Recent book rankings from Oricon hopefully convinced you that game guides are big business. It shouldn't come as a surprise, then, to learn that Square Enix is anxious to get a guide out for Final Fantasy XIII. So anxious, in fact, that it will be releasing a guide before the game!

A listing at the Square Enix online shop reveals Final Fantasy XIII World Preview, a guide book that hits on December 10, one week before FFXIII's release. This official ¥800 size AB book includes 160 pages detailing the characters, battle system and other bits of information that you might want to know before you pop in the Blu-ray. The book also promises messages from the game's development staff.

A bit more mysteriously, the listing promises a preview of the Final Fantasy XIII Episode Zero Promise novel. As far as I know, this is the same novel that Square Enix has been sharing online via the FFXIII official site. Perhaps a print release is on the way as well.

The Square Enix shop also posted a listing today for the previously announced Final Fantasy XIII Post Card Book. This set includes 24 post cards featuring various illustrations, along with 7 color character introduction pages. It also seems that the set will have a cover page featuring English translations of major character lines.

The Post Card Book will sell for ¥1,260 and see release on December 17, opposite FFXIII itself.