technabob » final fantasy xiii

leona lewis (paid to say she) loves final fantasy xiii

lambert v. — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:04:20 +0000

…at least the part of the game where she says she “runs around the land all day”. I’m no marketing expert, but I just personally find it weird for Square Enix to use 24-year old British singer Leona Lewis to promote Final Fantasy XIII. Perhaps this is their way of luring new gamers into the somewhat varied and wildly inconsistent franchise? Or maybe this is a sign that Final Fantasy XIII is being targeted at casual gamers?

Or maybe this is just proof of how mainstream video games have become. Whatever the reason, it’s one more opportunity for us to catch a glimpse of the much-maligned RPG in action. Sit back and enjoy…

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[via Gamersyde]

final fantasy xbox 360 bundles on the way

range — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 01:47:24 +0000

Square Enix has just announced two new Xbox 360 bundles to commemorate the upcoming release of Final Fantasy XIII everywhere else but Japan, where people are already going bonkers for this game.

Both bundles are available for pre-order and will be released on March 9th. The Special Edition comes with a limited edition faceplate created by designer Tetsuya Nomura. It also has a 250 GB hard drive engraved with the name of the game, two controllers, and special downloadable content.

The Elite Bundle comes with a standard 120 GB hard drive and one wireless controller. Both naturally include a copy of Final Fantasy XIII and an Xbox 360. The U.S. edition of the 250GB bundle is priced at $399 (USD), but the 120GB version sounds like it’ll only be available in Europe (price unknown).

[via Max Console]

final fantasy xiii xbox 360 version inferior to ps3 version? [rumor]

lambert v. — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:44:59 +0000

As we previously mentioned, a Final Fantasy XIII touring bus patrolled around some areas of the United States, allowing people to test both the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the upcoming Square Enix RPG. An article at Sankaku Complex says that the publicity stunt generated both good and bad publicity, as some people have allegedly commented that the Xbox 360 version is graphically inferior to the one on the PS3.

A “real person” was quoted as saying: “I went to the Sunnyvale one today and got to play the 360 version. I am so very disappointed to see the difference in textures and detail of the 360 version vs. the PS3. =( I know it’s DVD vs. BD, but I didn’t think it would be that noticeable. My boyfriend told me it’s fine if I wanna stick with the 360 version, but he’s going for the PS3 one now”, while a “game journalist” (apparently game journalists are not real people) supposedly said, “As expected, the 360 version was noticeably less crisp than its PS3 counterpart, but it still ran nicely.” One of my Square Enix outsiders gave me this screenshot to show the disparity between the two versions:

My god! Look how much more blurry it is on the Xbox 360 version! FUUUUUUUU – nah I just drew a line in the middle of one whole screenshot. I don’t even know which version it’s from. Got you for a second didn’t I? Anyway, from what the non-real person games journalist said, the differences – if there are indeed any – are subtle.

I hope the Xbox 360 version isn’t as gimped as the PS3 Bayonetta; I’m glad the patch allowed me to install game data on my PS3 to lessen the loading times, but I’d be lying if I said that the screen tearing and pop-ups weren’t annoying or distracting.

[via Maxconsole]

final fantasy xiii shiva and odin action figures: summon them with your money

lambert v. — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 13:40:55 +0000

If there’s anything that the Final Fantasy series is known for, it’s character design. Notice I said known, not “famous” or “infamous”, because opinions among gamers go either way. Still, even if the human characters still come from the These Would Be Awesome for Cosplay School of Design, you’ve got to give it to the people who came up with the summons. Two women joining at the hip to form a motorcycle? The traditionally on horseback Odin as a horse himself? Definitely from the These Would Make for Awesome Action Figures School of Design. And that’s what we have here today, transforming Shiva…

….and Odin action figures.

Yes, the Snow action figure will also be available, but who’d want that over these two (or three)?

The Shiva action figures won’t be available until March, but you can already pre-order them at Play Asia for $220 (USD). The Odin action figure will ship much later, on June, but you can pre-order it at Big Bad Toy Store for $190 (USD). Still no sign of the beast thingy that transforms into a flying jaguar thingy Bahamut.

[via Sankaku Complex]

final fantasy xiii party bus hits the mean streets of san francisco

chris h. — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:55:39 +0000

Great, just what I needed – another reason to be jealous of the 1UP crew. It’s bad enough I don’t work for them, and that I don’t live in San Francisco. Now they’re being visited by something better than the tooth fairy, Easter bunny, and Santa Claus combined – the Final Fantasy XIII party bus? Not fair!

According to 1UP, the bus rolled up to their offices early this morning, no doubt to the surprise and delight of their resident RPG guru, Jeremy Parish. Inside of the bus the 1UP editors found four gaming stations – two PS3 and two Xbox 360 – and enough room for up to eight people. Since the English version of Final Fantasy XIII is about to drop in a little over a month (3.09.10) it’s a safe bet that they were treated to the finished product.

Insert giant jealous frowny face here.

Sadly, no formal itinerary for the bus has been posted, but you can follow the bus’ whereabouts via its twitter account (@PlayFFXIII).

[via 1UP]

horsey-version of ‘odin’ summon shows up at japanese toy show

chris h. — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:46:19 +0000

Someone over at Square Enix must be a fan of Transformers. I say this because for some reason, all Final Fantasy’s classic “summons” now have alternate vehicle modes in Final Fantasy XIII. For example, Shiva is now summoned as two ladies who combine to form some sort of lesbian motorcycle. I kid you not. And Odin, it seems, transforms into a horse that Lightning can ride.

Said horsey-version of Odin was on display last weekend in figure form at Chara-Hobby, a figure and hobby show that was held in Chiba, Japan. Also on display were fully painted figures of Lightning, Vanille, Hope, Snow, and Sazh. In addition to the cast of Final Fantasy XIII, Chara-Hobby featured all kinds of anime figures, including a slew of overly sexualized anime girls. I’m not so big on the anime scene, though, so I couldn’t tell you who they are or what they’re from, so you’ll have to take a look for yourself.

Okay, so Final Fantasy keeps getting weirder and weirder. The peculiar nature of Final Fantasy aside, I’m still pumped for Final Fantasy XIII. And while I’m not big on collecting collectables, I do want a shiny statue of Lightning to grace my work desk, ‘cause grrrl power rocks.

Sorry, I spent my summer watching all seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

[via Kotaku]

gigantic final fantasy characters storm los angeles

alisha k. — Mon, 25 May 2009 12:53:39 +0000

While this story would automatically be ten billion times more awesome if giant Final Fantasy characters (in the flesh) took over LA using Bahamut and the combined power of zippers and hair gel, I’ve gotta say that the big posters are pretty cool in their own right.

The gaming industry’s big show, E3, is about to descend upon Los Angeles, and it looks like Square Enix is pulling no punches in pushing Final Fantasy XIII. These characters are going to have thousands of hungry gamer eyes all over them for days. Looks like we really are going to see the return of the E3 that was all about showmanship (and scantily clad ladies).

[via Joystiq Playstation]