Dell Partners with Square

zenintrude writes "Gameforms is reporting that Square has signed a deal with Dell that will secure new Dell computers to be shipping with Final Fantasy XI pre-installed. This comes on the heels of another story involving Square partnering with nVidia, in which certain aspects/details in Final Fantasy XI will only be able to be accomplished with a geForce4 card."

Comments

If you can't beat em with technology

[SpiffyMarc]

nVidia has finally realized the edge it needs to put ATI under: marketing dollars. No amount of cool tech from ATI will stop the fact that Square signed this deal with nVidia. This is where the GeForce4 will get its' edge against the technically superior Radeon 9700 Pro.

It's the same way with Sony. If you can't win with better games, win with more money and an unstoppable juggernaut of a marketing department.

Dude...

[shadowcabbit]

...these jokes are getting old.

But seriously, this could be a good thing and it could also be a bad thing. If FFXI gains enough popularity to generate the fanbase it needs in Japan, a US port (to PC) would be almost guaranteed. But, considering that nobody wants to pay (monthly) for FFXI after buying it, is giving it away free going to make people want to buy it? I think not. Take Everquest, for example-- you can pick up a jewel case copy for $10, a huge slash over what it was back in the day. I did this. And I stopped paying for it two months later, when I found that I don't like that style of game. If anything, it's going to get a huge fanbase for the first month or so and then everyone will quit.

Of course, that's all just my speculation, being a typical FF fan. See sig.

Counter-proposal

[parliboy]

Why don't they port FFIX and FFX first. And I mean really make an effort to port it -- I don't want to have to kick in anti-aliasing x3 to enjoy the game.

What? Don't think it'll sell? So quit trying to port XI.