At a press conference on the eve of the Tokyo Game Show, Kosei Ito, producer of Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII, and director, Hajime Tahata, revealed more details concerning the game. The pair responded to various questions concerning Before Crisis's use of downloadable content, multiplayer features, and Square Enix's hesitation to release the game outside of Japan.
First to be answered were questions concerning the game's release outside of Japan. The duo stated that Square Enix, at the moment, has no plans for a release outside of Japan, citing that the game was developed specifically for NTT DoCoMo's FOMA i900 handsets. Also, if one was to import a FOMA i900, there would be no way to play the game outside of NTT DoCoMo's i-mode mobile data service.
Ito and Tahata also dismissed the possibility that Before Crisis would see a release on other platforms. When asked why Square Enix are only interested in releasing the game for cellphones, they responded that nobody else was attempting to develop a product similar to Before Crisis. All hope is not lost for a release outside of Japan, however, for Ito and Tahata told the audience that Square Enix would start releasing more of their mobile games in Europe and America "as soon as the infrastructure is right."
The press conference ended with details about Before Crisis' use of network streaming. The system will allow Square Enix to add continuous updates to the story. Also, they revealed details on the game's multiplayer features. Players will be able to comprise their parties via a lobby-based system. They will also be able to trade Materia through the network.
Presently, there are only 4 million i900 phones in Japan. The Before Crisis beta logged 1.6 million hits on August 31 alone.
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