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Final Fantasy XV: Episode Duscae – Our Thoughts

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It’s finally out… the demo of Final Fantasy XV, aptly called Episode Duscae. Many have been waiting for the release of this demo, bundled exclusively with Final Fantasy Type-0. While we’ve played EVERY Final Fantasy demo (and game) that’s ever been on the market, we can’t help but notice that the demo of the fifteenth iteration of Square-Enix’s headliner …lacks. We’d really like to focus on what we didn’t like about this game.

1) The music. The music, to us, is disappointing. We’ve attended Distant Worlds and we’ve met Uematsu… Disappointing. Yes, we know that Uematsu is not doing the music officially anymore. But, the branded music that we’ve all come to know, such as the opening theme, the level up/XP screen and the game over screen are now represented with pillowy piano music and zero semblance of their very well known ancestors. We’re reminding ourselves again, this is the demo so maybe it will be different at actual launch (whenever that may be…). As is, no bueno if they’re not going to play the right music — let alone the right THEMED music — for the right scenes to their core fanbase. We don’t care if you make an improv version of the Opening Sequence/Prelude. Just make it the actual Prelude and not fluff.

2) The environment. SquareEnix has had PLENTY of time to get zone creation right. If you’re avid fans of the series like we are, you know about Final Fantasy XIV and 1.0’s copy/paste failure. Lots of us were disappointed to find that we couldn’t go pet the huge thing in the lake because there was an apparent zone line restricting us from going farther. Or the fact that some of these boulders became absurdly similar as we started running around. No real place to hide or climb. Perhaps they will put a jump accessory in the game. And perhaps SquareEnix will actually use the knowledge they’ve learned from FFXII and FFXIV to make a truly open-world, Non-MMO, offline game again. There were some things that we really liked, but this article is about what we didn’t like.

3) The narrative. We felt disconnected with the story they were trying to tell. We’re not all Japanese-esq twinks who have a kingdom to inherit (see the game for reference of Noctis being a prince). At least in the Final Fantasy VIII Demo, there was an apparent story to connect to with a sense of urgency and understanding. We did not feel compelled to go fix a car, instead that very purpose of playing gave me more of a reason to want to go explore.

4) These supposed hints at “something coming soon.” The ending of the demo says so. Please: kill me now. Also, this. Are we supposed to be happy they’re going to put the summons they should put in any Final Fantasy into the game? Are we supposed to be happy they’re going to respect their beginnings of the series? Are we supposed to be happy that it’s apparently a big deal for SquareEnix to do right by the series and provide an experience that satisfies new AND old gamers? No. No, We’re not supposed to be happy because we EXPECT this already — otherwise, it’s not really a Final Fantasy game and only another X-plus-Z:A5C weird numbering story of Final Fantasy that we never wanted to really play.

5) The (seemingly) pointless item collection. We’re sure that picking the items up had something as a reward — and it would be unsurprising if there was not any reward — but the only thing we truly HAD to pick up was the Behemoth Horn. Anything beyond that was, we guess, for Potions and Antidotes to be restocked with.

What we’ve seen with all of the fanfare and social media hype, and based off of our own experience, the demo is truly not that promising. Right now, this is a rental title and not a midnight launch title. But, let’s be fair. It’s just a demo and the main title is only 60% completed. We’ll see…

Noctis_Broods

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Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary

Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Sony Entertainment Network Sale

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Twenty-five years ago, our company launched a game called Final Fantasy. It was the result of a lot of hard work and dedication. It was also the start of a franchise that would go on to capture the hearts of millions of players around the world.

As we celebrate Final Fantasy’s 25th anniversary, we look back on a series that contains 14 installments, numerous spin-off games, and all sorts of merchandise. We are always impressed by the love our fans show for this franchise.

To celebrate this amazing milestone in the history of Final Fantasy, we’re putting a number of Final Fantasy titles on sale on PlayStation Network, starting when PSN updates tomorrow. For two weeks, the following titles will be on sale in PlayStation Store for 50% off.

