Slashdot Mirror
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.
...but I can't think of any reasons to buy PS3 anymore. Metal gear solids seem to be the only one as I don't really have need for Blue ray now (if I have in a few years, they will propably be cheaper by that time anyways).
Fine print: I work in internet advertising.
And I just rationalized the PS3 purchase by telling myself that the next FF will require it.
No doubt. Sony! Give me a reason to buy the PS3 please, I want that blu-ray player.
That's okay. Nobody really knows how to program the PS3 anyway.
As you wish. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-uTnqYHZ-I
Really?
I seem to remember Final Fantasy games for the PC that were on PS, that seemed to sell rather well. Not sure if that's related or not, but it would seem to be.
Cross platform wouldn't be such a big deal if the companies were more open about their development methods/kits/etc....if PS3 and Xbox360 and wii worked together, there would be no issues. However end result is the PS3 would run games the best due to superior hardware basically, and everyone else would cry foul. Plus all of those anticompetitive "exclusivity" contracts like EA has launched, ensuring crappy games when they're on a single system. Of course squeenix makes pretty good games and always has, though.
FF13 was not being developed directly on the PS3 hardware. It was instead being written to run on the Crystal Engine, which was being programmed to run on the PS3. It is just now the Crystal Engine has been ported to the 360 so FF13 can follow.
Sounds like the PS3 will still be the system to play it on if one owns both.
I might be wrong...
Not just wrong, but delusional too!
Almost every game that is developed cross platform ends up way better quality wise then when developing for a specific platform. This is the reason why Blizzard ALWAYS releases cross platform. It's part of their strategy to maintain top notch quality.
Modding Trolls +1 inciteful since 1999
That's a pretty slim list Sony. Seriously, are you even trying?
"Computers are useless. They can only give you answers." - Pablo Picasso
Would you feel better if they gave it a different name? The Final Fantasy games don't follow on from one another, they occasionally have similar themes or side-characters, but that's it.
Think of it more like a branding, like Ferrari or Ford.
+1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill
Exclusivity contracts.
Wanna play Halo 2? Get an XBOX. Wanna play Eternal Darkness? Get a gamecube. Wanna play Castlevania ? Get a PS2.
If only all game makers were following this example and began producing their games for ALL platforms... PC included.
IMHO, one player games are dull as hell.
Been playing 'video games' since 1985 or so and one player RPG's have had their day.
I would much rather play a 2 player RPG or better yet, a 10 million player RPG.
Speak for yourself. Having dealt with the "players" of those "10 million player RPGs" I'd rather slam my dick in a car door than play one.
They can give me all the 1 player RPGs they like (though bugger Final Fantasy. Get to work on Dragon Quest 9!)
However, note in the statement that it won't be released in Japan on the Xbox 360. So purists who want the original japanese dialogue will still need a PS3. Happy!
I get why you were modded troll but you touch an important point. The RPG community has been fragmented now. For those who delight in making a character and sharing it with your friends real or otherwise the MMORPG is sweet, sweet candy, but for those who enjoy the deep and rich story which has previously followed RPGs MMORPGs just feel hollow. I've taken quite a few steps into MMORPGs and while they are improving over time, there are just some things that have to be sacrificed for balance. There will always be a place for the single(or well developed small group)-player RPG.
Cheer up, CmdrTaco!
The PS3 is still a worthwhile investment. It is the only next-generation console with a BluRay drive, and therefore the only console with the capacity to hold the 90 hours of cutscenes that will be in the next Metal Gear Solid game...!
Crystal Tools, originally White Engine, has been a multiplatform development tool. They announced last fall that it was multiplatorm. GDC '08 At the SE presser yesterday it was said that FF13 was being developed on PC, then ported over to both systems. This is SE, I seriously doubt it will be worse on either system. Though, I'm guessing the 360 version will be 3 or 4 discs.
