Wow, Final Fantasy XIII will not be a PlayStation 3 exclusive. The franchise is jumping onto XBox 360, according to an announcement at E3 today:

“Available on Xbox 360 at launch in North America and Europe,” said Square Enix. “We believe that bringing the game to Xbox 360 will allow us to provide a game to even more fans in North America and Europe.”

Way to keep a secret, guys.

According to Wikipedia, FF has been a Sony-only franchise since Final Fantasy VII, aside from the Final Fantasy XI MMO available on PC and XBox 360:

* Final Fantasy was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1990. The story focuses on the four “Light Warriors” and their elemental orbs, which have been darkened by four Elemental Fiends. Final Fantasy introduced many concepts to the console RPG genre.

* Final Fantasy II was originally released on the Famicom in Japan in 1988. The story centers on four youths who join a resistance to end the Emperor’s military campaign against the world. Final Fantasy II was the first game to introduce Chocobos and Cid.

* Final Fantasy III was released on the Famicom in Japan in 1990. The plot focuses on four orphaned youths who come across a crystal, which grants them power and instructs them to restore balance to the world. It was the first game to implement a Job System, summoning and introduce Moogles.

* Final Fantasy IV was released on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1991; in North America, it was released as Final Fantasy II. The story centers on a Dark Knight and his journey to save the world from the evil Golbez. It was the first game to introduce the “Active Time Battle” system.

* Final Fantasy V was released on the Super Famicom in Japan in 1992. The story focuses on a wanderer and his allies as they prevent the resurgence of Exdeath. It features an expanded version of the Job System from Final Fantasy III.

* Final Fantasy VI was released on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1994, but it was released in North America under the title Final Fantasy III. The plot centers on a group of rebels as they attempt to overthrow an imperial dictatorship. It has more battle customization options than its predecessors, as well as the largest playable cast in the series.

* Final Fantasy VII was released on the PlayStation in 1997 and was the first title to be officially released in Europe. The story centers on a group of adventurers as they battle a powerful corporation. Final Fantasy VII was the first game in the series to use 3D computer graphics, which feature fully polygonal characters on pre-rendered backgrounds. This is the first Final Fantasy to have the same number designation in America and Japan since the original game was released.

* Final Fantasy VIII was released on the PlayStation in 1999. The plot focuses on a group of young mercenaries who seek to prevent a sorceress from manipulating an international war. It was the first game in the series to consistently use realistically proportioned characters, and feature a vocal piece as its theme music.

* Final Fantasy IX was released on the PlayStation in 2000. The story begins with the protagonists attempting to stop a war sparked by an ambitious queen. It returned to the series’ roots by revisiting a more traditional Final Fantasy setting.

* Final Fantasy X was released on the PlayStation 2 in 2001. The story focuses on the protagonists trying to defeat a rampaging force known as Sin. Final Fantasy X introduced fully three-dimensional areas and voice acting to the series, and it was the first to spawn a direct sequel (Final Fantasy X-2).

* Final Fantasy XI was released on the PlayStation 2 and PC in 2002, and later on the Xbox 360. The first MMORPG in the series, Final Fantasy XI is set in Vana’diel, where players can experience hundreds of quests and stories. It is also the first game in the series to feature real-time battles instead of random encounters.

* Final Fantasy XII was released for the PlayStation 2 in 2006. The game takes place in Ivalice, where the empires of Archadia and Rozarria are waging an endless war. It features a real-time battle system similar to Final Fantasy XI, a “gambit” system that automatically controls the actions of characters, and a “license board” that determines which abilities and equipment the character can use.

* Final Fantasy XIII is in development for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It will be the flagship installment of the Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII compilation.

It took 74 days for Apple to unload 1 million 1st generation iPhones. The 3G iPhone reached that stunning figure in just 3 days – Friday, Saturday and Sunday. No wonder the activation servers were hosed.

Source: Apple Press Release

There’s an interesting discussion going on over at TUAW.com about stability issues with a lot of the new iPhone apps, and whether the blame lies with Apple’s flaky firmware upgrade or with the 3rd party developers. Cetainly, developers didn’t have much opportunity to beta test their applications with the new firmware. Apple’s obsession with publicity and high-profile “launches” can be blamed for that.

Gaming Google Trends is becoming a serious hobby for some folks. Last week it was a lame swastika search, and now it’s a much funnier anti-Google phrase that has been flipped upside down using alternate characters (this site can help you craft your own upside-down insults).

