Register Now!

Media

  • scannerscanner
  • scannerscreengrab
  • modern materialistthe modern
    materialist
  • video61 frames
    per second
  • videothe remote
    island
  • date machinedate
    machine

Photo

  • sliceslice
    with m. sharkey
  • paper airplane crushpaper
    airplane crush
  • autumn blogautumn
  • brandonlandbrandonland
  • chasechase
  • rose & oliverose & olive
Scanner
Your daily cup of WTF?
ScreenGrab
The Hooksexup Film Blog
Slice
Each month a new artist; each image a new angle. This month: M. Sharkey.
ScreenGrab
The Hooksexup Film Blog
Autumn
A fashionable L.A. photo editor exploring all manner of hyper-sexual girls down south.
The Modern Materialist
Almost everything you want.
Paper Airplane Crush
A San Francisco photographer on the eternal search for the girls of summer.
Rose & Olive
Houston neighbors pull back the curtains and expose each other's lives.
chase
The creator of Supercult.com poses his pretty posse.
The Remote Island
Hooksexup's TV blog.
Brandonland
A California boy capturing beach parties, sunsets and plenty of skin.
61 Frames Per Second
Smarter gaming.
Date Machine
Putting your baggage to good use.

61 Frames Per Second

Square-Enix's Coup Brings Back Memories

Posted by Nadia Oxford

It was generally accepted that this year's subdued E3 wouldn't have much to offer in comparison to the big shiny blitzes that used to make game journalists hang themselves with laptop power cords. Goes to show what we know: things got exciting right off the bat with Square-Enix's announcement that Final Fantasy XIII will be coming to both the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360.

Oh, you youngsters understandably have ants in your pants over Square-Enix's sudden shift, but I've been down this road before. Yes sir, I remember when I was riding high on the thrill of Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger. Nintendo finally claimed supremacy in the sixteen-bit console wars thanks in part to their great RPGs, and we automatically assumed Square would develop for the N64---

Zzzzzz...

Zzzzz-- ! Ah! Huh? Oh, sorry. If I sit in the sun for too long, I doze off like an old dog.

I remember being torn over the announcement that Square was giving up on cartridges and would be developing for the CD-based Playstation. I had my money saved up for a Nintendo 64; I had swallowed all the propaganda and I was a Nintendo Fangirl Machine.

I'm amazed at how easily games have been taking me back ten, fifteen years lately. Between Mega Man 9, Chrono Trigger for the Nintendo DS and now Square-Enix acting naughty, I really feel like a kid again--

And Simple Minds just came on Last.fm! There you go!

Playstation 3 owners are doubtlessly feeling some of the mild anger and confusion I felt when Square ditched Nintendo. I like the idea of major Final Fantasy installments not belonging to any console in particular, but everyone knows I'm a Communist. "Aaaaaaah, Motherland!!!"

Related Links:

E3 Day One: Microsoft Sony, Final Fantasy and For Whom the Bell Tolls
Screen Test: Final Fantasy XIII Versus
Turning Japanese: Microsoft's Latest-Ditch Effort to Win the East


+ DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT

Comments

Derrick Sanskrit said:

What's worse, I think a lot of us remember the 3D renders of characters for the next Final Fantasy game being shown off back when Nintendo was hyping the Ultra 64. The move to Sony's Playstation, while sensible from a technological standpoint, was a real slap in the face to the long-time Nintendo supporters. This move today just reeks of cash money. With all the talk about getting every drop of awesome they can squeezed onto a Blu-Ray disc, the prospect of then porting that game over to XBox 360 is just... well... I think I need a day or two to calm down before I react any further.

July 14, 2008 10:24 PM

xxsodaboy said:

It's really difficult for me to get excited about Final Fantasy XIII on either system. I enjoyed much of Final Fantasy XII, but it seems to me that we're moving toward the point where every enemy encounter in the game is just going to be one long, drawn-out cinematic (see: Quickenings from XII). Don't get me wrong, it'll probably look amazing, but...Sometimes I miss the five-second dome of Ultima from Final Fantasy VI.

July 15, 2008 1:54 AM

Demaar said:

I reckon it's the best news ever. It's totally unlike Square's "defection" to Sony with FF7, since the PS3 is still getting FF13 AND FFvs13 is still exclusive.

I'll be getting the game on PS3, but my 360 owning mates that can't afford one will now be able to play the game, and I'm happy for them because of that :)

July 15, 2008 7:24 AM

in

Archives

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 Hooksexup, 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's prized possession is a 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.


Send tips to


Tags

VIDEO GAMES


partners