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#worldbuilding In order to create the most immersive settings possible for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the Eidos Montreal team had to build shining cities of the future from the ground up, and then they had to get them dirty. More »

#fineart Depending on your gaming tastes, you may not have seen much of the work of Toshiaki Takayama. Which is a shame, because his work is incredible. More »

#watchthis We've been talking a bit recently about all the leaks and legal matters surrounding Deus Ex. It's enough to get you down! So let's change the pace this morning and watch twelve minutes of gameplay footage. More »

#papersplease While pursuing those responsible for leaking a preview build of Deus Ex Human Revolution onto the internet, publishers Square Enix discovered that the game (well, part of the game) had been a copy they'd hosted on Valve's Steam service. More »

We've interacted with the world of Final Fantasy in so many ways. We've stabbed guys, changed outfits, even made Chocobos have sex with each other, but we're still waiting on the Final Fantasy game where battles are conducted by rhythmically tapping on the screen along with prompts. (Actually, that might have been in a Final Fantasy game at some point. We've not been so diligent about finishing them lately.)

Regardless, our odd itch will soon be scratched by the just-announced Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, a 3DS game that includes dungeons and towns, and has you tapping on the screen to conduct battles. Other details are light in the report (found in Japanese mag Jump and translated by Andriasang), but we know the game will include music and chibi-style versions of characters like Lightning and Cloud from throughout the franchise.

After the break, you'll find a screen from Jump that, while fuzzy, sends the perfectly clear message that this is unlike any Final Fantasy game before it ... as far as we know.

[Thanks, Dean]

#fineart Akihiko Yoshida has been at Final Fantasy developers Square Enix since 1995, when he joined Squaresoft, one of the companies (along with Enix) that merged to create the RPG powerhouse. More »

#tapaway Never mind that the music game fad has passed, Square Enix is releasing a Final Fantasy music game. The title is a mouthful. More »

#watchthis YouTube user counter656 (aka John Huang) is quickly making a name for himself online with his stop motion videos. More »

#sneakers A preview build of Deus Ex Human Revolution, containing a rough version of the early sections of the upcoming game, was leaked onto torrent sites in late May. More »

A LittleBigPlanet Sackboy skin patterned after Final Fantasy VII's Sephiroth was first revealed at Tokyo Game Show in 2008. Three years and one LittleBigPlanet sequel (plus two spinoffs) later, a newly redesigned version of Sackiroth is finally on the way to LittleBigPlanet 2, and he's bringing some "friends."

The PlayStation Blog revealed that a LittleBigPlanet 2 Final Fantasy VII costume pack will be released on July 13, containing Sackboy garments based on Sephiroth, Cloud, Tifa, and Aeris, who of course is doomed to lose her stuffing at the adorable hands of the vicious Sephiroth Sackboy. If you buy the $5.99 / €5.99 / £4.79 bundle, you'll get a bonus Vincent Valentine costume, allowing you to complete that long-in-progress LBP remake of Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII. Separately, each costume will run $1.99 each (though Vincent is only available in the bundle).

Other Sackboy raiment due for release soon includes Infamous 2, Toy Story, and Killzone 3 packs.

Eidos Montréal's gold-tinted view of the future in Deus Ex: Human Revolution isn't the most optimistic, and certainly not the most tolerant of man's meekness. It's 2027, and you're getting a cybernetic arm, perma-shades and Bale-Batman vocal chords.

#watchthis In this behind-the-scenes video for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the Eidos Montreal development explores the world festering beneath the glow of amber lights, where humanity is in danger of losing itself and freedom fighters struggle to protect the last bastions of green lighting effects. More »

Listen, potential purchasers of Square Enix's iOS port of Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions -- the game's development team is going to need one more extension. You know they're good for it! According to the game's Facebook page, the team had to put a little extra TLC into the port to ensure it runs as butter-smooth as you expect. With sincere apologies, a representative announced the game's iPhone arrival is now slated for "July...twen..blah..blah," while the iPad version will come a month later. So, August...twen..blah..blah, then.

The apology also came with a quick FAQ, which revealed that the game will not be compatible with iPhone 3G devices, nor will it contain any multiplayer modes. What will it contain, then? Well, Chocobo, for one thing. Also, Firaga.

Footage of a downloadable title that was purportedly in the works at Square Enix's Los Angeles-based studio is being featured on Siliconera. The Western-themed top-down shooter, titled Project Dropship, was not formally announced before its quiet cancellation, but based on the footage it looks like it was fairly far along in development. It also looks and sounds like it had a Firefly thing going for it, which is really, really working for us.

Or, rather, it would have worked for us. Now it just makes us sad that nobody's made a Firefly game yet. What gives, entire video game industry?

While flipping through today's gallery of new Final Fantasy XIII-2 screenshots, we couldn't help but be reminded of one of our all-time favorite YouTube clips, perfectly applicable to the above image. As it turns out, replacing dinosaurs with a mechanical ... demon ... thing is just as hilarious!

#textplease Wouldn't these new Final Fantasy XII-2 screenshots be even better if you wrote captions for them? Yes, they would be better. More »

Another vintage Taito series is coming up again (ding!) according to an Australian classification board listing. Square Enix is preparing Elevator Action Deluxe for PS3, developed by a company called B-Project Inc.

