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"Oops, Excalibur 2 is from FF9. I go through RPG very fast and you'd not even come close to hitting the required time in anything that remotely resembles normal play."

Except that, well... have you seen the official (North American) guide for FFIX? Visit PlayOnline.com and enter "YGAWDY" to learn more about it!

Video games have some truly good music, especially RPGs. But yeah, what a bad idea it would be to have an orchestrated video game concert. I mean, who in their right mind would attend such a thing? Obviously they are never sold out, right?

Video games have some truly good music, especially RPGs. But yeah, what a bad idea it would be to have an orchestrated video game concert. I mean, who in their right mind would attend such a thing? Obviously they are never sold out, right?

Video games have some truly good music, especially RPGs. But yeah, what a bad idea it would be to have an orchestrated video game concert. I mean, who in their right mind would attend such a thing? Obviously they are never sold out, right?

I've always loved handhelds. Due to the whole idea that a handheld system is designed both for quick sessions (on a bus, for instance) and long playing periods (such as on a plane or in a hotel room), I think handhelds force developers to adhere to what I consider the ideals of video gaming: both instant playability and depth that inspires replay.

Obviously, puzzle games are the perfect match for this. I don't quite agree with some of 1up's puzzle game highlights. Tetris and Klax are true classics, but I'm not convinced that Meteos and Lumines are of the same calibre. Meteos times every game mode except for one, tilting it far in favour of quick sessions. It just isn't that enjoyable for a long period. Lumines falls victim to the exact opposite - the time attack modes aren't much fun but the normal mode is very addictive. The only problem with normal mode is that a typical single session often lasts more than half an hour!

Puzzle games aside, some of their choices and omissions are quite odd.

Donkey Kong on Game Boy is an expanded version of the arcade original, with 100 puzzle-heavy levels. It turns a classic arcade game into an even better home game. I think it's one of the finest games ever made. Mario vs Donkey Kong is a pseudo-sequel to the Game Boy one, but it doesn't quite live up to its predecessor. It's decent but far from being a true classic.

Final Fantasy Adventure, also on Game Boy, is Seiken Densetsu 1 renamed to cash in on the Final Fantasy name. Seiken Densetsu was also renamed for the western market, to Secret of Mana. Yes, Secret of Mana is a sequel to this Game Boy game. And this Game Boy game is the best action/rpg the system has to offer - edging out even The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (which is also a fantastic game and a must-own). Too bad the GBA remake, Sword of Mana, was awful.

Besides Klax, the Atari Lynx had quite a few other arcade ports. Roadblasters is a lot of fun. Robotron 2084 isn't perfect (due to the Lynx lacking a way to duplicate the original dual-joystick control system) but is still decent. S.T.U.N. Runner looks fantastic on the handheld and is the best home port of the game we ever received, even if it does use sprite scaling instead of polygons. Speaking of sprite scaling, Blue Lightning is an Afterburner clone with better graphics than any of the pre-32X home ports of Afterburner. The gameplay measures up, too. Chip's Challenge, another original design for the system (though it was ported to plenty of other systems eventually) is a very fun action/puzzle game like The Adventures of Lolo. It also has a geeky love story plot that I'm sure most Slashdotters will appreciate :)

The Game Gear was perhaps the most lacking of all mainstream handhelds (ignoring utter shit like the Gamate and Watara Supervision), but even it had some very good games. Crystal Warriors and Shining Force II: The Sword of Hajya are an excellent pair of strategy-RPGs with amazing depth for 8-bit handheld games. Bubble Bobble had a great port on GG (not

Why not just play a turn-based RPG? There are a lot of them to choose from. Final Fantasy X has been out for years and STILL holds up. Dragon Quest VIII is coming out soon, that one will be fantastic. Turn-based RPGs, once you get sued to them, are a very acceptable alternative to text games, for those who want a non-realtime gaming experience, for their busy (or often-interrupted) schedules.

That all being said, I have killed a LOT of time with Zorks and other Infocom stuff on my old PDA.

I'm still waiting for it to hit the $99 mark myself... There's only one game I want to play on it...so I can wait.

According to the Dear Friends website this concert is going to go on "tour" in America.

So far it's hit Los Angeles, California and Chicago, Illinois. Apparently is scheduled to be shown at San Francisco, California on March 7th.

And... that's it. No more dates are listed.

So - uh, is this tour ever going to actually tour? Or is it really hitting two locations (since this Chicago concert marked the "beginning" of the tour, after the success of the Los Angeles one)? I've gone searching, and so far those two concerts (Chicago and San Fransisco) are the only two I could find.

I'd love to go if they ever hit the northeast, but so far, it doesn't sound like they're going to. In fact, it sounds like this is a two-stop tour, and then that's it. There's really no information on what's coming up.

Info On The Black Mages

According to a press release regarding the concert in Los Angeles, Uemastu "creat[ed] the score for the two hour concert... [f]eaturing a full orchestra and a 32-person choir."

Or, you can ask Uematsu at his Square-Enix homepage.

According to a press release regarding the concert in Los Angeles, Uemastu "creat[ed] the score for the two hour concert... [f]eaturing a full orchestra and a 32-person choir."

Or, you can ask Uematsu at his Square-Enix homepage.

Here's a link to more information about the first concert in LA earlier this year.

For those of you who are more musically inclined, you can actually purchase sheet music of piano scores of his work.

Since Nobuo Uematsu, composer of the Final Fantasy series' music, has his own band: http://www.square-enix-usa.com/uematsu/black_mages /index.html, does Squaresoft own the music he is playing?

Ummmm, not even close. Consoles have a very strong presence in the RPG market, and console RPG's most likely outsell PC RPG's several times over.

