It’s a crying shame that the PlayStation HDD crashed and burned as hard as it did. The potential for having some very seriously cool additions to normal gameplay was entirely in the hands of developers, and around here we all get the Catch-22 or the chicken/egg issue of the content driving the sales of the hardware, but the lack of hardware making it hard to legitimize development for such a small install base, but c’mon, Sony, it could have been grand. Y’know, if you hadn’t redesigned the PS2 to be so darned adorable.

But there was one very good thing that came out of the whole HDD mess: Final Fantasy XI, and thanks to it being a PS2 and PC and, soon, a Xbox 360 title that’s playable across all three platforms with nary a hitch, the supporting community is beyond impressive.

This is something that isn’t without precedence. EverQuest certainly hooked the masses, and like Sony Online Entertainment’s online crack simulator, FFXI has roped in more than a few fans willing to brave fresh air and sunlight while donning threads to replicate characters from the game in the outside world.

The Final Fantasy XI Fan Festival, they’re calling it, and this year’s third annual outing will be taking place March 9-11 at the Santa Monica Pier, where the usual homeless people and obnoxious tourists will likely be scared away by some kind of overzealous midget in a Mandragora costume chasing people around with promises of hugs. Oh please let that happen.

In true fan service fashion, it’s also an opportunity to get your hands on the latest expansion Treasures of Aht Urgan. This makes the second major U.S. expansion for the game alongside Chains of Promathia and Rise of Zilart, which was bundled with the retail copies of the game here in the States. The Japanese development team will be on hand as well to answer questions in a series of discussion panels.

There’s bound to be more info in the three month span between now and the event, and should it roll in, we’ll make sure to pass it along.