Despite the name, there's no way this game is as deluxe as the recent arcade title Elevator Action Death Parade -- that game has real elevator doors. We would expect a new Elevator Action to build not on the light-gun gameplay of that arcade game, though, but on the side-view, floor-to-floor espionage and combat of the original and its excellent sequel. And by "expect" we mean "hope."

Freud tells us that humans cannot escape their id. At our most basic level, we desire nothing more than to satisfy our drive for pleasure. The id has no morals, it simply wants what it wants with no regard for the implications of the actions that could result. Whether that pleasure is derived through the gain of material goods or through schadenfreude (that's German for laughing when your buddy slams into a pole), all it wants to be satisfied.

Action RPGs exist for this very reason: They're engineered to satisfy your id. You slash and slice your way through thousands of enemies on your way to the loot at the end of the tunnel. You're overly powerful, unable to be taken down by armies of soldiers, spiders, or demons. You fulfill all sorts of power fantasies this way, and only fulfill more and more as your characters level up. So, really, Dungeon Siege 3's measure of success is whether or not it is capable of pleasing your id.

So, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to go ahead and ask my id how it enjoyed the dozen or so hours it spent in the Kingdom of Ehb. He's prone to mood swings and occasionally contradictory opinions, so hang with me.

#speakuponkotaku Reader SecretMoblin has turned back the clock to 2008 in order to play The World Ends With You. And what better time to try this unconventional gem than what could easily be the twilight days of the DS's lifespan? He's got one problem: the combat's driving him nuts. Think you could lend him a hand? More »

#watchthis Deus Ex: Human Revolution has had a leaked preview build available online for a few weeks now, letting people try the game out ahead of its release. More »

The legendary Dragon Quest series (originally published in Japan in 1986, and of course in North America as Dragon Warrior after that) turns 25 this year, and Square Enix is giving all of its gifts away. We've already heard about a Wii collection coming out, but as you can see above, some of the prizes are a little less practical. That's a pair of plushie slimes on the left, and on the right is a Smile Slime Crystal Mascot figurine, measuring about 6 centimeters tall. Both special slime items also have a DQ 25th anniversary logo on the back. Both of those will be 1554 yen, or about $19 US.

Additionally, Square Enix is offering some special edition tote bags for the anniversary for about $26 each, and some Dragon Quest business card holders (with art featuring the first three games) for around $20 US. All of the swag is supposed to be available starting late July in Japan.

#streetart Multi-media collective iam8bit knows how to advertise itself: slyly, theatrically and with neat, removable swag. More »

The London Distant Worlds concert, where the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra will be performing select pieces of music from the FINAL FANTASY series, will be taking place at the Royal Albert Hall on November 5th. Unfortunately, tickets are already sold out, however we’re offering you the chance to win a pair of VIP tickets that we [...]

#tombraider Don't think of Tomb Raider as an origin story, think of it instead as a sort of metaphorical creation myth, a game that won't redefine just who Lara Croft is, but also the world in which she exists. More »

#psychokiller The most interesting thing about Hitman Absolution isn't its new disguises or ways of killing people with a bit of cord. It's not the decision to open the historically stealthy game up to a bit of action gameplay. It's the insight the game's mechanics are meant to give us into a character we've long controlled but known little about. More »

#handson Heroes of Ruin is a deft, well-implemented multiplayer-RPG—but right now it's lacking in distinctive character. The title, published by Square Enix and developed by n-Space, the team behind the GameCube action-adventure title Geist, is due to launch on the Nintendo 3DS in early 2012. So far, our exposure to the Heroes has mostly been limited to some evocative concept art and a catalog of features meant to exploit the capabilities of the platform's StreetPass and WiFi functionality. More »

Footage from Hitman: Absolution's behind-closed-doors E3 demonstration has made its way to the internets. The video splices the trailer footage with the library scene gameplay mentioned in our preview.

The gameplay footage is awkwardly played twice and -- trust us -- does the actual game no justice in terms of graphical fidelity. However, it does give a glimpse of the scene in which Agent 47 has to escape a library full of cops. The scene where he smashes the cop over the head with the statue is the more "stealth" approach, while in another scene you can see 47 taking a hostage to walk out of the place.

#agent47 Hitman Absolution was one of many of the games I saw at E3 that impressed me not only with its new take on an old formula, but in the new story it was trying to tell and the character it was trying to refresh. More »

#aquahair Makes sense! Especially seeing how Layton designer Akihiro Hino is penning the story for new Gundam series, Gundam Age. His studio, Level-5, is also working on a new Gundam RPG for unspecified hardware. More »

Nintendo's E3 roster was so cavernous, and so quietly announced, that we still have at least one more new game to mention: Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2. Almost completely imperceptible in Nintendo's booth except for the piped-in Dragon Quest theme, the DS role-playing spinoff will draw near to North American stores on August 28.

Joker 2 has players taming wild Dragon Quest beasts and training them in turn-based battles. It has over 300 of the series' signature critters, and can even obtain monsters via Tag Mode with Dragon Quest VI and IX!

Speaking of other Dragon Quest games, Nintendo is really serious about this Dragon Quest thing, huh? It published Dragon Quest IX last year, then VI early this year -- and Dragon Quest characters are in both Mario Sports Mix and Fortune Street (also announced at this E3). We never expected to see any Western publisher care this much about Dragon Quest, much less Nintendo.