We know that Final Fantasy games, much like fine wine and Radiohead albums, take some time to come together nicely -- still, it's hard for us to believe that Final Fantasy XIII (in all its shapes and forms) will be dropping by its latest release date of "this year". We've had our hearts broken so many times by delays for hotly anticipated titles that we've sadly come to expect them.

Fear not, says the comforting voice of long time series character designer Tetsuya Nomura, the long wait for the Fabula Nova Crystallis collection will be over soon enough. Not only does he swear by the game's 2008 release date, he teases at a playable demo for FFXIII on the PlayStation Network a while before the game is released, to show off the game's revamped battle system.

Full story: joystiq.com