Final Fantasy Football: Kicker - Tidus

Most of the nation is crazed about their fantasy football picks.

Gamers are organizing their Final Fantasy Football selections.

Final Fantasy, the more than 20-year-old video game franchise, provides more than enough characters and attributes to warrant an official fantasy football selection. There is even a couple Wiki "Uncyclopedia" entries on the topic, so you know it's legit.

Over the next week VGF will showcase the best picks for the ultimate Final Fantasy Football team taken primarily from the franchise's most recent endeavors. Who's your pick?

Previous picks:

Running Back - Zidane Tribal

Tight End - Cecil Harvey

Kicker
Tidus
Final Fantasy X

The blitzball star and protagonist of Final Fantasy X is one of the few Final Fantasy characters with experience in professional sports. However, his skills would be best served as a kicker of any fantasy football team. This being because blitzball is a game primarily played using your feet to score. I'm sure those skills are transferable out of water and on the turf.

Final Fantasy Football: Tight End - Cecil Harvey

Most of the nation is crazed about their fantasy football picks.

Gamers are organizing their Final Fantasy Football selections.

Final Fantasy, the more than 20-year-old video game franchise, provides more than enough characters and attributes to warrant an official fantasy football selection. There is even a couple Wiki "Uncyclopedia" entries on the topic, so you know it's legit.

Over the next week VGF will showcase the best picks for the ultimate Final Fantasy Football team taken primarily from the franchise's most recent endeavors. Who's your pick?

Previous picks:

Running Back - Zidane Tribal


Tight End
Cecil Harvey
Final Fantasy IV

The tight end position is one of the most versatile on the field. Often the last man on the offensive line, the tight end can choose to block oncoming defensemen or join in the foray as an elible receiver. Only a dynamic hero will do. Enter: Cecil Harvey. This dark knight turned paladin is the master of shifting "jobs" and is effective at both roles making him the ideal tight end. Might as well throw in Cecil's trusty airship force (and the world's greatest professional sports team), the Red Wings, as a steady offensive line.

Final Fantasy Football: Running back - Zidane Tribal

Summer is ending and gridiron madness has taken hold of much of the nation as the National Football League's preseason completes its third week.

Many college pigskin seasons begin this week and the NFL will kickoff on Sept. 9 forcing many football fans to make their official fantasy football selections.

Although many gamers have championed their third national championship in NCAA 11 or fourth super bowl ring in Madden 11, what about the rest of the video game community?

The time is now for football fanatics and gaming gurus to collide. Behold: Final Fantasy Football.

The more than 20-year-old video game franchise provides more than enough characters and attributes to warrant an official fantasy football selection. There is even a couple Wiki "Uncyclopedia" entries on the topic, so you know it's legit.

Over the next week VGF will showcase the best picks for the ultimate Final Fantasy Football team taken primarily from the franchise's most recent endeavors. Who's your pick?


Running back
Zidane Tribal
Final Fantasy IX

This former bandit leader is known for his speed and agility. The pint-sized hero of Final Fantasy IX would make an ideal running back easily slipping through defenders. Although he may be the savior of Gaia, Zidane's quirky tale may prove an inconvenient trait and an easy target for defenders to make a quick tackle. Nevertheless, expect a wide variety of touchdown celebrations from the master of theatrics and member of the Tantalus Theater Troupe.

A web-based gaming diversion: Record Tripping

The state of web-based gaming seems to fluctuate from the creative to the overly monotonous.

Surprisingly enough, a majority of web-based games are played by middle-aged women likely because many resemble classic puzzle titles with approachable controls.

I stumbled on a unique web-based game and 2010 Webby award-winner for best game called Record Tripping by independent game designers and brothers John and Dan Bell.

Like all good web-based games, Record Tripping isn't hard to understand and doesn't take up much of your time. All you need is your mouse with a scroll wheel.

The basic premise circles around manipulating different objects around the principle of reversing, speeding-up and slowing down a "record." A brief tutorial shows players how easily each task is done. Holding down the left-button on the mouse will slow the record, scrolling up speeds-up in the record and scrolling down slows it down. That's it!

The audio for our record is a narration of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson's 1895 children's tale "Alice in Wonderland." However, the player's manipulation of the audio is coupled with a different songs in a contemporary music selection for of the game's five levels. The sound of record scratches gives the player a sense of manipulating your own mixed person of songs by the Gorillaz, Spoon and Death Cab for Cutie while in the process of playing the game.

Each level presents a new challenge using the same principle and controls described in the tutorial, but in different ways. You'll manipulate the wind, a clock or a safe combination in the same way you scratch the game's tutorial vinyl record. The game's creative scenarios are reminiscent of game such as the time-altering and award-winning Braid for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

The game's presentation is well polished to makes for an enjoyable (and free) experience.

Video game world record holder Billy Mitchell reclaims Donkey Kong crown

Last night I finally got a chance to view the 2007 documentary "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" and I highly recommend the strangely compelling look at competitive realm of arcade gaming.

The film focuses on newcomer Steve Weibe and his attempt to break a world record in the arcade classic Donkey Kong set by the crafty arcade gaming expert Billy Mitchell, whom is portrayed as a bit of a villain in the film, in 1982.

Nevertheless, the film is fantastic and well-crafted.

However, earlier this year, Mitchell's 1,050,200-point world record was broken by New York resident and 35 year old Hank Chein.

Since most of the film surrounds the official ranking on gaming scorekeeper Twin Galaxies, I decided to check it out and I found that a new world champion was very recently crowned. Billy Mitchell again reclaimed the thrown as the world record holder for Donkey Kong with 1,062,800 points breaking Chein's record by a mere 1,100 points.

The record was set a matter of weeks ago on July 31.

It seems as though Billy Mitchell refuses to let his Kong crown go.

NPD Report spells a bad omen for the Sony PSP

Word is spanning across the web that recent findings from market research agency, The NPD Group, show the Xbox 360 has overtaken the Nintendo Wii in the number of units sold last month for the first time since 2007.

The Microsoft console outsold the Wii 443,500 units to 398,400 units and many are claiming the new slimline Xbox 360 may be the cause.

However, what's more alarming is how terribly the PlayStation Portable is selling.

The PSP ranked fifth in the hardware list with only 84,000 units sold. Next on the list is the hand held's younger, albeit beefier, brother the PlayStation 3 with 214,500 consoles sold in July.

The 130,500 unit difference is bad enough, but what's worse is Sony's hand held competitor, Nintendo DS, outsold the PSP by 314,400 units and was the second most sold console with 398,400 finding their way to gamer hands last month.

A pitiful display by the five-year-old hand held is awful news for Sony and is likely the result of its overpriced move with the PSP Go and continued popularity and success of the Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi and Nintendo DSi XL.

The PSPGo's $250 price tag and wifi dependence has likely turned off gamers who are less accustomed to consoles without physical media - although the Apple iPad may be changing that philosophy. Older versions of the PSP retail cheaper, at $169.99, but that price point is near the Nintendo DSiXL for an older model of the console.

Nevertheless, it all comes down to games. Despite the success of "Metal Gear Sold: Peace Walker," the PSP game library is dwindling almost as quickly as the Nintendo Wii's. Like Nintendo, Sony has been forced to rely on first party titles to keep it afloat such as games from the "God of War" and "Little Big Planet" franchises.

It's time for the Sony PSP to reinvent itself in a different way than the overpriced PSP Go otherwise it will soon be PSP Gone.