September 14th, 2000 - This will come as little surprise to most Europeans, and especially to the British: the Final Fantasy IX release date has been delayed in Europe.

Originally planned to hit shelves just after the American release of November 15th (a few weeks after at least), a Square Europe representative has said that the task of translating the text into German and French would delay the release to winter 2000, or even early 2001:

"There's never a problem translating Final Fantasy titles to German or French, but it's a mammoth task due to the language used," he said. "The official line is now winter 2000 but the game may ship in Europe in early 2001."

Why should this affect the United Kingdom release date you ask? Well, like Final Fantasy VIII (and unlike Final Fantasy VII), Square Europe are going to alter the American spelling and 'Americanisms' to that of U.K. English, making it more suitable for a British audience. Not only that, but we suspect that the European PAL release will be the same compact disc content across the continent with the language only being set accordingly.

Square Europe will announce an official and more conclusive release date in 'mid-October'.

North America November 15th

Europe/U.K. Winter 2000/Early 2001