God Of War III's Length Really Isn't A Topic For Discussion.

How short is too short in video games? Well, how short’s a piece of string? It’s astounding to see the number of people commenting unfavourably on God Of War III’s length. “But God Of War III is only eight hours and Final Fantasy XIII is fifty – I’ll rent Kratos’ epic last hurrah instead.” Quality over quantity – how many have heard that phrase? You should have, it’s a popular comment and it’s absolutely relevant to this point of discussion. It doesn’t matter how long God Of War III is – because every moment of that perfectly crafted adventure is mind-blowingly amazing. So exactly what are you complaining about again?

There’s been forum-posts, blog stories and comments all over the Internet the last few days. Apparently Sony Santa Monica’s studio director claimed God Of War III is 12-hours long. Whatever – it took us nine hours in our review playthough. Does that make the game carry less value? Absolutely, absolutely not. Every single moment of God Of War III is pure epic thriller. Set-piece after set-piece. Perfectly constructed puzzle after perfectly constructed puzzle. Gorgeous vista after gorgeous vista.

Compare that to Final Fantasy XIII’s adventure. Drawn out corridors. Lengthy convoluted cut-scenes. Yes, the experience will last you longer. But it’s also watered down. Make no mistake, Final Fantasy XIII is a good game – but if you’re comparing the length between Square Enix’s game and Sony Santa Monica’s – simply, you’re doing it wrong.

It’s not God Of War III’s length that’s important: it’s the journey. So what if you can complete it in less than ten hours — you’re going to see things in that span of time that you’ve never experienced before. And that’s really the true point of discussion here.

We Hope Final Fantasy Versus XIII Ain't Totally Linear.

During a session at GDC last week, Final Fantasy XIII’s director Motomu Toriyama announced that both Final Fantasy XIII offshoots – Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy Agito XIII – will be aiming to deliver story-driven gameplay.

His GDC keynote seemed to suggest that both titles will take the linear story-telling approach found in Final Fantasy XIII, something we criticised heavily in our review.

The three games are to be tied by the Fabula Nova Crystalis story-arc, where humans are controlled by legendary Gods, the fal’Cie.

Do You Want More From The Cast Of Final Fantasy XIII?

If you didn’t know, the Final Fantasy timeline is kind of fucked. Final Fantasy XIII is not a direct sequel to Final Fantasy XII, it’s its own thing. So, if we were to get a direct sequel to Final Fantasy XIII, it would be called Final Fantasy XIII-2 or something.

And it’s something that sounds possible according to Yoshinori Kitase, “[Because FFXIII's engine is already built] if we could do a XIII-2, we could direct all our attention to the story and refine what we have already built.”

We’d rather the Final Fantasy VII remake to be honest.

No Surprise Seeing Final Fantasy XIII Top The Charts Now Is It?

Final Fantasy XIII has shot straight to the top of the UK sales charts, with the PS3 version of the game managing 54% of the sales. Not the hugest of discrepancies between the SKUs, but it’s often rare a PS3 multiplatform game outsells its XBOX 360 rival – particularly when Microsoft have broken the metaphorical bank marketing the game exclusive to their platform.

Most exciting for us about this week’s chart is the position of Heavy Rain, still clutching tightly to the number four spot. Game’s not gonna sell right?

Click here to continue reading and tell us what you think

There Are 5million Copies Of Final Fantasy XIII Lying Around Somewhere.

Square Enix has just announced that they’ve shipped 5million copies of their flagship RPG Final Fantasy XIII worldwide. Of that amount, 3million have been shipped to the US and Europe alone.

The franchise as a whole has shipped a whopping 96million units since its inception 20 years ago.

Of course, shipped copies don’t necessarily mean sold copies. We’re sure it’s managed a truck load, mind.

This Could Be Your Very Own Futuristic Home Apartment.

Square Enix has announced a host of new Playstation Home content set to release this Thursday 11th March in order to tie in with Final Fantasy XIII’s release today. The content includes a new Personal Space set on the planet Eden, alongside a slew of Final Fantasy XIII inspired furniture.

You can get the full details over at the Playstation Blog.

There's A Special Code In Final Fantasy XIII Offering Some Of You Access To FFXIV's PS3 Beta.

If you’ve picked up Final Fantasy XIII this morning, you should probably know that there’s an extra little surprise hidden in the box. If you take a little peek at the manual compartment, you’ll note there’s a Square Enix Members Card. This will allow you to register on the Square Enix Members website, and will earn you a bonus item in Final Fantasy XIV – the next MMO installment in the Final Fantasy franchise – when it launches later this year.

Not only that, but entering the code will give you potential access to the Final Fantasy XIV closed beta on Playstation 3.

So there you have it, if you want in, get looking for that code in your box. Lightning’s plight can wait an extra 30 minutes, right?