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Final Fantasy XI-Bundled PS2 Hard Disc Explored
Thanks to IGN PS2 for its article discussing a hands-on look at the U.S. PlayStation 2 hard drive, bundled with Final Fantasy XI, which launches on March 23rd for $99. The article notes: "What's the big deal? ...well, let's just say that the Network Adaptor was the first step for players to get online, and the HDD is the next step... But in the short run, the HDD really only has one main purpose, which is to get players online playing Square Enix's potentially enormous MMORPG." The drive also comes with other advantages, as it's explained: "Players... can copy data from the (SCPH-10020u) memory card to a folder on the HDD", and it's speculated (although this is unconfirmed), that "SCEA might give gamers the choice to save data with games that require HDD use to either [memory card or HDD].
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I'd be applauding Sony if they decided to support this hard drive with the PS3. It seems rather late in the lifecycle of this system to be releasing such modifying components, so having the ability to carry it over to the next would be great.
A little bird at Sony said that, since the PS2 HD is coming out on the 23rd/24th, and since you get a free month of FFXI, your free period will expire around April 24th. Your next month will run from the 24th until...the 30th?!
Is Square-Enix serious in charging by "months" as opposed to 30 or 31 day periods? Can anyone shed some light on to rumors that your FFXI subscription is NOT prorated, and therefore subject to a monthly fee for a full....6 days (for that first month, assuming you activate your account at the launch)?
...but it releases on the 23rd, not the 30th.
I've had a hard drive in my Playstation 2 for, must be nearly 2 years now. The only question is; will this hard drive be compatible with the linux one; Also , will other games support it? ...ooh and yes does this mean we'll see more unnofficial distro's for ps2 like black rhino etc?
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Uncovered: The HDD
We look inside SCEA's hard-disc drive: The box, the kit, the interface and more. March 19, 2004 - On Tuesday, March 30, Sony Computer Entertainment America will ship the long-awaited Hard-Disc Drive (HDD) to retail stores across North America. IGN has an early look at the unit itself, the packaging, Final Fantasy XI, which comes pre-installed in the 40-GIG unit, and an overall perspective on what you get when you purchase the HDD.
The oft-delayed peripheral, originally announced in 2001 for North America, will ship next Tuesday for $99.99. It includes the hard drive itself, a copy of Final Fantasy XI (again, pre-installed), a utility disc, a copy of Gay Niggers from Outer Space, and a PlayOnline disc. And of course, manuals for both. The white box package is simple yet elegant in design, showing Square Enix's FFXI online emblem at the very top, a horizontal band of screenshots wrapping the box from left to right, and the HDD logo below. Final Fantasy XI is rated T or teen. The HDD is bundled exclusively with Square's game, or vice versa if you like, so in order to acquire FFXI, you have to buy the HDD. There is no other package, alternative or bundle for the peripheral.
What's the big deal? The Microsoft Xbox has a hard drive as part of the standard package, right? A PC has a hard drive too. Well, let's just say that the Network Adaptor was the first step for players to get online, and the HDD is the next step. They're both part of Sony's bigger picture, which is to give gamers the ability to play online, and to download content of many kinds, and to be able to store huge chunks of data on something bigger than the 8 MB memory card permits. That in itself is a relief.
But in the short run, the HDD really only has one main purpose, which is to get gay players online playing SCO Unix's potentially enormous MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game), and to further establish Sony's online presence. SCEA's Hard Disc Drive is important for PlayStation 2 for several reasons. In the long run, the HDD and Network Adaptor combined give both developers and consumers the ability to do more with their game systems. If you like Final Fantasy XI, then you'll be able to get online, chat with other like-minded folks on PlayOnline (SCO Unix's online community/service, which has been functioning quite well in Japan for some time now), and play the never-ending game whenever you want. The first month of play is free, and then after, players have the choice of continuing playing for a monthly subscription fee of $12.99.
