Mystery Countdown Appears On Square Enix Website

[RooksEye]

Ok, i was just on the page and while i was there, there was a flash and a image of what looked like a metal man with wings appeared. Also, some faint Japanese appeared near the bottom. Reminds me of Jenova, but male....or something.

 

[theonecookie]

please lets have a new chrono trigger but i would be happy with a VII remake but saying that i would be happy with a few things as long as its not a new ip

 

[yeah_so_no]

Guys, the "VII" has probably nothing to do with the number of the game--I just looked, and it's changed to "V", so it's most likely exactly what it says, the number of days.

 

[Sh0ckFyre]

I'm WAY against a PS3 remake of Final Fantasy 7. It would sabotage the value of the original game.

 

[Adaephon]

Oh please o please let it be a new Kingdom Hearts, or failing that at least let it not be a remake.

 

[BaelNolstrom]

Oh look. There's some Japanese written on the bottom now. Anyone care to translate the discernible characters?

I also saw the guy with wings too. I dunno who he looks like though.

 

[Meado]

The minute they announce this as a Final Fantasy VII remake...I will have to change my pants.

Maybe they used the PSN release of FF7 to gauge the demand for the title. They made, what, a million dollars in one week? That probably wet their appetite for the truckload of dough a full blown remake would bring in.

How many of the people who bought the PSN vesion would want to buy the full remake? The answer is very few. If they bought the PSN version, it means they don't care that much about graphics. The remake would be little more than a graphical overhaul, with maybe a few minor tweaks to dialogue and gameplay, so what reason would they have to buy it?

 

[Malkavian]

It says "VI" now...

Can I just remark and say, that it doesn't on my computer?
It says VII here, and the countdown was like...
No, I just opened it again, and now it says IV. Weird... I wonder if the numerals are something other than days.

EDIT:

How many of the people who bought the PSN vesion would want to buy the full remake? The answer is very few. If they bought the PSN version, it means they don't care that much about graphics. The remake would be little more than a graphical overhaul, with maybe a few minor tweaks to dialogue and gameplay, so what reason would they have to buy it?

Actually, I think the answer would be surprisingly many. There's all us fans that, no matter how stupid we know it is, must have it, because, well, it's FFVII. On the other hand, there's also all those that missed out on the game when it was new, and has purchased(or not) the game from PSN, but can't cope with the graphics. I know a fair share of people who's not playing the game, simply because they can't stand the graphics(to them, I say feh. I have just started playing Dino Crisis again^^)

EDIT2:
Also, I see people speculating about the images in the background. I am surprised though, that noone has commented on the big fox/wolf/whatever that flashes at the beginning...

What's his deal? Anyone recognize him from anything?
I can't really see the ShinRa tower, as someone suggested, in the larg thing behind the numeral. Can't see no faces. And the circles could be any circles - could be MIDGAR, but it's so unspecific that it could be anything.

EDIT3:
found this in the sourcecode(I always have a look, whenever it's something like this... I find viral marketing exciting, and sometimes, hints are hidden there):
"?±??y[?W??Í \"AC_RunActiveContent.js\" ?ª?K?v??·B")
I have a friend living with me that knows some japanese, but very little. He translated the irst part into somthing like "This page", but if any of you out there had some skills, care to translate? It's probably nothing.

EDIT4: Escapist could not display japanese kanjis. Well, just fint i yourself in the sourcecode. Again, probably nothing.

 

[DRADIS C0ntact]

The minute they announce this as a Final Fantasy VII remake...I will have to change my pants.

Maybe they used the PSN release of FF7 to gauge the demand for the title. They made, what, a million dollars in one week? That probably wet their appetite for the truckload of dough a full blown remake would bring in.

How many of the people who bought the PSN vesion would want to buy the full remake? The answer is very few. If they bought the PSN version, it means they don't care that much about graphics. The remake would be little more than a graphical overhaul, with maybe a few minor tweaks to dialogue and gameplay, so what reason would they have to buy it?

You don't actually have a way of knowing how many people who bought the PSN version would be interested in a remake. Buying the PSN version doesn't mean FF7 fans don't care about graphics. It means...that we're fans of FF7... I bought it. And I will buy a remake when it happens too.

 

[Meado]

The minute they announce this as a Final Fantasy VII remake...I will have to change my pants.

Maybe they used the PSN release of FF7 to gauge the demand for the title. They made, what, a million dollars in one week? That probably wet their appetite for the truckload of dough a full blown remake would bring in.

