Moogle
Latest
How would you change Motorola's Xoom 2?
Motorola's Xoom 2 is, undeniably a strong tablet. It was able to beat a Galaxy Tab 10.1 and a Transformer Prime in some of our performance tests, battery life is around nine hours and it's nearly running a pure version of Honeycomb. We're a big fan of that display, but less so its unnatural attraction to fingerprints. As we sit anxiously waiting for Ice Cream Sandwich to make its belated way onto the slate, we want to know: what do you think works, what did Motorola scrimp on and what would you change to make it a better device?
Meet Final Fantasy XIII-2's moogle, kupo
Final Fantasy XIII-2 isn't all about chocobos and improvements to the first XIII's formula, you silly kupo. There's also a serious focus on your personal Moogle and his repeated use of the word "kupo," kupo, as evidenced by this latest trailer. Also: kupo.
South Korea brings the big guns to the mobile OS knife fight
Publicly, Samsung and LG tersely supported Google's union with Motorola (which we've taken to calling Moogle) -- privately it appears the South Korean giants aren't as thrilled to be at the mercy of Mountain View's whim. Imagine their predicament if they were frozen out of Android tomorrow -- which is why the Korean government has stepped in to create its own OS. Kim Jae-hong, deputy minister from Seoul's Ministry of Knowledge Economy, thinks that American dominance in mobile software is generally a bad thing. The minister said that the country would "foster a habitat" for the open-source OS, which might mean incentivized pricing on these devices, and we're hearing a cloud-based Chrome OS is also in the offing. The biggest news Jae-hong slipped is that Samsung had been very dismissive of a Korean OS until it heard about the Google / Motorola deal. What a difference a Moogle makes, eh?
Final Fantasy XI's annual egg hunt returning for another year
Having returned from its temporary shutdown, Final Fantasy XI is ready to herald the spring with a time-honored event. The newest incarnation of the Egg Hunt Egg-stravaganza is due to hit the live servers on April 12th, and as always the announcement comes fresh with a bit of fictional flavor. If you haven't been sufficiently creeped out by the ubiquitous and somewhat domineering moogles yet... well, the story of what it's like preparing eggs for the event will probably push you over the edge, even though it's meant to just be amusing. As always, the celebration allows players to collect letter-emblazoned eggs, with the overarching goal to assemble a number of meaningful letter combinations. Each player must start by assembling the first three letters of his or her character's name... but there are many more combinations that can be unlocked, forcing enterprising players to trade in new eggs to the festival moogle in hopes of more letter-branded eggs. Final Fantasy XI players are likely quite familiar with the mechanics by this time, but who can resist alphabetic egg hunts?
Daiwa House enlists Moogle for remote control crawlspace inspections
Apparently Japanese homebuilder Daiwa House offers crawl space inspections as part of its warranty service, and to that end have enlisted Moogle (rhymes with "goggle," not "Google"). The robot weighs just under 30 lbs, measures roughly 20 x 12 x 9.5 inches, and rocks a laser rangefinder, WiFi connectivity, and two cameras: one for driving, one for inspecting. If you happen to be in the country yourself and wish to try the thing out, it can be leased monthly for ¥40,000 ($500) or purchased outright for ¥200,000 ($2,500). Just brace yourself -- you never know what you're gonna find when you start digging around under people's houses. See it in action after the break.
Massively tours Final Fantasy XI's latest version update
Not too long ago, we were taken on a tour of moogles and mayhem by the developers over at Square-Enix as we got an inside look into Final Fantasy XI's July version update. There's a lot of meat to this update as it includes everything from Ninja job changes, new blue mage spells, more item augmentations, campaign quests, expansions to Moblin Maze Mongers, and their newest mini-expansion pack, "A Moogle Kupo d'Etat!"Our hands-on is set to cover all of these new additions, so let's waste no more time here on the front page. On to moogles and more!
