This is funny when you consider Sister Ray'srecurring lyrical motif"they said I couldn't hit it sideways, I couldn't hit it sideways". That ought to make Midgar a completely miserable place, but the first act guides you between heartwarming pockets of humanity. There's Aeris' church, lit by a ray of sunlight that's found a way through the metal ceiling. There's Tifa's bar, and the bars and shops of Wall Market. Final Fantasy 7's NPCs tend tobark their deepest frustrations, hopes and dreams at you whenever you try to talk to them. It seems silly initially, but as you explore those blunt statements collectively create an impression of Midgar's citizens. They're suffering, but they're plucky, and mostly keen to make the best of a bad deal.There's huge appetite out there for a Final Fantasy 7 remake, no doubt encouraged by luscious fan service projects like Advent Children. I'd settle for a version that rescued the original background art, cruelly down-rezzed to run on a Final Fantasy XIV playstation 1. The static pre-rendered backgrounds are old-fashioned, but they give us a curated tour of Midgar. Shots pan down from rooftop to street-level. Sometimes the camera is hung high, amid the cables. They allowed old hardware to show ambitious scenes, like the battle for sector seven's vast supporting pillar, but they're also a series of postcards that imply greater scale and detail than a huge interactive 3D model might. A movable camera gives you the freedom to find flaws. Better that Midgar's streets remain preserved in those memorable freeze-frames forever, as gross and evocative as the day they first graced my old CRT monitor.Palmer Luckey interview: The new Oculus Rift prototype and the future of VR. Photo by Hot Grill - Flickr It's safe to say that Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey was exhausted when we sat down at last week's
ffxi4u International CES to chat. He'd been in town for eight days, talking to the press and showing the newest Oculus Rift prototype, dubbed " Crystal Cove." The newest headset uses 360 degree positional tracking and low persistence motion blur tech to essentially keep wimps like me from vomiting during use. But even though he was wiped, Luckey still took a few moments to talk to me about the promise of VR for videoFinal Fantasy XIV games and beyond, the rumors of John Carmack making an Oculus Rift Final Fantasy XIV game, and his thoughts PC gaming moving to the living room. PC Final Fantasy XIV gamer: How far along are you guys? How far away from release are you? Palmer Luckey: Nothing to announce. We're really far. We've got really well developed software, we've got really well developed hardware, we're building our team out and we're going to be able to deliver the kind of consumer product that we want to deliver.
