FFVII Remake: Killing Us Softly?

Chances are, you’ve either seen, heard, or experienced the epic adventure that is Final Fantasy VII. And those of you who have probably also heard about the FFVII PS3 graphics engine demo test that quickly sparked a desire in all of us (yes, even you) for a FFVII remake on the PS3. However, the dreams of such an occurrence were dashed…until I read Kotaku’s recent article about FFVII’s director pondering a FFVII remake. Kotaku closes this article with a good point:

With the remake-happy way Square Enix is going these days, you can bet there’s eventually going to be a FFVII. Reassuring to know that Kitase wants to do it in-house with the original team.

We’ve already seen a few old-school FF remakes, and Square Enix seems to be enjoying their Kingdom Hearts high. Why do you think this is? Because we are now seeing a similar trend that I brought up in my New Slayers Season: Should We Care? article. What we now have are loads of old-school gamers wanting an FF remake, while new-school tweens are pining for more Kingdom Hearts. What I love to see is that not all old-school gamers see the need for a “timeless” classic to be stripped of its vintage value as expressed by a user comment made in Kotaku’s article:

…Why do people want or need a remake so bad? Final Fantasy VII was an excellent JRPG, which is now timeless enough to still be played and enjoyed today even by younger audiences who’ve never even been old enough to play FFVII back in 1997. The game’s popularity is already beyond question, yet people still aren’t satisfied? I’m sorry, but I’ll take some new titles over something I’ve played ten years ago with prettier graphics. The World Ends With you is a beginning sign of Square-Enix trying to be the creative Squaresoft of old again; let’s not take another step backwards.

Am I the only one seeing a slighted contradiction between the last two sentences? Here’s a prime example of a conflicting issue that might reside in many old-school players who long for the Squaresoft days, and yet see no need for the past to be reborn. My [hard] question to you is this:

Do you think Square Enix would become a crowd-pleaser by creating a FFVII remake, or would they really be regressing by remaking an already groundbreaking game?

I look forward to at least one constructive reply, though that might be asking a tad too much. ^_^

A Brief Reiteration of Miku Hatsune

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I’m a pretty big fan of the first of three VOCALOID2 creations, Miku Hatsune (初音ミク), in terms of her physical appearance and moé appeal. So much so that the other day, I started imagining creating my own fan site. However, this so-called fan-gushing was without much regard to her voice in general, as I was under the impression that they were one in the same. After researching some of her songs, however, I decided that I wanted to write something brief about Miku, as I had fallen in love with not just her adorable, post-future style, but with her voice as well.

I have to shamefully admit I was a bit confused about how so users were easily obtaining mixes and generating that content on Nico Nico Douga. It was only until I decided to write this entry that I discovered that Miku isn’t just a computer-generated synthesized voice only accessible by Yamaha, put to an anime-style character. For those in the West who don’t know, the VOCALOID2 series was indeed created by Yamaha and the third-party company, Crypton, but the marketed software, VOCALOID2, uses preset, tuned pitches capable of producing varying tones centered around a particular style given the type of voice. Miku Hatsune is the name given to the J-Pop-type voice used in the VOCALOID2 Character Vocaloid Series. The voice originally belongs to Saki Fujita.

I’m really impressed to find out that Nico Nico Douga was a big contributer to Miku Hatsune’s popularity, and the VOCALOID2 software in general. Without greater fans than me, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy such lovely user-generated mixes that use Miku’s sweet-sounding voice. I wish I had that kind of time and interest on my hands. I do adore the Miku’s character and the “magic” of her voice, so here are a few visual culture sources that I have come across that are all about Miku Hatsune.

Miku Clips

My current favorite song by Miku

NicoNico Vocaloid Animation

Lucky*Star OP w/ Vocaloid CG

Miku Links

• MikuFan.com: A Hatsune Miku Fansite
• YouTube: MikuFan
• http://www.mikumiku.info/
• DarkMirage – VOCALOID2’s Hatsune Miku
• More about VOCALOIDs

Do you like Miku Hatsune (or VOCALOIDs)? Tell us why or why not!

Gundam 00 OP1: DAYBREAK’S BELL (TV Size) Cover

Let me make one thing clear:

Gundam 00 is my favorite anime of the fall season. There are shortcomings in it, but they do not disarm the series from being something that I’ve fallen in love with even moreso than my affection for Gundam Wing. With the drama, the characters, the animation, and the underlying conflicts bringing form and meaning to the existence of Gundams in that universe, it is the series I covet after every week, as I’m sure we all have done with a series at one point or another.

I like this series so much that I recorded myself singing DAYBREAK’S BELL and posted it on my YouTube account. Think of this as a break from all the lines of text I usually produce for this blog. The description for this video is as follows:

This is the first time I have sung any anime-related song in the public eye. And quite frankly, this isn’t an easy song to master due to Hyde having incredible pitch & expression that I just can’t mimic completely.

In any case, I love this song and the Gundam 00 series very much. So this is really just FOR FUN, and to give a sample of my singing ability when pushed above and beyond. Any commentary is welcomed, though I don’t expect everyone’s words to be kind.

Song details are already in the video. Hope you enjoy!

NOTE #1: There were some audio sync errors that will make it seem as though I have bad timing on singing the lyrics with the music. That is not my doing. Please ignore it.

NOTE #2: There is no official TV size instrumental version of this song. I mixed it myself from the official full instrumental version.

Here’s the video!