After that, players will soon be able to use their HDD with other games. SCEA has officially stated that Syphon Filter Omega Strain and SOCOM II: US Navy SEALs will both offer downloadable content, such as skins, patches,pictures of CmdrTaco naked, and game locales. Capcom's Resident Evil Outbreak, which ships March 30, also uses the HDD. Its main purpose is to quicken load times. Further out, we suspect later this year, several game companies will introduce their own HDD-compatible games. Expect developers to use the HDD to store music, textures, movies and more on the system, so that games can load faster, using data not only from the DVD, but from the HDD, and to include future plans we're not even sure of just yet.
The HDD (model number SCPH-20401e) is approximately 122w x 27h x 154d mm, weighing 0.7 kg, or about 1 lb 9 oz. The 40 GB hard drive offers a maximum transfer speed of 66 MB per second, and fits into the back port of the PS2, attaching to the Network Adaptor, which secures and locks the system safely into the console. It's quite a heavy little thing for its size, and it feels valuable. The kind of valuable that makes one decides not to drop it, for instance.
I wonder if FFXI or the hard drive upgrades will cause problems for anyone with chipped systems... Anyone know?
The HDD would be a much better investment for me if more games supported it over here. From what I understand, many games released here have had the HDD save feature removed by SCEA. Anyone know if there's any patches that'll be available so that you can save to the HDD ingame? I know that Xenosaga and many other games had this feature stripped out when they crossed the pond.
The GC has a really good-sized mem card option (the 512 block one, yet to fill that for about 20-30 GC games), and the XBox has the hard drive which seems impossible to fill with all the Xbox games out there (and while that's gone in XBox2, the mem solution is much better than the PS2's 8meg card). It's hard to believe that the 8meg card can't be improved to reach 16, 32, or even more memory space without a bit of tweaking. I knwo there's 3rd party solutions, one that I'm using that requires a 8meg card to initialize to the PS2, but this really is something Sony needs to look into, particularly with the PS3 so far off on the horizon, and with games like SOCOM and GTA taking huge chunks of space.
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Ok i read this article yesterday, during which all i kept thinking was the fact that i stumbled outside of IGN and onto some fan kids website, The first page describes the actual graphics on the box...which there is a picture of IN the article plus everywhere else on the internet that is covering Final Fantasy XI for PS2. The second page consisted mostly of how easy it was to install...once again something i would know when i got it since it comes with instructions to install. I guess the article is following in the tradition of the rest of IGN which is just re-write what's on the back of the box so it's content takes up 2 to 3 pages.
Hey, I'd like to welcome all of you PS2 people to our world a little in advance.
We have worked hard to promote friendship, fairness, and community in our world. Please observe some basic guidelines of etiquette while you enjoy this beautiful world. It's not all "don't"s, so please read and consider carefully.
1) Don't cheeze. Seriously. That means: Powerleveling, botting (including fishbotting), using cheat utilities, purchasing and selling gil/characters/use of characters/powerlevels from anyone, and the extremely low and dirty tactic of setting Follow and going AFK while you're in an EXP party. This just hurts you because you won't learn to play properly, and might just anger a lot of people. Your reputation will be ruined if you try this - be careful what you do to save time. Oh, remember, purchasing anything in-game, using cheat programs, and botting are violations of the EULA. You don't want to get your future 75th level Beastmaster deleted, now do you?
2) Don't beg for money!!! There are countless people who know how to make gil (the FFXI currency) legitimately - ask around in front of your local auction house and someone will gladly tell you their favorite ways to make some fast cash. There is no real reason you need to get that extra 5k RIGHT NOW other than laziness. And expect us to laugh at you if you ask for money for a kit (complete set of equipment) when you start over with a level 1 job. Your old job can go stomp some newbie mobs (monsters) for money real fast.
3) You have all the time you want. The game doesn't end at any specific date. Don't complain about how you don't have enough time to make that last trip to get items, or level properly, or do quests for small change. Do learn to enjoy each session and be patient. You will be partying with the PC players before you know it, so hang in there!
