Square Enix’s E3 lineup features two surprises, in addition to the expected Final Fantasy stuff: Front Mission Evolved and NIER. While we may have suspected that some kind of Front Mission game was coming, we wouldn’t have guessed that it would be a third-person shooter instead of a strategy game, nor that it would be developed by a Western company (Silent Hill: Homecoming‘s Double Helix Games, specifically). The E3 lineup press release highlights SE’s efforts to become a more “global” company, and it hardly gets more “global” than handing one of its existing IPs over to a Western developer to be made into a PS3/Xbox/PC shooter.

NIER is a new PS3/360 action game developed by Bullet Witch/Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles maker cavia. Players control NIER, who fights in a “crumbling world” to find a cure for his daughter, who is infected with the “Black Scrawl virus.”

The announcement also provided a firm release date for DISSIDIA Final Fantasy and its PSP bundle: August 25. The first episode of the WiiWare Final Fantasy IV: The After Years was also dated — for this Monday! See the whole announced lineup in our gallery.

Square Enix announces Front Mission Evolved, NIER originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 29 May 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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