ronnieroe's Xanga

Thursday, July 05, 2001

Thu, 05 Jul 2001 15:32:39 GMT

Some more Final Fantasy news:

Though not set in stone, there are rumors of plans by Square and Sony Pictures that a release of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (the movie) will be slated for the Playstation 2. No, it will not be an actual game from the movie storyline, instead, it will be a release of the DVD movie, but in a PS2 specific format. There is no word as to whether the release is also compatible with a standard DVD player, only that the PS2 specific version will be optimized for use on the PS2 console. Also, Final Fantasy XI is rumored to be seeing more platforms than just PS2 and PC.

For more in formation, visit: Eyes on Final Fantasy

Thursday, June 28, 2001

Thu, 28 Jun 2001 00:54:53 GMT

It is now about 2 weeks until the release of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and I cannot wait. The movie will hit theatres on the 11th of July. July is going to be a big month for Final Fantasy fans. July marks the release of not only the movie, but also the American release of the next saga in this epic series, Final Fantasy X for the Playstation 2. Also, there will be an American release of Final Fantasy Chronicles, which is a collection of 2 earlier Square titles: Final Fantasy IV and Chrono Trigger. And last, but not least, July will mark the re-release of one of Square's biggest flops known as Final Fantasy Tactics, which was released shortly after Final Fantasy VII (in my opinion the best one), which were both published under the Sony label, rather than Square's label like normal. July 10 is to be known as Final Fantasy day and a large showcasing will be held in San Francisco. Damn, wish I could be there.

For more details on all of the above, check out www.thefinalfantasy.com

Wednesday, May 23, 2001

Wed, 23 May 2001 01:12:02 GMT

I know that this is a site dedicated to the Playstation, but I just can't help it. I have found another PC game that I must recommend to all of you RPG gamers out there. A year and a half ago, Microsoft sponsored the dreams of a programmer and help create a small 7-person staff known as Turbine, and in a partnership between the software giant and its "project" company, a small group's dream came true in the form of Asheron's Call. Asheron's Call is known as a Massive Multi-Player (MMP) RPG. The game usually costs in the range of $20. which is refunded in the form of a mail in rebate. The catch is, you can only play the game on the internet, and to play it on the net, you must pay the monthly fee of $9.95. You get the first month free and can cancel your subscription at any time and resubscribe at any point. The thing that makes the game worth the monthly fee (at least to me) is that it is updated on a monthly basis. Updates include storyline changes, changes to several elements of the game, game mechanics changes, new NPC's (Non-Player Character's), even topographical changes. This will tend to make it a new experience each month, plus the edition of new players, and playing with people the world over. For example, today, I met a level 62 character from Korea who was helping me out by temporarily increasing various stats of my character. However, I was unable to tell him thank you due to the fact that he was only able to say a few words in english. He said, "I Korea; No English". To meet characters that primarily speak another language is not an uncommon occurance. Within the game, most other characters of higher levels than your own will be very willing to help you out. At any point during your travels a total stranger may hand you thousands of "Pyreals" (money), or cast numerous spells to increase your player stats, and expect no thanks. Many times they will even run away before you can. Also, you can find a character of higher level to "pledge to". This character will become your patron and is responsible for training you up in the way a player should go. A good Patron will go to towns you are unable to go to and equip your character with armor and weapons way ahead of your level. They will also give you other items, pyreals, and direct you to quests that you should be able to complete, and direct you to monsters that you should be able to defeat. There are way too many elements to the game for me to write in a single post on this website. For more information on the game, visit:

www.acvault.com

www.zone.com/asheronscall

Friday, May 04, 2001

Fri, 04 May 2001 02:40:21 GMT

Ok, its time to settle a long running misconception. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is NOT, I repeat, NOT going to be based on any games from the Final Fantasy series. Furthermore, there are currently no plans to turn the movie storyline into a game. The movie is an original story written by some of the Final Fantasy series' best writers and animated by the same CG animators that animate those gorgeous FMV cut sequences that are integrated (in some cases seemlessly) into the games.

For more details, check out the Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within webpage by Sony.

Now, I sincerely hope that I will stop seeing webpages that say that the movie is based on a game. Although, i would love to see the Final Fantasy VII storyline turned into a full length feature film (HINT HINT WINK WINK NUDGE NUDGE all you Sony producers out there).

Monday, April 16, 2001

Mon, 16 Apr 2001 12:09:21 GMT

It finally happened. Sega has announced that the Dreamcast console was removed from production as of March 31. Several games slated for release on the Dreamcast by several companies including Sega will still be released as planned, to include Sonic Adventure 2. The price of the 128 bit console will drop to $99.99. You ask, "why is this on a website that is dedicated to playstation?" This is because Sega has also anounced that they will become a third party software company. This means that while they continue to create games for the PC, they will also begin creating games for other consoles to include the Playstation 2. Already slated for release on the Playstation 2 is the next in the Virtua Fighter series; Virtua Fighter 4.

