Japanese FFXIII demo gets release date

Square Enix will release the Final Fantasy XIII demo as part of the Japanese Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete animated film bundle on 16th April.

That's according to IGN, which says the 90 minute-long game sample will be available in two types of Advent Children package, both of which may work on European and US PlayStation 3 consoles.

Buyers can either go all out on a special console bundle, which includes the Advent Children film, 160GB PS3 and a copy of the FXIII demo. This costs JPY 49,980 (GBP 375).

Those just after software can pick up Advent Children plus FXIII demo for JPY 5,900 (GBP 44).

While the demo will presumably be voiced and written in Japanese, there will be an English voice-over option for the Advent Children film, which is nice.

Square Enix has still to make a move regarding the European demo, but suggested to Eurogamer that there may be something to announce in the not too distant future.

"Currently the Final Fantasy XIII demo will only be available in Japan with the Blu-ray release of Final Fantasy VII - Advent Children Complete," said a spokesperson for the publisher. "We will have further news about the demo in the coming months so please wait for future announcements."

Final Fantasy XIII proper will launch across Japan this year, the lucky devils, but not head west until April 2010 or later, according to Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada.

The role-playing game remains a PS3 exclusive for Japan, but will add an Xbox 360 version for Europe and the US. This, however, will not begin development until the Sony SKU has been finished.

Whether Square Enix will hold back the PS3 game in order to launch on both platforms simultaneously here is unclear, with official word restricted to "launch dates are still being determined for all countries and will be revealed in due course".

We've contacted the publisher to try and clear some of this up.