In the realm of mature gamers (most of whom have the disposable income to purchase all or as many of the current generation of consoles as they like), fanboy platform wars have no real place. That being said, I see both major positives and negatives about this announcement.
On the plus side, any increase in the competition of two massive corporate juggernauts can only be good for consumers, and the game being multiplatform will help it reach a wider audience and boost sales (especially overseas). In this day and age, it seems like third party exclusive titles are becoming a thing of the past, being replaced by highly subsidized exclusive bonus content (which results in more money for the developers who MAKE the games we love).
However, one advantage consoles have always had is the uniformity of hardware, allowing developers to milk as much performance as possible out of the system, and resulting in better looking titles than on comparably equipped PC hardware (but PCs, being upgradable, often quickly strip that advantage away as hardware progresses). Today, multiplatform developers for Xbox 360 and PS3 often strive for graphical parity between the versions (e.g., GTA4, Assassin's Creed). And while I have no doubt both are powerful systems in their own respects, they are also radically different hardware architectures and I can't see how developers can realistically claim to be maxing out the performance on both systems, yet still have them come out looking virtually indistinguishable.
As an owner of both systems, I was looking forward to FF XIII as an incredible showcase of just how powerful the PS3 was as a system. I'm sure it will still be a fantastic game, but I wonder if this decision won't negatively impact the final product...
I still bought a PS3. Honestly, I don't really care about what games come out for it - well, maybe except for Resident Evil 5, that looks awesome - I got it for a Blu-Ray player. It's the best and cheapest Blu-Ray player you can get on the market, and probably will be for a while.
During the format wars, Sony updated the Blu-Ray version by adding new features; new features that made new Blu-Ray discs incompatible with older players. If Sony decides to add more features in the future, the PS3 is the most versatile player they have.
The PS3's Blu-Ray decoding is software-based, it can be updated and upgraded easily. And the PS3 already comes with a wireless card in it that makes it extraordinarily easy to update.
Also, additional content on many Blu-Ray titles was done in Java. (AvP for instance has a game on the Blu-Ray disc) Most stand-alone players grind to a halt when trying to run Java. The PS3 has computing power to spare and chew those Java apps up and spit them back out. And speaking of computing power, it's designed to have amazing graphics. When you apply that to 2D video, the colors and picture quality are on par with the best devices out there. I'm sure there are better players out there, but those top of the line, multiple-thousand dollar units. For 500 bucks (plus HD cables, plus 30 bucks for the remote), you'll be near top of the line for significantly less money.
The PS3 also will upconvert your old DVD's to 1080p. So, your library of DVD's isn't obsolete like VHS tapes were with DVD's. It'll make all your DVD's look better.
So, it's an amazing player. It displays the movies in crisp, clear graphics - comparable to higher end Blu-Ray players. It can easily update its firmware so it can play all current and future Blu-Ray titles. It has the capability to play all additional content that many other players are incapable of playing. It upconverts old DVDs. And to top it off, it's the cheapest Blu-Ray player out there (or it was when I bought mine). If you've got a 1080p capable TV and you buy movies, the PS3 is going to be the way to go. And, if you see a game worth playing, well, that's just icing on the cake.
Let me finish off by saying I've been a Nintendo Fanboy. I've bought every Nintendo console that's come out. I was pissed off by Sony's arrogance about their system. I was voting for HD-DVD to win. But they didn't. Blu-Ray won. And I'm a pragmatist. If I want to watch movies in 1080p (which I do) there's only one way to do. The president of Sony can go eat a dick. I don't like his business practices and arrogance, but my opinion isn't going to change that. And even though I don't particularly care for him or the way, I have to admit that Sony makes awesome stuff. The first thing I watched in 1080p was a Wall-E trailer I downloaded. Jesus F-ing Christ. If you have the opportunity to see what 1080p video looks like, take the chance.
