Final Fantasy XIII Update: Artwork Revealed

We've barely entered 2008 and we're already talking about next-gen consoles and the titles destined to surface for the acclaimed devices. One of the most awaited next-gen title if surely Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII follows it, as Square-Enix's upcoming masterpiece. While waiting for these seemingly 2009 launches, we've just stumbled upon a couple of artwork images, but it's not clear yet if we're dealing with official pics or just the work of some fan.

You can check out the fine pieces of artwork below and notice that the good old Gunblades from Final Fantasy VIII seem to be back, while the characters depicted in the images remind me of Zack (Crisis Core) or Seifer (FF VIII again). There's also a Star War-ish character, which I suppose is one of the bad guys, but we may never no, specially since Final Fantasy hasn't featured too many mechanical good guys till now. Fans will surely dig these works of art, while drooling for a brand new trailer or something to put us out of the mystery of constantly waiting for an official update on FF XIII and its accompanying titles.

The distance between the latest titles in the Final Fantasy series seems to be bigger than ever, but we can blame it on the PS3 and its power that has to be harnessed by those Square-Enix developers. After all, there's a Blu-ray to stuff those pretty FMVs on, and a Cell processor to render superb fights, maybe a couple of summons and a beautiful protagonist of Final Fantasy XIII. If this doesn't live up to our expectations, what will? I've yet to play a FF title gone bad, but Square-Enix will surely not want to pull a nasty trick on us, just when we're coming to like the PS3.