We hope you enjoy these classic titles — the memories they evoke, and the new memories they will create.

Via: Posted by Shinji Hashimoto // Senior Executive Managing Officer, Square Enix // Sony PlayStation Blog

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Sony PlayStation Vita Support for PSOne Classics is Live

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The PlayStation Vita, the successor to the PlayStation Portable, has released firmware version 1.80 which allows PSOne Classics to be played on the device. The list from SCEA shows the following games to be playable once the PlayStation Network Store updates:

  • Arc the Lad
  • Cool Boarders 2
  • FINAL FANTASY VII
  • Hot Shots Golf 2
  • Jet Moto
  • Syphon Filter
  • Tomb Raider
  • Twisted Metal 2
  • Wild Arms

Sony PlayStation VIta 1.80 Firmware Update

So we’ve been waiting on this for 6 months now. The really unfortunate news is that despite the compatibility of this short list of games for North American (SCEA) players, the list of games for European players, SCEE, is exponentially longer. Here it is and what you can expect, at least, in the future:

Cool Boarders SCEE
Cool Boarders 2 SCEE
Crash Bandicoot SCEE
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back SCEE
Crash Bandicoot 3 Warped SCEE
CTR: Crash Team Racing SCEE
Destruction Derby SCEE
Everybody’s Golf 2 SCEE
G-Police SCEE
Jet Rider SCEE
Jet Rider 2 SCEE
Jumping Flash SCEE
Kula World SCEE
Kurushi Final SCEE
MediEvil SCEE
Motor Toon Grand Prix 2 SCEE
Rally Cross SCEE
Syphon Filter SCEE
Syphon Filter 3 SCEE
Twisted Metal SCEE
Wild Arms SCEE
WipEout SCEE
40 Wink ATARI EUROPE S.A.S.U.
A Bug’s Life DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS, INC.
A Bugs Life and Monsters Inc bundle DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS, INC.
Abe’s Exoddus ODDMOBB INC
Abe’s Oddworld Oddysee ODDMOBB INC
Airboat XS GAMES LIMITED
All-Star Boxing MIDAS INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT LTD
Arc Arena: Monster Tournament MONKEY PAW GAMES INC.
Arc the Lad MONKEY PAW GAMES INC.
Arc the Lad II MONKEY PAW GAMES INC.
Arc the Lad III MONKEY PAW GAMES INC.
Arcade Hits: Shienryu MONKEY PAW GAMES INC.
Arcade Hits: Sonic Wings Special MONKEY PAW GAMES INC.
Atari Anniversary Edition ATARI EUROPE S.A.S.U.
Atlantis DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS, INC.
Atlantis and Hercules Bundle DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS, INC.
Bishi Bashi Special KONAMI DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT GMBH
Blockids MONKEY PAW GAMES INC.
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain SQUARE ENIX LIMITED
Bugriders ATARI EUROPE S.A.S.U.
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS, INC.
Centipede ATARI EUROPE S.A.S.U.
Cho Aniki MONKEY PAW GAMES INC.
Constructor SYSTEM 3 SOFTWARE
Critical Depth ATARI EUROPE S.A.S.U.
Dezaemon Plus MONKEY PAW GAMES INC.
Disney’s Action Game ft. Hercules DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS, INC.
Dodgeball MIDAS INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT LTD
Driver UBISOFT ENTERTAINMENT SA
Eagle One: Harrier Attack ATARI EUROPE S.A.S.U.
Fear Effect SQUARE ENIX LIMITED
Fear Effect: Retro Helix SQUARE ENIX LIMITED
Fighting Force SQUARE ENIX LIMITED
Fighting Force 2 SQUARE ENIX LIMITED
Final Fantasy VIII SQUARE ENIX (2009) LIMITED
Final Fantasy IX SQUARE ENIX (2009) LIMITED
Final Fantasy V SQUARE ENIX (2009) LIMITED
Final Fantasy VI SQUARE ENIX (2009) LIMITED
Final Fantasy VII SQUARE ENIX (2009) LIMITED
Front Mission 3 SQUARE ENIX (2009) LIMITED
Gaiaseed MONKEY PAW GAMES INC.
Galaxy Fight MONKEY PAW GAMES INC.
Gex SQUARE ENIX LIMITED
Gex 3: Deep Under Cover SQUARE ENIX LIMITED
Gex 3D: Enter the Gecko SQUARE ENIX LIMITED
Grandia GAME ARTS CO., LTD.
