Editor's note: With Final Fantasy 13 out, I thought now would be a good time to revisit Brian's 12 Worlds of Final Fantasy. He kicks off with the game that launched one of the most important and beloved franchises in gaming: the original Final Fantasy. -Jason

Franchises and sequels have been a part of gaming since its very inception. When gamers grow attached to a particular title and put their money behind it, developers often feel the need to create a sequel. We've seen this occur with Pac-Man, Mario, Pokémon, and even more recent games such as Halo.

Despite each of these franchises resonating with millions of gamers, none have spawned as many titles as a certain fantasy franchise. Whether or not that's a good thing is a matter of opinion, but regardless of your take on the series, Final Fantasy has clearly won the hearts of millions of gamers during its 22-year existence.

With 13 core titles in the Final Fantasy series (with today's U.S. debut of Final Fantasy 13), Square Enix has built a juggernaut. What's even more impressive than its longevity, however, is that each title in the series is significantly different from its predecessor. Many RPG franchises are similar (at least from a gameplay standpoint) with each installment, but Final Fantasy is one of the rare exceptions.

Ever since the transition from Final Fantasy to Final Fantasy 2, Square Enix hasn't been afraid to drastically alter the series' gameplay and potentially alienate their fans. For many players, this is part of the charm of the franchise, and they return to each title expecting a wacky, albeit deep, battle system.

Differences in each installment may satisfy certain hardcore gamers' fantasies, but players also return to Final Fantasy because of familiar elements that carry over to each installment. With the name Final Fantasy, players expect to see Cid, airships, and Chocobos. If players didn't enjoy watching Zell eat hot dogs in Final Fantasy 8 or staring at a bare-chested Vaan in Final Fantasy 12, they just might find enough traditional elements to make a particular entry of the series bearable.

If you haven't heard of Final Fantasy by now, your soul will forever remain in purgatory. But those of you who're familiar with this legendary RPG series might like to know how Brian Shirk's "The 12 Worlds of Final Fantasy" will go down. Basically, the only thing you'll need to know is that 12 installments of Final Fantasy history are headed your way, so all your favorite (and detested) titles in the franchise will be equally represented. So if you're ready for this wild Chocobo ride, drop everything else you're doing and delve into the twelve worlds of Final Fantasy. This piece contains numerous spoilers.

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I think the various consoles should set aside their differences, team up, go through a cheesy montage sequence, and battle the dreaded foes of boredom and placidity throughout the galaxy. Curse my '90s-television upbringing.

News Blips:

An industry research company asserts that the PS3 will eventually outsell its competition during the current console generation. The company indicated that the PS3 "will still be a commercial platform five years after the Wii has been replaced. Lifetime PS3 sales are predicted to reach 127 million units, compared to 103 million Wii units." The analysis also noted that worldwide console sales will fall by 9% this year, but overall figures of consoles installed in households will continue to grow. By the time we realize the extent of the console network across the globe, Skynet will have us in its web. [IndustryGamers]

Speaking with IndustryGamers, industry veteran Will Wright (The Sims) believes that the Wii belongs in the toy market. Wright stressed the stark difference in gameplay that the Wii provides, lending a toy-like level of fun instead of the involved experiences of the Xbox 360 or PS3. "It really is more into what I would call the toy market, because most of the Wii games I've enjoyed felt more like toys than like games," he said. I think Wright is on to something here -- I've amused myself for hours on end just by driving my cat crazy with the Wiimote.

An anonymous source has confirmed that Sony will implement a familiar-looking nunchuck add-on for its Arc motion-control device. In a move that aims to bring Wii developers into the PS3 camp, and in order to facilitate a developer's "upgrade" to the PS3, the new add-on will feature elements "reminiscent" to the Wii's own controller. Tomorrow, Sony will reveal addition details in a special event at the Game Developers Conference. Oh, great -- first it looked like a Spin Pop, now it resembles a deep-sea creature. [Develop]

Microsoft has no plans to adopt Blu-ray support into the Xbox 360. In the past, the restrictive storage limit of the Xbox 360's disc media has forced developers to cut content from their games. This led to a push for transition in to the much-lauded Blu-ray format. Microsoft remains adamant that the future lies with digital distribution: Director of Xbox and Entertainment Stephen McGill proclaims that "the future of home entertainment started last autumn when Xbox 360 became the first and only console to offer instant-on 1080p streaming HD movies." I fervently hope that CEO Steve Ballmer doesn't help out by bounding across a stage while yelling his lungs hoarse. [CVG]

Got any hot news tips? Send 'em over to tips@bitmob.com.

