A couple of months ago, I wrote about how the Japanese PlayStation 2 has one unreleased game left. For the longest time, this title, Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin, had been simply labeled as "Release date: 2013." Now, at last, it has an official release date.

Seekers of Adoulin is in fact the first add-on for the MMORPG, Final Fantasy XI, in 6 years. Considering that the game is 10 years old and that Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is preparing to go into closed beta testing in mid-February next year, releasing a new expansion now seems a little counter-intuitive. Of course, it could be that Square Enix wants to get all work on FFXI out of the way so they can concentrate on FFXIV. If that's the case, though, it doesn't show in the content of Seekers of Adoulin. Information released show seven new areas on the new continent of Ulbuka, eight new races of enemies, and two new character jobs: The Geomancer and the Rune Fencer.

No further expansions for Final Fantasy XI have been announced, so Seekers may be the last one. Overall, the game has aged rather well; the graphics are a tad outdated but still hold up, and its popularity has allowed it to survive for a decade and still remain a monthly pay-to-play MMORPG. However, with Square Enix eager to promote Final Fantasy XIV, XI may end up getting brushed to the side.

Seekers of Adoulin will be released on the PC and the Xbox 360 in the west on March 26th, 2013, and in Japan on the PC, Xbox 360 and the PS2 on March 27th, 2013, which means that unless someone decides to release a memorial box for an old PS2 game or something, come March 27th, all Japanese games for the PS2 will have been released, and an era in gaming will come to a close. No doubt the PS2 system itself will still linger on a little while longer (current numbers show weekly sales in Japan at around 800 units) before Sony finally pulls the plug.

And here's the English trailer.

ファイナルファンタジーXI アドゥリンの魔境 [ファイナルファンタジーXI アドゥリンの魔境]

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Tell me if you've heard this one before: A teenager from our world is magically transported to a fantasy world where he/she is the key to saving the kingdom—or perhaps the entire world. Of course you have. Ixion Saga DT is an anime built around this most common of themes, seeking to deconstruct it piece by piece in the most hilarious way possible. It is, quite simply, one of the funniest anime I have ever seen—and it's only half done. [*Note: Minor spoilers ahead.]

Good — A Genre Savvy Main Character

The main character of Ixion Saga DT is Kon, a hardcore otaku gamer/manga/anime/porn fan. He has no job and no life outside of his room. After agreeing to help a cute girl in the MMO he is playing, he is transported to a fantasy world where he defeats one of the villains Dorothy-style by landing on him.

Unlike most protagonists of his type, Kon is quite genre savvy. He has seen many an anime before, thus when the main antagonist begins charging up his ultimate attack, Kon has absolutely no issue walking up to the guy and kicking him right in the balls with his steel-toed boot.

Of course, much of the humor in Ixion Saga DT comes from when Kon's genre-savvy tendencies steer him completely in the wrong direction and things are not at all like what watching anime/gaming has prepared him for.

Good — A Total Deconstruction of the Fantasy Anime Genre

Like any fantasy anime, Kon quickly finds a party to travel with and, on the surface, they couldn't look more generic. There's the moe girl who looks like she is ten, the hulking knight, and the beautiful maid/obvious love interest. Of course, as this is a deconstruction of a typical fantasy story, nothing is what it seems. The moe girl doesn't just look like a kid, she actually is one (8 years old to be exact). The hulking knight is actually a college graduate (and is proficient in architecture and engineering). And the beautiful maid/obvious love interest is a transsexual (something that bothers no one but the main character).

The story itself follows the same pattern with the characters encountering one cliché fantasy experience after another and none of them working out in the way you would expect. Or, to put it another way: stuff happens, hilarity ensues.

Mixed — Aiming for the Lowest Common Denominator

While quite funny, most of the humor is quite low-brow. Much of the humor is based on word puns, sexual innuendos, odd sexual preferences, and, the classic, people getting hit in the balls.

Perhaps the best example of the humor in Ixion Saga DT is in the title itself. While DT ostensibly stands for "dimension transfer," it really stands for "doutei," the pejorative slang term for virgin. So after declaring to the villains that he is 'DT' but that doesn't mean he will be defeated, they all assume that it is his name. Thus, whenever they talk to him or about him, they are calling him a virgin again and again without realizing it.