Final Fantasy XI moogle-filled expansion begins pre-sale July 5
We know how much you're looking forward to the second installment in the trilogy of mini-expansions for Final Fantasy XI, which is ... wait, it is XI, right? Or -- hold on, is it XII? Which one had the monkey-tail guy in it? That one wasn't online, we don't think. Gunblade was VIII, monkey-tail was IX, whiny athlete was X -- okay, it's definitely XI. What was XII, then? Did XII even come out?Anywho, the second mini-expansion, titled A Moogle Kupo d'Etat – Evil in Small Doses, is set to drop at the end of this month, but ultra-anticipatory fans can pre-purchase the game starting July 5 for $9.99. You'll need the Rise of the Zilart explansion to play it, and your character's main job level will need to be at least 10 to access the new content. Also, we -- hot bunny-ears girl! Whew, man. That was going to bother us all day.
More moogles than you can shake a chocobo at in the upcoming Final Fantasy add-on
Moogles. A rich, noble race that's been around for ages. Sure, their contributions to society are overlooked -- such as their dedication to keeping your house clean, changing your jobs, and acting like a save point in oh so many Final Fantasy worlds. But that doesn't mean that this race has many more things to share with society.Things like haunted mog houses, engagement rings, and... um... mogfia bosses? What's going on here?It's a Moogle Kupo d'Etat, the next add-on expansion pack for Final Fantasy XI! Just like the first pack, A Crystalline Prophecy, this expansion will once again provide a short storyline and an augmentable item at the end, all for the low price of 10 bucks.This time around, it's the headpiece for the sets! The Champion's Galea, Anwig Salade, and Selenian Cap are all up for grabs once the mini-expansion is completed.The add-on pack will be available for pre-order on July 5th, and will most likely roll out with the next version update later in July. Check out our gallery of some of the scenes from the upcoming pack, as well as our look at the new items!%Gallery-67047%
DS Daily: Planning a costume?
We've looked at a couple of things lately -- cosplay and crafts -- that serve to remind us that the official Day of Costumes is just around the corner. Are you dressing up for anything this year? If so, gonna incorporate something from the gaming world? Must confess that we are indoctrinating the boychild early ... my chubby baby is gonna be a moogle for his first Halloween. I'm going to just prep some cards with moogle information that I can hand out every time someone asks what he is, which will probably be about every four seconds.
Final Fantasy XI Fan Festival 2008 website goes live
The official website for Square Enix's yearly fan-gathering for the Final Fantasy XI dedicated, Fan Festive 2008, is now open. This year's event is being held at the Renaissance Hollywood, Southern California and is only 54 days away with the whole thing kicking off on Friday, December 5th. There's a giveaway featuring an ultra-cute Nomad Moogle Sheild and other bits. In addition to the giveaway there will be contests aplenty. Attendees can expect a fan art contest to enter drawings and sculptures into as well as a costume contest. And finally, it wouldn't be complete without a sneak peek at an upcoming version update and a developer panel.With all the current hubbub about BlizzCon 08, it's always nice to see community gatherings for other MMOs are as strong as ever before. We hope everyone at Fan Festival 2008 has a wonderful time, although we're sure that they will regardless of our say in the matter.%Gallery-10466%
The Daily Grind: Which Final Fantasy would you prefer in MMO form?
Square-Enix is known for making each of their Final Fantasy games in a brand new world or at least mostly new. While that's fine and dandy, let us suppose that the next MMO to come out of Square-Enix is in fact a recreation of one of their previous Final Fantasy games in MMO form. Which game would you like to see get the treatment? Midgar and it's band of rebel miscreants from Final Fantasy VII or perhaps Final Fantasy XII with its dashing sureshot Balthier? Or something else entirely? We're curious to know which of these many, many worlds and famous characters you'd most love to experience.It's a tough call for us, but we're somewhere in-between the two aforementioned games for both their worlds and characters. On one hand you've got an interesting game mechanic where classes could utilize materia, but on the other hand you've got a world where some kind of magical mist can drive its denizens to crazed outbursts of rage. Although we may have to go with the twelfth game due to its bunny girls. Then again, if they were to make the sixth game into an MMO we could probably create Moogle characters for a change.
