Plato's Republic puts into analogy the human body with his ideal, utopic city-state. The head represents the philosopher-kings, tasked with governance. The chest symbolizes the warriors or the military, specifically for the protection of the Republic. The stomach personifies the merchants who are accountable for the flow of resources into the city.

While there is a blatant display of hierarchy, it does not go to say that one is necessarily more important than the others. For while they may be different in levels, they are the same in their goal, that is to ensure the survival of the Republic. Thus, all component parts, while maintaining their individuality, are expected to work together for that one same goal. Much premium is placed upon this goal to the extent that to attempt to multitask on these roles is to put the goal at high risk of falling into utter chaos. Therefore, it is forbidden.

The underlying principle behind this system is that titles aren't there just for the convenience of identification. Categories are not there merely to be able to sort out things from each other. Titles and categories exist not just to portray some semblance of order, but more importantly, to define roles and responsibilities. Now, this is, more often than not, usually overlooked. But the thing is, names and roles ALWAYS come in a tight package.

Applying that same principle to our everyday existence, we often find it constricting to confine ourselves merely to just one area. Artists need not be just artists, they can be politicians. Professors need not only be able to teach, they can be athletes. Women need not be mere trophies and housewives for their husbands, they may be high-powered corporate executives.

And gaming need not be only frivolous and trivial, they can actually have a higher sense of aesthetic, even pragmatic, value in our existence. That is the battlecry of columnist Ernest Adams, at least insofar as gaming is concerned.

He posits that in the light of the growing clamor for censorship in video games, it brings to mind the fact that although gaming has already niched itself tightly into popular culture, it still remains to struggle for the respect it deserves as an art form. The most apparent excuse would be that video games or gaming has always been stereotyped into the category of entertainment for kids. And kids are almost always never taken seriously. By this mere affiliation, the gaming industry has been deprived by the highbrow end of society  of the proper value it should have.

Don't we just hate stereotypes?

The full article awaits after the jump!

We're still brooding over Arrested Development's early demise and now this...

Technophilia has put together a list of games that won't reach your Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles because they have been cancelled for various reasons. We have announced some of them previously but here are the titles you can take off your wish list:

PS3

Theseis
A victim of its own production cost, Track7 has shelved its Greek Myth game epic for the PS3. The good news, you may still play it on the Xbox 360 and the PC.



Killing Day
Not confirmed cancelled but definitely MIA, and presumed dead by IGN, depsite impressive E3 sneak preview.




Elveon
Again, this epic fantasy title has not been officially declared a goner by its developer but anything about the game has been taken off 10tacle Studios' website. PC and Xbox 360 versions still alive.



The full list awaits after the jump!

Backwards compatibility is a good thing. For loyal followers of the Playstation platform, it looks as if Sony's going to let us finish Final Fantasy VII on the PS3.  If you check Sony's Playstation 3 website and check their "About" section, try clicking on question 11.

For those whose browsers can't use Flash at the moment, the question asked is: "How do I save my Playstation 2 Memory Card information to Playstation 3?"

The answer: "To use saved data on a PlayStation 2 memory card, you must copy the data onto a virtual memory card within the hard disk. This requires a PS2/PSone memory card adaptor to copy the data to your PLAYSTATION 3. A memory card adaptor is designed to edit, up/download game saves to and from EMS flash card or smart media card."

While there have been unofficial memory adapters for the consoles in the past, this is looking to be an official announcement that they will make a way for us to transfer our memory card information to the new hard drive. It's also possible that there's some relation between this news and the increasing crackdown against fake memory sticks, in preparation for the PS3. The questions now will have to be "How," What kind of system will you use for transferring," and "How much?" With an expensive price tag for even the 20 Gig version, we hope that they'll either bundle it with both packages, make it a cheap add-on for us to use, or have it as part of their advertising campaign in gaming stores, letting gamers do free memory adaptation in the store for the first few weeks of sale.

If we're lucky, maybe Sony will announce some big news at the Leipzig Games Convention this month. We'll keep our fingers crossed - and keep you all posted.

