Konichiwa, salut, and ¡Hola! readers to another Square Enix Weekly Recap. As we inch closer to Tomb Raider's release the office is buzzing, workloads are increasing, and I'm possibly drinking the world's largest amount of tea and coffee. I can hardly contain myself - in more ways than one!

Development

• Letter from the Producer, XLIII - New screenshots and details about the upcoming beta, including phase one's start date. 
• Lightning Returns community Q&A video - Your questions answered by Toriyama-san and Kitase-san.
• Tomb Raider Concept Art: SOS - Let's take a trip down memory lane for a reminder of where we came from. Concept art is a beautiful window into the mind-set of a developer, so if this captures your attention make sure to take a look at the Parachute Descent too.
• The Final Hours of Tomb Raider Episode Five: The End of the Beginning (Part 1) - What does it feel like to be an employee at Crystal Dynamics right now? Pretty stressful? - Zac Levi investigates.
• Tomb Raider Walkthrough Part One: Monastery to Medical Helicopter - 11 minutes of uninterrupted gameplay footage. If you simply can't wait until Tomb Raider's release you'll want to watch this video.
• Spotlight: Law Enforcer Pack - Armed to the teeth and suited and booted, the Triads won't know what's hit them with this add-on content for Sleeping Dogs.
• Featured Developer Ask Stenum (Reto.Stenum) - Meet Reto.Stenum, the Heroes & Generals' Senior Programmer. And for those of you into level design, meet Reto.Ratamahat.
• Translations underway - Czech, French, German, Polish, Russian and Spanish are slowly making their way into the next Heroes & Generals build.
• Whittle down the enemy - That annoying last General giving you grief? Worry no more, skirmish battles will be quickly resolved under new mechanics coming to Heroes & Generals.
• Interview with the Producer/Director - Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn's Yoshida-san has begun his press tour (bringing with him some shiny FFXIV:ARR USB sticks).
• I left my heart... - A quick update from the North American leg of the FFXIV:ARR press tour including some new screenshots.

Community

• One day left to vote for your favourite video game music - Voting has ended but hopefully your collective effort has helped get video game music into the Classic FM Hall of Fame.
• Gamer Chat: Shiny website is shiny - Things are looking a little bit different around here but I can't quite put my finger on it... can you?
• Site downtime – database updates - Thanks for your patience during our brief radio-silence.
• Crystal Habit Monthly #17 - The latest and greatest Crystal Dynamics newsletter - all you need to get you up to speed on Tomb Raider.
• 20 Days of Tomb Raider - Our North American chums are doing a daily Tomb Raider tidbit on their blog in the run up to release. Well worth a read!
• Love is in the Air - If you're looking to escape the suffocatingly commercial holiday that is Valentine's Day then check out these two stories of friendships forged and the meeting of soul mates through a shared passion, Tomb Raider.
• BAFTA Game Developer Q&A: Tomb Raider - Some great snaps from our recent developer panel at BAFTA. Thanks to everyone who came and said hello.
• Wimbledon just got a new Tomb Raider-y makeover - We love to do-away with the dull uninspiring walls of traditional meeting rooms and instead decorate them with the beautiful artwork from some of our games. Here's what we recently did for Tomb Raider.
• Guest Interview: Grévin Museum Lara Croft Statue - In December 20, 1999, the wax statue of Lara Croft was inaugurated at The Grévin Museum (le Musée Grévin in French), in Paris. Here is an interview of the sculptor of the statue.
• Cosplay Set: A Survivor is Born by Fernando and Lilia - Check out this incredible set of Tomb Raider photos from photographer Fernando Brischetto and cosplayer Lilia.
• Weekend Creation Challenge - Your mission should you choose to accept it: build a Gameglobe level that celebrates all things Valentine's. Don't forget to play the winning town-themed levels from last week's competition.
• Leaderboard Challenge - Today’s Leaderboard Challenge is Viva La Resistance! by landi and is all about surviving. Play this and many other great levels over on gameglobe.com.
• From Ugly to Outstanding - Another beautifully written Life in Vana'diel story to mark the upcoming Doll Festival event in Final Fantasy XI.

Competitions and offers

• Week Two of the DeviantART Presents: Tomb Raider Reborn Contest - We've received over 400 entries in two weeks! Have you entered yet? You could win an unimaginable stack of goodies.
• The Valentione's Day Mog House Decoration Contest is Underway! - Rolanberry Delightaru, Opus Shelf, and a Jewellery Case / Keepsake Case / Gemstone Case are up for grabs in this festive Final Fantasy XI competition.

In the news

• Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII ending discussed by Square Enix (Examiner)
• Square Enix Offering Huge Discounts For President's Day [North America] (GamingUnion)
• Square Enix Does DC Comics (IGN)
• Toy Fair 2013: Square Enix (Comic Vine)
• Dragon Quest VII: Square-Enix ships 1m 3DS units in Japan (VG247)
• Toy Fair 2013: Square Enix Play Arts Kai DC Universe Toys Bring A Japanese Flair To Batman (MTV)
• Square Enix’s Luminous Studio Can Make Pretty Glass Bottles And Other Tech Demos (Siliconera)
• What Is Square Enix's 'Murdered: Soul Suspect?' (MTV)
• Square Enix has two more games heading to Android: Drakerider and Chaos Rings II [Japan] (DroidGamers)
• Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Beta Kicks Off On Feb. 25th (Siliconera)
• First Look At Lord Of Vermilion III And Its New Familiars [Japan] (Siliconera)
• First Look At Final Fantasy X Running On PlayStation Vita [Japan] (Siliconera)
• Sin Has Been Resurrected For Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade (Siliconera)
• Final Fantasy Tactics: War Of The Lions Makes Android Debut With Enhanced Graphics [Japan] (Siliconera)
• Dragon Quest X Wii U gets a date, new hardware bundle (RPGSite)
• GT Tomb Raider Retrospective: Part One (GT.TV)
• Tomb Raider: the story of a reboot (The Guardian)
• Tomb Raider Q&A held at BAFTA (BAFTA)
• Hitman: Absolution nominated for Video Game BAFTA (BAFTA)
• Places: Sleeping Dogs’ Hong Kong (Game Informer)
• Kamikokuryou Auctions Off Lightning Artwork (FinalFantasy.net)
• Lightning Returns in the Recording Studio (FinalFantasy.net)
• Scenes From the FFXIV Global Media Tour (FinalFantasy.net)