GamePro's Final Fantasy XIII launch party report

• by Dave Rudden
• March 09, 2010 11:26 AM PST

Final Fantasy XIII launched with a gala befitting the epic scope of the series. GamePro was at the game's official launch party, snapping pictures and keeping tabs on the night's events.

With a red carpet, a 3D trailer, appearances by Square Enix's top names and U.S. development legends alike, the Final Fantasy XIII launch party in San Francisco's Regency Center Grand Ballroom was truly a fantastic event. Before we dive into the party pictures, here's a few items of note that came from the event.

• The event began with a 3D trailer for the game playing on the venue's large screen, which utilized XPanD's 3D-enhancing shutter shades. While most fans enjoyed watching the trailer in a new way, Square Enix decided to replay the entire two-minute video immediately afterward, for some odd reason.
• A panel regarding the reach of Final Fantasy XIII included the likes of Chris Taylor from Gas Powered Games, Corrine Yu from Microsoft, Feargus Urquhart from Obsidian, Graeme Devine of Trilobyte, and recent AIAS Hall of Fame inductee Mark Cerny. Helmed by G4's Chris Hardwick and also including FFXIII director Motomu Toriyama, the discussion centered around the long history of the Final Fantasy saga, and how it drives developers to create better games. Devine had a particularly moving anecdote about playing FFX when it came out with his then 5-year-old daughter, who slept on the couch next to him, randomly waking up during the night to give him advice like "use the blue dragon!"
• After that, three speakers came on stage to perform a toast. Entertainment Software Association President Mike Gallagher spoke about how much Final Fantasy means to the industry, and how it is such a force at E3 every year. Microsoft's Albert Pinello spoke about how proud he and his company were to have the Final Fantasy series come to the Xbox 360. The final speech was from Sony's senior vice president of publisher relations, Rob Dyer, who discussed the advantages of the PS3 version, imploring attendees to check out his PlayStation Blog post about the Blu-ray version's advantages.
• The night closed with a performance by DJ Mom Jeans--better known as "That 70's Show" actor Danny Masterson.

And now, our pictures from the event, taken by GamePro Previews Editor Andy Burt:

FFXIII Battle Director Yuji Abe, surrounded by models

It may look like a mess, but the 3D trailer looked pretty snazzy once you donned Sony's 3D glasses.

FFXIII voice actors Troy Baker and Ali Hills honor Square Enix President and CEO Yōichi Wada.

G4's Chris Hardwick takes the stage to talk FFXIII with the night's guests.

GamePro Reviews Editor Tae Kim and News Editor Dave Rudden mingle with one of the event's more video game-knowledgeable models.

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