It's not as much of a shocker as, say, Cactuar being already taken, but it's just as much of a news. ESRB has finally come out with their rating for Final Fantasy XIII (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360). Like with the other iterations of the franchise, XIII has been tagged with a T for Teen rating.

IO Interactive and Square Enix Europe (formerly Eidos) have confirmed the existence of the Kane & Lynch sequel, Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days. Details for the game remain scarce, but gaming blog Kotaku was able to unearth a few. Hit the jump for more on this game.

Good news, RPG faithful. Final Fantasy XIII (Xbox360, PlayStation 3) now has a North American and European launch date. Hit the jump to find out when Lightning strikes the West.

Famitsu.com has broken the news on a new entry in Taito's Estpolis series. If the name doesn't ring a bell, the series was released outside Japan as "Lufia". The new game will be called Estpolis: The Land Cursed by the Gods and will be produced by the original game's development staff. Square Enix will be handling publishing duties.

When Square Enix and PopCap Games combined their strengths to create a new game, the result was Gyromancer. The puzzle RPG was announced in TGS 2009 back in September and redefined the tried, tested, and often cloned Bejeweled. But what we didn't know was that there were other games on that negotiating table - among them, Zuma and Peggle.

When the Japanese gaming mag, Famitsu broke the news on a Final Fantasy XIV (PS3, PC) code coming with the purchase of Final Fantasy XIII (Xbox 360, PS3), many folks went, "Ah, beta access!" over the supposedly good news. As it turns out, it's not a beta code. Famitsu now explains that it is in fact a campaign code, and it doesn't give you access to the FFXIV beta.

The Final Fantasy XIII (Xbox 360, PS3) launch preparations are "going very steadily," this according to Square Enix president, Yoichi Wada. What's even more exciting than that is the reassurance that the US and European versions of the game are in the final stages of development.

When it comes to AAA news, no one does it like Square Enix. I'm not talking about their AAA titles, I'm talking about their habit of making Announcements that Announce Announcements. They even made anagrams to hype this one up for pete's sake. You have to hand it to them though - when they put the word out, people listen. Just a quick update for their November 13 announcement - it's pretty big, so be sure to tune in when it comes.

Earlier today, Square Enix posted an anagram on their forums, teasing something about Final Fantasy XIII (Xbox 360, PS3). A mere couple of hours later, the anagram has been figured out.

Square Enix just might be ready to reveal the North American release date for Final Fantasy XIII (Xbox 360, PS3) anytime in the near future now. A script for a Casting Call shows that they do have something cooking for the big reveal, complete with dramatic dialogue and all that jazz.