The age old question/rumor (which Square Enix has continuously debunked and alternatively hinted at) may be answered very soon: will FF7 really get a remake or not? For some of the more hopeful people out there,Tetsuya Nomura's recent announcement (about another announcement) might be a bit of a Phoenix Down to pick you guys up. What with the coming release of FF7: Advent Children Complete movie, who knows what else might drop alongside it? Do Aeris a favor and dig into the Item menu found in the full article for details.

A new quest is going to be available tomorrow for Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G. The challenge grounds may be the frigid Snowy Mountains, but players will want to prepare for a very warm reception. Details are available in the full article.

You've probably read our earlier report regarding Ken To Mahou To Gakuen Mono and its teaser website, but did you know that the game also has its very own newspaper. Learn more about the newspaper and find out how to download a copy after the jump

The Dengeki publication has recently finished tallying up its polls for their readership's most enjoyed game of 2007. If you think that Mario Galaxy's on the list, you're only partly right; the rest of the top ten just might surprise you. Head on over to the full article for the poll results.

Those of you who are really into tactical RPGs may remember a game by the name of Vantage Master that, unfortunately, never saw the light of day in the US. Well, with the new PSP version entitled Vantage Master Portable  on its way to Japanese players,  developer Nihon Falcom has some new updates in the form of eye candy. The visual feast follows after the jump.

The official website of Japanese magazine Dengeki managed to grab a couple of screenshots and a few details about Taito's upcoming space shooter the Space Invaders Extreme.

Take note that these screenshots are for the PSP build of the game. It was only a couple of days ago when it was confirmed that Taito has finally decided to make the game available to Sony PSP owners. The screenshots and more details after the jump!

Japanese gaming magazine Dengeki PlayStation, through PSPHyper, finds out why Final Fantasy Dissidia's nature is to be an action game. According to the report,  this was because it was thought that a 3D action game using the expertise of the team of Yousuke Shiokawa was "the best way to gather all the characters from the Final Fantasy series."

Who is Mr. Shiokawa? Square Enix's Yousuke Shiokawa was the lead programmer for boss battles in Kingdom Hearts II. He is now directing Final Fantasy Dissidia.

Anyhow, it was also revealed that the PlayStation Portable was the chosen one as the platform for the game because of the handheld's ad-hoc mode.

Nomura noted that if they went for aiming at a large user-base, they would have gone for the PS2 instead of the PSP. However, that route would mean that they would be forced to use split-screen for multiplayer, and they are of the belief that split-screen gaming would significantly diminish the fun factor.

It was also revealed that the game's battle system will take a lot of inspiration from the Kingdom Hearts franchise, but will introduce some new concepts. As mentioned in one of our previous reports, Shiokawa confirms that FF mainstays like levels, class, equipment, and weapon upgrades will all be in the game. What's more is that there are some character customization options available as well.

As for the game's setting, Shiokawa mentioned that the development team is concentrating on making each location as "natural" as possible. There may be plans for destructible environments, but the focus for now is more on making each location true to the original. From the images and scans we've seen so far, it was noted that some appear to be from Final Fantasy I and Final Fantasy IX.

As mentioned before, this is a 20th Anniversary title, so even though there isn't an official date yet, most expect the game to hit retail this year.

The latest issues of Dengeki PlayStation and Famitsu not only contain some very nice eye candy for all of you Final Fantasy fans, but they also mention some very promising details about the upcoming PSP title from Square Enix: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.

For one thing, the magazines mention that the game is already about 70% complete, and that a playable demo should be available in time for the Square Enix Party 2007.

The Square Enix Party 2007 will be held from May 12 to May 13, and will be at Makuhari Messe near Tokyo. So, if you happen to be in Tokyo at around that time, you might want to swing by the event and be among the first to sample this game which fangirls (and some fanboys) the world over are dying for.

 

If you surf over to the Japanese site of Konami's Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops for the PSP, you'll find out that Konami is announcing that they're conducting national level tournament with preliminaries in 5 cities in Japan.

The preliminaries are named after leading game magazines. Each tournament is sponsored by the respective magazines. The Dengeki PS Cup will be in Fukuoka, the Dengeki PSP Cup will be Osaka, and Famitsu will be hosting the remaining tournaments at Nagoya, Sapporo, and Tokyo.

The finals for the tournament will be on the 25th of February at Roppongi.

Participants will be asked to form 3-man teams. Each team will fight it out on ADHOC mode with a round 5 minutes. What gives this tournament its edge is that players are forbidden from using health items. That and the fact that Kojima himself will make guest appearances at some tournaments.

For more details on the tournament, feel free to use our "Read" link below, it should lead to a translated version of the Japanese language announcement over that Konami's site.

Sigh. If only we had this much enthusiasm about the game here.