One of the franchises having a huge presence at E3 this year is Final Fantasy. If you've been paying attention, you may have noticed it showing up on almost every platform: PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, DS, GBA, even Xbox 360. FF's going to be a staple of the next gen and what's left of the current gen still has some love coming. Here's the rundown on what we know so far:

Dated:
Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus, currently looking at August 22, 2006.
Final Fantasy VII: Before Crisis - You'll take your Final Fantasy VII on your phone and like it!
Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core - Discover the historic secrets of FFVII on your PSP!
Final Fantasy XII for the PS2, finally dated for October 2006. Finally!
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers (Nintendo Wii) Short CG trailer, looking good for fans of the mutliplayer FF.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates (Nintendo DS) I think Crystal Chronicles would be
perfect for the DS.
Final Fantasy V and VI for the GBA, they're running out of sprites!
Final Fantasy III for the DS, first time in the U.S. and has a look all its own.

But probably the most intriguing iteration is Final Fantasy XIII, which will actually exist as three separate games. That pique your interest? Then read on!

First of all I must mention the long awaited next in sequence installment of the series. After delay after delay, the rumors have been proven false: Final Fantasy XII will in fact be released before XIII. Current release in the U.S. is set for October 2006. While a playable demo was released in the U.S. with Dragon Quest VIII, there will hopefully be more playable here at E3.

Final Fantasy VII, arguable the best game of the franchise has spawned a myriad of spin-offs that are finally starting to materialize. The recent release of the movie Advent Children will be followed up on what looks like August 22, 2006. Dirge of Cerberus will be Final Fantasy's first attempt at a shooter, can Vincent carry the torch on his own? Then there are the two mobile games, Before Crisis for cellphones and Crisis Core for PSP. We've gotten looks at both games so far, each centering around different events taking place for Final Fantasy VII. I'm skeptical as to whether these titles can really pull in an audience other than hardcore FFVII fans, but I'll reserve judgment on the Cores until we see more gameplay. Dirge might just do enough interesting stuff to hold outside interest, but that still remains to be seen.

Don't forget Nintendo. While we don't know much about the next two Crystal Chronicles games, they have promise. While the GBA connectivity may have turned off some from Gamecube's Crystal Chronicles, it was still a lot of fun when playing with four people. The DS version, Ring of Fates, in my opinion could be a real winner. It essentially can take the two screen interaction that was the basis of the GBA connectivity and put it on one machine. If it only requires one cartridge in order for multiplayer, then this could be huge. All we've seen so far of Crystal Bearers for the Wii is a short trailer, but it looks pretty and holds promise. That's all I can say on that for now.

The remakes of past Final Fantasy games continue for the GBA as V and, to the delight of many nostalgic gamers, VI are confirmed on the way. Also, for the first time Final Fantasy III is coming to the U.S. Just for quick clarification, the Final Fantasy III released over here for the SNES was VI in Japan. But we will never see the original FFIII, the version coming to the DS features completely reworked 3D graphics and gameplay. This leaves an important question to be answered, when Final Fantasy VI is released, is Final Fantasy VII next? Rumors abound that Sony's FFVII Tech Demo could lead to a full remake of the game on the PS3, but Square Enix has so far denied this claim. Many remain hopeful.

I’ll also mention Final Fantasy XI for Xbox 360. It’s out. There’s another expansion coming for FFXI also: Treasures of Aht Urhgan. It’s out on PC and PS2. That’s all I’ll say there, it’s not really new and I don’t play so I’m not competent enough on the subject to comment.

Then we come to the biggest Final Fantasy E3 announcement, the first look at Final Fantasy XIII. It makes me happy. While very cinematic, there is a portion of the trailer that shows a user interface. Is that what actual gameplay is going to look like? Unfortunately it's too soon to tell. But here's something to keep you thinking: Final Fantasy XIII will appear as three different games: FFXIII, Final Fantasy Versus XIII and then a phone version. Very little is yet known about any of the trio, but from what I understand Versus is going to be an "extreme action game" sequel to FFXIII. Some have speculated that the name implies multiplayer, which would be very cool. But we'll probably be seeing these games for at least another E3 or two, so let's try and keep our watering eyes on what's coming out in the known future.

You can be sure that I'll keep my ears open for further developments on this front and I'll be scouring the show floor for playable content come tomorrow. Let us wait in suspense together.