Give a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day. But light a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
I don't have an HD TV yet, but will probably get one next year (assuming I can convince the wife, even though there's "nothing wrong" with our 3 year old SD TV). Blu-Ray won the war, I can still play them on my SD TV with the PS3, and I don't want to be thinking "crap I could have got this DVD on Blu-Ray instead" when I do upgrade.
I can play videos remotely off MythTV/MythVideo, and any other upnp media servers.
I can play most of my PS2 games on it (80GB model) - only one didn't work, so I'm replacing a device rather than adding one.
Free online play.
The blu-ray player software is updated to make use of new features.
I agree. I played Final Fantasy VIII on the PC as my first Final Fantasy game. I had a PC gamepad to use which worked fine for the game, and the experience wasn't much different than a console (except that I was playing on a 17" computer monitor - still, that was decent sized and I had a nice tilting leather office chair, so it was comfortable). That prompted me to get FFVII for the PC and play through that. I bought FF IX for the Playstation when it came out (I actually played it on my roommate's PSX as I didn't have one yet :)) and it ran pretty similar to the computer titles that I'd played.
Overall, I think that Square-Enix has some pretty good programmers, and they can pull off a cross-platform title pretty easily.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
I realise I am throwing myself into a pit of rabid fanboys here, but here goes.
I've played around on some of the FF games, and I can't say they've ever impressed me. I even bought on once (FF VII) and gave up playing it quite quickly because it just didn't grab me.
So where is the appeal of this series? The action is dull, the RPG elements are poorly conceived and don't make much sense. The pace is plodding. Why are these games so raved about? I just don't get it...
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
And I'm guessing that the PS3 version will probably require a HDD install, much like Devil May Cry 4, MGS4, etc.. and load 1-2 seconds faster.
An interesting sidenote, with the announcement that the 360 can install games to the HDD, but you have to have the disc in (for verification that you own the game), if they allowed a full game install of FFXIII, allowing the first disc to be the "verification" disc, the "LOL1l!! multiple disc" arguement would go away. Get on in MS, for those who don't like getting off the couch every 10 hours.
Whether or not there is some sort of god, I'm not supposed to say/god is a word and the argument ends there-Smog
Mature gamers...
I hate to tell you but mature gamers are buying the Wii. I would bet you that more and more people in their late 20s, 30's, and 40's are buying the Wii.
I think you better start using the term hard core gamers.
As to the news. I find it mildly interesting. It may really help Microsoft crack the Japanese market. As for me it just delays me buying a bit longer. My wife wants the PS3 for Singstar. Yes she loves Singstar. I have yet to see a game for the 360 or PS3 that I must have.
So we will keep playing with our Wii, PS2, XBox, and Dreamcast for now.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Nintendo was abandoned when they refused to create a CD based console.
You are, because this post is more final than yours.
Just one question: Will the 360 version be a bare bones, no-cutscenes version, or will it sport 5 discs, or more? I mean, taking MGS4 as an example, that game renders all cutscenes in-game, yet _still_ fills up a whole dual layer BD, meaning 50 GB of textures and sound (minus some GB of double content for better reading performance, I know).
I just hope this doesn't mean dumbing down both versions, technically.
A World in a Grain of Sand / Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Infinity in the Palm of your Hand / And Eternity in an Hour.
It's programmed? According to the launch time press material from Sony, the PS3 has sexy magical elf babes inside that weave the game in real time directly out of sunshine, the holy spirit and the smiles of kittens.
Doesn't Final Fantasy have FINAL in the title. Just how many sequels can this thing have and still be FINAL. And everytime there is another Final Fantasy made, there is a chance that no talent ass clown Uwe Boll will make a movie out of it.
Doesn't Never Ending Story have NEVER ENDING in the title? Shouldn't we have more sequels to this thing?
Thank god we have Japan, Europe and a few scant studios in the US (mainly Bioware) continuing to produce long, decent single-player RPGs. Personally I don't enjoy online gaming much -- need a bit of plot and character development in my games. So far, MMOs haven't really progressed in that area.
