Despite its fair share of setbacks, Final Fantasy VII is now, finally, actually available on the PC in Australia — for $12 Australian dollars! Completely optimised for the PC and including 36 new achievements, not to mention cloud saves (teehee) so you can play from any other computer! Amazing! Check out the website over here for all the details or if you’re too lazy, at least watch the trailer below.

Source: Press Release / ginji

Final Fantasy VII is not off to a great start. First there was the game’s false start, and now after actually being officially released last week it is having a ton of problems.

The most damaging is of course its DRM faults, with activation problems and missing keys locking a lot of people out of their bought-and-paid-for game. But we wouldn’t know anything about that, because the game isn’t even available in Australia or New Zealand yet. And, apparently even if were, the improved graphics are somewhat less than improved, there are problems with sound, and the achievements don’t work.

Square Enix have apologised for the problems, at least those concerning the DRM, saying, “We have indentified an issue that is affecting a small number of people from activating or playing their copy of Final Fantasy VII. Resolving this issue is our top priority and we apologise [for] the inconvenience that this has caused. We’ll update you when the issue is resolved and if there is any action that you need to take.”

Source: Destructoid

The PC re-release of Final Fantasy VII apparently showed up for sale on the Square Enix website recently, despite never being officially given a release date. But that’s okay, because apparently it doesn’t work either. The game’s SecuROM DRM wouldn’t authenticate either automatically or through manually entering the serial number, and as such was pulled before more people could get at it. Square Enix and SecuROM tech support were unable to be reached, as it all happened outside of business hours.

Between the lack of release date and the fact that the DRM switch wasn’t in the ‘on’ position, seems like it was probably erroneously made live. One fact has come form all this though – the game was on sale for $12.70, so it will probably be set at that price when it is actually released.

Source: Joystiq

Iconic JRPG Final Fantasy VII is set to be re-released on PC “soon”, to celebrate the series 25th anniversary this year. The re-release of the game will include features such as cloud saving (geddit), a ‘Character Booster’ that enables players to “fully power up their characters”, and, of course, achievements. The new website mentions nothing of whether the game will be remastered in HD for PC gamers or be in any way optimised for the machines of 2012, but it doesn’t look like it – the minimum requirements are listed as a 2GHz Processor or faster, 1GB RAM, and a DirectX 9-compatible graphics card.

Source: Press Release