Cheats-Area.com

   Nowdays if a game is pirated around its release, we think of it as normal. If it "leaks" one week prior to the official launch, it's usually an anticipated title. But when the pirated version gets a full month head start, it can only mean one thing: Final Fantasy XII. That's right, some 30 days before the game's planned release on October 31, the US version of Final Fantasy XII was leaked down the torrent drain.

   "Investigative journalism" can only go so far at times like this, so we'll just play along with reports claiming that the pirated version appeared on several torrent websites in ISO format, and that this is indeed the full English version of the game. Clearly, somebody, somewhere, screwed up real nice! It's times like these that resignation letters come in handy...

   I'm still curious to see how Squenix will react to this, and if they will react at all (silence has been known to be golden). But whatever they choose to do, let's hope that Final Fantasy XII will still ship on October 31 in North America. Not that I care, really, since here in Europe the game was pushed back all the way to 2007.

   So, in the end, the only interesting thing to be observed in days to come is how many of the so-called "FF fans" will betray Square and download this pirated version. Because finding it is probably not an issue. In fact, as one Kotaku commenter said - "Why do I need to find a torrent? It should just download itself, the same way the game plays itself."