Information regarding Final Fantasy XI, the first online venture for Square's benchmark series, is slowly making its way to the public. The latest details deal with the game environment. In what could perhaps be seen as a straying from the Earth-based names found in the earlier games of the series, the world in FFXI has been named Vana Dir. Other details include character particulars. In addition to the Hume race previously announced, an Elf class has been confirmed. Abilities for each class have not been detailed.

Also on the information platter were announcements regarding key non-playable characters, staples in nearly every RPG. To date, two characters have been named. One, Chawo Shipeynyo, serves as a beast-woman informer, the other Bonchacha, an elf enlisted in sorcery school. No other NPCs have yet been revealed. There has been no indication as to when the game will be released in North America. For more information, see the Final Fantasy XI coverage in our Games section.