The Sony press conference for E3 2009 is set to prepare gamers for the return of a juggernaut. Sony’s had a tough year for its PS3 console, but things are looking up. This is Sony’s year to make the most expensive console on the market profitable. With God of War III, Heavy Rain, Batman Arkham Asylum, Modern Warfare 2 and MAG on the horizon, this year’s E3 press conference promises to give gamers a reason to pick up a PS3. I’ll be blogging live as Sony wows gamers with 364 new PS3, PSP and PS2 titles. Check out the running commentary after the break.

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Square Enix has a lot to celebrate with two big Final Fantasy events hitting this month. On May 16th Final Fantasy XI will reach its 7th year running. Players can get in on the festivities with the Annual Adventurer Appreciation Campaign and the Mog Tablet Quest. These events kicked off May 12 at 1am and run through May 25th. All the details are included after the break.

The Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete English trailer is also ready for viewing. How do you make a great thing even better? Upgrade it for Blu-ray and Hi-def, and add in never before seen footage. Check it out.

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Wow, it’s been over a year since we last checked in on that online petition to remake Final Fantasy VII. To be honest, our interest kind of waned after the petition was sent off to Square Enix, who responded essentially with a “not right now, maybe later.” But that hasn’t dissuaded the fans from voicing their interest in a remake and of course adding their signatures to the petition. In the past year, it seem the number of signatures has more than doubled and is now fast approaching the 50,000 mark. Sadly, Squeenix has remained tight-lipped on the subject and offered the same response in that time period. But hey, it never hurts to try, so once again we at Gaming Today would like to ask you to please:

SIGN THIS THING

At this point, I’m pulling more for a re-release on a portable console, since I’d rather have my Final Fantasy to go. Besides, they’ve done with most of the old games in the series through the SNES era, so the PSOne is the only library left to mine now.

All modders and aspiring developers out there should pay close attention to a new article up on Blend Games. The author takes aim at RPGs calling them on their weaknesses and shortcomings while acknowledging the true greats in “Reasons Your Role-Playing Game Is Disappointing.” This of course translates to “Why your RPG sucks”.

Most of the games that come under fire are Western RPGs with only one JRPG in the mix. As you might expect, there are Bioware titles mentioned in abundance such as Neverwinter Nights 2, NwN2: Mask of the Betrayer, Mass Effect, Knights of the Old Republic and Baldur’s Gate. Arcanum, Final Fantasy VII and Fable get mentioned as well. the only Western RPG that wasn’t touched on was Planescape: Torment.

ERPG Cardinal sins including getting the story started to slowly. FF7 and Mass Effect are held out as sterling examples of what sucks players into a game right off the bat while the intro to Fable is used as an example of what not to do. NwN2 is slammed as well, but NwN2: Mask of the Betrayer is given Kudos for getting the player’s attention immediately. I’ve got to admit that waking up in a crypt hundreds of miles from home is much more interesting than going out for the prize at your local fair.

Also on the hit list is the over use of Fed Ex quests, slow travel between points of interest and unwieldy inventory systems like the one that plagues players in Mass Effect. Fable is once again sent to the corner for repetitive combat. Hopefully we won’t see these shortcomings in Fable 2. Catch the best and the worst of RPGs on Blend Games.

Here are some of the most memorable Oh. My. God!!! gaming moments gathered together by the Edge staff. The selections include the latest games back to videogames from the media’s infancy. Their picks include Final Fantasy VII Aeris’ death, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion The Dark Brotherhood beckons quest line, BioShock “Would you kindly” sequence and from Portal, The “Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device.”

I have to fully agree with most their choices; all ten pages of wow gaming moments. My own personal favorite is The Secret of Monkey Island training sequence when Guybrush Threepwood learns the art of Insult Sword Fighting. I have to warn gamers that some of these OMG moments are spoilers and there’s no warning as to which entries qualify.

Overclocked Remix is offering gamers “Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream”. The album features free fan arrangements with over 45 tracks from 40 different artists, all based on Nobuo Uematsu’s FFVII soundtrack.

Fans of video game soundtracks should definitely appreciate “FFVII: Voices of the Lifestream”. The pieces feature a wide range of musical styles including jazz, new age, techno, rock and classical. There’s a nice sampling of machinima available featuring selections from the album on the FFVII: Voices of the Lifesteam site. You can download the album at FF7:VotL Torrent (2.32GB).

Oh, Europe, you’re always getting the short end of the gaming stick. While the rest of the world has already worked their way through Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, you still have to wait until next week to find out the story behind that one character from the classic RPG that appeared in 1/80th of the game. On the plus side though, Sony apparently feels your pain. SCEE has now announced that a limited edition PSP bundle will be hitting store shelves as well. The bundle will include a special silver PSP stamped with an FFVII 10th Anniversary logo, along with the game itself. The bundle was originally offered in Japan only and included a silver buster sword, so that might be included as well.

Via Next-Gen.biz

Okay, with Microsoft out of the way, it’s now Sony’s turn to give their spin on the NPD Group’s data for last month. Of the three current-gen consoles, PlayStation 3 sold the least in April (albeit by an extremely slim margin) and, overall, Sony platforms didn’t have a particularly good month. So what angle would Sony take?

The main talking point focused on year-over-year sales growth. The PS3 sold 127% better than last April, which isn’t huge, but software sales were up 410% to over two million units, thanks in large part to Grand Theft Auto IV.

Sony was also proud that, with 1 million copies of GTA sold, 23.6% of PS3 owners in the U.S. had purchased a copy, which is a 29% higher attach rate than GTA had on Xbox 360. (According to their math, the game had an attach rate of around 16.75% on 360.)

I found it somewhat amusing that the press release claims the PS3 “continues [its] blockbuster year” when, from a hardware standpoint, it really had a poor month. But that’s a minor gripe; what else do you expect from a press release.

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Square Enix today announced that Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII will be released across all PAL territories on June 20th for the PSP.With cool visuals, full 16:9 widescreen presentation, an engaging battle system, and additional gameplay challenges not included in the original Japanese version, fans and newcomers alike can experience the world from an all-new perspective. As an added incentive to pre-order, a special edition version of the game, with hardback artwork book and slipcase is available exclusively with selected online retailers while stocks last.

For more information about Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, check out our previous posts; meanwhile, our European brethren can get details on how to pre-order by clicking here.

Via: Press Release