As the buzz continues to grow around Final Fantasy XIV, Producer Hiromichi Tanaka is also increasingly finding himself the center of attention.  In this week's Famitsu, he was part of a feature on the 20 Most Anticipated Games & Game Creators of 2010.  Tanaka has been a part of Square Enix since 1983, but is now coming into the spotlight thanks to his work producing Final Fantasy XI, and of course, the upcoming Final Fantasy XIV.

In this interview he gives his opinions on the state and direction of the gaming industry and elaborates a little on plans for the Final Fantasy XIV beta test.

Also, as each creator who was interviewed did, Tanaka also showed off his (dare I say, mad) calligraphy skills.  He referenced the release of a brand new online world with 新天地 (shin-ten-chi) "new world", and wrote "Eorzea" in hiragana: えおるぜあ.  Don't forget that registered symbol!

Read on for the interview and discuss this in the ZAM forums!

After taking a break for Mass Effect 2, Fony and The BFF Report jump right back into Star Trek Online to give us a full run down of what to expect from the upcoming space adventure. With the Normandy parked back in the garage, he beams back into the USS BFFR to battle it out with some Klingons, go on a few quick missions, and find out what it takes to be the captain of a Bird of Prey! On top of all that, Fony had to get just a bit more time in with character creation to see what he could come up with... you'll be laughing after you see what he conjured up.

To watch all of The BFF Report's Episode 16 - Star Trek Online, Part Two, make sure you click on the link! Enjoy!

An interview was released this week in the most recent issue of Dengeki Games.  It turned out to be a nice read, so I won't waste your time padding this intro.

Check it out below!

Discuss in the ZAM forums!

Every Thursday, we pick the hottest topics from our FFXIV forums and highlight them in this segment. Join the discussions! Tell everyone what you think!

This week's Hot Threads:

be very very quiet..... I'm talking death penalty

Every MMO should have some kind of penalty for dying. If they don't, what's the motivation to try to stay alive? With FFXIV using a system that doesn't include experience points and levels, loss of xp isn't likely to be implemented. Should gear degradation be the alternative? What about corpse recovery? Is the shame of defeat punishment enough?

The Star Trek Online beta wants you, and the ZAM staff has your keys! All you need to do is become a ZAM premium member to instantly receive your beta key to STO. Thousands of you will soon be exploring the far reaches of space, the final frontier, as a captain of a Federation starship. Simply register and become a premium member of ZAM, which includes premium services throughout our entire network, and you'll get a key.

On top of all that, we're also offering our premium users the ability to download the client from our servers. With all the woes that other sites have been having with download speeds, we're happy to offer an alternative.

So what are you waiting for? Go get your Star Trek Online beta key before we run out!