The game will be released simultaneously on PS3 and Xbox360, in both Europe and North America, on the 9th of March 2010. The announcement came from Square Enix Ltd. on the November 13, 2009. It was also mentioned that the multi-platinum, Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter Leona Lewis has come on board with Square Enix to provide the theme song for Final Fantasy XIII. The song is entitled “My Hands,” and is featured on her highly-anticipated second album ECHO (J Records/Syco Music) set for release on November 16th. As a side note: I listened to the song and I can honestly say I couldn’t have imagined a more common and boring succession of sounds as the one provided by this so called artist I have never heard of before. But maybe it’s just me…

Phil Rogers, president and chief executive officer of Square Enix Europe, said: “Final Fantasy XIII promises to be a huge event in the 2010 gaming calendar. This is truly a landmark title, arriving simultaneously for multiple platforms for the first time in the history of the series. We are also immensely proud to be able to bring the game to the European and PAL audience much earlier than was publically anticipated.”

The game will be launched In Japan on the 17th of December, 2009. The rumors around the release date for FF XIII previous placed the NA and AUS street dates somewhere in the second quarter of 2010 so I’m pretty sure that by removing three whole months from this deadline, Square has managed to make a lot of the series’ fans quite happy. Now it all comes down to the bitter-sweet waiting game. Enjoy!

For that handful of people that fell off the planet a long time ago and only recently returned from a most interesting space voyage and don’t know what Final Fantasy is: I’m talking about one of the best JRPGs out there (where “the best” is a matter of taste). Its first iteration was released in 1987 and managed to save its creating company from bankruptcy. The game comes packed with under aged characters acting like grownups, weird hair dues, a great story and usually some very interesting gameplay mechanics and gimmicks. Even if your thirst for information is not fully satisfied, I’m not going to tell you more because of two reasons: I’m an evil person and these guys covered the entire story a whole lot better than I can do it. Also, for more info on the upcoming title from Square Enix you can visit the game site here.

P.S. I refuse to admit that FF X-2 is part of the series so don’t bother bringing that up or I’m going to take my vengeance by telling you all about the nightmares I had because of it. OK?!