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The Final Fantasy Rule: Why the New Final Fantasy XIII Demo Matters, Even if You Hate the Series

I’ve had to stop myself from doing something stupid many, many times in the past few weeks. Late at night, typically before bed while I’m enjoying that just-brushed-just-flossed feel of my teeth and that last drink of water, I’ve opened my laptop and gone to Play Asia, added an item to my cart, and made it all the way to the check out before stopping myself. What am I, an idiot? What kind of person would do this? I’ve slapped my own wrist, both literally and metaphorically, closed the computer, and waited for morning, when the sobering light of day inevitable reintroduces logic to my shoddy impulse control.

Honestly. Spending eighty dollars on a demo of Final Fantasy XIII, a demo in a language I don’t even understand, is stupid. Very, very stupid. Yes, it comes with a nice new version of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, but even that little perk isn’t worth blowing two weeks worth of grocery money on an hour long sampling of a game that will be out before too long.

The impulse is detestable. It is, however, an inevitable impulse, one that isn’t rooted in fanaticism. The allure of a new Final Fantasy, even just a taste of it, has less to do with fetishism and everything to do with wanting to see just what any given game console can do.

Posted Apr 16 2009, 07:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s)

Filed under: john constantine, final fantasy, square-enix, tetsuya nomura, final fantasy iv, final fantasy xiii, final fantasy x, final fantasy vii

Children are the Future (Of Cheap Gaming Junk)

I often preach “The more things change, the more they stay the same” because it makes me a little less frightened of the direction the world is going in. I still have my curmudgeonly moments, though. Today, while partaking in public transportation, the bus hit a bump and my face was subsequently introduced to a schoolgirl's backpack. The sack had the usual teenage ideals scrawled on its felt (because five minutes with a two dollar Sharpie can change the world): “Tears,” “Peace,” “Emo,” “Love.”

There was also video game paraphernalia dangling off the various zippers and clasps: jangly keychains featuring the more plastic members of Square-Enix's character roster, including Sora and Yuna.

And I thought, “Oh God, why.”

Then I thought, “But who am I to judge? I've been there.”

Posted Mar 06 2009, 11:14 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 2 comment(s)

Filed under: bowser, final fantasy x, kingdom hearts, nadia oxford, merchandise, illusion of gaia, toys

Little Big Planet Meets FFX

I'll admit that I'm not very hyped about Little Big Planet; it could be the curmudgeon in me, or just the fact that I'll have no goddamned time to create anything cool with the game on my busy schedule. The silver lining to all of this is that I won't need to plunk down the cash for both a PS3 and a copy of the game to be entertained--all I need to experience LBP's user-created content is the entirely-free YouTube. Expect the majority online streaming video services to be completely loaded with content from Little Big Planet for the next year or so.

A good example of this trend of this already in action is the following video, which takes the best part of Final Fantasy X--the music--and transplants it into a baroque music player created through hours and hours of hard work and block placement in Little Big Planet. Sure, I can hear the same thing by looking this song up on iTunes, but I gotta give credit to all of the makeshift music box crafters out there:

Now, if someone out there would somehow turn Little Big Planet into a rhythm game using the same technology, I'd be motivated to smash in the window of my local GameStop and steal a brand-new PS3.

Posted Oct 08 2008, 09:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 2 comment(s)

Filed under: little big planet, music, final fantasy x, ps3, bob mackey

What's in my MP3 Player: Endless Skies

Who here has over a gig of music stored on your computer? I want to see a show of hands. I'm a big fan of instrumental music in most genres. Most of my music is of game remixes and I have so many files and so many folders that I forget what I have. I'm sure we all do this, collect a pile of songs but only listen to a fraction of them regularly. It can't be helped really, you listen to what fits your mood or activity.

For example, I've been working in Photoshop a lot at home for the past couple of months. While working, I either prefer silence or a song with a good beat that doesn't insist on my full attention. Something energetic to groove to without it being hyperactive. At the moment “Endless Skies”, a Final Fantasy X remix by Overclocked Remix newcomer “PrototypeRaptor” really hits the spot. It's a smooth trance piece that incorporates Auron's Theme into it and is well worth checking out. Take a break from E3 news and click on over.

What's in my MP3 Player: Yellow Valkyrie

Video Games Live

Posted Jul 15 2008, 11:00 AM by Amber Ahlborn with | with 1 comment(s)

Filed under: amber ahlborn, game music, final fantasy x

about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Nerve, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.