Final Fantasy VIII soundtrack on the way

[01.29.99] » A single and a complete soundtrack will soon find their way to Japanese music shelves.

   Although virtually unheard of by North American publishers, game music is a huge business in Japan, where almost every game has a soundtrack released and some game companies (such as Capcom) even have their own music label. With Final Fantasy VII's soundtrack reaching the number 3 slot on Japanese pop music charts the week of its release, you can be sure that Square has big plans for Final Fantasy VIII's -- and they do, with at least two soundtrack releases planned.

   Arriving February 24th -- a mere 13 days after the game itself is launched -- is a single of FF VII's ending song, "Eyes on Me", sung by Hong Kong pop star Faye Wong. It will retail for 971 yen (about $8.34 US). Then, on March 10th, the game's full four-disc soundtrack will be released for 3783 yen ($33.28 US). The first printing of the full soundtrack will have a special limited edition packaging.

   It's also very likely that an arranged version will be released in the future, as every past Final Fantasy game has had at least one arranged release.