Could FFXIII Really Make it Out This Year?

Throughout 2008, one of the lasting questions was whether or not we would see Final Fantasy XIII hit US shores before 2010. It is now 2009 and the question still stands but one thing has changed; we are now being bombarded with constant news, details, and updates about the game. 2008 Saw almost no new information and the only major announcement was that the game would indeed be multi-platform. In the past 2 weeks though, Kotaku, Famitsu, Joystiq, and many other major gaming sites have been flooded with coverage. Take for instance, todays reveal of a new playable character, Sazh Kalroy, the first black character since Barrett Wallace!

Yes folks, he has an afro. Kotaku editor did point out that the characters design does make him seem like more of a lover than a fighter. If the past is any indication, this character should prove to be one of the more interesting characters in the game. (Original Kotaku Story)

In recent weeks, we have also been bombarded with new screens, FFXIII and FF Versus XIII have both opened their official websites, the battle system has been revealed (Kotaku: Battle System Revealed) and we were hit with the vague but optimistic release date of "2009". So what do our readers think? Will U.S. gamers be playing FFXIII by years end or will we have to wait until Q1 or Q2 of 2010 to get our greedy little hands on it?

-Nick