Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children on UMD dated in Japan

Square Enix has revealed that the Universal Media Disc (UMD) version of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children - i.e. the version that will run on PSPs - will be released at the same time as the DVD version in Japan.

Advent Children's UMD release will come on September 14th, then, and it will be priced the same as the standard DVD edition - 4800 yen, or around 36 Euro.

Square Enix hasn't outlined the exact contents of the UMD, but it's not expected to include as many goodies as the Ultimate Edition DVD which features 30 minutes of bonus scenes and other extras.

Earlier this month Square Enix said there was "no reason" to suspect that the Ultimate Edition wouldn't launch here in Europe, where the publisher is currently building up its presence, while the UMD edition is also expected to see release here at some point.

Those picking up the Japanese version, however (and since Japan and Europe share the same UMD movie playback region, there's nothing to stop you besides the language barrier), can at least expect a few audio tracks from the soundtrack CD. A special "High Speed Battle Music Selection" will be included with the package as PSP-playable extras. Reports aren't explicit, but we'd expect these to feature on the UMD too.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, for those of you who have no idea (congratulations on getting this far down the page if that is the case, incidentally) carries on the tale of one of the most popular games in the famous RPG series to date.

We had the chance to see sections of the film not too long ago, and it looked very, very special indeed. If nothing else, it's going to prove that all that cash Square Enix has sunk into computer-generated filmmaking has not gone to waste.