G4M3Z

So hey, I'm at work and it's the first week of school holidays. Which means there's not much support work going on, and all the project work I'm involved in doesn't start until next week. So anyway, being that I have very little to do at the moment, I thought I'd just share with you all some of the gaming goodness going on in my life.

1.) PSP it commeth.
I'm getting a PSP. This is very exciting for me, to say the least. And do you know what the number one selling point for me is? This piece of w00t will interface with my Playstation 3 when I get one. Funny, hey. I don't know why, but that's what I'm most excited about. Moving on from that however, I think whoever came up with the PSP concept has done a brilliant job. I think the only thing the design may be lacking is a built-in camera, as the "pictures" component that is so heavily ingrained in the marketing (music, movies, pictures, games) really relies on you to take pictures on your camera, and then transfer them onto your PSP. That is, of course, unless you have a Sony camera. Then you just move data around on your Memory Stick.
Still, one can't complain about the l33tn3ss that is the PSP. I'll say more about it once I've got it and had a play. I imagine it'll replace my PDA as my tech-toy de jour.

2.) Final Fantasy XII
I did some hunting around today, and found that most Australian gaming sites are still listing the release date for this game as some time late in 2005. Being that it's mid-September, that makes it a pretty exciting prospect. However, knowing that Square-Enix have never released a Final Fantasy game without bumping the release date at least a couple of times, I guess I shouldn't get my hopes up too much.
I really have some strange affinity with Final Fantasy games. I first discovered the franchise when Final Fantasy VII was the newest installment. It took me a while to get my head around the whole turn-based fighting bizzo, but once I understood it I got totally engrossed in the story. When FF8 came out, I played it solidly until I finished it. Same deal with 9. And with 10. When FFX-2 came out, I began my same playing regime, only to then discover that this particular game had multiple endings dependent on events in the story. I of course had to get the perfect ending, so I ditched my 40 hours of gameplay thus far, and started again - completing the game with every possible quest/sidequest done. This took me about 18 months, during which time my first child was born. I swear, when he's 15 he's going to be asking me why he has vague recollections of fighting an enormous sphinx-like beast in the desert about 150 times.
I should mention that I've never played FFXI. It requires a monthly subscription and is about $30 a month. I just never had that kind of money, and so gave it a miss. It's rather a hole in my collection, but then again - so is FF3. Apparently you just can't buy it. Bummer.
Summary: I love Final Fantasy. It rates below coffee, but above (maybe surprisingly) anime on the Justin scale of things that I love.

3.) Kingdom Hearts 2
It's odd that I'm so drawn to this game, seeing as how it's aimed at an audience somewhat younger then me, and who have far less penis. Kingdom Hearts is a combined Disney/Square-Enix effort containing Disney characters and cuted-up versions of the various Final Fantasy characters. It's really aimed at 15y.o. Japanese girls I'm sure, but I love it to bits. The story is well thought out, and the battle system is really quite good. It brings that whole "hack and slash" element to the RPG genre. Hack and slash. You really can't ask for much more.

4.) Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
While not technically a game, this CG movie is the most hard-corely cool thing to happen in games in quite a while. The DVD with English dub is due out in December, but I've already seen a fan-subbed DVD rip from Japan, and it ROCKS. This movie has some of the coolest fight scenes I've ever seen. And while the story probably could have used a touch more depth, it's more then adequate enough to keep my interest throughout the hour and a half jaunt into the FF7 universe. I mean as anyone who has played this game will know, Sephiroth would have to be the "best" villain ever seen in a game (yes, he does return in the movie), and the trickery they do with Cloud's Buster Sword in this movie is amazing. The transition from game to movie is done in fantastic style.
I think one of the real winning factors for me in this movie was the way they made everything familiar. The movie is set entirely in locations from the game, and the vast majority of the music is rearrangements of all the well-known themes. In particular, I laughed when they incorporated the battle Victory theme (which wouldn't suit the dark tone of the movie at all) by making it the ringtone on a character's phone. Very well done. Yay for Uematsu-san.

Well, this post is actually about a week and a bit old now, so I'm going to stop there and post it as-is. Yay for gaming. I really can't get enough of it. Mmmmm.... gaming. Just below coffee...