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Final Fantasy XIII Is Coming To Xbox 360
An anonymous reader writes "In a stunning change, Square-Enix announced today at Microsoft's E3 press conference that its next iteration in the Final Fantasy series is also coming to Xbox 360." And I just rationalized the PS3 purchase by telling myself that the next FF will require it.
What? The blu-ray-360 has been rumored many times, AND shot down each and every time by Microsoft.
The inclusion of blu-ray in the 360 would easily drive the price up $150, which would make the 360 more expensive than even the 80GB PS3 at this moment. I don't see that happening until the prices on blu-ray hardware drops some more and by that time, it'll be time for the next Xbox to come out anyways. If we do see a blu-ray drive for the 360, it'll be like the HD-DVD add-on drive and will probably sell for about $200.
However, it's important to note that Microsoft has repeatedly and consistantly stated that 360 games will ONLY be on DVDs - not HD-DVD, not blu-ray. DVD only.
No doubt FFXIII will come on a handful of DVDs. My guess it'll be 6 or 7 discs. With an average FF title taking 50 or so hours to complete (and twice that if you're a completist) that's about 10 hours per disc which is reasonable.
Also, don't forget that 360 games will now be allowed to be installed to the hard drive. I have the feeling we'll see some various options here for FFXIII. The actual game itself probably wouldn't take up that much room, so maybe you could do something similar to Diablo2 - install the game to your hard drive, but leave the CD/DVD in your drive for the cinematic cutscenes.
A - There's no Blu-Ray 360 coming in the near future. People have fabricated "rumors" to that effect because they expect it eventually, but there's been no halfway decent information indicating it. If MS didn't announce it yesterday, it won't be coming before Xmas 08 and likely not before E3 09.
B - Did Square go PS2 exclusive because of the next generation's not yet conceived drive? FF XIII was assumed to be PS3 exclusive because the last several generations have either been PS exclusives or launched on the PS 6+ months before other consoles.
Microsoft has yet to confirm a Blu-Ray equipped 360...in fact they've denied it several times (which doesn't mean much). I would be willing to bet if they do start to use Blu-Ray, they would release an add-on drive as well as building it into a high-end model, so you wouldn't need a new console. Makes more sense for them that way, as putting it in a lower-end 360 would probably mean they have to sell them at a loss to be competitive.
You can get a lot of compressed content onto a double-layer DVD....long-arse install time to a hard drive would be required though, but I don't see why FFXIII would need more than that. They would need a TON of terrain and unique models to fill up the space, and unless they go in a new direction with the series, they won't need anywhere close to that.
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No doubt. Sony! Give me a reason to buy the PS3 please, I want that blu-ray player.
I find it funny that you ask for a reason to buy the system, then list the reason you want the system.
It's a blu-ray player, it works great as a media center, you can install linux on it, Sony doesn't charge for their online service like XBox... oh and you can play video games on it.
Try and find a computer that can match that. You can't even get the blu-ray drive for the price of the PS3, then you'd need a $300 video card to match the performance and quality in games that the PS3 provides.