Gubble MIDAS INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT LTD
Guilty Gear SYSTEM 3 SOFTWARE
Gunship ATARI EUROPE S.A.S.U.
Hardcore 4X4 URBANSCAN LIMITED
International Track & Field KONAMI DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT GMBH
Jigsaw Madness XS GAMES LIMITED
Judge Dredd URBANSCAN LIMITED
Junior League Soccer PS1 XS GAMES LIMITED
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver SQUARE ENIX LIMITED
Lilo & Stitch DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS, INC.
Little Mermaid 2 DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS, INC.
Little Mermaid 2 and Winnie The Pooh bundle DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS, INC.
Metal Gear Solid KONAMI DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT GMBH
Mickey’s Wild Adventure DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS, INC.
Miracle Quad Racer MIDAS INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT LTD
Miracle Space Race MIDAS INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT LTD
Missile Command ATARI EUROPE S.A.S.U.
Monsters Inc DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS, INC.
Motorhead URBANSCAN LIMITED
N20 URBANSCAN LIMITED
Namco Heritage bundle NAMCO BANDAI GAMES EUROPE S.A.S.
Pandemonium SQUARE ENIX LIMITED
Pandemonium 2 SQUARE ENIX LIMITED
Parasite Eve 2 SQUARE ENIX (2009) LIMITED
Peter Pan DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS, INC.
Pong ATARI EUROPE S.A.S.U.
Pooh’s Party Game DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS, INC.
Rageball MIDAS INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT LTD
Rainbow Six UBISOFT ENTERTAINMENT SA
Rascal Racers MIDAS INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT LTD
Rayman UBISOFT ENTERTAINMENT SA
Rayman 2: The Great Escape UBISOFT ENTERTAINMENT SA
Reel Fishing NATSUME INC.
Re-loaded URBANSCAN LIMITED
Resident Evil 2 CE EUROPE LIMITED
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis CE EUROPE LIMITED
Resident Evil: Director’s Cut CE EUROPE LIMITED
Ridge Racer Type 4 NAMCO BANDAI GAMES EUROPE S.A.S.
Sheep EMPIRE INTERACTIVE EUROPE LTD
Silent Hill KONAMI DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT GMBH
Snowboard Racer MIDAS INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT LTD
Sorcerer’s Maze XS GAMES LIMITED
Spin Jam EMPIRE INTERACTIVE EUROPE LTD
Sports Superbike MIDAS INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT LTD
Streak ATARI EUROPE S.A.S.U.
Street Fighter 2 Alpha CE EUROPE LIMITED
Super Star Dance Club XS GAMES LIMITED
Tarzan DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS, INC.
Tekken NAMCO BANDAI GAMES EUROPE S.A.S.
Tekken 2 NAMCO BANDAI GAMES EUROPE S.A.S.
Tomb Raider SQUARE ENIX LIMITED
Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation SQUARE ENIX LIMITED
Tomb Raider Chronicles SQUARE ENIX LIMITED
Tomb Raider 2 SQUARE ENIX LIMITED
Tomb Raider 3 SQUARE ENIX LIMITED
Toy Story 2 DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS, INC.
Toy Story Racer DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS, INC.
Toy Story Racer and Toy Story 2: Woody and Buzz bundle DISNEY INTERACTIVE STUDIOS, INC.
Vagrant Story SQUARE ENIX (2009) LIMITED
Alundra MONKEY PAW GAMES INC.
Urban Chaos SQUARE ENIX LIMITED

The lineup for SCEE is quite nice and includes a majority of Square Enix Limited Final Fantasy games, including Final Fantasy VII. We’ve tested it out personally on games we’ve copied on to our PS3 before the PlayStation Store update and see the ability via Content Manager to copy many games on the list as well as games not on the list. We’ll keep you posted via Twitter @TurkReno.
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Personal thanks goes out to @Eramo88 for letting us know as soon as the update was live.

