At a press conference in Tokyo today, Square Enix announced more details regarding its upcoming "gun" Action-RPG Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII. For the newest installment of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, the company is cooperating with J-Pop star Gackt. The singer will not only peform the game's main theme Redemption and another song titled Longing, but also appear in the game, playing the role of an important character. This character however will not be a virtual alter ego created by motion capturing, but rather the real Gackt filmed by a camera. The resulting movie will then combined with traditional CG scenes.

At today's press conference, Square Enix president Youichi Wada, the producer of Dirge of Cerberus and head of Square Enix's first production team Yoshinori Kitase, corporate executive director Shinji Hashimoto, and Gackt were present. Wada explained the "polymorphic content" concept behind the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, saying the company wanted to grant the wish for a sequel voiced by many fans, by bringing the Final Fantasy VII experience to various platforms, such as cellphones, movies and game consoles. Afterwards, producer Kitase took the stage, explaining that shooting games traditionally focused on action, while the story was merely an afterthought. With Dirge of Cerberus, however, he wanted to create a new-type of gun action game combining strong action elements with a Final Fantasy-class story, movie sequences, CG scenes and interesting characters.

The costume Gackt is wearing during his in-game appearance was designed by character designer Tetsuya Nomura. The popstar will also wear it during his concert tour Gackt Live Tour 2005 Diablos - Aien no Shi.

Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII will be available in Japan on January 26th for 7,800 yen ($66.79 USD).

• Dengeki Online