Famitsu has recently published its list of most wanted games in Japan. Unsurprisingly, the Final Fantasy franchise is still going strong, with Final Fantasy III edging out Final Fantasy XIII for the top spot. Biohazard 5 (Resident Evil 5 for us outside Japan), is in the number three spot, while Metal Gear Solid 4 and Kamaitachi no Yoru round out the top five.

Square Enix is certainly enjoying a lot of buzz around its titles, with 3 games in the list's top ten. In what may come as a bit of a surprise, Microsoft has one title on the top ten: Blue Dragon for the Xbox 360. It seems that Microsoft's starting to learn what games it needs to market in Japan to carve out their share of the Japanese gaming market.

Here's the top ten list:

1. Final Fantasy III (Nintendo DS/Enix Public garden) (-)
2. Final Fantasy XIII (Playstation 3/Enix Public garden) (-)
3. Biohazard 5 (Playstation 3/Capcom) (-)
4. Metal Gear Solid 4 (Playstation 3/Konami) (-)
5. Kamaitachi No Yoru 3 (Playstation 2/Sega) (-)
6. Blue Dragon (Xbox 360/Microsoft) (+ 2)
7. Seiken Densetsu 4 (Playstation 2/Enix Public garden) (-)
8. Sengoku Basara 2 (Playstation 2/Capcom) (+ 2)
9. Summon Night 4 (Playstation 2/Banpresto) (-4)
10. Gyakuten Saiban 4 (Nintendo DS/Capcom) (+3)

Ninja Theory, developers of Heavenly Sword, have put out a Q&A sheet that reveals a few more interesting details about their debut title. The developers like to think of it as a "blockbuster action-movie experience" that looks and feels like a movie, without cutscenes that interrupt the flow.

The name-giving Heavenly Sword is a very powerful item in the game. It once belonged to a god and can not be wielded by a human without destroying him. Players control Noriko, who takes the Heavenly Sword into her hands to avenge the death of her friends. The main premise of the game lies in the nature of the sword - it slowly drains the life out of Noriko. Players have only a few hours left before the sword kills Noriko and must complete their mission before that happens.

Click on "Full Article" for the complete Q&A.

If you ask us, these new screens from EA's Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 aren't exactly what we can call "kickass", but for a golf game, it's not bad. The newest game in the golf series will of course boast of vast improvements compared to the last installment, offering features like the all-new shooting gallery, visual enhancements and more.

Players can choose from 11 of the world's top golf players, including Tiger Woods, Ian Poulter and Vijay Singh. They can then test their skills on twelve Championship and Fantasy courses, or challenge their friends online. The dream team of David Feherty and Gary McCord will be commenting each of your actions, making Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 the most immersive golf game as of now.

If the release schedule is to be believed, you can get your golf action in Fall, on Xbox 360, PS3 and PSP.

   

   

   

   

   

 

I think no one will disagree if I say that Final Fantasy is one of the most successful franchises ever made. To date, there are now 12 titles to the Final Fantasy numbered series, one successful MMO, a couple of games for mobile phones, three anime productions, and two full-length CGI films. Surely, such massive success is a collaboration of a few smart minds. 1UP gives us a good look at one of those minds - Yoshitaka Amano, character designer of the first six FF games.

Of course, this 53-year old (54 by July 28 - a few days from now) Japanese was not a FF designer all his life. He first spent 15 years at Tatsunoko Productions, which is famous for Speed Racer, Gatchaman, and Neon Genesis Evangelion. He landed a spot designing characters for Final Fantasy when, after leaving Tatsunoko, his exhibits in New York City, Los Angeles, Germany, and Switzerland displayed a unique, delicate, and ethereal distinction.

His talents were not limited to the Final Fantasy series though. He also worked with Neil Gaiman on some Sandman title and also did some work for Marvel and DC Comics. Yet even though he's considered one of the most talented and in demand artists nowadays, he remains a humble and generous person as reflected in this documentation of a day spent by 1UP's James Mielke with the famed Japanese artist.

Read Mielke's interview and view the three installment videos of the "A Day in the Life of Yoshitaka Amano" docu by clicking on the link below.