My personal favorite joke is an entire episode that revolves around Kon "going super saiyan" and gaining a yellow glow that refuses to go away. The group must then deal with the myriad of problems, both mundane and dangerous, that such a condition would cause.

But if there is one problem with the humor of Ixion Saga DT it is that sometimes it...

Bad — Focuses Too Long on One Joke

In one episode, Kon has a boner that won't go away. In another, he loses his mind and starts playing imaginary video games on a PlayStation controller he carved out of wood. Both are funny in the short term, but after 10 minutes of the same joke repeated over and over, it can get more than a little annoying. Luckily, the humor keeps changing more often than not.

Final Thoughts

Ixion Saga DT is a lot of fun. More than that, it is incredibly funny. I have seen a lot of comedy anime—and even a lot of comedy fantasy anime—but I have never found myself laughing so much or so often as when I was watching this anime. If you like low-brow comedy or love the idea of the deconstruction of anime cliches, then Ixion Saga DT is well worth your watch.

But will it continue to be as funny in its later half? Check back with Kotaku East in a couple of months for the review of the second half of Ixion Saga DT.

Ixion Saga DT airs every Monday at 1:05am on TV Tokyo in Japan. It can be watched in the U.S. and Europe for free on Crunchyroll.

By now, most fans have seen the trailer for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII and are at least partly aware of the new game system that will involve a limited time of 13 days in which Lightning must save the world.

Video from the trailer shows Lightning in her new outfit running, fighting, climbing and leaping about in a city where the time of day changes as the game progresses. One thing people may have noticed from the battle scenes was that Lighting was fighting alone. While this could be because the game is still in development and other ally models and systems have not been completed yet, a bonus booklet included in this week's Weeky Famitsu seems to indicate otherwise: In the Final Fantasy Memoria booklet, the upcoming game is covered in depth with what information Square Enix has released.

In FFXIII and FFXIII-2, there were parties of multiple characters, but this time Lightning is alone.

While this doesn't exclude the possibility of guest appearances or temporary party members, this does seem to indicate that the game will be, for the most part, a one-woman show. Producer Yoshinori Kitase is also quoted in an interview about the battle system as saying,

This time, it's just Lightning, so it seems like the number of characters you control has decreased, but it still feels like you're fighting with a multi-character party.

The battle system itself will involve a "style" system where players set up "styles," or combinations of weapons, shields, accessories, and abilities and can switch between them depending on the situation in battle similar to the Role system from the original Final Fantasy XIII, and Final Fantasy XIII-2. However, the Style system will theoretically allow for a greater level of customizability of appearance, performance, and abilities of Lightning. By defeating enemies, you will be rewarded with items to power up Lightning's equipment as well as points to extend her remaining time.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is scheduled for release in 2013.

『ライトニング リターンズ ファイナルファンタジーXIII』ライトニングの新衣装を公開！ [ファミ通.com]

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I've already sounded off on what I thought were the best mods for 2012, but a second opinion is always welcome. And there's no more authoritative second opinion than the "Best Of" winners at mod specialist site ModDB.

In addition to an overall winner and awards for sub-categories, the site's community (the awards were determined by over 130,000 votes) even give a shout-out to the best improvements or support for older mods, for those who are still rocking older games like Battlefield 2.

Some of the winners include the creepy Half-Life mod Cry of Fear, Company of Heroes' wonderful Modern Combat mod and, in second spot, DayZ. Leaving Black Mesa to take out the overall award for best mod.

Mod of the Year [ModDB]

Mod of the Year 2012 - Mod DB

"Torne?" "Nasne?" If you're wondering what the Hell these terms are, don't worry. Sony's PS3 compatible DVR systems currently have no announced release outside of Japan.

