Jerry Holkins (of Penny Arcade fame) brought this interesting tidbit to my attention in his news posts this afternoon. Nintendo has released information on their Japanese website that reveals that five Square Enix characters will be playable in the upcoming Square Enix title Mario Hoops 3-On-3. The following characters will be included: A Ninja, a White Mage, a Black Mage, a Moogle, and a Sabotender. How Mr. Cactus is going to shoot some hoops, I’ll never know.

[4 Color Rebellion] [Nintendo]

Go Nintendo brought up a rumor today:

The buzz going around is that in the newest issue of EGM to hit magazine stands, a staff writer by the name of Quarterman states that Dragon QuestfX will be a Wii exclusive. -Go Nintendo

If this turns out to be true, Nintendo’s Wii might have a bigger advantage than originally thought. What do you guys make of this?

[Go Nintendo]

Today, a movie with a lot of new footage of the upcoming DS game “Final Fantasy III” showed up on YouTube. The movie clocks in at a robust 3:44, and most of it is unseen material. If you weren’t excited before, I’ll bet that this will get even the harshest skeptic drooling. Check it out.

[YouTube] [Joystiq]

Final Fantasy XIII was confirmed to be in development, announced by Square Enix during their E3 conference eariler this month. Following the announcement was not only a trailer but confirmation of a counter part called “Final Fantasy Verse XIII”, which is being worked on with the KH2 team. It is believed that the “Verse” version will be more action based, such as the KH series, but still living to the Final Fantasy aspect.

The highly anticipated Kingdom Hearts II video game for the PlayStation 2 console was finally released today in the North American continent! After almost five years of development, KH fans rejoice at the sight of the sequel that is believed to be much bigger than the original title and contain a more complex storyline. It also has been reported that acouple of areas in the United States will have to wait until tomarrow to get their hands on the “Square candy of Spring 2006″.

Sony Pictures announced that Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children for £19.99 on April 24th, the same day as the US release.

Source: EuroGamer.net, Sony Pictures UK and Advent Children.net

Tetsuya Nomura, character designer for Kingdom Hearts II, shared his thoughts about the PlayStation 2 title and the future of the series. He said that the differences between the Japanese and US versions are minimal. One of the few changes is on the Pirates of the Caribbean level to make the gun look less like a weapon. (Isn’t it ment to be a weapon?) This means that Square Enix will not be releasing a International version of Kingdom Hearts in Japan.

In previous comments by Normura he had already said that they have big plans for the furture of the Kingdom Hearts series. However, when those ideas will be turned into a project, fans should not expect a new numbered title or something along the lines of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. Normura also rules out the the idea of playing in other medias other than games. Famitsuu speculates that one possibility would be something along the lines of a gaiden. Nomura himself admitted that currently only he knew what he wanted to do.

Finally, Normura also promised a major annoucements for this year’s editions of Electronic Entertainment Expo and Tokyo Game Show. Shinji Hashimoto, Square Enix corporate executive director, confirmed as much, saying his company would hold a big “surprise ceremony” at E3.Following the release of Kingdom Hearts II in North America and Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII in Japan, the development team of Nomura and Hashimoto is currently working on two confirmed projects: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII for PlayStation Portable and an untitled Final Fantasy installment for PlayStation 3.

Source: RPGFan

Square Enix announced that the UK release date for Dragon Quest: The Journey of the Cursed King on April 13th, so there is almost no wait. The UK version will feature some nice extras such as English voiceovers recorded by a British cast, a full orchestral soundtrack, a revamped menu system, new battle abilities and better animations.

Source: EuroGamer

Hori, one of the Japanese leading third party accessory producers, today announced it will be making a new line of PlayStation 2 memory cards. The new line will be released on March 16th, same day as Final Fantasy XII. Along with the memory card, the limited edition bundle will also include a memory card case capable of holding two memory cards and 6 stickers. The sergested retail price is 3, 200 Yen ($27 US, £15.60 UK).

Sony Pictures Entertainment has released the packaging for the US version of Advent Children for both UMD and DVD below.