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Amazon, Sony Falsely Advertising the PS Vita

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The PlayStation Vita

The PlayStation Vita

After watching the PlayStation UStream today and in much anticipation of the PlayStation Vita, we were very disappointed to find out that the PS Vita being sold as a console capable of playing PSOne Classics won’t play PSOne Classics on day one. We covered this as a potential leak, but now it’s much more. Now you may disagree with our position, but we’ve got plenty of proof that what the sales ad Amazon displays for the PlayStation Vita is false advertising:

Vita can play PSP titles, minis, PS one classics, video and comics from the PlayStation Store

As I understand it, and I’ve consulted legal aid about this, the Vita should be able to play PSOne Classics as advertised. And as you can correctly assume, we’ve invested quite a bit of money into purchasing Final Fantasy and other Squaresoft / Square Enix PSOne Classics to play. All of them except for Legend of Mana and Chrono Cross.

We decided that this wasn’t fair. And it isn’t fair. You should complain. We did. To the FTC. What did we say to the FTC? Glad you asked.

I purchased the PS Vita First Edition Bundle with the anticipation that the console would be able to use PlayStation One Classics as it is advertised on this link: http://www.amazon.com/PlayStation-Vita-3G-Wi-Fi-Launch-Bundle/dp/B0071NH8B8/

Today Sony announced on their webcast that the PlayStation One Classics feature was “coming soon”. This, as I understand it, is false advertising. As stated on the LA County Department of Consumer Affairs, “If they say it will do it, it should do it. If the advertisement says a product can do something, it must be able to do it. For example, if a manufacturer advertises that their product can cure cancer, then it must be able to cure cancer.” I have made a significant investment into PlayStation One Classics on the PlayStation network that meets or exceeds the amount of money that I am paying for the PlayStation Vita. I feel ripped off as I have traded in my PSPGo to Amazon in the trust that the PSVita would do what it said it would do on Amazon.

Want an FTC Complaint Number to go look up our complaint? Sure. 35014256. Want to make your own FTC Complaint? Go ahead, make our day. And you should too because IT’S FALSE ADVERTISING. Need to see why? Here’s a link to the Los Angeles Department of Consumer Affairs website in which they state:

If they say it will do it, it should do it. If the advertisement says a product can do something, it must be able to do it. For example, if a manufacturer advertises that their product can cure cancer, then it must be able to cure cancer. The next time you’re at the grocery store, look in their vitamins section. Most dietary supplements won’t tell you what the product does unless they can find evidence to support it.

Sure. Get mad at us, call us “Microsoft Fanboys” (that was a really funny tweet, thanks), don’t alter the Amazon site to make our claim even more legitimate. It just sucks that we relied on a retailer and Sony to say one thing and then they promise it as a soon “eventuality”. Yeah. Eventually the Mayan calendar may be right too. Guess we’ll have to wait and see what Amazon and Sony does because they have TWO DAYS to fix this before it turns into a legitimate legal claim.

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2011: A Year In Review

As I sit back and write this retrospective on 2011, I realize just how much I stopped blogging when we got really busy. That’s our resolution: blog more. Easy resolution to keep, I suppose. Onto our stories of 2011!

2011 was a year full of surprises, failures, catastrophes, losses and laughter. We first covered 2011 with Alabama Moon, a movie based on a book by Watt Key about Moon Blake. Supposedly this film took place in Alabama, but it was filmed in Canada and Louisiana. Fail. Read More about Alabama Moon.

In March an Earthquake and Tsunami struck Japan causing manufacturing and supply outages from mega-corporations like Sony and Canon. It took almost the rest of the year just to get some of the companies back on their feet again while others just shifted jobs to other parts of the world. Read More about the Earthquake and Tsunami.

