December 20th, 2000 - The year 2001 is fast approaching, and so is Final Fantasy X. The year of the PlayStation 2 some people are saying, and who can blame them with the likes of Final Fantasy X, Metal Gear Solid 2, Gran Turismo 3 etc. on the way?

Not A PlayStation 2 Exclusive?
There are rumours flying around that it's not just the PlayStation 2 you'll be able to buy Final Fantasy X for, but also Microsoft's Xbox.

Square have confirmed plans to make an announcement regarding Final Fantasy X in the New Year, and this has sent tongues wagging in the rumour mills: this announcement also coincides with revelation that the Xbox will be shown for the first time at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on January 6th.

Regarding the announcement on Final Fantasy X, a Square representative said:

"Anyway, for the opening of the New Year, we would like to make an announcement regarding FFX, in some form or another," the rep told Japanese magazine Dengeki-oh. "Please look forward to it."

CPU: 733MHz Graphics CPU: 300MHz RAM: 64MB 100 million polygons/sec Full scene antialiasing Storage: 4.5GB DVD Controller Ports: Four Networking: Ethernet Port Audio: 256 Channels Extras: 8GB Hard-Drive & 8MB Memory Card	CPU: 294.912MHz RAM: 32MB Graphics CPU: 147.5MHz (4MB VRAM) Storage: CD (24x) & DVD ROM (4x) Controller Ports: Two Networking: Optical Digital & PCMCIA Audio: 48 Channels, 2MB Memory

Although on paper the Xbox outperforms the PlayStation 2 in just about every department - twofold in some cases - will Square opt for the Xbox as well as the Ps2? It will certainly appear on the Ps2 because of the large user-base it already has, but there's always a possibility of an Xbox release as well. Or maybe Sony will have something to say about that...

It's going to be an interesting year in 2001, especially considering we haven't even mentioned Nintendo's GameCube yet.

School Children Invade The FFX Recording Studio

Nobuo Uematsu in the recording studio with the children.

This Saturday just gone by, school children were chosen to visit Square Sounds' recording studio for Final Fantasy X.

The six Japanese sixth-graders are all interested in the gaming industry and Final Fantasy and were enthralled to be witness to the production of the next generation of Final Fantasy. They had a chance to interview Final Fantasy X's music general producer Mr. Matsushita, although Nobuo Uematsu had little time to spend with them because of his busy schedule.