JAPAN: RELEASE OF THE FILM FINAL FANTASY X A MOVIE VERSION OF MASSIVELY POPULAR COMPUTER GAME

Record ID: 863443

  • Title: JAPAN: RELEASE OF THE FILM FINAL FANTASY X A MOVIE VERSION OF MASSIVELY POPULAR COMPUTER GAME
  • Date: 21st July 2001
  • Summary: SCU TV MONITORS SHOWING THE TRAILERS FOR THE MOVIE VERSION OF THE GAME FINAL FANTASY
  • Embargoed: 5th August 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: TOKYO, JAPAN
  • City:
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Quirky,Technology,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVACVNNQANAIE8LZ3CF9F37HE9YR
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: The latest Final Fantasy series, called Final Fantasy X, has been released in Japan following the U.S. release of the movie version of the massively popular computer game.
    While the movie showed how eerily close to reality computer graphics could get, Final Fantasy X shows how close games can now get to full-length movies.
    The latest version of its popular Final Fantasy video game series 'Final Fantasy X' was released to a crowd of early birds that lined up in downtown Tokyo on Thursday (July 19) .
    Priced at 72 U.S. dollars, the game was developed exclusively for Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.'s PlayStation 2 console.
    Worldwide, the series, now in its tenth instalment, has sold more than 33 million copies in the global market since its launch in 1987.
    Square, the game-maker, shipped some two million copies of Final Fantasy X for the first day of release, down 600,000 from the previous version. But it aims to eventually sell around 2.5 million copies.
    "I just really like the story behind the game, and I've played nearly all the previous in the series so I am truly looking forward to this new one," said a fifteen-year old boy who had arrived at 5 in the morning to be first in line.
    But while the game is all the rage in Japan, a movie based on the game has already hit screens in the United States and Asia.
    However fans in Japan, where "Final Fantasy" originated, will not get to see the film until September.
    And many hardcore fans in Tokyo said while the movie intrigued them, they preferred the game.
    "Well in a movie you just, like, watch it and that's it, but a game you can actually play it so I prefer the game,"
    said Masaru Ebina as he lined up to buy Final Fantasy X before going to school in the morning.
    "I think the movie's worth trying to watch because it probably has a totally new angle to the it.. it won't match the game but in itself it should be interesting," said Yoshimi Igarashi.
    The Final Fantasy series is a role-playing game based in a fantasy world in a parallel universe. Monsters, magic and marvels abound as the main character, played usually by the gamer, walks, talks and fights his way, usually to save the world.
    On average it takes a good player over 40 to 50 hours to finish the game.
    Far more than the two hours it takes to get through the movie.
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