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PlayStation (Games) Entertainment Games

Sony Announces FFXI-Bundled PS2 Hard Drive 64

Posted by simoniker from the finally-fantastic-squeenix-sony-hookup dept.
Thanks to Yahoo! for hosting Sony's press release announcing the PlayStation 2 hard drive add-on's March 2004 US release. According to the release, the 40gb drive requires the PS2 Network Adaptor to work, will "...come pre-installed with Square Enix's highly anticipated massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), Final Fantasy XI", and will cost $99. Also promised are features such as "...saving CDs to create a personal jukebox, and the ability to download... levels, missions, characters, and much more", and forthcoming Sony-published titles SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs and Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain (the latter now due in February 2004) are confirmed as having downloadable content. A GameSpot report from the Sony Editor's Day confirms the subscription pricing for FFXI: "...the first 30 days will be free and a $12.95 per month fee [from then on]."
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Sony Announces FFXI-Bundled PS2 Hard Drive More

Sony Announces FFXI-Bundled PS2 Hard Drive

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  • i wonder... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by justforaday ( 560408 )
    it'll be interesting to see what other possibilities there will be with this kit...a linux install that doesn't require the official kit maybe? qcast that can transfer files to and then read from the local drive?

  • I wonder... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Etone ( 627948 ) on Tuesday September 16, 2003 @05:10PM (#6979454)

    "...saving CDs to create a personal jukebox..."

    I wonder what kind of digital media protection we'll see on this thing.

    I also wonder if Sony might be considering opening up their own iTunes-like pay-per-download service? They seem to have all the requisite hardware in place...

    -etone-

    • Re:I wonder... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by rekkanoryo ( 676146 ) * <rekkanoryo AT rekkanoryo DOT org> on Tuesday September 16, 2003 @05:51PM (#6979906) Homepage
      Probably something that will take all of 50 seconds to defeat once the trick is learned. Something as stupid as digital media protection will have a bunch of people wanting to take it out, and when you have a bunch of people with a common goal it won't take long to accomplish it.

      I don't think Sony would try something like iTunes, though. One of their business units is part of the RIAA after all, and we know how opposed RIAA is to anything that makes sense.

      • I agree, I think we'll see quite a bit of content protection shennanigans as a result of this soon. I can hardly wait! -etone-

  • I'd reccommend buying the hard drive separately... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    FFXI is the biggest mis-step Square ever released, and I've played The Bouncer.

  • Beta Withdrawals? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by snarlydwarf ( 532865 ) on Tuesday September 16, 2003 @05:15PM (#6979528) Homepage
    The only bad thing about this is what it means for Beta Testers.

    March.. -sucks-.

    Those of us in Beta have no idea when Beta will end, but there is a feeling that it will end in another month or so when the Windows release comes out. At which point, they may very well kick all the PS2 users off the server as well.

    That would mean six months without FFXI, which, well, sucks. :(

    I hope that Square-Enix considers that the Beta testers are already hopelessly addicted, and like a good pusher, lets us move to Retail as soon as possible, perhaps letting us be 'prerelease' customers, or even just upgrading us to retail as soon as we provide billing information (ie, don't even bother sending back the HD.. they'll flip a switch and upgrade us).

    I guess it is possible, since from the wording of the announcement, the HD is no longer going to be sold seperately 'soon', but FFXI is being used to push the HD. So at least some of Sony and Square-Enix's marketing has changed since the Japan release. Maybe they already know how addictive FFXI is, and how bad it would be for the beta testers to go through withdrawals.

    (Oh, did I mention Dragoon in FFXI is amazingly cool? The 2-hour skill summons a pet wyvern, which you get to name... the wyvern lasts until it dies.. if you rest properly it can last forever.)

  • I have never paid a monthly fee... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by stylerm ( 707522 ) on Tuesday September 16, 2003 @05:29PM (#6979684)
    ...and I wont start with ffx1. A cost of $99 to pay $13 a month for a game that never ends? I believe Blizzard games are so popular because battle.net does not have monthly subscription fees. The games themselves are not that great, in my opinion....But I have gone 2 or 3 months w/o playing diablo2 or wc3, and its nice to just install, patch, and play again.
    • You can deactivate your "Content ID" if you don't feel like playing/paying for a period of time, then reactivate it when you feel like playing again and still have all of your character data.

