FFXⅢ hit 1 million sold mark in ONE DAY

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  “FF XⅢ”, ｔhe newest version of  FF (Final Fantasy),  one of the most popular role playing game series in Japan, went on sale On this Dec.17th.   The game is for PS3 (Play Station 3) , a  kind of  newer video game  machine.  Surprisingly, Just after starting going on sale, more than one million sets of the game were sold only within the first 24 hours, which marked the record high.

  The first version of  FF went on sale in 1987  as a game for Nintendo Family Computer(“FC” or known as “NES”/”Nintendo Entertainment System”)  and   13  main versions and some spin-off ones have been released as of today. Some versions are for Super family Computer(“SFC”) ,some are for PS1,and PS2. But this FFXⅢis the first one for PS3.

 There were long  lines for waiting for the start of sale, and some of  those who stood in the lines had kept vigil the night before. And there were rushes just after the start of the sale on that day.  Actually I passed by one of  big shops to sell the games a few days before the starting day of the sale, and found a temporary selling corner exclusively for FF XⅢ．

 The total sales of FF series have reached 92 million sets worldwide. That is an amazing record…   http://www.square-enix.co.jp/fabula/ff13/ In some western countries, this FF XⅢis planned to be  released as  another version for xBOX (a game machine of Microsoft )  as well.   

  I do remember the time when I bought FF Ⅰ22 years ago, which was the very beginning of  the history of  this great fantasy RPG series, at a big electronics retail in Shinjyuku Tokyo which I still sometimes drop in now.   I was a graduate student in those days and  was into video games especially RPGs very much.  The first boom of  ” Japanese RPG ” was created by the hit of  “Dragon Quest Ⅰ”(“Dragon Warrior” in North America ) for FC in 1986. This super popular RPG series also have big records all over the world.    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Quest

 Therefore, the history of  two tip-top RPG series have also been the history of Japanese RPGs, especially for the video game machines. The two series were created by different companies respectively, DQ was by ENIX , while FF was by SQUARE, but  the two companies were merged and now has become SQUARE ENIX, one of  the best video game producers  in Japan.

 The series have entirely different tastes and textures though both share the concept of  medeval European fantasy atmosphere in common. DQ  is influenced by Wizardry series and Ultima series which are prominent fantasy RPGs of America, while  FF  has somewhat oriental taste. DQ has a bit comical taste, while FF has a more realistic and serious texture…  I myself  is  a huge fan of the both and western fantasy literature.  Personally I have been a ” hobbitonian” (a big fan of “the lord of the Rings” and other J.R.R. Tolkin’s works) and Wizardry is based on “The Dungeons and The Dragons”, a table-talk RPG, which was influenced by The Lord of  the Rings.  Cionsidering these historical background, our typical  popular Japanese RPGs may have been influenced by western fantasies and fairytales to some extent. 

  I really love this kind of  happy fusions or cultural compounds of traditional Japanese fantasy or folklore and western  ones as well as the harmony of  the  world-leading Japanese state-of -the-art game creating technology and  the traditional forms and concepts of western game production  to create some hybrid subcultural works like these series.

 Now Christmas and New Year’s holidays are at hand, which are the busiest times for the sale.  The games may achieve even higher records during this time of the  year.

Posted in Old and New Cultural Scenes in Japan • • Top Of Page

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