| Set On Stun |

so close -- yet so far

We’ve all seen the sweet bundles Microsoft has been serving up since the COD:MW2 special edition. It was the ultimate “I Want That” console. Now spring is hear and we’ve got the FF13 special edition console and next month Splinter Cell comes out with another special edition bundle. In each instance the console comes with a 250 gig hard drive. So of course the question becomes ….

“Why can’t I get that separately like the 100 gig one?”

Well if you believe the rumor mill then hope springs eternal as of March 23. Unfortunately Microsoft refuses to confirm this rumor. In fact the word from Aaron Greenberg last month in a Joystiq interview was this,

“We did it with the Modern Warfare bundle, which, as people know, was a huge success, completely sold out. We’re excited to bring it back with the limited edition Final Fantasy bundle.” But that whole limited edition element is  “part of what makes it special,” he said.

To get directly to the point — “We’re always evaluating but for now we feel like the 120 is serving us very well as the standard offering, and then having the 250 as a limited edition is a good balance.”

250 gigs? You want it then you have to buy this!

Well gee Aaron that’s a bit unfair isn’t it? Special editions make them balanced? C’mon Greenberg! Especially when you consider the truckload of content Xbox live now offers and will continue to do so. It’s not entirely inconceivable that a gamer could fill that hard drive with full games (rather than own the disc version) movies, demos, TV shows and music. So for Microsoft to say that the only way you can get this is to buy one of these special edition console is in a word — stupid.

So to you Microsoft — WTF!

By the way, you may come across alleged versions of a 250 gig on some random sites but they’re bunk. Add to that you have a company that won’t allow you to say go out and buy a Western Digital 500 G external hard drive and use that for your console and well, once again, it’s stupid.  In a culture of consumerism wouldn’t it make sense to make it available so that you can then offer more stuff for people to then add to their monster hard drives? With that much space why you wouldn’t think twice about downloading GTA or Fable. But alas for now we’ll either have to shell out and extra 100 for a whole new console or be happy with the 120 gig.

As in most games of this period, the boxart looked better than the game

As we approach the release of Final Fantasy XIII it’s hard to imagine all this started …wait for it .. in 1987.

It’s still Square Enix’s most successful franchise and has been made and remade so many times (the first game was remade and repackaged with FFII) that at some point and time in the last 23 years even if you’ve never played this game, you’ve heard or seen some reference to it. The visual presentations and characters may have changed but the game at it’s core has maintained a consistency like no other game before or after basically laying the groundwork for other RPGs to follow. Confusing at times to keep track of,  all the FFs are not sequels but individual stories is this candy colored/bananas Chocoba filled universe.

But how did it all begin you ask?

The very first game debuted on the SNES in 1990 (Japanese version came out in ‘87) and the pitch if you want to jump in the Delorean for a minute (or now the Hot Tub) sounded something like this …

“So we have these light warriors and they have these, um orbs, and their are these — four fiends or bad dudes who make the orbs dark. So the warriors have to travel around fight them, make their orbs brighter and also save the world.” And scene.

Did I mention it was 1990?

Anyway this was considered a graphics masterpiece back then (laugh if you must) although the game itself involved a lot of meandering and turned based fighting where you never actually saw any fighting other than numbers changing. Yet with this type of gameplay the die was cast for RPG elements we now take for granted. Things like leveling up, magic powers, regular attacks, XPs (experience points), HPs (hit points) yatta, yatta, yatta.  If these things sound familiar it’s because this game was the major influence in this type of role playing becoming the norm.

This universe filled with all kinds of creatures, magical folk and even robots took place on three different maps (or continents depending on how geeked out you want to be) where you roamed around during this adventure. You engaged battles, talking to people and getting clues, finding dungeons and building your inventory, finding treasure and so forth. An all consuming  game, it took a huge amount of time to complete and involved not just adventuring, but character and party management as well.  Even the turn based fights involved a lot of assigning weapons and skills that would be best suited for each battle. So scoff if you will at how ridiculous it looked games like World of Warcraft and Mass Effect owe their existence to this franchise.

Final Fantasy was more than just ahead of its time, it was a pioneer developing  key videogame elements like a character development, team management, an actual story, and even musical score. The epitome of a long lasting franchise, it’s one of those games that if you played it back then, you would now talk about it with wonder and awe.

In honor of Black History Month this week’s Flashback will take a look, or try to, at black characters in videogames. Specifically playable characters that weren’t just NPCs or cast members in cut scenes. Guess what? There aren’t that many.