A recent rumor indicated that the promising PS3 MMORPG Endless Saga by Webzen (also developer of Huxley) has been cancelled; a direct inquiry at the company has sadly confirmed this now. Webzen decided to shelve the game after a "rigorous development effort", coming to the conclusion that the gameplay was "short of innovation and creativity we seek to achieve in online gaming space".
While this may come as a shock for anyone hoping to eventually play this new fantasy MMO project on a next-gen console, if the reason for the cancellation was the game's quality, we're possibly better off without it.

In addition, Webzen promises after completing their current projects, they "still have a plan to enter into PS3 market and I'll let you know when we're prepared to bring something more valuable and fun to PS3 gamers."

Endless Saga was slated for a release in 2007 on Playstation 3 and PC, promising a colorful fantasy world based on the Unreal 3 engine. Apparently, the game still was in early development stages, with only one screenshot and a short video released to the public so far.

Final Fantasy is arguably the best fantasy-themed title in the history of gaming. Heck, you have to be more than special after being called "final" more than a dozen times. As a testament to that reputation, news have leaked out that a sequel to Final Fantasy XI is already in the works and will come out on next-gen platforms PS3 and Xbox 360, and will also be on Windows Vista formats.

Yep, Square Enix is already deep into preparation for the upcoming adventure of the Children of Vana'diel. Apart from the confirmation that it is indeed being developed, no further details on exactly what plot the upcoming game will follow (if it's a direct followup of the Vana'diel quests or not), who actually will be the people handling the project, and when it will be out (or at least the date when we can actually start to expect it).

As usual, speculations were abound on who exactly is shaping up the project. IGN thinks Final Fantasy XI producer Hiromichi Tanaka and his team are still the crew manning the ship, given the said producer's previous announcement that they are currently working on another game (apart from FFXI).

We can all guess as much as we want but judging from the already-rich lore that surrounds the said franchise, it's hard to do anything wrong with it. But then again that strength may very well be the source of its weakness. We all know how touchy we are when it comes to well-established institution on any media (cough * Star Wars * cough). Sometimes, there are just expectations that can't be reached; not because the people doing it underachieved, but because the bars set were ridiculously high. Well we've been humbled before, we're dying to be again, bring it on Square Enix!

Update: Square Enix has just issued a statement denying that they are making the reported sequel. In the statement: "The Company did not make such an announcement and has not made any decisions resembling those detailed in the media report. As the Company announced in May 2005, it is currently developing an online title for next-generation platforms including game consoles and PCs; however, this title is being developed as a completely new MMORPG. We will disclose further details of this title, including platform compatibility, immediately after any relevant decisions are made."

Although they did mention that "In addition, the Company continuously plans to release expansion packs for Final Fantasy XI, available on PlayStation 2, Xbox 360 and Windows, as well as perform version updates." All hope isn't yet lost I guess...

Sony Online Entertainment has been busy promoting their project for the PS3, the fantasy action-RPG-- Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom. It has been quite a while since we have featured something new about this game, but now, Kevin O'Hara, senior producer of the game was able to shine some light on the game which is known for now as an extension of two previous games for the PSP.

When asked about the storyline of the game, Mr. O'Hara said that in this PS3 goody, "you play a member of an elite squad of warriors in the Kingdom of Dureth. You're essentially Spec Ops for the kingdom; going off on dangerous missions abroad. The game starts right in the action with you bringing a final end to a barbarian incursion. Unfortunately while you've been away, the king has begun to experiment with dark powers. With external guidance, he has found a source of power in the suffering of his people. When you return, your homeland is a changed place. In order to save your kingdom, you'll need to betray your king."

Basically, the game isn't just about your character's physical prowess but it would also give you an idea who you are-- the type who follows the leader no matter what or the type who instigates change when you see that there's something utterly wrong about the scenario. Mr. O'Hara also mentions that it was very challenging to develop a game exclusively for the PS3. But it has its really exciting moments that are also very educational and applicable to their future projects.

He also mentions that they have plans on adding new and downloadable content. In his own words, "after the game ships, we'll create additional content for download. At this time, we have not announced what that will be." Pretty interesting.