We've drooled over the scans, we've been stunned over the trailers, we've fantasized over the merchandise - it's just too bad, though, that everything about Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII for the PlayStation Portable is pretty much in Japanese, without the slightest hint of English in sight (barring the title and character names, of course).

However, all that may have changed with this trailer video update of the game - with the game's credits in the King's own English.

The trailer itself features snippets of the game's cinematics, featuring both new and old characters from the Final Fantasy VII universe. There's a bit of a homage to the beginning of the original game - namely Zack landing upon a train heading into the depths of Midgar, pretty much how Cloud infiltrated a Mako Power Plant along with the rest of AVALANCHE. Totally awesome.

Of course, this could also be just a little teaser of Square Enix's - remember the tech demo they made of Final Fantasy VII running on next-gen graphics? Fingers remain in their crossed positions, however, as it'd also be too cruel for the company responsible for the epic RPG franchise not to grace us with an NA release. That'd just be criminal.

In any case, enjoy the video!

Mako is back with an update to his previous homebrew, and has uploaded Orbz 0.3. For those of you who haven't heard of this game, it's played like a platform game where you guide your Orb through different levels. Simple enough, right? But the game also allows customizable stages. Speaking of stages, DJShrimpy also contributed to the level design, and Jose' came in for the music.

So, what's new?

• This release now has enemies, and the Shock Attack.
• Speed has improved from the previous version.
• New theme for LEVEL5.LUA and so on.
• Intro text for each chapter.
• A boss for Chapter I has been added.
• Serveral collision problems have been fixed.
• Music looping has been fixed.

To learn how to edit your own stages (or if you want to simply learn more about the game), make sure you take a look at the readme file for instructions and added info.

We're looking forward to more relases for this, Mako! You guys keep it up!

Download: [Orbz 0.3]
Discuss: [Forum Release Thread]

Mako had two wishes that he posted on the QJ thread.

A. someone give me dev status(wow i cant believe i actually decided to make a psp game n get this far ! i got my psp a yr ago n i never thought id actually MAKE a game)

B. can someone tell me how i can get this onto dl.qj.net and as a jump-able headline on the homepage?

I can't grant the first one though since I'm not the forum administrator, but writing about it and putting it up over at front page as a "jump-able" article is something I, and the rest of the QJ crew may be of service to. And if the forum administrators are reading this who knows, maybe you'd have dev status soon.

If the game sounds familiar to you that's because this game by Mako is a port of DJShrimpy's original PC game of the same title that he made from Game Maker 6.1. Game play is relatively simple. Guide your orb through a series of obstacles to get to the portal that will take you to the next level. Right now, as DJShrimpy points out, the game is still in its Beta phase, so don't expect something fancy. It has however jumping, collision, music and all the essentials. However, what's exceptional about it is that it comes with a level editor. This will allow you to customize levels by using letters to add blocks. Here's how to use the editor.

You can also create your own levels. Open up the LUA file with your favorite text editor (preferably Notepad) and add blocks using letters.

a = yellow blocks.
b = blue blocks.
c = dirt blocks (floor).
d = blue key.

Set the Orb start point with "playerX" and "playerY". Set the exit portal coordinates with "exitX" and "exitY". Set the previous level, and next level with "nxt" and "prev" (don't forget to put .lua at the end!). You can also adjust music volume and background images as well (they have to take up the full PSP screen, or the rest will be black space). The first "room" in the text file is how it is when you start. The next "room" is when you grab the key. So be creative and ONLY take out the blue blocks.


One out of two wishes ain't bad right? Looking forward to future releases Mako!

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Update: Developer Mako has just updated his really interesting remake of the game Orbz to v0.2c. In this version, the speed has increased as he also used a different base lua player. So check out this new game and tell us what you think about it.

Download: [Orbz v0.2c]
Discuss: [Forum Release Thread]