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Pixel Revolt is Bitmob's community-driven podcast, in which Derek Lavigne, Jeff Grubb, Brett Bates, and a special guest dive into the Mobfeed to discuss interesting posts written by Bitmob members. For the second half of the show, they throw a question out to the community so that you can have your voice heard. If you'd like to contribute your opinion to the show, follow the upload instructions after the break.

Pixel Revolt -- Episode 19

The show is super-sized this week thanks to tremendous community input -- and the semi-coherent ramblings of Bitmob intern Mike Minotti. (We kid, Mike. We love you.) Topics discussed include sensationalist games reporting, good and bad peripherals, learning when to let go of a bad game, and which expanded universe Brett geeked out for as a kid. All that and your answers to last episode's community question.

Direct Download (right click save as)

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I should've known that something weird was going on today when my bowl of alphabet cereal spelled out "those Framerated guys will confuse the hell out of you". Yep, it said all of that.

Video Blips:

• The zany bunch at Framerated throws us in a loop by playing through the first 30 (yes, 30!) minutes of Final Fantasy 13. I feel like I'm in a time paradox -- where's my Delorean when I need it?

Continue after the break for a return to the world of Zenozoik in Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition, some timely saves by the goalies of FIFA World Cup: South Africa, and a reminder of the inherent dangers in owning a Portal gun.

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Editor's note: Brian argues that there is a strong connection between the public's disinterest in academic subjects -- most notably history -- and the general consensus that RPGs are a niche genre: If people don't care about their own origins, why would they care about an invented history? -James

Programmers originally designed video games as complex diversions intended for geeks, but the release of the infamous virtual paddle-battle known as Pong altered their future. With a simple Magnavox Odyssey Tennis clone, Atari shifted video games' appeal from hackers to bar patrons and soccer moms worldwide. Ever since the '70s, the indusry has seen games that have appealed to hardcore gamers or casual gamers exclusively, and sometimes titles have even appealed to both market segments.

Hundreds of games belong in each bracket, but one particular genre rarely leaves its hardcore confines. The role-playing game has typically appealed to hardcore gamers due to their tolerance for complex statistics and immersive worlds. But I've got another reason RPGs rarely reach the mainstream -- they often draw from academic subjects like history that people typically find boring.

Despite living in a complex world full of incomplete records and archaeological wonders, few people care to learn about it. Most of the Earth's nearly seven billion people see history as an amalgamation of dates and names, when really, it's about learning from our predecessors so we can improve the future.

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I think Luigi is beginning to win gaming's most famous sibling rivalry award. Not only can he jump higher, but his place serves pizzas, burgers, and kebabs [via Geekologie]:

I would never have figured Mario for a baker. Actually, this finally explains Yoshi's Cookie.

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Bizarre Creations developers Geb Talbot and Garreth Wilson join Dan Hsu, Demian Linn, and Brett Bates on this week's show, which kicks off Bitmob's "3 Great Prizes, 3 Ways to Win" giveaway. 

The group recalls their favorite racing games, pit Bad Company 2 against Modern Warfare 2, suggest N64 games that need to be re-released, and discuss just how aware game reviewers need to be about other forms of media.

Have a question you want answered? Want to share some important insight with the world? E-mail the crew at letters@bitmob.com.

Click here to find out how you can get in on the "3 Great Prizes, 3 Ways to Win" giveaway.

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This is, without question, the world's most confusing product:

For starters, it seems as though the backpack's makers threw every conceivable cultural meme at this thing -- including President Obama, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Harry Potter. But I suppose the Chinese flea market salesmen weren't aware of their product's baffling appeal.

And don't even get me started on the colors -- beyond being unspeakably weird, they simply don't make any sense. Why does Sonic have the number 10 on his chest? Why are his eyes yellow and his hands red? So many questions...so few answers.

If one thing is certain, it's that Chinese bootleg backpacks are awesome [via Geekologie]!

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True story: When I interviewed to work at the Apple store last week, they asked what I thought of gaming on the Mac. I lamented that not having Steam sets it behind the PC, so in a way, I called this.

News Blips:

Valve announces plans to bring the popular digital distribution platform Steam to the Mac. In a press-release, Valve co-founder Gabe Newell stated that the Steam Play feature "allows customers who purchase the product for the Mac or Windows to play on the other platform free of charge." Furthermore, the company plans to have players on both platforms "share the same multiplayer universe" (servers, lobbies, etc.). Hurray -- soon the stigma of being a Mac gamer will (hopefully) be erased! 