Find more details of the latest Trends hack at Bloggle.

The 3g iPhone launch got me thinking about Palm’s place in the smartphone universe, and how they’ve squandered the huge lead they once had. Palm has been essentially updating the Treo 600 for years now, with nothing new and revolutionary even being hinted at. Don’t get me started on the still-born abomination that the Folio was.

What would it take for palm to make a comeback? Not as much as you might think. Imagine a pretty white Palm Centro, but with a full touch-screen instead of a keyboard. Palms already have touch screens, and past devices relied on software keyboards and handwriting recognition, so it’s not like Palm would have to spend millions on new technologies. They could replace their own aging operating system with some version of Linux (they are working on a version of their own, and if they can’t get it done there are plenty of other companies they could license a finished OS from). Or they could possibly use Google’s Android. Or (shudder) they could use Palm OS 5. At the very least, they would need to use a new interface/launcher (the LifeDrive had a nice interface) and a much improved browser (talk to the Opera folks).

The finished product shouldn’t be any more expensive than the current Centro. Losing the keyboard should offset the cost of a larger screen. The only thing “new” would be Wi-Fi, which Palm offers on other devices. Here’s my quick-and-dirty interpretation (pardon my PhotoShop skills):

Could Palm build an inexpensive but serious iPhone competitor? Absolutely. Will they? Probably not.

The folks behind National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) are providing printable workbooks for young writers to help them get started:

You have found NaNoWriMo’s online Young Novelist Workbooks. Below, you will see that we have put together three of them—one dedicated to elementary school students, one to middle school students, and one to high school students. Inside each workbook you will find grade-appropriate, mind bending, creative-writing worksheets and activities to help guide you through your noveling journey this November. No matter what age you are, we encourage you to explore all three. You may find something to keep your creative juices flowing in all of them! Click on the links below to pop open the printable versions of each one.

The workbooks are in PDF format. I printed the middle school version for my 12 year old daughter, and she’s been hard at work on it for a few hours now. Very cool – the exercises really give your brain a workout. An online version would be even cooler.

Of course, November is National Novel Writing Month — you get the whole month to write a 50,000 word masterpiece.

Ars Technica has a post about the recent defeat of expert human Texas Hold ‘Em players at the hands of the Polaris computer program:

In a series of matches that took place over the Fourth of July weekend in Las Vegas, the researchers’ Polaris poker program won against a group of top-ranked online poker players.

This is bigger news than it would seem. As computational power continues to increase exponentially, the capabilities of artificial intelligence and expert systems will drastically change our society. Then again, if dogs can play poker, why not computers?

Send the International Space Station to the moon? That’s Michael Benson’s idea. It’s certainly past time to go back there. Of course, it would need to take along some sort of manned landing craft, or there’s really no point (Benson addresses this in the article).

The guys at CrackBerry have posted some hands-on pictures of the upcoming Blackberry Thunder. The big landscape keyboard looks nice, but I’m not so sure about the predictive keyboard shown in portrait mode. Regardless, this will be an impressive phone.

I have 1 domain name registered through Yahoo! Domains, which I grabbed a year ago when they were running some kind of sale. With my renewal notice today, I got this little tidbit:

Important note: Beginning on July 1, 2008, Yahoo!’s annual domain renewal price increases to $34.95 per year.

With GoDaddy.com charging under ten dollars for the exact same service, I’ll be switching the domain over ASAP. Domain registration is essentially a commodity. Why any company would think they can impose a 350% price increase on a widely available commodity and not drive customers away is beyond me.

And GoDaddy actually wants my business — they’re offering a year’s registration on transferred domains for just $6.99, and they have a special instruction sheet called “Transferring your domain names from Yahoo! just got easier!”.

By the way, as of right now Yahoo! is still advertising domains for $9.99, without making it clear (from what I can see) that it’s just a teaser rate. A lot of customers will be unpleasantly surprised when renewal time comes around.

I see I’m not the only one balking at the fee hike.

Here’s a link to the GoDaddy Rapid Transfer System™

As everyone knows, Apple is providing 1st generation iPhone users with a free update to the new firmware that finally enables sanctioned access to 3rd party applications (via the Apple app store), among other things. However, Apple is asking owners of the iPod Touch to shell out $10 for the same update.

