2010 is here. We will be updating this post with all Final Fantasy XIV related news as it is released.

FFXIV Benchmark (1:30pm CST)
Nvidia has released a benchmark application for Final Fantasy XIV. Download it and give it a try yourself. The benchmark application runs through the opening sequence from the FFXIV Alpha. This is a great way to see how well your computer can handle Final Fantasy XIV.

Sony E3 Presentation (3:05pm CST)
We are over an hour into the Sony E3 presentation and Final Fantasy hasn’t been mentioned yet. We’re still watching and waiting for any news about Final Fantasy XIV. We’ll keep you updated.

3:30pm: The new Final Fantasy XIV trailer was shown, nothing else was mentioned outside of this trailer. Once the trailer is posted, we’ll get links up along with screenshots.

• A Moogle was shown (we’ll get the screenshot up ASAP).
• The Ifrit type monster was shown in motion.

4:08pm: MOOGLE!

4:15pm: New Final Fantasy XIV trailer is online. Find it here. (NOTE: This is longer than the one shown at the Sony press conference)

4:45pm: Official FFXIV Benchmark page has launched. Check it out.

4:53pm: Here is a video from Square Enix showing the new battle system.

5:15pm: The official FFXIV website has had the new trailer added to it. You can find it under “Media -> Trailers”.

6:03pm: The new trailer has been uploaded to Square Enix’s Youtube Channel.

6:05pm: We’ve updated our gallery with screenshots from the new trailer. Check it out!

6:45pm: We’ve redone the screenshots in the gallery to be higher-quality images.

We are in somewhat of a dry-spell again when it comes to Final Fantasy XIV news. E3 is 11 days away, which means we can’t expect much from the Square Enix public relations team in the next 2 weeks. At the same time, the alpha testing is still going on behind closed doors. We have posted a number of alpha related screenshots in our gallery and posted some detailed information about the combat system and other mechanics of the game. The problem is that little to nothing has changed in this alpha test since it began on April 8. Square Enix has mainly been gathering feedback and improving the stability of the servers over the last 2 months. We won’t see the results of this feedback until the beta testing starts.

Starting with the testing that occurred on June 3, Square Enix has added a new world server. If you remember back to the Dengeki interview, Square Enix was saying that they are working on stabilizing one world.

• Phase 2 of the alpha will begin once they fully stabilize the current World. After that, they will add a second and third world.
• The next round of testers has already been chosen for when phase 2 of the alpha begins.
• The beta is planned to begin once a player base of around 50,000 is built and the servers are stabilized to handle them.

Now that they have launched a second world server, this could mean they feel that one server is stable enough and they are attempting to add more servers to allow adding more players into the alpha test. It seems that we have entered what Square Enix refers to as “alpha phase 2″. The one thing we do know is that they are making progress with the alpha testing and things are getting better.

Along with the addition of a new realm, another round of alpha invite emails have been sent out, starting June 9.

• Invite Email Sent: May 28. Access Granted: May 28
• Invite Email Sent: May 28. Access Granted: June 2
• Invite Email Sent: June 2. Access Granted: June 7
• Invite Email Sent: June 4. Access Granted: June 9

Things are getting exciting. At the current rate, Square Enix will probably hit their 50,000 player mark in a month or 2, depending on how fast they add new people. Which means beta will be getting here soon.

According to BlueGartr forums, the second round of invites into the alpha test program for Final Fantasy XIV have been sent out (or are in the process of being sent out). According to this email, the second round of testing will begin on or after June 2. This second round of alpha testing is probably the “beta” test that was rumored to begin in June. We’ll have to keep a close eye on this as it develops as we have a lot of unanswered questions from this email. This email will be updated throughout the day as the story develops.

Update 10:00am (CST): From the beta invite email posted on BlueGartr, here are the details about this round of invites.
Update 10:50am: Some reports say that the emails were sent at 4:00am EST today (May 28).

• This is Alpha 2 testing, not beta.
• This test is focused on balance and gameplay, not reporting bugs (which may mean the client people will use this round will be similar to Alpha 1).
• It is still Windows only testing (no PS3 yet).
• The NDA (non-disclosure agreement) is still in affect, people in the alpha are not allowed to share information.
• The test website will open to these new alpha participants on Wednesday, June 2 in NA.