It looks like the lights are coming back on in both Vana'diel and Eorzea in a few days, as Square-Enix has published a press release on its website updating fans and customers on its power conservation initiative.

Final Fantasy XI and XIV game servers were shut down on March 13th in an effort to curtail non-essential power usage in the aftermath of the Tohoku earthquake. According to Square, services for both MMORPGs, as well as its PlayOnline portal, will be back online this Friday, March 25th.

The FFXIV website also details Square's efforts to reduce its energy footprint, which includes reductions in both lighting and air conditioning usage in addition to the server shutdowns. The company also states that services may be interrupted again if recovery efforts warrant it, and that monthly

With the recent disaster that has struck Japan, consisting of one of the strongest earthquakes recorded in recent history, followed almost immediately by a powerful tsunami, and even threats of nuclear meltdown, what seems like the entire world is readily offering aid to the rattled country. Even China is offering rescue workers, despite rocky relations between the two nation

An official benchmark program for Final Fantasy XIV was released today [6/15/10], along with the following two videos:

The firs

BETA DETAILS: 
GamepotUSA is pleased to announce that the Fantasy Earth Zero Beta will begin on 3/3/10 at 3:00 pm PST and end on 3/10/10 at 3:00 pm PST.

For the uninformed, Fantasy Earth Zero is Square-Enix's upcoming F2P MMO that is just now being localized in the US. The game originally came out in 2006 in Japan, so naturally we're going to see quite a few people complaining about the older graphics... but they're missing the point. This game boasts numerous gameplay features and is quite ground-breaking for the Free-to-Play MMO market. The combat system is completely different from standard "point-click-attack" schemes found in other MMOs, and you'll even be able to use a Xbox360 controller for Windows.

FEZ is being localized by Gamepot USA, a fairly recent entry into the F2P market here in the US. Gamepot USA launched Bright Shadow late last year. They have been working hard to bring us a localized version of Fantasy Earth Zero, and I'm willing