Japanese songstress Rikki, known for singing the theme song to Square's PlayStation 2 RPG 'Final Fantasy X,' has confirmed plans to release a new mini-album in Japan. Scheduled to hit shelves next week, the disc will be entitled 'Canary,' and will include seven tracks. Among the included music will be several cover songs, two new tunes, and a new rendition of the Final Fantasy X theme song. The album will be released under the Universal Music label and will retail for 2,190 yen ($18).

  source | Core Magazine

   Title: Ballad of the Sea ... Remixed by: Kaijin ft. Braxus ... Size: 4.04 MB

  source | N/A

   First Disney announced that their very own characters would be appearing in this new Square RPG; now Square appears to be kicking in a few characters of their own. So far Wakka (FFX), Tidus (FFX) and Selphie (FFVIII) are the only confirmed characters. You can see the scans that appear from Jump Magazine over at the news section of Madman's Cafe.

  source | The Madman's Cafe

   It seems a fansite has gotten a hold of one of the PlayOnline beta kits and has taken some pictures and scans and placed them up on their site. TheGIA brings some much needed english interpretation to this news to say that so far the only playable game is Final Fantasy IX's card game Tetra Master. PlayOnline also allows its user to customize its look(and sound) in many ways, including changeable wallpaper, background music, and the selection of a personal avatar.

  source | TheGIA , Quiter-W

   While these are just rumors at the moment, German Square site SquareNet is reporting of a possible GameCube-exclusive game that Square could be developing. While the site claims it may be Final Fantasy XI, it is more likely that it would be an un-announced game at the moment. This would be extremely surprising considering the harsh words of Nintendo President Yamauchi in the past. Please go to SquareNet and click on the English translation link to see the article in question. Web Forums across multiple gaming sites seem to indicate that September 24th will bring the announcement from Square should it happen.

  source | SquareNet

   Square confirmed the continued development of Final Fantasy III, Front Mission, and Romancing SaGa remakes for the WonderSwan Color system. Square also surprised a few with the announcement of a few more games. Now on their upcoming roster is Half-Cooked Hero (previously a Super Famicon game), the original SaGa game (released here as Final Fantasy Legend for the Gameboy, and Dice de Chocobo. Follow the link here to read everything IGN Pocket had to say.

  source | IGN Pocket

   Mark your calendars for January 2002. That is right - only four months to go before we get our hands on the most anticipated FF since Final Fantasy VII. The voice actress for Yuna was also announced - with Hedy Burress landing the role of the FFX heroine.

  source | The GIA

   The anime series title will be "Final Fantasy: Unlimited" and will be based on Earth, but not in any of FF's previous game worlds. The series stars will be named Wind and Lisa, and these two will be pursuing an object called "The Cloud" which had destroyed Wind's hometown. More details can be found at The GIA's article here.

  source | The GIA

   Project Majestic Mix, the Nobuo Uematsu tribute in the works for the last 2 years, appears to be moving closer to a release date. A recent update to the PMM Website shows a planned release of Christmas 2001. For those of you unfamiliar with the PMM project, you can read this interview done by The GIA with the project's founder and leader Stephen Kennedy; although the interview is fairly old, it explains Project Majestic Mix quit well. Also - Please check out the new music samples located in their Music section.

  source | N/A

   Square promotional site PlayOnline.com, has released interviews of their Final Fantasy X staffs. There are currently 13 staffs in the interviewed. The interviews can be found here. Non-japanese readers will definitely want to run the interviews through Babelfish's URL translation.

  source | Madman's Cafe , PlayOnline

   NTT Communications has established a virtual club site OCN PlayOnline Club on September 6, which provide online support to Square's PlayOnline services. The OCN PlayOnline Club will carry latest news concerning the PlayOnline network, and they will be giving away 200 free PlayOnline beta test monitor kits and Final Fantasy T-Shirts to those who join the club before October 31, 2001.

  source | The Magicbox

   Square has began to offer Yuna's Silver Ring at their PlayOnline website. Users who want to purchase the ring can do so at the Japanese version of their PlayOnline portal. A picture of the ring can be seen here.

  source | The Magicbox