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Daily Video: Toma Ikuta Stars in Final Fantasy XIV Ad
posted on by Egan Loo
At an event on Tuesday, the game maker Square Enix premiered a new television commercial for its Final Fantasy XIV massively multi-player online role-playing game (MMORPG) with actor Toma Ikuta (live-action Akihabara @ DEEP, Honey and Clover) as a Hyur warrior. The new "Bōkensha no Yoru-Ake" ("The Dawn of Adventurers") commercial began airing in nine Japanese urban areas, including Tokyo, that same day. The official Final Fantasy XIV website is also streaming the commercial in 15-second, 30-second, and 60-second versions, along with a one-minute making-of video and three photos.
Ikuta himself appeared at the event to mark the completion of the game, and he demonstrated the game's party-play feature. He said that he is quite a Final Fantasy fan, having played the fifth, seventh, tenth, and eleventh main installments, along with Final Fantasy X-2. He added that he has been playing since elementary school, and was excited to enter the world of Final Fantasy through the filming of the commercial.
Also present were Square Enix president Yoichi Wada, Final Fantasy XIV producer Hiromichi Tanaka, and a string quartet who played a theme song from the game. Tanaka noted that at the 2002 launch of the earlier MMORPG Final Fantasy XI, the genre was young and unfamiliar. He said that Final Fantasy XIV will reflect the growth of MMORPGs over the eight years since XI's release.
An English-language CG trailer — without Ikuta — is also currently streaming on Square Enix's official You Tube channel in France.
Final Fantasy XIV for Microsoft Windows is currently in open beta testing. The Collector's Edition of the game will be released in Japan, North America, and Europe on September 22, with a standard edition due on September 30. A PlayStation 3 console version is scheduled for release next March.
Tomo Ikuta launched his career in 1996 at the age of 12 and has numerous television, movie, and music credits to his name. Among these is a role in a commercial for the Acuo brand chewing gum, starring characters from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Ikuta has also appeared in live-action adaptations of the manga series Akihabara @ DEEP, Honey and Clover, and most recently Yukio Okada's manga Motel, due on DVD in Japan this November.
Source: Game Watch
