square-enix posts

Last September during the Tokyo Game Show, publisher Square Enix announced a collaboration with casual game developer PopCap Games with their upcoming puzzle-RPG Gyromancer. Today it was revealed via a new trailer that the downloadable game would be released for the PC on November 18 for $15.

The game itself has that Square Enix art style for the RPG portion of the game mixed with a Bejeweled Twist puzzle gameplay experience. You can expect to have access to over 50 monsters that can be used in your puzzle-RPG battles across 12 different stages. An online leaderboard will also be made available to compare your scores with others.

Download HD Gyromancer Trailer (73 MB)

The newest Final Fantasy XI add-on "A Shantotto Ascension - The Legend Torn, Her Empire Reborn" is available for for pre-order and will go live on November 9th. The new content re-introduces one of the most beloved characters in Final Fantasy XI lore, Doctor Shantotto, who also has a thing for rhyming.

Download HD Final Fantasy XI 'Shantotto Ascension' Trailer (14 MB)
Check out all Final Fantasy XI downloads

If you like free things (and if you don't we recommend you see a doctor because you're odd) then you had better register for our latest giveaway contest. Today is the last day that you can enter to win one of five Steam download codes that we are giving out for Order of War, the recent WWII RTS game from developer Wargaming.net and publisher Square Enix.

So head over to the contest web page and enter now (if you are 18 years or older and a resident of the US and Canada, excluding Quebec of course). The deadline for entry is tonight at 11:59 Eastern time.

It's time for another game giveaway here at Big Download and this time we have five Steam download codes to give away for the recent WWII RTS game Order of War. The game, from developer Wargaming.net and publisher Square Enix, had a new free content update this week that enabled a number of units and a gameplay mode that were previously pre-order exclusives.

As with most of our contests, entering the giveaway is simple:

• To enter, post a comment on this contest page.
• The comment must be left before 11:59 pm Eastern Time on October 27
  
• You may enter only once.
• Five winners will be selected in a random drawing.
• The winners will be sent a Steam code that can be use to download a full copy of Order of War (valued at $39.99 each)
  
• Click Here for complete Official Rules. You must be a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec) who is 18 years or older to enter this contest.

Our thanks to the game's PR company Maverick PR for the donation of the prizes. Good luck.
Download Order of War Demo (545 MB)

Sometimes you can actually get things for free if you wait long enough. That's certainly the case for Order of War, the recent WWII RTS game from developer Wargaming.net and publisher Square Enix. Today the game received an update via Steam that adds all of the pre-order content bonuses to the game for folks who didn't get access to them the first time.

Included in the free update are new units such as heavy bomber squadrons for both Allied and Axis sides, infantry mortar launchers, the ability to call in heavy artillery strikes and an additional survival gameplay mode where players have to fight off waves of enemies.

Square Enix's first entry in the MMO world, Final Fantasy XI, is notable for several things, including one of the few PC games that allows for cross-platform play with its console counterparts. If you have never played the game Square Enix is now making things easy with the announcement of the Final Fantasy XI Ultimate Collection.

The collection is priced at $19.99 and is now available via download and in retail stores. It contains the original game (released for the PC in the US in 2003) all four of the game's expansion packs and the three micro-expansions to the game that were just released this year. Consider this a primer for Square Enix's next MMO project, Final Fantasy XiV that's due for release in 2010.

The Tokyo Game Show is the place for some of the more unusual announcements in games and this year is no exception. Square Enix has announced plans to team up with casual PC game king Popcap Games to create Gyromancer, a downloadable PC title that will be released via Steam.

A la Puzzle Quest, this is a fantasy puzzle-RPG combo that has a distinct Square Enix art style mixed in with some Bejeweled gameplay options. Your character of Rivel has to naturally fight off creatures and you can even use the beasts to your advantage to join the fight. Pricing and a release date for the game have not yet been announced.

Announced in June, Final Fantasy XIV will be the second MMO set in the Final Fantasy universe. Hopefully, this trailer shown at the Tokyo Game Show 2009 represents in-game graphics, and not just CGI. Square Enix trailers are renowned for their eye candy, and this doesn't disappoint. In Final Fantasy XIV, players will have a chance to explore a new and mysterious world called Eorzea, a place that's both gorgeous and dangerous. The game is currently expected to release sometime in 2010.

Download HD Final Fantasy XIV TGS 2009 Trailer (90 MB)

Next week Square Enix ships Order of War to stores and online. The first true Western developed game from this Japanese based publisher is a WWIi RTS game from developer Wargaming.net. However, the folks at Valve's Steam are giving people who pre-order Order of war from them some exclusive in-game units.

The units are off-map types, one for each of the two single player campaigns in the game. For the US campaign you get to use the powerful M115 203 mm howitzer while the nasty Nazis get to have their 17 cm Kanone 18 in Mörserlafette weapon. The game must be pre-ordered before Order of War is released on September 22 to get the extra units.

It was tucked away in a corner of Nvidia's PAX 2009 booth but there it was; a playable (if pre-alpha) one mission demo version of Supreme Commander 2, the upcoming sequel to Gas Powered Games' sci-fi RTS game. So naturally we had to try it out for ourselves.

As it turned out the demo was more of an graphics engine presentation than an actual game. The basics of the game were there; cool futuristic units (both on the ground like tanks and missile batteries and in the air like futuristic fighters) structures to build and enemies to fight including a big anime-style boss battle to finally defeat. It's clear why Nvidia was showing this game in their booth, however. Even at this early stage Supreme Commander 2 looks terrific.

Again it's hard to judge a game based on a incomplete one mission demo for a title that's months away from being released but at least we know one thing; Supreme Commander 2 is going to be an epic RTS game when it's released. Our biggest worry is not with the game itself but the fact that Blizzard has pushed back StarCraft II back to sometime in 2010. Could we see these two games compete for the same audience? Stay tuned . . .