      Square Enix saves all character data regardless if the account is paid for or not - but only active Content ID data is stored on the main database server. All of your old stuff (unless you deleted your character instead of deactivating your ID) is kept around elsewhere so that if you want to play again, you can pick up

  • I am looking forward to this (Score:4, Interesting)

    by brkello ( 642429 ) on Tuesday September 16, 2003 @05:44PM (#6979835)
    Not that I am a big fan of MMORPG, but I think I will give them one more shot. Everquest was fine, but really didn't hook me like other people. Star Wars Galaxies was such a huge disappointment to me. I just didn't like the job system and how you increased your skills. I have yet to be disappointed by a Final Fantasy (but there is always a first time). The only real question is: PC or console? I will have to see what the menus are like. They will have to design it very well to work on a console. MMORPG generally are a lot more complex to navigate menus than a single player game, so it makes me nervous to spend all that money to get hardware I probably wouldn't use except for that game and then end up with something that doesn't allow me to experience the world as easy as it would be with my mouse and keyboard. In any case, it will be interesting to see how they do. Even if it ends up to be a mess, I give props to square for trying something new when all the fanboys tell them this is the "worst mistake ever".
    • It's not "the worst mistake ever" because it's online; it's because FFXI's featureset would have barely been compelling five years ago.

      If you were expecting somethingly slightly more evolved than Phantasy Star Online then you won't be disappointed, but veterans of the MMORPG genre would get bored by this game pretty fast.

      -etone-
      • Are you in the beta (or have played it), or is this just something you have read? I am not horribly concerned about featuresets, more on how enjoyable it is to play. Sometimes games go a little overboard with their features and it is more of a chore to play (like SWG). Unfortunately, I haven't played PSO, so I can't really qualify that. I really do think a lot of people immediately jumped all over it just because it was online...I am a big fan of single player, but it's not like this will be the last on

        • Re:I am looking forward to this (Score:4, Interesting)

          by August_zero ( 654282 ) on Tuesday September 16, 2003 @06:27PM (#6980230)
          I am/was in the PC beta (I quit playing it a few weeks ago so I am not sure if it is over or not)

          To sum it up quickly:
          The game is pretty easy to get into, most of the commands are on pull out menus, or can be actvated with simple ctrl-letter hot keys. The interface takes a bit of getting used to, but in all honesty the game playes pretty well and isn't going to pose a problem for anyone used to playing games.

          The gameworld is huge, pretty, the music and effects are top-notch, and the game play itself is fast paced (short times to heal, travel distances not all that bad) but leveling is slow to say the least, they may correct this for the actual release but i doubt it.

          Personally I liked PSO a lot more, but they are two completly different games so it isn't really a fair comparison anyway.

          If you don't like multiplayer games and interacting with people, you are not going to like this game. If you have a specific question just ask, I or someone else will do our best to answer it.
          • I'll take you up on your offer. Does it have a quest based system, and if so, how are the quests? Are there any major mileposts you can get to, like something that would trigger a CGI in a single player game, e.g. you killed a minor boss? How is the grouping system? Is it necessary to group to progress far? What do you think of the job system? (Hope that wasn't too much).

            • Re:I am looking forward to this (Score:5, Informative)

              by August_zero ( 654282 ) on Tuesday September 16, 2003 @07:09PM (#6980597)
              Quests? yes
              Your character belongs to one of 3 kingdoms, and each kingdom has a chain of story quests that you can accomplish. They include cinematics, boss encounters, special items and so on. I beleive that there are about 8 or so in the story arc. There are also quests to unlock secret character classes (only 6 are selectable from start but there are another 6 that can be unlocked, more if they include the expansion with the US version) and a few other quests for items and the ability to dual-class. This is a fair number, but in comparison to the amount of time you will play the game, there are not that many. The story quests though are very cool.

