Sony Computer Entertainment announced today at its E3 press conference that it had signed the exclusive North American publishing rights to Final Fantasy XI. Developed by Square Enix Co. Ltd., FFXI will the first online-only game to be released in America that will require use of the casually announced (but confirmed) U.S. version of the 40 GB PS2 Hard drive.

"We are delighted to have the opportunity to publish one of the most ground-breaking, original games in the Final Fantasy series," said Kaz Hirai, president and chief operating officer, Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. "Our long-standing relationship with Square dates back to the release of Final Fantasy VII on the original PlayStation, and we look forward to continuing our mutually beneficial partnership."

Jun Iwasaki, president and CEO, Square Enix U.S.A. said, "We are pleased to be once again working with the industry's top platform holder on a publishing agreement. With the additional release of Final Fantasy XI for the PC on the horizon, it was important for us to find a partner that had some expertise in the online arena on PlayStation 2, and we are confident that this partnership will take Final Fantasy XI to the highest possible level.

The only scenario that would explain selling the hard-drive separately from FFXI is if Sony plans to upgrade future revisions of the PS2 hardware to include the unified hard-drive-Network Adapter configuration currently available in Japan.

Sony Online Entertainment will handle game support for both Final Fantasy XI as well as the PlayOnline service. Square Enix has not announced what the monthly service fee will be.