This seems outrageous to me — as I understand it, Apple blames Sarbanes-Oxley accounting requirements rather than simple greed for the fee. That’s bunk, of course. Other hardware manufacturers routinely offer firmware updates at no charge.

Apparently, at least a few Touch owners have taken matters into their own hands — the Touch firmware update has escaped into the wild.

I upgraded Surflizard.com to the latest version of WordPress today, and took the opportunity to update the site design. Let me know if you experience any problems navigating the site or encounter any usability issues.

Top ten iPhone games: With Pictures!

Yahoo!’s new BOSS (Build Your Own Search Service) platform allows anyone to create search based web applications using the Yahoo! infrastructure.

The goal of BOSS is simple: to foster innovation in the search industry. Developers, start-ups, and large Internet companies can use BOSS to build and launch web-scale search products that utilize the entire Yahoo! Search index. BOSS gives you access to Yahoo!’s investments in crawling and indexing, ranking and relevancy algorithms, and powerful infrastructure. By combining your unique assets and ideas with our search technology assets, BOSS is a platform for the next generation of search innovation, serving hundreds of millions of users across the Web.

Expect to see a lot of very cool mash-ups based around this technology.

Overstock.com will no longer sell products that contain animal fur, effective today. Calfskin pumps and other leather goods are still in plentiful supply, as is yummy-looking food of the dead animal variety.

Yahoo! is a big fish in the casual online game business, attracting millions of unique visitors each week. Many of the games they offer are free to play online, but downloadable versions have cost money in the past. However, Yahoo! announced today that it will begin offering hundreds of games as free downloads backed by revenue from in-game advertising. From the Yahoo! press release:

Yahoo! (Nasdaq:YHOO) today announced that Yahoo! Games will offer ad-supported downloadable games from the top casual games publishers. With more than 400 ad-supported games available to users by the end of the year, Yahoo! Games solidifies its commitment to providing the Internet’s best gaming experience, and is creating new opportunities for advertisers to reach an engaged audience. The announcement brings the industry’s largest collection of ad-supported games to the biggest gaming audience on the web and reinforces Yahoo! Games’ overall strategy to be the most comprehensive distribution point for games online.

games.yahoo.com

The Register: “Google’s Docs and Spreadsheets disappeared today for close to an hour, proving that the world’s largest search engine is a long way from perfecting the art of online business applications.”

When Apple thinks you’re over-charging, something is wrong.

Canadian Apple stores will not be carrying iPhones. Instead, Canadian consumers will need to go directly to the wireless carrier, Rogers Wireless. This unexpected move is believed to be because apple is unhappy with the service plans Rogers has attached to the iPhone, starting at $60 for a paltry 150 minutes of talk time, 75 text messages, and 400MB of data (avoid YouTube!). Over the last few weeks, there has been a public outcry over the service plans, which do not include an option for unlimited internet usage.

Canadian iPhone buyers will need to agree to a 3 year contract and choose one of these plans:

• $60/month – 150 anytime minutes, 75 outgoing SMS, and 400 MB data, free evenings after 9pm
• $75/months – 300 anytime minutes, 100 outgoing SMS, and 750 MB data, free evenings after 9pm
• $100/month – 600 anytime minutes, 200 outgoing SMS, and 1 GB data, free evenings after 9pm
• $115/month – 800 anytime minutes, 300 outgoing SMS, and 2 GB data, free evenings after 9pm

((Read more at Apple Insider))

UPDATE: Rogers is backing down, at least a little. According to a press release, they will offer a promotional data-only plan for a limited time featuring 6GB of data for $30 per month that can be added onto any in-market voice plan. It’s an affordable offering, but still comes across as rather tone-deaf. Most people won’t use anywhere near 6 gb of data, but by placing a hard limit the company still comes across looking like jerks. Why not simply remove the cap on this plan and call it unlimited? Only a small percentage of users would go anywhere near 6 gb, but offering an unlimited plan would put people at ease and go a long way towards repairing Rogers’ badly damaged image.

The promotional plan is available not just to iPhone customers, but any Rogers customer with a 3G next-generation smart phone.

More details on the new plan from The Globe And Mail.

Automatically keep multiple versions of your important files, so you can roll back changes and undo mistakes. The free version of FileHamster gets the job done. From the publisher:

“FileHamster provides real-time backup and archiving of your files while you work. It enables you to monitor specific files on your hard drive and automatically create incremental backups whenever those files are modified. It also enables you to store notes about the changes that have been made, allowing you to quickly locate a specific revision or provide a detailed account of the work you’ve done on a project.”

