Handheld games rarely burn up the charts. However, in a crowded month of games like Guitar Hero III, Halo 3, and The Orange Box, Square Enix's PSP remake of Final Fantasy Tactics managed to churn out about 100,000 copies sold in the month of October. Certainly, the launch of the redesigned PSP helped sales of the title. But, it managed to beat out other anticipated PSP titles, such as Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron and Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles, according to GameDaily BIZ.

While The War of the Lions enjoys some success in the States, its true victory was in Japan, where a significant marketing campaign (with television ads) helped propel the game to a number one position, selling over 242,000 copies in the territory. The total sales of the game should provide enough proof that the PSP and Square Enix work perfectly together. It'll be interesting to see if Crisis Core can make a bigger splash when it eventually gets released in the States.

You should know by now, but Final Fantasy Tactics is coming out next week. If, for some reason, you need a primer of the characters in the game, Games Radar has you covered. They have bios of all the major players in the game, including the bonus characters, like Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII and Balthier from Final Fantasy XII. The details aren't too spoiler-ish, and help satiate us while we wait for the game's impending release.

This overly-produced trailer from Square Enix highlights the upcoming English-dubbed cutscenes of Final Fantasy Tactics. Unlike the Japanese original, voice acting adds a lot of depth to the storytelling. But, that's not the only improvement they've made to the US version. A better framerate makes the US version the clearly better choice for FF fans. Who wants to bet that Japan receives yet another "Internation Version" re-release of this game?

In addition to new screenshots and art, Square Enix released a handful of new gameplay videos from its upcoming War of the Lions game. In these brief clips, you'll see how some of the powerful spells at your disposal. Unlike the Japanese release, the game features a better framerate, making this the single best version of Final Fantasy Tactics you can get anywhere.

Jeanne d'Arc and Disgaea aren't the only SRPGs that will take residence on the PSP. A new PSP-enhanced version of Final Fantasy Tactics, called The War of the Lions, will be available nationwide October 9th. The War of the Lions divide the land of Ivalice in two. The story is told through the eyes of two men as they're entrapped by the war: Delita Heiral and Ramza Beoulve.

New to the PSP version is a new job class: the Onion Knight. In addition, the game will be enhanced with new 16:9 graphics, a brand new translation and fully voiced anime cutscenes (the Japanese version did not feature any VA). A new multiplayer function allows you to battle other players, or play cooperatively against the AI.

Check out the huge media blowout we secured for you. You'll find new art, screenshots are more in our updated gallery.

Remember the incredible voice acting and presentation of Final Fantasy XII? Well, it looks like PSP's upcoming Final Fantasy Tactics is getting the same high-quality treatment as its other Ivalice Alliance brethren. The voice acting is superb, and the dialogue is far away from the original, stilted PS1 translation. Bravo, Square Enix! [Update: English language screenshots and downloadable MP4 file added.]

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions is officially coming to American and European territories. Ten years after its original release on PS1, this remake will feature brilliant cinematics, new jobs, new multiplayer modes, and new characters and story elements. The game will launch simultaneously in both North American and European markets this October.

[Via press release]

We've seen small clips of Final Fantasy Tactics' gorgeous cutscenes. Now, watch the complete intro movie to the game. Square Enix is known for their outrageous production values, and this PSP remake certainly doesn't break the mold. The art is so gorgeous -- can we please have a feature length film that looks like this?

Although there's no US release date planned, impatient gamers can pick up the import version. We hope that, for the sake of our sanity, Square Enix announces a English release ... and soon.

Every juicy morsel of Final Fantasy Tactics that lands in front of us is a delight. This 30 second commercial for the upcoming PSP remake is filled with glorious animation and tantalizing gameplay. Japan only has to wait until May 10th for the game to hit their systems, but the rest of us will have to wait for who knows how long.

To get to this gorgeous video, visit the official Tactics website, and go to "Movie & Download." You'll see the TVCM there.

[Thanks, Thien!]
[Update: Embedded video thanks to Jason.]

As the Japanese release of Final Fantasy Tactics draws nearer, more details have slowly been revealed. Ruliweb has posted a scan, which features one of the enhanced port's new characters, LuSo. With the addition of Final Fantasy XII characters, it appears as though the cast of Tactics is becoming even larger than it already was. It appears portable gamers will have a lot to look forward to.

See also:
Final Fantasy Tactics' beautiful box art

[Via PSP-Vault]

It should come as no surprise that the new cutscenes in Final Fantasy Tactics are impressive. However, how does the gameplay compare? The Magic Box has tons of screenshots for you to gaze over. Are the widescreen PS1 quality graphics winning you over? Or, do you wish that Square Enix put a little bit more effort into this?

See also:
FFI & FFII on PSP = most beautiful NES game EVER!

The Nintendo DS isn't the only system to get revisited by the characters of Final Fantasy XII. GameBase reports that one of the more popular characters in the beloved RPG, Balthier, will be making an appearance in the PSP version of Final Fantasy Tactics. Considering how both FFXII and FFT share the same universe: Ivalice, it wouldn't be surprising to see even more characters make the transition.

[Via PSP-Vault]

The Ivalice Alliance is strong: Final Fantasy Tactics makes a triumphant return in a remake, enhanced specifically for the PSP. PSPHyper has some gorgeous scans of the latest issue of Famitsu, showing off the game's new cutscenes and yes ... gameplay too. What a great way to end the year look forward to the next!

[Thanks, Thien!]

Final Fantasy Tactics is one of the most anticipated titles on the PSP. Why? It was an absolutely brilliant game. Some would argue that its Game Boy Advance successor (Tactics Advance), and the psuedo console succssor, Final Fantasy XII, failed to reach the glory of the original PSone title.

Therefore, every morsel of information that comes out for this game is cherished by gamers at large. The official Japanese website of the game has recently updated with new screenshots, and better yet... gorgeous, rotating 3D models of the game's characters. You'll have to see it to fully appreciate the hand-drawn quality. Hopefully, we'll see more of this game soon (I'm wishing for a quick release, Square!).

(P.S. Make sure you have the latest version of Flash. The site doesn't tell you if you're running an old version.)

[Via digg]

An enthusiastic reader, Pal, sent us a great tip about the upcoming Final Fantasy Tactics for PSP. Not only will the game come with new cutscenes and new job classes, the game will also feature ad-hoc multiplayer. Many Tactics fans have been waiting patiently for a way to the game with others, and it appears that the PSP version will deliver. If Square-Enix considered Infrastructure multiplayer, I'd imagine that our pal might simply implode.

Finally, if you weren't convinced of Crisis Core's awesomeness, read IGN's latest preview:
"From a strictly gameplay standpoint, Crisis Core seems solid, with a fast pace and the potential for a good mix of action and menu-based battle systems ... Crisis Core looks better than most PS2 games out there. During cinematic scenes, the character models are detailed and fully animated. Battles contain screens with double digit enemies, and giant bosses. All that, and full voice, without any pauses for loading! ... Personally, I think all the "Compilation of Final Fantasy VII" products released so far have been second rate. But Crisis Core looks so good that it could turn things around on its own."