The two major Advent Children features shown at this year's E3 convention were
a presentation by Square-Enix and a PSP display by Sony. Not content with just that
however, we have hunted out everything we could at E3 that was related to Advent
Children or Final Fantasy VII!
Square-Enix Presentation
This 30 minute presentation required a ticket to attend, in which you needed to
obtain a badge with a "time" on it [the time being the session you were to attend,
sessions ran every 1/2 hour]. The presentation took place in a rounded theatre which
revolved during certain times of the presentation. The theatre was much like an
Imax theatre, but with a main section for the trailers, and the other walls showing
other images, etc. A no photography or video rule was strictly enforced by the staff.
The Advent Children presentation, which was the last of the 11 titles to be screened,
started off with a darkened version of the criss-cross design that is in the poster
appearing on the main screen. Large images of Cloud and Sephiroth appeared on the
walls and a bluish light took over the theatre. At this time, the theatre was rotating,
eventually stopping with the main wall [or screen] at the center. Here, the new
trailer was shown. It is interesting to note, that the Aeris flashback scene was
shown in this trailer, something which is missing from the Gamespot version.
The whole feeling of viewing the trailer in this environment was something else.
It surrounded you and made you feel like you were "in the trailer". Images were
so large you felt you could reach out and touch them. The sound was dramatic and
the sound effects [such as the clashing of swords, etc] was realistic. An overwhelming
feeling was left with you when you were walking out of the theatre.
Sony PSP Display
The trailer was also shown as part of Sony's PSP booth. A PSP device was set
up with the movie continually running which you could listen to with a set of headphones.
There was also a small overhead screen that was showing the trailer, but this was
mainly so that people could tell what was showing on each PSP device that was set
up.
Not knowing what to expect from the PSP, I will say that I was amazed. The clarity
was exceptional and was on par or in many cases better than that of a digital television.
After viewing the trailer on the PSP, any trailer that we have seen surface on the
web seems poor in comparison. Although the Square-Enix presentation was amazing,
the PSP display allowed you to view the images and CG in a way which showed such
detail. Petals on the flowers that are seen next to the Buster sword appear to have
minute details. Faces bring about them a more lifelike approach. The graphics have
such as crystal clear clarity that once wonders if it is CG or not.
The PSP is definitely the future of hand held entertainment. I was skeptical about
the PSP originally, but not now.
The PSP will have a media disk called a Universal Media Disc [UMD], this is a DVD
media but smaller in size. If Advent Children were to be released on the PSP as
well as DVD, then we would assume that it would be released on two different formats.
Video Wall
The entrance to Square-Enix's booth was a huge video wall, or more so a video
arch. This showed a loop of the different titles that were being shown. The Advent
Children display ran for approximately 15 seconds showing Sephiroth, Cloud and eventually
the logo. Although this didn't show any trailer footage, we do have a small clip
of this.
Square-Enix Merchandise Display
Advent Children merchandise was on display at the Square-Enix booth. This consisted
of the Cloudy Wolf ring and earring as well as the Cloud and Fenrir statue that
was shown at the Jump Festa. The sign behind the statue actually refers to Fenrir
as Fenreal, which may be the English name for the bike. New models of Vincent and
Tifa were also shown, but these appeared to be in a pre-production stage, as they
were unpainted.
Before Crisis and Square-Enix Mobile
A small part of Square-Enix's booth was devoted to their Mobile area. Two screens
at the back of this section showed a trailer of Before Crisis. The trailer starts
off with images of Midgar and tells of how the Turks were appointed to stop problems
that were occurring throughout the world. We then see game footage of the Turks
battling in a city scene, we are cut away to an image of three mobile phones, which
represents that you can play with your friends in the battle. Finally, we see more
battle scenes where the Turks are fighting a Behmoth enemy. The trailer ended with
the logo. I will be attempting to write down a script for the trailer when I am
at E3 tomorrow, so I can report back exactly what is said in the opening.
Also as part of the mobile section of the booth, several mobile phones were set
up where you could play the games [Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest]. One phone had
the Cloud Strife CG model, which depicted him swinging his sword and rotated so
he could be seen from front/back perspectives. This was a non-interactive display.
Product Brochure
Visitors to the Square-Enix booth could pick up a product brochure which contained
information on the upcoming titles. The brochure contains 2 pages on Advent Children,
with the familiar Cloud and Sephiroth pictures as well as four screenshots from
the movie. The text included is almost identical to that used in the Dear Friends
concert program.
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