According to a UK consumer site,Final Fantasy XIIIis scheduled to sell more copies on the Xbox 360 than the PlayStation 3. Popular siteMyVoucherCodeshas revealed that it received more than 250,000 unique searches for the 360 version ofXIII, compared to 120,000 searches for the PS3 variant during February. If consumer interest is indicative of final sales, that would mean Final Fantasy will sell more than twice as well on the Xbox 360....

Following rumorsspawning from a domain name, Square Enix has officially announced a sequel to last year’smain installmentin theFinal Fantasyseries,Final Fantasy XIII-2. So far, all that is known about the game itself is that it will once again star that magnetic, personality-exuding, memorable protagonist Lightning. Director Motomu Toriyama and producer Yoshinori Kitase are set to the return, and the game is due for a Japanese release this year. So, no half-decade development time for this one....

It’s been eight years since Sony Online Entertainment first shipped its massively multiplayer online first person shooterPlanetSide. It was a game ahead of the curve in terms of its scale, and has yet to truly been rivaled in the market. WithPlanetSide 2, SOE hopes to make the same impact it had with the original back when it first launched in 2003. “We’re hoping to basically blow the roof off the MMOFPS genre,” says creative director Matt Higby....

… and it looks like crap. Surprise! But really, what were you expecting? Itisthe Wii, after all. But let’s not bemoan what many of us have already come to expect, shall we? The good news is thatDisaster: Day of Crisisis still on its way for the Wii from Monolith Soft, makers of the epicXenosagaseries on PS2 and the beautifulBaten Kaitoson the ol’ GCN — not really the sort of game you’d expect from a developer with a history built almost solely on RPGs....

Whodoesn’thave fond memories ofPaperboy? The joy of throwing papers through windows, the soul-crushing misery of losing subscriptions, the droning, repetitive, but oh-so catchy music. Well, hold onto your swollen testes, becausePaperboy: Special Deliveryis free for a bit! Featuring updated graphics, a story mode, and more forgiving gameplay,Special Deliveryis a cool little title to carry around if you want a quick retro fix. You can use tilt controls or a virtual stick, depending on your preferences, and the droning, repetitive, catchy music is still there....

We don’t usually do this but screw the rules. Today you get not one free App, but two! I’d already written our FAotD post before Sagatron emailed to let us know of another. So today you getRed Conquest!andRayman 2: The Great Escape! Rayman 2is a classic platformer and has gone free as part of GameLoft’s big Christmas countdown promotion. Gameloft is really good at repurposing console games for the iPhone so it’s a guaranteed win....

Ubisoft recently held a preview event for Eric Chahi’s gorgeous lookingFrom Dust. We weren’t there, but we’ve got the screenshots anyway, so let’s all hug ourselves tight andpretendwe were there! Yet again I have to reiterate my assertion thatFrom Dustlooks too amazing to actually exist, and that might explain why there was a mystical preview event that nobody we know went to. I thinkFrom Dustis a European conspiracy designed to trick the rest of the world....

Commence opening your wallet. The fifth episode of Robert Ashley’sA Life Well Wastedis nearly upon us. For those unfamiliar, it’s described as an Internet radio show, which is about right. It’s certainly no cookie cutter podcast about videogames. Anyway, for episode five’s release, the highly-talented Olly Moss designed aslick posterthat’s very relevant to your interests. It’s packed full of lots of great references, many of which are game-related. You might recognize Moss from the equally rad “Spoilt”t-shirtor his “Shoot the Baddies”poster....

I got all excited when I went over the details of Konami’s gamescom press conference today and saw that there was supposedly footage fromSilent Hill: Shattered Memoriesfor PSP (postedhere), but watching the new video and seeing a prompt to press a white A button kind of gave away that this is still Wii footage. Oh well. It’s still new footage, and since I ruin my shorts over anything Silent Hill-related, I’ve offered it up for your viewing enjoyment (and selfishly, my own)....

After a bit of a hike from the Moscone Center, I finally made it to SNK Playmore’s press room. My relatively unhealthy blogger body didn’t agree with the San Francisco hills, but the journey was worth it: SNK’s room was packed with goodness.A nice spread of monitors showed off goodies likeWorld Heroes Anthology(PS2 in March),Fatal Fury Battle Archives 2(the follow-up, now with Rebout goodness, mid 2008),King of Fighters Orochi Saga(PS2, PSP, Wii, late this year), andKing of Fighters ’98....

Want to know where the old Electronic Arts went? Just check your Application Store throughout the year. At GDC this week, EA Mobile announced seventeen titles, all of which are slated for a 2009 release. Six of the titles are portable versions of Hasbro board games, the rest are familiar (and safe) EA properties. The Hasbro properties coming areBattleship,Clue,Connect 4,Monopoly, Risk,andTrivial Pursuit. The EA properties includeAmerican Idol,Command & Conquer,FIFASoccer,MaddenNFL,MysteryMania,NBALive,NeedforSpeed,SporeCreatures,SSX,The Sims 3, andWolfenstein RPG....

Gearbox Software wants you to know that it’s listening. No, not in a creepy “peeking through your window and listening to the songs you sing in the shower” kind of way. More like in the “We want to makeBorderlands 2the best game it can be” kind of way. The developer has launcheda player surveyconcerning what you loved most about its cooperative shooter, even giving those who choose to provide their names a chance to win someBorderlandsgoodies....

They’ve had all they can stands, they can’t stands no more. German officials have been having a field day in targeting the games industry over the past few years, banning products at whim like capricious Gods. It would seem, however, that Germany is finally starting to go too far, and the seeds of rebellion have been sewn among the country’s gaming population. Things begun with aprotest march, where an estimated 400 indignant Germans patrolled Karlsruhe to make their distaste for the government’s actions known....