Finally, an outlet for your moogle-painting skills
Square Enix wants you to paint your wagon moogle in Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates, and they're offering fabulous prizes in return! From April 4th through May 5th, the official Ring of Fates website will accept your custom Moogle Paint jobs. The Moogles will be eligible to compete in one of three categories: Most Fashionable Moogle, Best Culture Moogle or Freestyle Moogle. Freestyle Moogle is just a wildcard-type category, and not necessarily Moogles drawn to look like X-Games competitors. Though if you want to draw some Mountain Dew logos on the little guys, that's probably fine.Prizes include stickers, signed art, and a "Moogle stained-glass mascot." We wonder if it will come pre-painted?%Gallery-3462%[Via press release]
Opening FFTA2's Sealed Grimoire
Jeux France has the goods on the races (as well as new images and scans) in the upcoming Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2: The Sealed Grimoire: Human, Viera, Moogle, Bangaa, and Nu Moh. Sound familiar? They should, if you played Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Hey, it's a sequel -- did you expect other furry animal-based races?We know some of you are looking forward to the title (and others, not so much), and though the details are starting to shape up, we're as yet undecided on how we feel about this game. In the end, since it's Final Fantasy, and we're shameless addicts, we'll probably give it a go, despite the question of Tactics vs. Tactics Advance being just as polarizing, if not more so, than the idea of Tingle starring in his own games.
1up Mario Hoops review -- did Mario serve an airball?
Mario Hoops 3 on 3 has had so much hype that we were ready for a game full of more fun than a circus. But from the sound of it, all we got were peanuts. Having played the game ourselves, we see where the review is coming from and we are 100% catching what they are throwing -- something Mario and his pals seem to fail at. The review basically states that the controls are good in theory, but iffy on paper. Stealing is difficult and passing is okay, when it works. Your teammates are pretty much useless. They never try to steal or use items to help you out. They are especially difficult to work with against perfect AI on harder levels. Good luck on unlocking all your favorite Final Fantasy characters. The levels are difficult and your opponents ruthless. While it sounds like a challenge, it lacks an important element -- fun. Mario Hoops 3 on 3 received a 6 out of 10 -- a passable grade and rightful score for an average sports title. Check out the rest of the review to see what else 1up found wrong with the game. Or, pipe up and let us know that we and everyone else is completely wrong (we know you like doing that anyway) and Mario Hoops is zomg teh best game evah kthxbye! [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Final Fantasy III Wi-Fi details [Update 1]
Those who have played Final Fantasy IX will vaguely remember a system called "MogNet", in which the player took up the role of carrier between moogles worldwide. There was also something about a purple moogle who used too much hair gel, or something. Whatever. Anyway, the "MogNet" system will be making a comeback in the updated DS version of Final Fantasy III. In addition to performing said tasks to unlock various side-quests in the single-player game, players will have the ability to send messages via Nintendo Wi-Fi to other players of the game. Don't instant messages seem a little easier, though? If Square-Enix doesn't implement some sort of in-game incentive, it may be a fairly unused feature. More details are still forthcoming, says Square-Enix, so keep holding your breath for a party vs. party battle system over Wi-Fi. Oh, how we long.[Thanks, GamingBurrito!][LOL. GamingBurrito. Awesome.][Update 1: Minor grammar issues corrected.]
Moogle joins Mario Hoops team roster
A recent Famitsu scan seems to indicate that the obscenely colorful cast of Mario Hoops: 3 on 3 will be joined by a fluffy Final Fantasy favorite -- Moogle. Franchise crossovers are always amusing, though we thought that Square Enix would at least have the good sense to toss Quina Quen from Final Fantasy IX in there. We're convinced that Mario would rather have a freakish, grammatically challenged cook on his team as opposed to a little white creature that's probably a bit crap at playing basketball. [Via 4CR]
