Square Enix says Final Fantasy XIII will hit the US on March 9, 2010, an announcement fulfilling the publisher's promise earlier this week to deliver 'important' news on Friday.

The game will ship with English translation and voiceovers and be available for both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 owners simultaneously.

Final Fantasy XIII debuts in Japan next month, December 17, and while you'll be able to import and play it through resellers like Play-Asia, it's unlikely to include English subtitles.

The new five-minute trailer accompanying today's announcement features about a minute of slick-suited "Hey, we're Final Fantasy, we change stuff every game!" before handing the mic over to Yoshinori Kitase, the game's producer, who essentially says "High-def makes stuff look real good!"

The new footage starts at about the four-minute mark, but only runs for about 20 seconds. If you're into this series (I am, big time) you'll probably find enough in those 20 to cobble together a message board dissertation. If you're not, you'll probably be as bewildered as usual.

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