Later in March, the White House called for a “New” copyright crackdown law citing that they wanted the US Congress to fix “deficiencies that could hinder enforcement” of intellectual property laws. Netflix and Hulu later gained an unprecedented momentum (thus filtering out pirate traffic vs. legitimate traffic) and later in the year SOPA took center stage where the Internet went into a rage. Read More about the Call for Copyright Crackdown.

In Late April, the Sony PlayStation Network outage occurred near simultaneously to the Amazon EC2 outage. Foursquare, Quora, Amazon, Sony, Apple, Reddit, Hootsuite, Wattpad – all went down. The only group to naturally take credit was “Anonymous” for the lawsuit Sony rightfully brought against George Hotz aka GeoHot for purportedly jailbreaking the PS3. Read More about the Sony PSN Outage Timeline.

In mid-May, the US State Department drew attention to the effect Social Media was having on the Internet landscape stating that it had become a “must-have communication tool. The Wall Street Journal put out a graph that indicated that while only a fraction of millions of people had visited websites like Coca-cola and Starbucks, almost 10 to 15 times that had visited their Facebook pages. We outline the Social Media aspect and as the question “Is It Time to Shut Down Your Website” in this retrospective.

Steve jobs 2011

On October 5th, 2011, Apple co-founder, CEO and American icon Steve Jobs passed away. Noted with the creation of innovations such as the iPod and iPhone, millions remembered Steve Jobs by e-mailing Apple how he changed their lives. To this day, that memorial can be seen here: http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/. We reposted his Stanford Commencement Address that still inspires many in our blog “Remembering Steve Jobs“.

In mid-October, we announced the upcoming 3rd Annual South Alabama Film Festival which took place in Downtown Mobile November 4th through the 6th bringing commerce and Independent entertainment to the area. Movies such as Wrestling For Jesus, Missing Pieces, Prairie Love, Man of Deeds and The Reconstruction of Asa Carter were featured. Read More about the South Alabama Film Festival.

Later in October, we reposted an article by Tomer Tagrin citing Steve Jobs at the Apple World Wide Developers Conference in 1997 in which he stated “Focusing is about saying ‘No'”. The video of the original conference as well as the article by Tomer can be read here.

The iPhone 4s and iOS 5 launched in late October. As subscribers of Google Voice, we posted some handy instructions for those who wanted to manually swap over their line to a new device. Read More about Activating Google Voicemail on the AT&T iPhone 4s.

On Halloween, we got word that Google had chosen Mobile, Alabama to launch their Mobilize Mobile campaign. At first, we didn’t believe it because of the source announcing it. But it did later happen. Read More about the Rumor of Google Coming to Mobile Alabama.

Also on Halloween, we resounded our own feelings about the banking industry, specifically Regions Bank, charging from $3.00 to $7.50 for debit card usage. We also got pretty ticked off when a “friend” didn’t repay a loan and illustrate just how much Regions can doublespeak when they want to. Read More about Banking: The Importance of Not Bearing False Expectations.

November 1st, 2011 brought some joy to PS3 MMO players around the world when Sony Online Entertainment made DC Universe Online Free-To-Play. Read More about DC Universe going FTP here.

Exciting for us, and maybe not for you, but we had Hibachi On The Go open up in Daphne, Alabama opened in November. Pretty good Japanese food and at a more affordable price than a sit-down sushi restaurant. Read More about Hibachi on the Go. Love the seaweed salad.

Also in the beginning of November, after leaving the area Checkers, also known as Rally’s in other parts of the country, reopened at it’s founding location in Downtown Mobile. The first 100 people got free Checkers fries for a year. Read More about the free fry giveaway.

Amidst the earlier speculation, Google actually DID come to Mobile, Alabama. We got a chance to meet Jason Spero, @speroman on Twitter, Director of Google’s Mobile Division in the Americas, see a few of our competitors, and learn more about the Mobilize initiative. We posted an online schedule of events and a link to the Mobilize website here.