Barrett Wallace — Final Fantasy VII 1997

seriously -- look at me -- would you mess with this?

Did you see his arm? It’s a Gatling gun. C’mon! Former leader of AVALANCHE Mr. Wallace although not a big fan of Cloud decides to fight the good fight anyway. He was an ornery dude.

CJ (a.k.a. Carl Johnson) GTA: San Andreas (2004 — the game was set in 1992)

I dare you to race me -- I will beat you

Not only was San Andreas on of the best of the series, but Carl Johnson was the main character in this GTA set in San Andreas in the early 90s. Fresh out of Liberty City lockup he returns to his beloved hometown only to be thrown right back into the life he left behind.  Actually in terms of games, San Andreas had a primarily black cast. Of course they were gang bangers and criminals but hey a whole game, that’s something right?

Sergeant Johnson: Halo (2001 — 2007 {posthumously 2009})

Don't ever call me Avery -- I will shoot you

Correction: Master Sergeant Avery Johnson. One of the NPCs of the Halo series for all three of the games, Johnson was the gravel-voiced mean green military leader who had some great lines and was was a consistent character throughout the franchise. Unfortunately he met his demise in Halo 3 (sorry for the two people who have never played it) but he then became a playable character last year in Halo: ODST as part of a special pre-order download from retailer Gamestop where you could use him in multiplayer games. Okay so he had to wait 4 games to become a usable character but at least he finally got in the game. No word yet on whether we’ll see him in this year’s other prequel Halo: Reach

Cole Train: Gears of  War 1 & 2 (2006 and 2008)

The gun show isn't in town -- it's here!

Showing up midway through the first Gears of War Augustus “Cole Train” Cole, former Thrashball superstar becomes a COG and starts out on the Alpha team but ultimately joins the fight with Marcus Phoenix. The epitome of a badass Train  is basically that guy you want in any fight (pillows included).

Sheva Alomar: Resident Evil 5 (2009)

Hey Tomb Raider ... Suck on this!

Who? This is the newest entry to the list. The yin to Chris Redfield’s Yang in Resident Evil, this bomb diggity bomb is member of the BSAA South African branch and can head shot zombies like nobody’s business.  Zombies beware, she will kick your ass.

Honorable Mention — Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker

I will moonwalk all over your head

Not just a character, a whole game featuring the late gloved one as the zoot-suit fedora wearing charcter of his Smooth Criminal video. Believe it or not this was an adventure beat ‘em up game. How did you beat people up you ask? Why you kick them of course. And the best part — you got to morph into a robot.

Criminals, badasses, military dudes (and dudettes) and a morphing robot.  How do you like them apples?

Yeah that's right -- we're awesome

Is this really a question — is it? You know the answer. Any gamer worth their salt knows the answer. Final Fantasy. Ah but which one. Which one indeed ….

It’s the one, the only Final Fantasy VII. What are we up to now FF MCXXVII? Anyway this is the one. Go ahead make your point against it. In the meantime take a trip back to this amazing title.

We don’t have to journey far — just a scant 13 years. The year was 1997, Sony was the king of the consoles and along comes this life-sucking behemoth that would define what a role playing game should be. The PlayStation had it first then a year later the PC folks got to taste the glory. Among the FF’s that have come and gone, this one stands supreme. Before we go into the absurd plot (aren’t they all absurd?) let’s talk about the ground breaking technology. This was the first game in the series to use fully rendered characters on a pre-rendered background. We got to see FF like never before,  with 3D computer graphics.

The Plot

pretty + evil = pretty eeeevil

In a word — Sephiroth. You hated him like no other videogame villain. He was a badass among badasses. You have a villain who wants to become a god and one of the hardest end bosses to defeat in videogame history and that’s not even the whole game. The plot basically revolved around your character Cloud Strife and the motley crew who were trying to shut down the evil Shinra corporation. Shinra was sucking the life out of the planet to use it as energy, things get wicked crazy and ultimately it comes down to you and your gang going up against they main goon and top soldier, Sephiroth. As the story develops you get more and more consumed and suddenly you realize a month has gone by. Yeah it was that involving. Not to mention the stellar graphics and amazing score and you have one of the most influential RPGS ever made.

Sure there have been great RPGS since then and other Final Fantasies but FF VII still stands the test of time having as of last year sold 10 million copies and spawning a slew of other titles connected to just that storyline. It was just that good.