News

CoN forums have reached 20,000 posts, an excellent landmark. The way the posts are stacking up, it's anyone's guess as to when we reach 30,000. If I were to make a guess, I'd say around April or May of 2004, unless the number of posts continues to increase. The 20,000th post was made by the site webmaster, Rangers51, in the Dragon Quest 5 Remake thread.

For those of you that aren't reading this through the forums and aren't members yet, consider joining up.

Square Enix has announced through V-Jump magazine that a Dragon Quest V remake is in progress.

The remake of the 1992 Super Famicom title will be for the Playstation 2. The original was one of the Dragon Quest titles that did not see North American shores as a Dragon Warrior title. It is unclear whether the remake will either. The graphics will be upgraded, but it is not believe they will be even up to par with the PS1 Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior VII.

Games_Are_Fun has a magazine scan that shows a few scenes from the game.

Source: Games_Are_Fun

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I have only played Dragon Warrior 1. It was probably seven or eight years ago now, but I think I recall enjoying it. So I'll definitely be interested in this if it is reasonably priced. I don't mind some of these remakes as long as they are reasonably priced and the companies are still trying to make other new, innovative titles at the same time that they are working on these.

Service for Square's newest addition to the FF series, Final Fantasy XI, began yesterday in North America.

For those not familiar with the title, Final Fantasy XI is Square's first Massively Multiplayer Online RPG (MMORPG) release. The game offers players a myriad of gameplay experiences, from customizable characters to multiple platform support.
Character customization includes race, gender, and job class. Available races include Hume, Elvaan, Tarutaru, Galka, and Mithra. Fifteen job classes have been released on the Official FFXI website (including Final Fantasy classics like White Mage, Black Mage, and Thief), along with allusions that other jobs may exist as well.
FFXI has currently been released on both Windows and PS2. Players on both platforms can play and interact on the same realms; additionally, realms are international, allowing players from different nations to team up to complete quests. Also, Square has included an automatic in-game translation system for common phrases to help facilitate international gameplay.

More can be read at Square's recently revamped FFXI site, The Final Fantasy XI Van'Diel Journal

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Hype about the game's release seems high among Caves of Narshe members. In a recent poll on the website, over two thirds of the 201 responding members said they would purchase the game for one of the available platforms. Complete poll results are below:

Thinking about getting Final Fantasy 11?

25.4% - I'll buy it for PS2
34.8% - I'll but it for PC
6.5% - I'll buy it, but I don't know for which platform
16.4% - I'll try it before making a decision
16.9% - It's not for me

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Admittedly, I'm a little skeptical about the game.
After hearing about the major server problems upon initial release in Japan, and after witnessing first-hand the endless shelves of unsold FFXI copies in Japanese gaming stores, I can't help but wonder if the game will really work out to be everything Square's said it will be...

Sony announced today that it would be cutting 20,000 jobs worldwide. The 20,000 jobs constitue 13 percent of the company's total employees. It is not certain where the jobs will be cut, but it is known that the first 7,000 will be from Japan.

Poor sales of the Playstation 2 and Trinitron TV sets are being blamed for contributing to Sony's declining revenue and its thus needed restructuring.

Source: Gamestop

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It's never good to hear about job cuts. Hopfully, those who are getting layed off will find new employers quickly.

As you've already seen if you've read this CoN news article on the healing potential of video games, we have hired Phoenix as a new News Editor. Phoenix will be the third news staffer, working in conjunction with Administrator Elena99 and Moderator SSJ_Cloud.

Phoenix, as noted in his staff biography, is currently a freshman in Uni, having finished high school early. He has a good writing style, has been willing to help whenever possible in the months since his return to the site, and is an all-around good guy.

Everyone, please join me and the staff in welcoming Phoenix to his new position at Caves of Narshe. We're all looking forward to working more directly with him!

Common video games have the potential to treat and cure phobias, according to a study published in the CyberPsychology and Behavior Journal on October 17.

The study was conducted in Quebec, Canada at the Universite du Quebec en Outaouais. It involved several patients diagnosed with phobias, each treated through exposure therapy.

(Exposure therapy utilizes gradual exposure to a fear. For example, an arachnophobe undergoing exposure therapy might initially be seated in a room with a tarantula at the room’s opposite end; as the patient became more comfortable with the spider’s presence, the therapist would move the spider closer and closer to the patient until finally, the patient would ideally be able to sit next to or hold the spider in his or her hand without fear. Early exposure therapy often involves virtual reality equipment.)

One test group in the study received their initial treatment via expensive virtual reality equipment commonly used for exposure therapy in medical labs, while another test group began their treatment through use of inexpensive, low-end personal computers, head-mounted displays, and common first-person video game software, such as Half-Life and Unreal Tournament.

Surprisingly, the study indicated that PCs running video game software produced similar therapeutic results in patients to the standard medical equipment.

The full study can be read at Ingenta Select.

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I’m glad to see this bit of news; video games don’t get enough credit for their potential uses and benefits, in my opinion.
For one thing, I believe they can teach young kids all kinds of useful things. I’m quite convinced that Final Fantasy VI supported my basic math skills in elementary school and first taught me how to spell "ghost," for example. I also distinctly remember looking up the word "maintain" in the family dictionary because of that game. (Yet I still don’t know exactly how that dang Dispel thing works.)
So, it’s nice to read about a concrete scientific study being performed and indicating practical benefits of video game software.