Yesterday, a group of hackers attacked Ubisoft's DRM servers that players use to access the single-player campaigns of Assassin's Creed 2 and Silent Hunter 5 for PC. The company confirmed (via a tweet) that the attack on their servers resulted in "limited service" for a small group of players trying to access said titles for a period of six and a half hours. Today Ubisoft tweets that their servers are on the defense again and "some gamers are experiencing trouble signing in." How nice it sounds to be one of Ubisoft's paying customers. 

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Editor's note: Did last week's PS3 debacle leave you staring blankly at your TV screen, slack-jawed and unsure what to do with your life? Check out Alex's list of similar game company screw-ups for some solace. -Brett

Sony did its best to ruin St. David's Day (Monday, March 1) for Welsh gamers with the "ApocalyPS3" -- clearly an anti-Celt effort to overshadow Wales's national day. While the problem -- due to faulty internal clocks on older PS3s -- fixed itself in the end, it got me thinking: How have other game companies dropped the ball in the past?

The World of Warcraft "Corrupted Blood" Plague (Blizzard)

This one was actually fun to watch. A glitch caused a disease intended to be confined to only one area to spread to the entire world of the World of Warcraft. It gradually reduced players' health -- not a big problem for higher-level players, but it killed others in seconds flat. Good Samaritans spent their time setting up virtual clinics and directing people away from infected areas, while pranksters (or assholes, depending on your point of view) deliberately spread the disease until Blizzard reset the servers.

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At the risk of being publicly flogged for making an outdated Xzibit reference, I'm happy to announce that all you folks who (I've heard) like Bitmob can now have "Bitmob in your Bitmob," as it were, on your browser.

Simply click on the links below to install a Bitmob theme on your preferred browser. Note that you'll need to be on Firefox 3.6+ to install Personas (fancy Firefox lingo for "themes") and on Chrome 3.0+ to install the theme.

Enjoy -- and I would love any feedback or suggestions for future Bitmob-related stuff!

• Personas for Firefox | Bitmob 1.1
  
• Bitmob.com Theme - Google Chrome Extensions
  

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Looks like EGM[i]: The Digital Magazine will animate in ways that were previously only achievable while reading the EGM print magazine under the influence of mind-altering hallucinogens...I imagine.

Video Blips:

• In case you were wondering, here's a glimpse at how EGM[i] is set to work. It's pretty cool, even though I was hoping for some kind of crazy LCD-screen/magazine-paper hybrid. Sigh. I can only dream. [EGMNOW]

Continue after the break for some Super Street Fighter 4 training from fighting-game guru Justin Wong, the gangstalicious Mafia 2 trailer, and a mini-documentary on NASCAR in Gran Turismo 5.

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I can't believe we made it all the way to 30! This week's special edition features instrumental arrangements of classic video game numbers. Not surprisingly, the community picked a ton of favorites from old Square, Sega, and Nintendo titles. But hey, it goes without saying that these publishers created some of the most memorable games of all time.

Jukebox archivist Evan Killham, site moderator Lance Darnell, and contributor Bryan Glynn all chose different tunes from The Legend of Zelda series. Bitmobbers Ryan Conway and Mark Whitney keep the 16-bit era alive with two great selections from Square games. Finally, Bitmob intern Jasmine Maleficent Rea and the inimitable Alex Cronk-Young do what Nintendon't with a couple jams from Sega's salad days. And of course, a certain mustachioed plumber sneaked his way in there somewhere....

Want to wow the community with your amazing taste in music? Hit the jump to find out how to join in the fun!

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It is finally time for our hero to confront his evil cousin, Arthas. This comic is sure to be epic! Well, maybe. I won't make any promises.

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Editor’s note: Part of my love for video games is dissecting their inner parts, which means breaking down the systems that govern play. Suriel makes a strong case that players will be more satisfied with their victories when they understand exactly how a game's design works. -Rob

In December of 2009, Steve Horvath, vice president of marketing and communications for board- and card-game publisher Fantasy Flight Games, announced that the company would no longer continue to support the Universal Fighting System (UFS), a card game based on fighting franchises such as Street Fighter, Soulcalibur, and Tekken.

As huge fan of UFS (though, I had stopped playing in May of last year), I decided to revisit what cards I had left and mess around with some new decks. I quit because of the money-sink that any collectible-card game eventually becomes, not because I had fallen out of love with it.

