square enix

After a very long development cycle, it seems like gamers will finally get to play Final Fantasy XV.

The game, originally developed under the title Final Fantasy Versus XII first saw the light of day when Square Enix showed it off at E3 in 2006.

But don't worry Final Fantasy fans, Director Hajime Tabata gave a prospective release window for the game that's not terribly far away.

He confirmed with Gamespot that it will come in 2016.

"I understand why people are feeling that way after coming to Cologne and speaking to a lot of the media," he said. "We really do get the feeling that people are a bit worried. Certainly, one thing I would like to say to them to reassure them, is that we've set down the release date, we know when it is, and we've got a complete road map lined up, right up to launch, and we're proceeding along that as planned."

Then, Tabata dropped the best indication of the Final Fantasy XV release date yet: "We can certainly say to people: it's not going to be 2017. It's going to be before that."

As Tabata said, not a lot of other announcement have come out of Gamescom 2015 about the game. However, we did learn a lot about the backstory that drives the game (and the backstory of the dude who drives the car).

Square Enix, Eidos Montreal, and Open Bionics released this promotional video, which showcases quite a bit of promising progress on their combined efforts to create a cybernetic hand just like the one Adam Jensen uses in Deus Ex. 



And, maybe the most excitingly Open Bionics plans to make the bionic hand open source, and available to download for anyone with a 3D printer. Plus, Open Bionics is in collaboration with Razer to create a finger-mapping system that will allow anyone else with all their working limbs intact, to still operate the hand remotely.

This builds off an earlier move by Konami, when the company built one fan a Metal Gear Solid-inspired prosthetic arm.

Sorry North America, we're still out of luck, but if you're lucky enough to live in Japan, Final Fantasy X & X-2 HD will be available December 26, 2013.

Dude. Duuuuuuude...

... whoa.

In a press release from earlier today, Square Enix was quick to say the battle system in I Am Setsuna is inspired by Chrono Trigger; but now I'm just wondering why Square isn't making any new Chrono Trigger games!