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Final Fantasy XIII-2 Loses Its Voice
There has been some rather odd news to come out of Square Enix this week, with seeming confirmation that the vocals have been removed from the track ‘Invisible Invaders’ (more commonly known as the Lake Bresha rap) for Final Fantasy XIII-2‘s international release.
The game’s music coordinator, Keiji Kawamori, mentions that ‘Invisible Invaders’ was one of the first tracks to be completed by Naoshi Mizuta, one of the game’s several composers. The piece was said to most strongly reflect director Motomu Toriyama’s directive to create music that is atypical of a Final Fantasy title – which begs the question: why change it? Was the track always intended to be altered for international tastes, or was the decision made in response to recent forum carping? In any event, this change is certain to please more gamers than it disappoints, though Kowamori’s comments are somewhat vague as to whether ‘Invisible Invaders’ is the only track to receive this treatment – one would think it a travesty if a fully voiced ‘Crazy Chocobo’ still made the cut.
Persona 4 Gains Content
In other changes for the best, Famitsu has this week unveiled screen shots of some of the brand new content featured in Persona 4: The Golden, which will be seeing a 2012 Japanese release on the PS Vita.
No mere HD port, Persona 4: The Golden is set to feature a new town location which is situated by a beach, players will be able to reach this destination via scooter once they have received their drivers licence. At this point it is unknown whether the town will be used for a special event, or whether it will be freely available for daily activities – though it sounds like it is more likely to be the latter. Transit is not the only use of the team’s new scootering facilities however, with the party also set to be able to ride them into battle, whereupon they will be able to perform various scooter-centric actions. Persona 4: The Golden is also set to feature a new opening animation produced by Mad House, this is likely a necessity due to the original game’s SD format. Finally, it appears that the game will include new evolutions for the party’s personas, promising a welcome injection of variety over the game’s impressive duration. Atlus are not expected to excise the vocals from the game’s BGM.
A Pyrrhic Victory for the Freedom of Speech
California’s bid to exert control over game regulation within the State died dismally this week, with the court voting 7-2 to declare the legislation null and void on constitutional grounds, awarding the ESA $950,000 in the process.
It is quite perplexing why Federal and State governments repeatedly insist on putting up blatantly unconstitutional legislation, and squandering tax payer money in the process – goodness knows California can ill-afford it. The ESA have indicated their willingness to put a portion of their Schwarzenegger-gifted windfall to use in funding youth initiatives in California’s poorer communities. As for the remainder .. well, it strikes one as ironic that a free speech ruling has awarded the ESA with more money for them to lobby for Internet censorship.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Logo
Stop the Presses – Eleventh Hour Quicky
Just this very hour EA has proudly unveiled their much anticipated online pass feature for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Cat Fancy’s Game Of The Year. Players eagerly anticipating the Fablesque single-player experience offered by Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning will want to redeem their online pass codes promptly, as failure to do so will lock seven of the game’s single-player quests behind a wall of impenetrable arrogance.