Late November, we posted an important blog about the lessons we’ve learned on Twitter. Namely we wanted to emphasize to engage your followers and those you find interesting. It’s a good read and we hope you find it helpful. Read more about Twitter Best Practices Learned With Hard Knocks.

Client Brad Sundberg, who’s list of achievements are longer than this post, of BSUN Media Systems posted a very helpful guide to the Do’s and Don’ts of Black Friday Shopping. It’s still good for next year so take a look.

Final fantasy vi

At the beginning of December, the long awaited Final Fantasy VI, also known as the SNES version of Final Fantasy III, launched on the PlayStation Network. Listed on multiple blogs, websites and magazines, this game has won top 10 and above in accolades for Must-Have RPGs. Read More about Final Fantasy VI.

The Thomas Hospital Foundation on December 9th announced that artwork by Elizabeth Goree was available to support the foundation during the holiday season. They also shared information on a Family Fun Project that anyone can do. Read more about the Thomas Hospital Foundation Christmas Greeting Program.

GoDaddy Sucks. And this is just Part 1. We illustrate what SOPA is, why GoDaddy was supporting it (we still think they are), and how it’s a major crux to the Internet. PR stunt by GoDaddy? Totally. Read More about GoDaddy Sucks and Here is Why – Part 1 – The SOPA Truth.

Just before Christmas, we shared a rather interesting and concerning video about how Siri, the newest feature of the iPhone 4s, could kill people. It wasn’t true, of course, but technology may concern people like this in the future. Consider yourself warned and Read More about When Apple’s Siri Kills People.

And in the continued SOPA controversy, Anonymous decides to declare war on the Sony PlayStation Network – again. Yawn. These kids are annoying, but if you want to Read More about Anonymous Declaring War on Sony for SOPA Support, be our guest.

Ending the news in December, barring nothing important happens between now and midnight, The day after Anonymous declares war on Sony more companies including Sony Electronics, Nintendo and Electronics Arts drop their support for SOPA. We also outline our stance on SOPA. Read More about Who Dropped SOPA.

From everyone at TurkReno Incorporated, Have a Happy New Year and a Prosperous 2012!

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Final Fantasy VI Now Available on the PlayStation Network

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Final fantasy vi

It’s finally here! Final Fantasy VI, also known as Final Fantasy III back in 1994 when it was first released on the SNES, launched today on the PlayStation Network. Many reviewers, including us, have this RPG on their top 10 favorite games of all time.

Square-Enix had this to say about the Square (aka SquareSoft) classic: “Winner of numerous awards and a fan favorite, Square Enix’s FINAL FANTASY® VI role–playing game is now available for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system via the PlayStation®Network.

First released on the PlayStation® as part of the FINAL FANTASY ANTHOLOGY in 1999, FINAL FANTASY VI captured the hearts and minds of gamers and critics alike, and has been lauded as one of the best in the series.”

The PlayStation Blog cited that Final Fantasy VI has “made it all to #9 on IGN’s top 100 games of all time back in 2007. And in 2009, Game Informer went one better and named it #8, while G4TV named it #1 in their “Top 5 Must-Own RPGs.” The music, the story, the characters and so much more makes this a game that we’ve all loved and are so glad to be able to enjoy it yet again on a modern console.

For many of us as gamers, this brings back tons of memories. It may even be the reason we started loving the Final Fantasy series to begin with. Memories of the infamous Maria and Draco opera scene, the “octopus royalty” Ultros or the villain, Kefka, stand out most. Perhaps it’s the artwork from Yoshitaka Amano or the music from Nobuo Uematsu. The list of what’s to like about this game goes on and on. And what’s even better is that this is the Final Fantasy Anthology version so it has all of the updated full motion video (FMV’s) that were added to the PlayStation version.