Saturday, April 14, 2001

Sat, 14 Apr 2001 00:15:26 GMT

Now its time to look at the PC. I just got a game called Battlezone II. My brother has the original Battlezone which came packaged with a joystick that he bought. We sat down and played it. It was a truly awesome game that will make you wonder why it was ever distributed for free. Anyhow, BZ2 is the second in the series. It is a single or multiplayer strategy/shooter/action game with some really beautiful 3D graphics. It also has a secret built-in map editor so you can play mission on your own personalized battlefield. To use the built-in map editor, start a mission and bring up the prompt screen by pressing CTRL + SHIFT + `. At the prompt, type game.cheat bzeditor. then press CTRL + SHIFT + ` again and then press CTRL + E. Then, after a disclaimer, you'll be in the map editor. For documentation on how to use the editor, go to www.planetbattlezone.com and download the zip file that contains the documentation. If you can't find it, e-mail me and I will send it to you.

Here are some links to check out for Battlezone and/or Battlezone 2:

www.planetbattlezone.com

www.battlezone.com/games/battlezone

www.pandemicstudios.com/bzii

Monday, April 02, 2001

Mon, 02 Apr 2001 20:41:34 GMT

How many of you video gamers out there are fans of the RPG Genre? For those of you who don't know, RPG stands for Role Playing Game. As far as board games go, not the best type of game, however in the video game world, particularly Playstation, it is one of the hottest, and it's growing rapidly. With Squaresoft kicking out RPG after glorious RPG, life on the Playstation couldn't be better. Squaresoft produces the long running Final Fantasy series (my favorite). Along with other titles such as Chrono Cross, Chrono Trigger, the Parasite Eve series, the SaGa Frontier series and several other RPG titles as well as several fighting games.

To learn more about any of these games, go to Squaresoft's game page.

There are also numerous websites, both official and unofficial for just the Final Fantasy line of games.

Final Fantasy Online

The Final Fantasy

Alpha Final Fantasy

Eyes on Final Fantasy

These are but a few of the numerous resources available to Final Fantasy lovers. Of course, as you may know, there will be a Final Fantasy movie to be released July 13. It's called Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. You can check that out at www.finalfantasy.com

Look for the tenth installment of the series to hit stores Stateside on September 1, 2001. It is to be released on the Playstation 2 console and it is rumored that there will be an immediate PC version.

Keep checking back here for more updates on the Video Gaming world and also, hit my Final Fantasy 7 web page.

Sunday, March 25, 2001

Sun, 25 Mar 2001 13:08:19 GMT

After looking at my profile on the left, you're probably asking yourself, "self, what in the world is Electronic Countermeasures?" Well, guess what? I'm gonna tell ya.

Electronic Countermeasures is just one of the many names you will hear for this job. You may also hear it called ECM, Electronic Warfare, EW, Electronic Protection or EP.

What I do is not too complicated. I simply maintain the systems involved in Electronic Countermeasures. Have you seen the movie Air Force One?

Do you remember the part where the F-15 Pilot is ordered to fire on the plane? When he does, you'll notice that as the missile nears the plane, it automatically ejects a ball of shiny metal. This "ball" of shiny metal is called chaff (not to be confused with chafe). Chaff is actually small strips of aluminum or aluminum coated fiberglass. The missile that was shot at the plane was sending a signal out which bounced off the plane and returned to the missile. This told the missile's internal computer where the plane was. When the chaff was ejected, it created a sort of wall for that radar signal from the missile to bounce off. The missile in turn thought the chaff was its target and went for it.

There are also other expendable countermeasures. Flares, for instance protect an aircraft from heat seeking missiles. Here's an interesting fact. Heat seeking missiles don't really seek heat. Yup, you heard it right they don't seek heat. They seek the Infrared and Ultraviolet frequencies of the heat from engines. They work in somewhat the same manner as Radar seeking missiles except they seek a much higher frequency.

My job is to maintain these systems. I Perform Operational checkouts, Inspections, troubleshoot, repair and so on. I also am charged with the responsibility of loading the expendables.

Here is a link to a video of an Air Force C-130 Jettisonning all of its flares. Click here It's about 2Mb.

Thursday, March 22, 2001

Thu, 22 Mar 2001 12:54:18 GMT

Well, Here is my first post. Nothing really special. Please, feel free to come back another time when I have had this site open a little longer.