German gaming news super site Gamefront.de has reported that Yasumi Matsuno, the director of FFTA, has confirmed that it will be released in the United States. I would tell you more, but I don't know German....

   source | Gamefront

From RPGFan:
   Three months prior to the game's tentative Japanese release, Square has updated the official website for its light-hearted PlayStation 2 RPG Hanjuku Hero VS 3D (Hanjuku Eiyuu Tai 3D). The game's protagonist is the young, but incapabale king of the peaceful 2D kingdom of Almamoon. He is being supported by his adviser Sebastian and a female only referred to as "atashi" (me in Japanese). And our spriteful hero needs all the help he can get, after a giant pan appears in the skies above his kingdom and scores of polygonal combatants follow to challenge him and his kingdom's army. System-wise, the series' trademark egg monsters will be back in full force and a large variety. The first one is Eggman, who will attack opponents with his eggchops and kicks.

   source | RPGFan

   For those of you not planning on going to the movies this weekend you better think again. Playing with the release of the Stephen King-novel-turned-movie Dreamcatcher, hardcore Squaresoft fans will be able to see what is likely the last work ever to be produced by Square's movie division based in Honolulu, titled The Final Flight Of The Osiris.
   Due to the financial flop of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, the division was to be closed and its equipment/employees to be sold off to the highest bidder. But before that was done, they were asked to produce a short film for Warner Brother's ambitious The Animatrix.
   The Animatrix is a collection of 9 short films/animations from world renowned anime and CG teams to bring stories that fill in information holes within the world of The Matrix (which has two movies releasing this May and November.) The movie produced by Square, The Final Flight of the Osiris, was written by the Wachowski brothers themselves, and serves as a direct connection between the first Matrix film and the two sequels, and how they tie directly in with the video game chapter titled Enter The Matrix.

   source | N/A

   Some quick blurbs from around the web. RPGFan reports that none other than Nobuo Uematsu will be doing the soundtrack for Hanjuku Hero VS 3D. IGN is reporting that Final Fantasy X-3 is already in development, despite specific statements a week ago from the game developers that they didn't think there would be another sequel. And last, Square Haven reports that there will be a big Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles unveiling right before E3, as the game gears up for its July 18th launch in Japan.
   Square also reported more on their financial results, saying they made a profit of US$95.9M for the current fiscal year. This was due to the success of Kingdom Hearts, and the relatively inexpensive FFX-2 made from an already existing game engine.

   source | RPGFan, Square Haven, PS2 IGN

   We have revamped our news system to be script-based and linked to our vBulletin Forums. This will also enable our front page code to be a LOT cleaner resulting in faster load times. Just a heads up that things will be looking different within days.

   source | N/A

   One of SquareAMP's favorite RPG sites RPGFan has posted two news items pointing out that FF Crystal Chronicles now has a release date of July 18th, 2003. Also - Two additional servers, Seraph and Lakshmi, have been added to handle additional capacity for Square's successful MMORPG Final Fantasy XI.

   source | RPGFan

   Just wanted to re-post one of my favorite sites on the web right now, Gamingredients. They launched March with a super-sized issue 9, so click over right now!

   source | Gamingredients