Photos: NYC celebrates 'Final Fantasy XII'

On Wednesday, New York City's Times Square Information Center--located in the historic space that was formerly the Embassy movie theater--was the venue for a press conference for the release of "Final Fantasy XII," the latest installment in the popular video game series by Square Enix. To mark the occasion, Oct. 11 was officially deemed Final Fantasy XII Day by NYC & Company, the city's tourist bureau.

Final Fantasy XII Day was held in conjunction with the DigitalLife trade show, which will be held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center from Thursday through Sunday.

Final Fantasy XII Day in New York included a showcase of entrants and winners from an official "Final Fantasy" cosplay competition. Here, an entrant poses in his costume, complete with wig.

Two entrants in the Final Fantasy XII Day cosplay competition show off their homemade outfits in New York's Times Square.

The winners of the Final Fantasy XII Day cosplay competition pose with company executives in Times Square. From left, they are Mallory McClellan as "FFXII" character "Ashe"; "Final Fantasy XII" Executive Producer Akitoshi Kawazu; Laura Jones as "Ashe"; Square-Enix president and COO Daishiro Okada; and Scott Strichart as "FFXII" character "Balthier."

"Final Fantasy XII" cosplay competition winners Laura Jones, Mallory McClellan and Scott Strichart stand onstage as the trailer for the new PlayStation 2 game is played. The game release date is Oct. 31.

Kawazu and Okada pose with the three cosplay contest winners again. Laura Jones (far left), is a 19-year-old art student at Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland; Mallory McClellan (center) is an 18-year-old art student at Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio; Scott Strichart (far right) is a 25-year-old from Orange County, Calif., who is working on obtaining teaching credentials. Cosplay is serious business: Jones said her "Ashe" costume took about 11 months to create.

Two "Final Fantasy XII" cosplay contest participants celebrate at the reception following the press conference at the Times Square Information Center.