Just for an overview, torne (pronounced "TOR-neh") and nasne (pronounced "NAS-neh") are Sony's digital recording systems to record HD TV. torne is the name of the interface software, while nasne is the external digital tuner/recorder. Both are available in Japan in two sets: a torne + digital tuner set, and a torne + nasne bundle set. The major difference between the two being that while torne alone records directly to a PS3's hard drive, nasne has its own built in 500GB hard drive and can be used independently (although until recently, it still required a PS3 for its UI).

nasne has recently gotten itself an upgrade. Newly released on Sony's PlayStation Network Store, torne PlayStation Vita allows users to utilize their PS Vitas as remote interfaces with their nasne system. You can wirelessly stream and watch TV via your wireless home network, as well as program, record and play back TV programs. You can also copy recorded programs to your Vita to take with you to watch on the go.

torne PlayStation Vita is currently available for free on the Japanese PlayStation Network Store for a limited time (December 20th, 2012 to February 27th, 2013, after which it will cost ¥800 (US$9.32)), so I decided to download it and give it a whirl.

Overall, it's pretty much just a portable port of the torne software, which is to say, simple and very user friendly. The biggest sells for the Vita version are that the video looks gorgeous on the Vita's OLED screen, and the convenience of the portable nature of the Vita itself. Copying video to the Vita does take some time though, as it needs to be downshifted from 1920 x 1080 pixels to the Vita's 960 x 544 screen size.

Sadly, as previously stated, the torne and nasne systems have no scheduled release outside the US, which is a shame, considering that although in the west there is an abundance of other DVR systems and methods to watch recorded video on a portable device, any possible incentive for someone to pick up a Vita would be a plus for Sony.

torne, nasne, and torne PlayStation Vita are currently available in Japan only, dammit.

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And you can watch it right here.

It's missing characters like Beorn, and entire sections of the story like the trolls, but you can still catch the gist. Well, sort of. If you speak Russian.

The project was unlicensed by Tolkien's estate, and its full name in English was "The Fairytale Journey of Mr. Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit".

The Hobbit (1985 television film) [Tolkien Gateway, via Laughing Squid]

The images you're about to see are the work of Bruno Gauthier Leblanc, an Ubisoft artist who we've previously featured for his contributions on Splinter Cell: Conviction.

Today, though, we're looking at things a little more tropical in nature. Namely, his work on Far Cry 3.

As you can see, many of these designs made it through to the final game with nary an alteration. And in case you missed it during the game, you can also get a good look at Jason Brody's face. Just in case you didn't think he was smarmy enough already.

You can see more of Bruno's work at his personal site (thanks CAW!)

Despite the ease of Steam and the comfort of my couch, I still own physical copies of both Vice City and San Andreas on PC. Why? Because of the maps.

It's long been a tradition with Rockstar's open world games, right through to GTAIV and Red Dead Redemption, to include physical maps of the game world, something older gamers appreciate in an era of on-disc manuals and guides.

Recognising, though, that in 2012 a lot of people are getting their games digitally, and thus missing out on that stuff, Rockstar has made available image files for the three PS2-era GTA games, complete with their fake ads.
Sadly, they're one-sided, meaning you're missing out on the amazing Vice City poster you got on the reverse, but hey, they're free, try not to complain.

Download High Res Maps for GTA Trilogy Titles [Rockstar]

This isn't an exquisite 3D render of Corvo's mask from Dishonored. It's an actual mask, put together by the team at Technically Magic Effects.

Sadly, it's not available to buy—it's a one-off made for a competition—but that only makes it that much more of alluring.

The accuracy is a result of the source material: developers Arkane shared the actual 3D models used for the mask in the game, meaning that, technically, this is no different to Corvo's actual mask.

Except you can actually touch this one.

Corvo, DISHONORED [Technically Magic Effects, via The Omega Nerd]

It's not just those who have worked at Blizzard for 5, 10 or 20 years that get awesome presents. A lot of other people do as well.

The statue you see was the company's "2012 Holiday Employee Gift", something only those on Blizzard's payroll were eligible to receive. Sculpted by Blizzard's Brian Fay, the same man behind Sideshow's impressive Diablo statue, it depicts one of Diablo III's treasure goblins.

While the statue itself is terrific (this is the original for the mould), it's the base that should get Fay an extra round of applause, because he had to do it the hard way. Made to resemble a mountain of coins, this base sculpt is actually made of over 1300 metal rings that had to be stuck together then, to complete the effect, filled in. Individually. By hand.

[thanks Nathan!]