              Groups are from 2 to 6 characters, and then upto 3 groups can form a company, so in essence you can party up with upto 17 other people. xp sharing for groups is a bit.... how do I say it? Harsh. If your not fighting very strong enemies, the xp is bad. Loot sharing is good though, the party leader can either elect a quartermaster to hand out treasure to party members, or a lottery system can be used in which players that want a given item can cast lots for it, or skip it if they don't want it. You can certainly survive alone if you want to, but the game is a lot more fun in a group even if the level advancement rate is usally lower than you could acheive carefully soloing

              The job system is very well done in my opinion. Your character can freely change jobs at his house, and each job is leveled up indivdualy. All stat bonuses are job dependent so Spending 10 levels as a fighter, will not mean that switching to a mage will give you a gimp mage. You can how ever only "equip" one class at a time. Once you reach 18th level it is possible to complete a quest, and thereafter you can equip 2 classes at once, effectively combining any two classes you have access to (though the secondary class can never count for more than half of the primary, so if you were a level 20 warrior, you could be a level 10 redmage at the same time). Characters also have craft, magic and weapon skills that are independent of their jobs, and can only rise through use. Casting "cure" enough times will allow your character to cast better versions of cure later. What you can equip as far as spells and gear are concerned is determined by your class and level. As your rank rises with a given weapon, you will learn special attacks akin to the limit breaks of the later FF games. These charge up as you hit and get hit by foes, and decline with the passage of time. When activated most of these attacks are wonderfully rendered, though their potency is significantly less than the single player FF equivalents.
              • Thanks! It sounds like it will be pretty good unless you are leaving out all the bad parts.
                • The "Bad stuff" is that you will be spending most of your time killing monsters for loot and xp. THere are some decent quests, but they will not fill more than a smidgen of your total playing time.

                  I think that the "system" of the game is good, but there was not enough to do for my tastes. If you like fighting and socializing though, you will be in heaven.
    • The menus are pretty simple (and they're the same on Windows from what I've heard, which confuses Windows users).

      On PS2, you press the square button, and a menu comes up on the right hand side of the screen with generic things like 'Status', 'Abilities', 'Quests', 'Missions', etc. Those can each bring up submenus.

      For actual combat, a menu appears on the left side, with 'Switch Target', 'Magic', 'Abilities', 'Disengage', etc. The melee is handled automatically (ie, you don't press buttons to swing your s
    • Everquest, Star Wars Galaxies and Planetside are games from Sony Online Entertainment (a part of Sony of America, along with Sony Music, Sony Pictures) games. All (Sony first party) Playstation games (in the US) are Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) which is part of SCE International.

      What is now SOE was originally part of SCEA, but it was spun out into its own company, then purchased by Sony of America. Go figure.

      The SOE and one of the SCEA offices are about a mile apart, and some former SCEA p

  • A Little Late... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by bottlerocket ( 605232 )
    Wow, sounds like what the Xbox has been offering for almost two years now...

  • Not really $99 (Score:5, Informative)

    by Zed2K ( 313037 ) on Tuesday September 16, 2003 @06:03PM (#6979998)
    If it requires the network adapator also we are talking $99+$34. So $133 just to get the ability to play FF online. Thats quite an expensive game to only get 1 month of free play time. Isn't that almost what the PS2 is costing now just for the hardware?

    I refuse to pay to play a game online that I've already paid to buy.
    • Based on the wording, I'd say it does not include the network adapter:

      Available in March 2004 for $99 suggested retail price (SRP), the internal Hard Disk Drive attaches to the Network Adaptor (Ethernet/modem) (for PlayStation(R)2), which connects to both broadband or dial-up networks, and rests in the expansion bay of the PlayStation 2 console.

      Notice it says "attaches to" and not "comes with".
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • Yeah, it's pretty damn expensive. Especially when you realize that you can't use the HD for anything BUT FFXI. Not true.

        Granted at release there is only going to be one game available that fully utilizes the Hard Drive but many more will follow down the road. You'll be able to save games to the harddrive. Last time I checked a 8MB memory card cost $20US, so for the same price as 40MB of storage using the cards you are going to get 40Gigs of save space.

        Plus, ripping CDs to the drive and creating cust
    • I refuse to pay to play a game online that I've already paid to buy.