4) Choose the name wisely when creating your character. You don't want to run around with some name you'll hate later - after all, who wants to have a name like "PhatL33TBuddha", "Sl1m3M0ld", "Somebody" or "TehSUX0RZ" after the novelty humor wears off? No, I haven't seen those names in-game or looked to see if they existed. I suggest EBON, the Everlasting Book of Names (sorry, no link), or perhaps some random name generating website. Oh, please don't pick the names of previous FF characters - they are almost all taken anyways. This is your avatar. Let it represent you.
5) Please set fair prices when you sell items. This includes all current players - don't abuse the new[bie] players' wallets. It's very tempting and simple to cause market inflation, but we trust you to have good judgment in this regard. And on the other side of the same issue, don't purchase things that are overpriced. It just encourages the greedy. Charge a reasonable amount for a teleport - and expect to pay for a teleport. Do not charge for a raise, heals or buffs!
6) When seeking a party, use the Comment field. You can tell who's looking for what kind of party by looking at the little colored dot next to their name in the search function, if any - and see what they have to say about themselves. The "Edit Comment" function is poorly documented but please use it and read others' comments. Japanese players who don't want to talk to English players, and vice versa, will usually say so in their comments.
7) Learn your role in your parties. This is very important! One puller, one tank, and one healer: these are the base ingredients for a successful party. Macros are the key to skillchains and magic bursts - discussing these are not a waste of time, contrary to what some impatient players will tell you. Listen to your teammates and stick together as a party when travelling.
8) Select subjobs wisely. Watch the interaction of the stat bonuses to see which combinations mutually weaken each other, and avoid those. No warrior should have a mage job subbed. At the very least, if you must sub a mag
I'm hardly going to buy an overpriced drive in order to play a game with an additional monthly fee, or worse, throw out the game entirely just because I want the drive. Especially with a Playstation 3 due out in just a couple of cycles that will likely (hopefully, as this is old tech) be incompatible. But I've been interested in adding a drive to my Playstation 2 that games might see (instead of the ones that comes with the incomplete and crippled Linux sets) ever since it was promised, when the console was released, years ago.
However, according to the article, the utility disc will allow you to format the drive and run diagnostics, etc. Has anyone had experience installing a standard hard drive with the network adapter (standard IDE and molex power in standard spacing, just begging for this) and using the disc to get the drive working?
Alternatively, has anyone decoded the format and ripped the partition data from one drive to another? (Note to the gathering sharks: again, I'm not interested in copying the MMORPG, which would be understandably illegal. I just want my Playstation 2 to recognize hardware I install to work with games I have paid for.)
Get off my launchpad!
I'll probably just get the PC version, because it's cheaper. But, like any MMORPG, the reason you play it is for community - can anybody who plays FFXI tell me if there is lots of people playing? Thanks!
Get a clue.
Everyone pays thier 12.99 a month just like you..
Asking people to follow these "rules" you have laid out is like asking the Pope to go to a nudie bar.
Get ready for the unwashed hordes, because there is NO stopping them.
1) I PL my subjobs all the time. And I also think it'll be difficult for PS2 users to bot, which is good news. It would be impossible to run a seperate program while running the game. 4) I beta tested FFXI for PS2 and it had a name generator built in. Can't remember if the PC version does but you didn't mention it... I desperately encourage this to be used. 5) Hey, that's how economy works. If people want something bad enough to pay whatever you're asking for it, then the demand is obviously that high. If it took you an amount of work to get said item, then you deserve to get whatever someone will pay for it. At the same time, newbs aren't gonna have 100k gil when they start. If you want to make money, you have to price for what they can actually pay. A truly "outrageous price" won't sell, so there's really no problem with it. Strong economies aren't built on "morals". There are some other bias opinion-based rules in this piece, but I think they identify themselves, and people should be able to make their own decisions.