Sometimes, import games and consoles aren’t the right gift. I mean, the language barrier could be too much to overcome. Plus, they’re usually twice as expensive as a game from North America. That doesn’t mean you have to settle for easy to find items though. There are tons of fun little gadgets and goodies from Japan that don’t need any translation to love! And, so you don’t have to sift through all of them, I did!

So here we go, with a pretty brief look at six different items that would work as gifts for the picky people on your list who won’t be satisfied with a gift that’s easy to find and from their own country!

Final Fantasy XII-2 is the second time Square-Enix has attempted to create a direct sequel to a Final Fantasy game, and keeping in the tradition of Final Fantasy X-2, XIII-2 keeps the characters the same but changes up the rest of the game enough to make it feel new.

You may have been burned by Final Fantasy XIII, since it wasn’t exactly the next generation Final Fantasy we all expected, but Square Enix wants people to give that particular entry another chance with Final Fantasy XIII-2. In fact, they’re trying to lure people in with some rather nice pre-order incentives. Well, two of the bonuses are nice. One’s rather anticlimactic.

The best item you can gets comes from preordering Final Fantasy XIII-2 at Amazon…

Even though we’ll probably have to wait until the 2011 Tokyo Game Show to learn more about Square Enix’s 3DS plans, there’s something new to see concerning one of the company’s more unique offerings. We can finally see for ourselves how Theatrhythm Final Fantasy will work! Theatrhythm Final Fantasy being, of course, a music RPG along the lines of Ouendan/Elite Beat Agents where players help famous Final Fantasy characters accomplish tasks and relive classic moments from the series by tapping and sliding along the touch screen in time with the series’ iconic music. You tap along to the music to make them fight battles, explore towns, move along the field and do pretty much everything.

The big news is the first Theatrhythm Final Fantasy trailer…

Before anyone starts thinking that I’m having complaints about Final Fantasy in general, stop. I love the majority of the franchise. They usually have good stories involving characters and humor where humor should fit. However, it seems rather contradictory to have a game that is a direct sequel to any Final Fantasy game.

Sure, in some cases, the story is interesting enough and has enough loose ends that we end up having a warranted sequel in some format, much like Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. In the case of Final Fantasy VII, there were still characters that you at least liked enough to want to have the story continue. There was also the mystery of the various surviving clones that you could wonder about. With the remaining clones that Sephiroth could be reborn through and the likable characters, it was a continuation of a fantasy rather than a sequel to it.

If you still haven’t played Final Fantasy III, Square Enix is determined to bring it to you. First there was the DS adaptation, then the general iOS port of that version and now there’s an iPad version as well. The general message seems to be, “If you own a portable gaming device, you will play this game!” I wouldn’t be surprised if we even saw a PSP or NGP version soon.

Anyways, back to the iPad version. It’s just been released and it is, appropriately enough, known as Final Fantasy III for iPad…

The iPad 2 release will probably go down in history as one of the worst choreographed launches a product has seen. It’ll also go down in history as one of the best launches ever seen. As of typing this, Apple is still showing a 4-5 week delay for online orders and still hasn’t launched internationally yet. Retailers have sold out their stock (some of it to scalpers looking to make an overpriced buck) with no indication when more is arriving. Its a loud echo of Nintendo’s Wii launch, parents clamoring to stores desperate to get the modern day Tickle Me Elmo. Only that was Christmas, this is March Madness. There’s no denying the iPad 2 demand is higher then when it’s first generation untested brother was unleashed and eventually awed the world.

When Steve jobs and company finally revealed the iPad 2, many people including myself were underwhelmed..

The rather impressive DS to iOS port of Final Fantasy III is completed, and Square Enix’s RPG is now on iTunes. I hope you have a lot of funds in your wallet there though, as it isn’t going to be cheap. I know iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad owners are used to 99¢ and $1.99 games, so Final Fantasy III will give you sticker shock. It’s $15.99. To compare, the DS version will usually cost you around $19.99.

Of course, anyone who’s even remotely interested in Square Enix games is familiar with this phenomenon…

While detailing aspects of video games that would make restricting them problematic, the fact that many games have a story came up. That opened up the question of what makes a good video game story. So here’s a quick look at trends that work well, with a few examples. Storytelling ability or actual authors Yes, more »

Good news! Dissidia 012 [duodecim] Final Fantasy is receiving an almost simultaneous worldwide release. The PSP game comes out first in Japan on March 3, 2011, but the North American and European releases aren’t far behind, coming out on March 22 and March 25, 2011. Pretty good news all around, but it does mean yet another A+ release is going to be packed into March…