Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete, a Blu-ray director's-cut version of the Final Fantasy VII sequel movie with added scenes and extras, was released to the Japanese market on April 16, 2009. Amongst those extras, along with trailers for the PlayStation 3's Final Fantasy Versus XIII and the PSP's Final Fantasy Agito XIII, is the first publicly released demo for the much anticipated Final Fantasy XIII.

The demo has revealed many new aspects of the game, including the complete lack of magic points and experience. There is apparently no leveling up to be found in Final Fantasy XIII, and magic can be used endlessly. All enemies are seen on-screen before battle in Final Fantasy XIII, as was the case with Final Fantasy XII. Also, party members are completely controlled by computer AI.

Game Videos has a comprehensive set of videos up of the demo in action:

• Demo video (part 1)

• Demo video (part 2)

• Demo video (part 3)

• Demo video (part 4)

• Demo video (part 5)

• Demo video (part 6)

• Demo video (part 7)

• Demo video (part 8)

• Demo video (part 9)

According to a screen shown at the end of the demo, Final Fantasy XIII is set for its Japanese release in Winter 2009. The game will only be released for the PlayStation 3 in Japan. Square Enix has said it plans to release Final Fantasy XIII on both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in other regions, and that it will likely be sometime after April 2010.