Nobuo Uematsu's record label Dog Ear Records just announced that The Black Mages' third album is finally nearing its release. The Japanese band led by the man behind Final Fantasy melodies we all grew to love is going to unleash The Black Mages 3: Darkness and Starlight, which will contain more than remixes of magical FF music. Learn more by checking out the full article.

If you thought that your day couldn't get better after Square Enix's earlier confirmation of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7's release in North America (March 25 FTW!), then let's heat things up a bit with a teaser trailer for the game!

Get ready for 40 seconds of Square Enix loving! Take it away, Zack! Read more for the video.

This year's month of December will mark the 20th anniversary of Square Enix's very first Final Fantasy game (also available on the PSP). As a toast to this most special occasion, AWR Music Productions, LLC is announcing the upcoming Distant Worlds: music from Final Fantasy World Tour which will begin on Tuesday, December 4, at the Stockholm Concert Hall in Sweden.

At the helm of this event will be conductor/executive producer Arnie Roth, who will command the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, and the choir Allmänna Sången. Here's a brief rundown of the songs to be played at the program, all originally written by Final Fantasy series composer Nobuo Uematsu:

• Final Fantasy series: Main Theme, Swing de Chocobo
• Final Fantasy I to III: Medley
• Final Fantasy III DS: Opening
• Final Fantasy IV: Theme of Love
• Final Fantasy V: Dear Friends
• Final Fantasy VI: Opera "Maria and Draco"
• Final Fantasy VII: One-Winged Angel, Opening - Bombing Mission, Aerith's Theme
• Final Fantasy VIII: Liberi Fatali, Fisherman's Horizon, Love Grows, Don't be Afraid
• Final Fantasy IX: Vamo' alla Flamenco
• Final Fantasy X: To Zanarkand
• Final Fantasy XI: Memoro de la Stono - Distant Worlds

And if you're asking, yes - Uematsu is indeed going to be at the concert. Tickets for this event will be available since October 17 and can be purchased through the Stockholm Concert Hall box office, or online. For the fans that do manage to make it, you'll also be happy to know that the Distant Worlds: music from Final Fantasy CD will be available for purchase at the concert grounds.

Now, if you can't make it to the December event, there will be another Distant Worlds concert being scheduled for March 1, in Chicago. Arnie Roth will remain the conductor, with music from the Chicagoland Pops Orchestra, and voices from the CPO Festival Choir. Uematsu will be attending the event too.

Further details for the Distant Worlds: music from Final Fantasy world tour can be found at its official site, via the read link below.

Japan's Weekly Famitsu magazine reports that AQ Interactive is currently working on a new sound novel game for the Sony PlayStation Portable. The new title will reportedly be called Anato wo Yurusanai, which roughly translates to "I Won't Forgive You".

Anato wo Yurusanai features hand-drawn graphics instead of the more commonly used photo-realistic images such as those found in the PS3 title Imabikisou. The game will also be played with the PSP held vertically. The analog stick will be used for various actions such as searching and the like.

Sound novel veteran Kazuya Asano will be teaming up with Final Fantasy music composer Nobuo Uematsu for Anato wo Yurusanai. The game is currently scheduled for a November 15 Japanese release. If it ever makes its way to North America, it should prove to be a unique and interesting experience for PSP owners.

  

Hot off the big BioShock launch last week, more great games are coming to stores this week. Particularly eye-catching is that wham-banger Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. There's also a new Naruto game coming out on the PSP, and Stranglehold will smash in to the PC and Xbox 360 scenes.

Fighting games, racing titles and sports sims, as well as casual puzzle games are also in the mix. There's something for everyone, so dig in:

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. The latest sequel to one of the most decorated game franchises of all time is due out tomorrow exclusively for the Nintendo Wii. Samus is back and this time, the Wii Nunchuk is her toy of choice. Old moves and new weapons converge to create a new mind-blowing experience for the genre.

• Wii- August 27, 2007
• US$ 49.99
• ESRB T (Teen)
• Nintendo

Blue Dragon. The Xbox 360 is getting one of the year's most anticipated RPG offerings. Behind this title are luminaries Hironobu Sakaguchi for the game's design, Akira Toriyama for the character design and Nobuo Uematsu for the musical score. Play as a boy named Shu who sets out on an epic journey with friends that will enchant you for hours on end.

• Xbox 360- August 28
• US$ 59.99
• ESRB T (Teen)
• Microsoft

More hot titles for all the platforms after the jump!

*Originally posted at 7:17AM on August 26, 2007

A video game's soundtrack can pull players into the game world and into the feel of the current scene. The greatest soundtracks (one probably being Koji Kondo's Super Mario theme) has stayed stuck in our heads even after playing. The Square Enix Party offered another sort of goodie for the music lovers-slash-gamers.

The guys at PSP Fanboy reported that those lucky basta- err... attendees of the Square Enix Party were given the music sampler CDs containing (*gasp*) music from Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core and Final Fantasy Dissidia. We all know that Final Fantasy titles sport the best soundtracks (Zen no Kotoba, anyone?). Anyway, the tracks included in the said freebie CD were Final Fantasy Dissidia's Overture to DISSIDIA and (Secret), and Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core's Last Order Crisis Mix- and Theme of Crisis Core.

All the tracks were composed by Takeharu Ishimoto - he's no Nobuo Uematsu, but he definitely delivered. Can't wait for the rest of the sound track and the games as well.