UFS was complex even by its peers’ standards. The game was governed by a set of rules that define how play unfolds, but its design was based directly on fighting games. Players controlled one character and performed and blocked attacks through control checks. Rules consisted of symbols, card difficulties, effects, and phases that took place in set orders¹ -- all things that intimidated casual players.

A recent mantra of many developers and publishers today is that simpler is better -- that complexity is off-putting to key demographics who just want to enjoy a game. It's certainly easy to connect complexity with difficulty because an increased number of limits can seem restrictive, and therefore, more burdensome to manage.

But like harder video games, the sense of accomplishment that comes from achieving victory under such restrictions and obstacles can be far more satisfying than a system without any sort of limits or rules.

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If you've ever been to a gathering of nerds, you know that they aren't necessarily the freshest-smelling types at times. Not to say that nerds don't wash at all, since I know I do and enjoy a variety of odor-eliminating products, but all it takes is one guy not showering for a while to cement a group with a weird stereotype of "unwashedness."

Well, here's an incentive to wash for the game-obsessed, convention-goer man: Atari 2600 joystick soaps, now in the refreshing scent of grape [via Technabob]:

I've never used grape soap before, so I am tempted to spend the $3 just to see if it's one of those noxious, artificial-fruit smells or if it's actually appealing. If you know someone who could use the gift of nerdy soap -- or want some for yourself -- you can place your order at eatsleepshop's Etsy store.

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This week on Hit or Miss: The industry goes flippin' nuts. Seriously, you know it was an interesting week when the word "apocalypse" was bandied and it was only slightly an exaggeration. Add to the Great Global PS3 Fail the insanity that went down at Infinity Ward, and it was as though the Great Reckoning of Our Time was finally upon us. Luckily for me, I love reckonings.

Oh, also this week: Portal 2 was announced and people were allowed to be gay on Xbox Live.

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If it hasn't already, Doom 2 should win the award for the most modified (and still played) video game ever made. Quite a few of the player-created levels are impressive and fun to play, but not many are made by a lead programmer of another popular game series. Instead of taking a well-deserved rest after the release of Bioshock 2, JP LeBreton (creative force behind the Arcadia and the Farmer's Market areas of the second installment of Bioshock) has re-created Rapture's Arcadia in an impressive level of the ancient Id shooter.

LeBreton used a modern-day Doom 2 editor called SLADE to "demake" this level. You can download this great tribute to two familiar game franchises here for free.

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By now, you're probably on your way to California, Florida, or even Mexico for Spring Break. But interns don't receive vacation breaks. Oh no. We slave away, each day, to provide you -- the adoring audience -- with quality content. So enjoy the sun and surf, but try to pull yourself away from the gorgeous women to check out this week's Reviews Spotlight.

Michael Rousseau hasn't been outside in a while -- but not because he's sick. On the contrary, he's currently enmeshed in Borderland's newest downloadable content: The Secret Armory of General Knoxx. Does the General outdo Moxxi and Dr. Ned? Scroll down to find out.

Next up is a trio of basement-bound vacationers: Beau Baxter Rosser, Carlos Macias, and Frank Anderson. The three share their impressions of Quantic Dream's newest thriller, Heavy Rain. Be prepared for some poorly penned water puns!

Ryan Conway's back with another entry of  "For What it's Worth," wherein he scrutinizes the two geekiest games ever made, Stepmania and Decimation X.

Lastly, Sean Hinz concludes the series of spectacular reviews with his article, which exposes the good and the bad of Darksiders.

New Borderlands DLC Knoxx it Outta the Park
By Michael Rousseau
Like the best reviews, Michael begins with an astute analogy. But he doesn't compare the Borderlands DLC series to a work of literary genius or to another game. Instead, he compares the downloadable trilogy to the original Star Wars films. Third in line, does General Moxx provide the same amusement as rampaging Ewoks? Let's hope Michael's metaphor holds water.

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Taco Bell is not usually known for grand and big-name toys that you might find in a McDonald's Happy Meal. All of that is about to change this week when the Bell offers these retro Atari 2600 games in their kids meals. Packaged in the style of the original 1980s boxes, the games work on PC or Mac. Alone, they'll set you back roughly $1.50 each [via Offworld]:

I think offering these blasts from the past is a conspiracy to make me feel old -- my parents paid upwards of $50 for them when I was a kid. I now imagine my daughter taking her children to the drive-thru in 20 years for a kids meal and a free 20 gig iPod.

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