Final Fantasy XIII Ships December 17

The Japanese version of the long anticipated game hits first.

Square Enix have finally announced the release date for Final Fantasy XII: December 17th for the Japanese version and exclusively on the Playstation 3. The English version will hit shelves in much later in Spring 2010 but will also be available on the Xbox360:

“Final Fantasy XIII” will sell for 9,240 yen (US$100) in Japan, Square Enix said.

Sony and Microsoft are hoping that the launches of long-awaited game titles such as “Final Fantasy XIII” will help drive sales of their game consoles, which are running behind Nintendo Co Ltd’s Wii.

Sales of the “Final Fantasy” series have easily outstripped the 55.5 million units sold of Konami Corp’s “Pro Evolution Soccer” series and the 41 million units of Capcom Co Ltd’s “Resident Evil” horror titles.

Plenty of time for the Japanese to upload complete walkthroughs on YouTube for us English speakers, but die-hard Hong Kong gamers will just use Chinese/Japanese translated manuals to get through the game because really, how can you live knowing that FF13 is out and you would have to wait 4-6 months to play it.

More Final Fantasy XII Articles:

• Final Fantasy XIII’s English voiceovers are ‘complete’ (joystiq.com)
• Final Fantasy XIII’s Paradigm Shift, Gestalt Mode & More [Gamescom] (kotaku.com)
• Final Fantasy XIII To Cost $89 In Japan? [Rumor] (kotaku.com)