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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.'"
Final Fantasy VII and VIII were both released for the PS1 and PC.
Final Fantasy XI is on the PS2, PC, and 360.
A 360 port wouldn't exactly be an earth-shattering move.
"When you make a crossplatform game, it is limited by the lowest hardware specs of each console. maybe graphics for one, storage medium for another, and persistent objects for a third."
Now that's just silly. If all they're doing to change from building for Platform A to building for Platform B is changing a command line switch in their compiler then they deserve to be LCD'd.
Good porting means balancing and mitigating the strengths and weaknesses of each platform. If Console A has less graphical power than Console B, then THAT version might get geometrically simpler models or smaller textures or a lower framerate. If Console C has the juice to perform full physics on a moving car while Console D doesn't, your build for Console D will have a simplified physics model.
I mean, PC gaming has had those tweakable settings for over a decade, to compensate for the varied power in each machine. Naturally developers know of this.
More Twoson than Cupertino
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.
Unless you're talking about a company that's actually owned by a console maker, there's no loyalty in the 3rd party world. If Wii has 95% of the market, Square will probably find a way to get FF13 on that instead even if it means scrapping the grahpic engine they've been working on. It's not like Square stayed exclusive to PSX out of loyalty to begin with. It's because PSX/PS2 had a huge dominating position in the market, coupled with some technical/political issues (i.e. feud with Nintendo, plus N64 was delayed so they couldn't develop for it even if they wanted to).
When N64 wasn't going anywhere, 3rd party had no problem jumping ship (but still develop for the dominant Nintendo handhelds). No reason to assume it's any different for Sony. And if PS3 really manages to take off, expect FF13 to go back to exclusively PS3 again.
2. The 360. Piss-poor market in Japan, good everywhere else, but not selling as fast as:
3. The Wii - Fastest selling home console on the market worldwide, as fast as Nintendo can make them. Selling faster than the current numerical market leader (the 360) is or ever has. Popular everywhere, including Square's home turf.
Now, of course the intelligent thing to do would be to just make the damn series Wii exclusive. But of course, Square has be too smart for that! So instead they're pissing around waiting to see if PS3 sales will perk up, and trying to cover their asses in the meantime. I think it's clear they desperately don't want to have to crawl back to Nintendo. They ran off from Casa Nintendo 10 years ago like a spoiled Rich-Bitch, "You don't own me! I don't need you! I've got Sony!"
Of course, I'd really love to see Nintendo turn Square out on their ass "Uhhh, yeah, see, I'm kind of busy, and you're really a lot older and saggy now. Not as hot as you used to be at all." And let them slum it on a system with a barely 7 figure market, while Nintendo's well into 8.
I'd guess they don't want to go to Microsoft because MS poached all their talent. Including fucking Akira Torayama. Who by the way, has the worst fucking art style on the planet. Who the fuck decided that the most bland, uninteresting mangaka on the planet needed to be the most famous? Any schmuck with a one-shot in Shounen Jump can draw better than that hack (and make characters that don't all look alike through every fucking project he's ever been involved in!)
MEDIA: Do you plan FF on 360?
Exec1: Well.. I don't know of any plans to make one on 360 for now.
MEDIA: Aha! "EXEC SAYS: FF ON 360, NEVER!"
Exec2: Wait, we never said that, we're talking about immediate plans.
MEDIA: Aha! "SQUARE STEPS BACK FROM WHAT THEY SAID BEFORE!"
Exec3: But we never said it...?!
MEDIA: Aha! "SQUARE TRIES TO BEND HISTORY AND CENSOR MEDIA!"
Exec1: O_o
Exec2: o_O
Exec3: O_O