How many of the people who bought the PSN vesion would want to buy the full remake? The answer is very few. If they bought the PSN version, it means they don't care that much about graphics. The remake would be little more than a graphical overhaul, with maybe a few minor tweaks to dialogue and gameplay, so what reason would they have to buy it?

You don't actually have a way of knowing how many people who bought the PSN version would be interested in a remake. Buying the PSN version doesn't mean FF7 fans don't care about graphics. It means...that we're fans of FF7... I bought it. And I will buy a remake when it happens too.

I immediately discounted the sales to FF7 fans. They're always going to buy the remake, regardless of cost or quality, so there's little point discussing them. But a remake is meant to get new customers by appealing to people who haven't played it before.
By putting the original up on PSN, Square provided a way for new people to get ahold of it without leaving the house instead of having to track down a second hand copy that could well be defective. If they're then presented with a more expensive remake of the game they just bought, a lot of them are going to wonder the point of buying it.
Like Longshot said, there're going to be those who mistakenly thought they could handle the low graphics and would buy the updated version, but that still means that Square has sold a cheaper version to a chunk of people instead of going straight for the big money with the remake, which was my point. It makes no financial sense to announce a remake of a game they released on PSN just two months ago.

 

[DRADIS C0ntact]

The minute they announce this as a Final Fantasy VII remake...I will have to change my pants.

Maybe they used the PSN release of FF7 to gauge the demand for the title. They made, what, a million dollars in one week? That probably wet their appetite for the truckload of dough a full blown remake would bring in.

How many of the people who bought the PSN vesion would want to buy the full remake? The answer is very few. If they bought the PSN version, it means they don't care that much about graphics. The remake would be little more than a graphical overhaul, with maybe a few minor tweaks to dialogue and gameplay, so what reason would they have to buy it?

You don't actually have a way of knowing how many people who bought the PSN version would be interested in a remake. Buying the PSN version doesn't mean FF7 fans don't care about graphics. It means...that we're fans of FF7... I bought it. And I will buy a remake when it happens too.

I immediately discounted the sales to FF7 fans. They're always going to buy the remake, regardless of cost or quality, so there's little point discussing them. But a remake is meant to get new customers by appealing to people who haven't played it before.
By putting the original up on PSN, Square provided a way for new people to get ahold of it without leaving the house instead of having to track down a second hand copy that could well be defective. If they're then presented with a more expensive remake of the game they just bought, a lot of them are going to wonder the point of buying it.
Like Longshot said, there're going to be those who mistakenly thought they could handle the low graphics and would buy the updated version, but that still means that Square has sold a cheaper version to a chunk of people instead of going straight for the big money with the remake, which was my point. It makes no financial sense to announce a remake of a game they released on PSN just two months ago.

I agree that it doesn't make financial sense to announce a remake so soon after re-releasing the original on PSN. It's probably just the fan-man in me that hopes they will. I know they will make one eventually. There's not much use in speculating that. It's Square, after all. Re-releasing and remaking their older games is just something that they do. I just hope it doesn't take too many years.

 

[chronobreak]

Could anybody translate the Japanese text on the page? Also, the countdown is now at 3 days, and flashes an image of a pretty badass looking dragon.

 

[Meado]

Could anybody translate the Japanese text on the page? Also, the countdown is now at 3 days, and flashes an image of a pretty badass looking dragon.

Looks more like a viking-esk boat to me.

 

[Magnatek]

It kind of looks like the emblem on the disc of Vagrant Story (the top, anyway), but I think that's just me.

EDIT: Here's hoping for something that's NOT mainstream!

 

[chronobreak]

Looks more like a viking-esk boat to me.

I think, after looking at it again, you are totally right. I guess that could kill any FF7 remake speculations, I don't remember a ship like that in the game. Anyways, I think if they decided to go about making a remake of that game, somebody would leak it sooner than Squeenix could make a countdown page.

EDIT: The artwork looks very similar to that in this new game they have coming out: http://www.square-enix.co.jp/lov/

 

[Danzaivar]

There we go, note that there are 3 pages full of parts, so you don't just watch part 1 and miss the rest of it. [http://www.spoonyexperiment.com/category/final-fantasy-viii/page/3/]

You just cost me 3 hours of my life good sir.

To be fair, the guys pretty damn funny, but still. >_>

 

[Krakyn]

Just wanted to make people aware that there were only 16 hours left in the countdown. We'll know tomorrow...so be excited!

 

[metagaia]

I hope it's a countdown to finally bury the Final Fantasy VII universe and get on with our lives.

She's done some good things for us, but her ghost pops up where is shouldn't be more often than Princess Diana. The old girl should be laid to rest at last :-(