      Then buy from companies who refuse to pay to maintain a game they already paid to make. There are plenty to choose from.
  • You are not "paying" twice for the same game. In a reasonably well done MMORPG the montly fee pays for the full time staff that is working on the next monthly update. Asheron's Call for example featured :

    A new town.

    A family of player crafted items.

    2 new quests and several updated old quests.

    An invasion of a town with several developer controlled raids in the rest of the world.

    An additional type of armor.

    And miscellanious other updates.

    I am fairly certain FFXI would offer a comparable value each mo

  • What about existing HD's? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Oinos ( 140188 ) on Tuesday September 16, 2003 @07:59PM (#6980973)
    What I want to know is can we use the drive we got with our Linux kits? I spent all of about 5 hours with Sony's version of RedHat 6.2 before getting bored with it and putting the drive in the closet. It'd be great to be able to use it for something other than a dodgy version of Linux.
  • Bugger FFX-whatever, when I read the faq for Champions of Norrath [sony.com] I had a hard time writing up the wishlist to annoy my wifette with (in blood, of course). And you bet your monkey-asses it's on the refrigerator, prominently placed _above_ all the art my wonderful little hellspawn make. Ahahahah! Free online play, random dungeons, shiny things..mmmm..lotsa shiny things to find and use and sell...ahahahah (cavort--cavort), hehehehe, yesss! Yessss!

  • Budget buyers.... (Score:3, Flamebait)

    by MMaestro ( 585010 ) on Tuesday September 16, 2003 @09:17PM (#6981592)
    Will just get the PC version without noting the price difference. Why? Simple.

    The graphics will be (presumably) better

    No need to own a PS2 (contrary to popular belief, not everyone owns a PS2)

    Consoles have not proven themselves (very) capable of running online games, let alone MMORPGs (SOCOM is loaded with cheaters, XBox Live is lacking in the game department, and Everquest Online Adventures sucks quite frankly)

    Until I see a seriously ground breaking online game hit a console, which everyone seems to be hoping is Halo 2, my paper money is loyal to my consoles but my credit card is loyal to my PC.

    • Why does a console game have to break new ground in the online arena in order for you to consider that consoles have proven themselves capable? Wouldn't console games that provide reasonable online play supply this conclusion that consoles are capable?

      And Madden 2004 has a great online experience that I enjoy quite frequently. My friends and I play tournaments and generally have a very enjoyable time.

      • A console game does not have to break new ground, it just has to prove that it can run a game relatively stable and well on a console. Everquest (for the PC) is unarguably the most successful MMORPG for the PC, and it was ported to the PS2. Fine. But as you can see based on the number of players, success on the PC version did not translate into success for the console version. I'm not saying consoles are incapable of online play, I'm just saying no game has successfully used online capability successfully y
        • "A console game does not have to break new ground"
          But look at what you originally posted. You said you'd have to see a truly groundbreaking game in order to take online gaming on the console seriously.

          As for your request: Madden 2004, Tony Hawk 4, NBA 2K3. Just because there are no games that you want to play online doesn't mean that there are not games out there. All 3 of these games have very comprehensive online play and are not crude in any respect.

    • Xbox Live is the only one of the three that has a pretty decent list of games. And a ton more coming out.
  • 40 gig hard drive? Pffft, I've got a 120 gig in my Xbox...

    Wait... did I say that out loud?
  • The article says "the internal Hard Disk Drive attaches to the Network Adaptor (Ethernet/modem) (for PlayStation(R)2)". I wonder if this means you have to have their adapter. What of us who bought a third party USB NIC taht works fine with games, but doesn't attach to the expansion port?
    • Then it wouldn't work.

      The Hard Drive fits into a slot on the back of the PS2 (look and you'll see the cover.. the HD slides into there), but the power/control connection comes from the network adaptor that attaches over that slot. If you just slid a hard drive in there, it would have no power and no control/data connections to the PS2, you may as well have slid a sandwich in there (which may be more functional, since at least a warm sandwich is good to eat).
  • Just release Fragment for the PS2 and i will be happy. Just as long as the CC corp doesn't do anything stuipid./SIGN

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