Sorry for the delay in the news, but I’ve been off supporting a movie release. But while I was away, I did see this interesting piece of news: The buzz on the street is that the next update to the Xbox 360 version of Final Fantasy XI will add 32 “achievements” in the game. Apparently, Final Fantasy XI is “the only Xbox 360 game” to have never implemented a “Gamerscore” system. From my understanding, Gamerscores are an important part of the Xbox Live community in that they help to determine the top players on Xbox Live.

I do not have access to a Xbox 360, so if anyone has a better understanding of the whole situation, feel free to post in the comments.

[Balbadiax] [Joystiq]

Today, Square Enix released a statement on their website responding to the reports of a Final Fantasy XI sequel being developed. In this statement, they refuted the claims that they had announced a sequel to their existing Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. On the other hand, they did point out that they did announce that an unnamed MMORPG is being developed.

It should be noted that they did not deny or confirm that this upcoming title will be in any way related to Final Fantasy XI.

[Joystiq] [Square Enix]

IGN brought to attention today that the Japanese news site Nikkei Net broke the story that Square Enix is developing a sequel to their popular Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game: Final Fantasy XI. So far, the only information known thus far about this project is that it is being deeloped for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows Vista platforms. We’ll keep you all posted when more information comes.

[IGN] [Nikkei Net]

I was looking around Apple’s Dashboard Widget Browser today, and I came across this widget to help out those of you that play Final Fantasy XI. Apple’s site lists the features as:

- Earth to Vana’diel time conversion
- Airship schedules for all airships
- Current Moon phase
- Conquest tally date
- Selbina-Mhaura ferry schedule
- Moon calendar
- RSE calendar
- Day calendar
- Crafting guilds schedules and much more

If you play Final Fantasy XI, and you love your Mac, this is the widget for you.

[Apple]

SquareEnix has removed more than 700 accounts on the Final Fantasy XI servers. The accounts have been linked to "real money traiding" where the accounts are used to make larger amounts of gil which is then sold on. This marks the end of a long investigation. "Thanks to these measures, more than 300 billion gil has been removed from circulation, and the overly inflated prices of items have begun to fall to more realistic levels," said the developer in a statement.

SquareEnix have clearly got their work cut out for them as a quick search on Google, Yahoo! and MSN shows there are lots of online stores still happy to sell you gil in amounts between 1, 000 and 10, 000 for up to $175, and with 24 hour in-game delivery.

Source: EuroGamer

SquareEnix has announced that both Final Fantasy XI for the Xbox 360 and the latest expantion, Treasures of Aht Urghant will go on sale on April 18 in North America. Followed in Europe and Japan on the 20th April.

The expansion will cost $39.99 for both PS2 and PC and doesn’t need ether of the other two expantions to play. The Xbox 360 version will contain all the expansions and will cost $49.99. It is not know if Tetra Master will be included in this pack.