Some more history on the game from Wikipedia shows: The game was known as Final Fantasy III when it was first released in North America, as the original Final Fantasy III had not been released outside of Japan at the time. However, later localizations used the original title. Final Fantasy VI was originally directed by series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, but he eventually stepped down as director after becoming Vice President of the company. The director role was passed on to Yoshinori Kitase and Hiroyuki Ito. Yoshitaka Amano, a long-time contributor to the Final Fantasy series, returned as the image and character designer, while regular composer Nobuo Uematsu wrote the game’s score, which has been released on several soundtrack albums.

Not only that, but at Final Fantasy: Distant Worlds, a large majority of the music can be heard live. Dancing Mad, Terra’s Theme and the Maria and Draco Opera – beautiful pieces. If you haven’t seen it, you’re missing out. Don’t pass up the chance because it’s amazing.

Arnie roth final fantasy 6 opera distant worlds atlanta

For us, this makes our PSPGo even more enjoyable. We can now say that we’ve got Final Fantasy IV through IX on one handheld system. Hopefully they’ll launch Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy XII with the upcoming PlayStation Vita. That will be a good day. So go! Find yourself in the middle of one of the most enjoyable Role-Playing Games in history!

Final fantasy vi famicom box art

“Imperial Magitek Armor? Not even Narshe’s safe anymore!”

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The PlayStation Recap; Final Fantasy XIII Launches in the US

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Really, the biggest news of tonight is the launch of Final Fantasy XIII in the United States. It’s launched in the EST, but we’re still waiting on our copy in the CST.  Very excited to say the least.  In our own due diligence, we wanted to share with you at least an update of the PSN.  The ONLY thing we’ve seen from Sony for why the systems and PlayStation Network would not work is below.  We can’t but help to think it was a media stunt to gain more Twitter followers at this point:

The PlayStation Recap

Posted by Chris Morell // Senior Specialist, Social Media

  • UNCHARTED 2 Title Update 1.06 and Multiplayer Updates – We released an update to the multiplayer modes of UNCHARTED 2 earlier this week. The Title Update and live updates we pushed performed some additional balancing to player hitboxes, some weapons and one Booster that we felt was warranted after Title Update 1.05 was released. As part of these updates, we also pushed some geometry updates to prevent intentional glitching.
  • “Unleashed: The Art of Naughty Dog” art show opens this weekend – Twenty Naughty Dog (and UNCHARTED 2) artists are doing a group show of their art work at the Gnomon Gallery in Hollywood, California. The opening reception for the show is on the evening of Saturday, March 6, and will run for at least a month.
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PlayStation Network Down

PlayStation Network Down from 8001050F Error Code Recap

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As we had reported last night, the Sony PlayStation Network was (and still is) down because of an unexplained technical issue.  The issue causes an error code of 8001050F to appear upon launching any PS3 Blu-Ray Game, setting the clock back to 12/31/1999 (sounds a lot like a Y2K bug), trophy sync problems and downloaded content (DLC) to show that there are invalid copyright permissions.  This has caused a lot of headache among hundreds of thousands of gamers globally and still no update from Sony on their blog or their Twitter feed.

So, what is this? A PS3 Y2K bug? Possibly.  The error code “8001050F” is referenced to mean “Hardware failure. Cannot update firmware or connect to internet.” However, upon launching most games, players are getting a message stating “Registration of the trophy information could not be completed. The game will quit. (8001050F)”. Why would this be? Shouldn’t the PS3 work offline too? That’s what we thought. All of our offline DLC, such as Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII (PS1/PSP Playable) does not work at all. We can’t play single player games that shouldn’t rely on the Internet or not such as Heavy Rain. All we have to say is we hope that this is fixed today, and for sure before the 9th of this month, when Final Fantasy XIII releases.

Usually by this point, Sony would/should have replied…but what’s to be expected from a free network?  Our advice: If you haven’t turned on your PS3 yet, don’t. It’s tragic enough to read about and even worse to see for yourself. Last night, the topic of “playstation network crash” hit the #5 hottest trend on Google and now currently sits at #40. Wait until Sony updates their Blog or Twitter with “we’ve fixed the error”. We will keep you posted as well, so stay tuned.

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