Square Steps Back from 'No FF on 360' Remark

GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that Square/Enix has stepped away from a comment made by Executive Producer Shinji Hashimoto. Wednesday we discussed his comment, which would seem to indicate that Final Fantasy titles won't be coming to the 360. Square took pains today to specify that he was only referring to current plans. "A spokesperson for Square Enix told GamesIndustry.biz, 'Hashimoto-san was talking about the current situation' - which would suggest his comments shouldn't be interpreted as forward-looking. Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter said he expects the next Final Fantasy to appear on PlayStation 3 exclusively - but observed that Square Enix will face a tough decision. 'The series has always been single console and given the Xbox 360 sell through in Japan, it would be hard to put the next Final Fantasy installment on the 360 only. Square Enix faces a dilemma: put the next game on the 360 only and alienate Japanese fans, depart with tradition and make it multi-platform, or go with PS3 as an exclusive and deal with the backlash from the west. I view Square Enix as a tradition-bound company, and expect the last alternative to be chosen.'"

Comments

The original FF devs have already moved to 360

[Temporal]

Blue Dragon -- to be released in the US this summer -- is directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the original creator of Final Fantasy, who directed or produced every FF through FFX. The music is by Nobuo Uematsu, the composer of all the music in FF 1 through 9 and some of FFX. Neither of them were involved in FFXII nor are they involved in FFXIII. Blue Dragon is an XBox 360 exclusive.

I know a lot of people liked FFXII, and indeed I thought the gameplay was awesome, but I was disappointed by the story. Although intriguing in some ways, it was much thinner than in previous FF games, and lacked any sort of emotion. I'm hoping that the spirit of FF has gone with Sakaguchi and Uematsu and will return in Blue Dragon. This is also convenient because I have a 360 but really don't want to buy a PS3. :)

Re:I don't understand...

[7Prime]

Well, one of the distinctions isn't so much "profits" overall, but "when" the profits will come. Most countries in the world tend to think longer term than we do in the US. Most decisions in large corporations, these days, are made by the quarter or the year. Then again, many corporations in the US get big very fast, and then die very fast. American companies aren't very good at, and aren't too concerned with longevity. Japanese companies notice that what's good for the consumer is often good for the corporation, in the long run. paying employees higher wages, for instance, insures that the quality of living remains high in the surrounding area, and that people can continue to purchase their products for years to come. Also, paying higher wages means more productivity, and higher quality products.

- In the US, the difference between highest and lowest paid workers is somwhere around 600:1 in a given company

- In most industrialized nations, the difference between highest and lowest paid workers is about 50:1

- Japan is somewhere around 15:1, on average

Re:PS2 = shitty hardware

[donaldm]

I have a HDTV (only 37") that will display and enhance standard definition input (composite or AV and S video) so if I play a GameCube game the graphics comes out as "good" to "not bad" and the same is true for my PS2 games. From my personal perspective it can be quite hard to pick the difference although I would definitely concede that the GC graphics for the games I have are marginally better than some of my PS2 games but not all.

Enter the 60GB PS3 (Australian) which I recently purchased for a very good deal (US$400 + PS2 and 10 PS2 games trade-in). Put on V1.7 firmware and most of my PS2 games still played but I could not notice any graphical enhancement. A few days later I put on the V1.8 firmware and the graphical improvement on my PS1 and PS2 games (all except 2 of my games play now) was remarkable since they were now upscaled with smoothing to 720p or 1080i via component or HDMI. Even DVD's are upscaled via HDMI and the result is also remarkable. With the V1.8 firmware the PS3 will now upscale PS1/2 games to 1080p but my HDTV does not support that so I cannot comment.

I still play the GC (Metroid and Zelda) but if you compare it's graphics against the PS3 upscaled PS2 games it is now no contest since the PS2 games just look better to the point that I am now replying many of my favourate PS2 games. IMHO the only downside of the PS3 is it's lack of PS3 games but since I can play graphically enhanced PS2 games I can wait. Even some of my PS1 games are now graphically acceptable on my HDTV.

The problem many people have with the PS3 and the Xbox360 is choosing a decent HDTV and I would be very wary of "HD ready" because your TV must support 720p at the minimum to qualify as a HDTV. Just because you have a large screen does not necessarily mean it is a HDTV in-fact once you look at getting a HDTV over 47" you really should look at 1080p but that is going to be more expensive. Re your post I cannot comment on screen flickering since I have never seen it on my TV but then I prefer RPG's and Action Adventure games.

My recommendation to anyone at the moment is if you have the money and want a gaming/home entertainment system get a decent HDTV first but do some serious homework before you buy and I can't repeat this often enough make sure your HDTV has HDMI and supports as a base minimum 720p. IMHO any HDTV less than 32" should be relegated to the kids room (if you have any) but then this does depend on your disposable income.