It was revealed at Sony's pre-E3 press conference though their presentation that Final Fantasy XI would not be released in North America until 2003. The game was released in Japan last week, but suffered major technical difficulties, and those setbacks have likely influenced this decision.

Sony faces stiff competition in implementing online capablities to the PS2 from the XBox and Gamecube. The PlayStation 2 network adapter will be sold starting August 27th starting at $39.99 MSRP, but Final Fantasy XI was mentioned only briefly during their announcements. The delay comes at a bad time for Sony, as Final Fantasy XI is a key title in their online plans.

Square will probably explain this and other questions tomorrow when E3 begins, as Sony made little reference to them during their conference.