Square-Enix announces an upcoming FF13 announcement?

Late last week Square-Enix posted on their official blog an anagram aimed at fans of the upcoming title Final Fantasy XIII.

“Solve this anagram to find out what lies ahead: A Henchmen Inventor Tent Unto

Check back on Monday for the answer!”

Fans saw this challenge, and within hours the puzzle was conquered.

“ANNOUNCEMENT NOV THIRTEENTH”

Speculation seemed to pour out on what this announcement could be, but if you’re a fan of Square-Enix’s past work, the patterns seem to answer the speculation.

Square-Enix has always been a wonderful company for showmanship. They may not keep things secret with excessive teases, but when it comes to showcasing their work, SE has always been the best at what they do.

Taking many by surprise with it’s characters lips being perfectly in sync with its English cast in its English version of their TokyoGameShow 09 trailer, SE proved recently that although this game has been in production for quite some time, they are much further along with its English version than anyone realized, and with them mentioning their plans a few months ago that they wanted Final Fantasy XIII to be fully released worldwide within only a few months of its Japanese release,  the possibilities of speculation seemed to become much more narrow.

In an interview posted by GameIndustry.biz with Square Enix’s global president Yoichi Wada, even more clues came to light.

“Q: One of Japan’s biggest software exports is the Final Fantasy franchise – next year will be a big year in that respect, so how are preparations going for the launch of Final Fantasy XIII?

Yoichi Wada: They’re going very steadily.

Q: What’s left to do? With a project that size, QA must be a big part of it.

Yoichi Wada: We’ve completed the master of the Japanese version, and for the US and European versions we’re just adding the final touches. The last stage of development has gone very smoothly this time.”

While fans believe that Final Fantasy XIII will hit our American shores by the end of March or later (possibly April 13th for dramatic effect), I’m starting to believe that Square may surprise everyone and announce it for an earlier date as well as announce the western demo that Square mentioned was coming possibly before the Japanese release.

While speculation is all that can be made until its proper announcement on Friday, it is safe to say that I am on the edge of my seat to see what Square-Enix has up their sleeves.