There’s a $20 version that adds some features, but none of them are necessary if all you want is real-time archiving and versioning of your files.

I’ve got a few old projects (web sites, a novel, old columns, stuff like that) scattered over multiple hard drives and in different folders. I’m going to try FileHamster out as part of a strategy to get organized and back to work, and to keep everything archived and recoverable.

Download FileHamster

I’m at home today waiting for Dish Network installation, and I find out that our local CBS affiliate will no longer be carried on Dish, starting tomorrow. Apparently, they want more money from Dish for carrying their signal.

I’m going ahead with the installation, since one channel I watch a few hours a week isn’t a deal breaker. Honestly, I think small local stations are in danger of over-estimating their importance when services with hundreds of channels filled with competing content are available. For the few CBS shows I really want to see, I’ll probably just hit CBS.com, Veoh.com or BitTorrent. In fact, I’m watching the CBS crime drama Numbers on Veoh right now, waiting for the satellite guy to finish up.

Given that local affiliates are supported almost entirely by advertising, I would think they would want their broadcast seen in as many homes as possible. If anything, they should be paying to have their signal piped into around 40,000 homes on someone else’s hardware and infrastructure.

There’s probably a niche for local broadcasters, although plenty of them are really worried about the future. But granting them exclusivity to hold a major network’s signal hostage in a local market is bad business. The idea that I can get programming from all over the world via satellite, but I can only watch CBS programming after it’s routed (via satellite!) through a local affiliate is just silly. When local stations like KRCG go out of their way to call attention to this odd and outdated arrangement by demanding more money from people willing to distribute their advertising and content, they are shooting themselves in the foot. But then, that’s something KRCG has done a lot of lately.

One thing’s for sure — if I had just spent money on advertising with KRCG I would definitely be calling someone about a refund, since far fewer people will now be seeing that advertising.

UPDATE: Other local stations are pretty thrilled with KRCG’s bizarre decision:

“Any time you remove a television station from more than 40,000 subscribers or households, those viewers are going to go somewhere,” said Randy Wright, vice president and general manager of KMIZ/Channel 17. “We feel like it could potentially bring us some additional viewership to our four stations.”

Hooking up broadband service is generally pretty painless these days — usually you just plug everything in, and it works. So I was expecting our switch from Cable ISP back to DSL to be easy. And it sort of was, although there was one big hiccup. It seems that the DSL modem we were sent used local IP adress 192.168.2.1 — the same address that most common broadband routers default to.

Once I figured out the problem and changed my router’s address to 192.168.10.1, all was good. However, this isn’t something the average (non-geek) customer would have been able to resolve without help. It’s worth noting that I could find no mention of this issue in the telco’s quick start guide or any other documentation. This has to be a common issue, and one that results in a lot of expensive phone support. Don’t a lot of average users have WiFi routers these days? No wonder high-speed access is so expensive.

And why am I switching back to DSL? In my area, it’s a better deal — more speed for less money. According to speakeasy, I’m now getting a solid 3 million bits per second. It’s still not fast enough for our household’s multiple computers, but it will do for now.

You’ll soon be chatting with Deckard Cain once again. Blizzard has confirmed that Diablo III is coming. The game will be fully 3-d and include a new witch doctor class. Get details here, along with a trailer and gameplay video:

http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/

Humyo offers 30 GB of free online storage — 25 GB for music, photos, and video and 5GB for whatever you want. The site lets you listen to and watch your media files from any computer. Users can even embed media files onto their website, blog or social networking site. To keep your account active you need to login at least once in 90 days.

Get more details at MakeUseOf.com

Mixx is a promising Digg alternative. The site is well designed, easy to navigate and very responsive. Categories and sub-categories are laid out logically and the posted content is usually pretty interesting. In fact, Mixx is good in every way except the one that matters — community. Mixx doesn’t seem to have reached that critical mass of posters and traffic yet that will make it a star. None of the stories on the front page at the moment have reached 50 votes, compared to the hundreds of diggs it takes to get on the front page of that other site.

Given time, Mixx may reach critical mass, but even now the site is well worth visiting and maybe even participating in.

When you pick up your 2009 Chrysler at the dealer, make sure it has the optional EV-DO modem and WiFi router built in.