It was the main premise behind Final Fantasy Tactics.

The MMORPG genre, across all platforms, has become an incredibly crowded and competitive marketplace. In response, Microsoft Game Studios has decided.

READ:

The MMORPG genre, across all platforms, has become an incredibly crowded and competitive marketplace. In response, Microsoft Game Studios has decided that 'True Fantasy Online' might be too blatant a rip-off of other RPGs from more experienced competition, especially given that the everyone's favorite pseudo-PC has had such great success in the exclusive RPG genre

C'mon, with a name like "True Fantasy Online", you're pretty much begging Japan to laugh at you. I guess this sort of adds insult to injury with regard to acceptance in Japan. But at least our Japanese brethren have an equally anticipated and deep game to play 'til Halo 2 comes and dies on a cross for our sins (or whatever ailment the Xbox evangelists are proclaiming it will heal)

I dont play any more console games cause they just plain suck.

Thank you, total fringe lunatic who obviously doesn't have children or even really remember what it was like to be a child.

You know, some of us have no problem dissociating the product being produced from the political motives of the people producing it. I'm not defending Disney's political agenda-- I hate infinite copyright as much as the next geek worth his NaCl-- but for the love of god, don't deny kids the chance to be kids just because you don't like who the producer voted for. If you're going to find something wrong with the Disney ouvre of work, look for it in the content and not in the context. Context changes and is subjective. Show me hard evidence that a Disney production-- not a law they endorsed, not a bill they lobbied for against, but an actual, released to the public (or not) work with the Disney name-- was harmful to the people at large and children in particular, and I'll immediately destroy anything of theirs I own. Till then, keep your psychotic viewpoint away from my cousins, nieces, and nephews.

Oh, and you should play Kingdom Hearts to promote one of the most US-friendly video game producers today.

Thank you, total fringe lunatic who obviously doesn't have children or even really remember what it was like to be a child.

You know, some of us have no problem dissociating the product being produced from the political motives of the people producing it. I'm not defending Disney's political agenda-- I hate infinite copyright as much as the next geek worth his NaCl-- but for the love of god, don't deny kids the chance to be kids just because you don't like who the producer voted for. If you're going to find something wrong with the Disney ouvre of work, look for it in the content and not in the context. Context changes and is subjective. Show me hard evidence that a Disney production-- not a law they endorsed, not a bill they lobbied for against, but an actual, released to the public (or not) work with the Disney name-- was harmful to the people at large and children in particular, and I'll immediately destroy anything of theirs I own. Till then, keep your psychotic viewpoint away from my cousins, nieces, and nephews.

Oh, and you should play Kingdom Hearts to promote one of the most US-friendly video game producers today.

Final Fantasy XI Online is played by people all over the world, from Japan to Europe to North America, and is very successful. There are even some (crude) translation tools in the game, so Japanese and North Americans can play together. I'm actually quite surprised this game hasn't gotten more press here on slashdot.

But FFXI is not the only game with success like that. The entire Final Fantasy series has been popular in both cultures. It is quite possible to develop games that the whole world can enjoy, and Square Enix has done just that. And to top it all off, the game is cross platform (both PC and PS2 players are in the same world[s]); something that has never been done before.

This is the best game ever. Ever. You hear me? Go buy it now and meet me on the Phoenix server (Ganiman, Tarutaru RDM).

Obviously you're not looking very hard.

games that have no personality

I mean, really, you sound like a whiny film student...

Obviously you're not looking very hard.

games that have no personality

I mean, really, you sound like a whiny film student...

Erm, theyre Square Enix now, or as I like to call them, 'Squeenix'.

I wonder what a square Enix looks like... in fact, for that matter... I wonder what an Enix looks like, even if its not square...

I would like to see the origianl version of secret of mana released for the GBA. The fact that it was a multiplayer RPG it would make a good game that you could link up and play with friends. I remember having a lot of fun playing that game with two other people and all of us being able to control our own character. I have a feeling that this installment won't be quite up to snuff for Secret of Mana fans since it lacks a multiplayer feature

There's also Nobuo Uematsu's official site, brought to you by Square-Enix and the man himself.

I wish they'd quit with the all-sex games and make more games in the 3rd person Adventure Genre.

Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb comes to mind as an adequate adventure game, with the bonus of a really hot chinese chick named Mei Ying. And no, Indy couldn't keep his eyes off her either. :-)

Sure, sex sells, and I understand the whole point is to make money in the video game world. But if I want eye candy I can get it for free off the internet, and they're fully nude, too... none of this bikini stuff. And none of this 40 bucks a pop to see two bikini girls fight each other. I'd rather spend my money eslewhere.

And what about Final Fantasy X2? There's another adventure game with a few cute chicks. In both of these games, the bikini-clad girls just ADD TO the game instead of being the WHOLE FOCUS.

My two cents.

If you hated the original Final Fantasy, you might want to check out Sword of Mana.

Its basically the same game redone on the GBA-SP.

What's that? Crystal?

Wrong link. I actually meant:

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

BIG difference. :)

.. was when I bought my son the guide book for one of the later Final Fantasy games ( I believe it was FF9). The book was full of the typical hints, tips and tricks, but all of the key information was missing. For all of the really important stuff you needed to take a code number listed in the guide and input it into Square's playonline.com website (which required registration, of course).

If I have to go to the computer to get the information anyway, why not just use one of the free faqs available? Why pay my money for a slick, colorful guide with little valuable information? I am pretty sure that was the last guide book I ever purchased.

In the future they will probably just skip the printed material altogether and charge you $5.95 to access the same information on their website.

They (Square-Enix) are having sign ups for beta testing Final Fantasy XI on the PS2, so I would figure that they are going to be bringing the HDD out over here eventually.