They've done multi-disc releases before (VII, VIII, XI). I don't think they'll have any issues doing it again.
I think by virtue of them achieving an identical experience on both consoles you subject yourself to some technical compromise. It's not going to squeeze every last drop of processing power out of either system.
Still, if they're developing on a layer that runs on both platforms, it bodes well for consistency. And honestly, I'm not worried about it looking substandard on either console.
MGS4 looked amazing, but with a story like theirs, what does it matter anyway? The game turned out to be more of the same "blah blah" Koijima nonsense that newcomers to the series couldn't possibly fathom (and even kept the veterans scratching their heads). Final Fantasy's reboot per game keeps people coming back. Thirteen times, to approximate ;)
Attention deficit disorder is a complicated issue, spanning several major... HEY LET'S GO RIDE BIKES!
The PS3 is not expensive, percentage-wise its now very competitive with the Wii (not just with the 360).
Um, what?
Are you? Also isn't it small? And doesn't some 360s lack hard drive? And doesn't the harddrive cost a lot? How big is it?
Earlier I used to belive the 360 would cost as much or more than the PS3 with the same equipment and during it's whole life.
Now I don't know because it's so very cheap, but I guess the PS3 have fallen in price as well and live gold still cost money.
I'm sure you've heard it a billion times, but correlation != causation, and this sounds like a particularly egregious example.
I doubt Blizzard releases cross-platform in order to make their games higher quality. More likely, companies like Blizzard who release high quality games have more leeway to do what they want (they may have more money, a more devoted fanbase, a more lenient publisher, or something else), and this also allows them to release the games on multiple platforms.
I take the sexy magical elf babes thank you very much, you can have monkeyboy.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
As blizzard has stated, they do not release to OSX to increase marketshare. They would actually be losing money on that deal. Their intention in multiplatform development is for the sake of quality. The fact that they get additional sales out of the deal is nothing but a perk.
Modding Trolls +1 inciteful since 1999
Sure Oblivion is great but where is the story, the character development, the iron rails I can follow easily towards the end?
Same with games like Baldur's Gate/Planescape Torment. Choices? Choosing my own destiny? Moral questions? No thanks! FF has its story laid out in front of you, what happens has all been decided. It makes for a far smoother and polished experience.
FF you are playing a movie and some people like that. No, not me, but I also know lots of people don't like Bioware games either.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
I find this to be horribly off base. Historically going cross platform has meant lesser quality because you have to devote part of your development team to translating everything for the other platform... which means that CREATION of other things goes down. Instead of having another new feature, you're product is cross-platform. That sounds like lesser quality to me. Maybe more quantity but less quality.
The difference between then and now is that the big name games are going cross-platform. Games like Final Fantasy and Grand Theft Auto which are known for their quality have gone cross-platform and have and will hopefully continue to maintain their high standards of quality even despite crossing over. And notice that you nodded your head to these games going cross platform... that means they didn't start out that way and yet they are big.
personally I get the feeling you're a blizzard fan boy more than a gamer. Not to say they don't have good games but I don't see where their cross platforming has ever happened. Their most known games are PC games. Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo... all computer games.
And as for Astral's comment on WoW... he's pretty much right on that. Very large number of things to collect and do... that are all slight variations of one another. If my little brother didn't play it, I would have left it in my discard pile. It runs like a dream, no bugs and it is quite charming. Once that gets boring, though, there isn't anything left to entertain you.
Just one question: Will the 360 version be a bare bones, no-cutscenes version, or will it sport 5 discs, or more? I mean, taking MGS4 as an example, that game renders all cutscenes in-game, yet _still_ fills up a whole dual layer BD, meaning 50 GB of textures and sound (minus some GB of double content for better reading performance, I know).
Not to pee in your cheerios, but Virtua Fighter 5 (initially touted as a PS3 exclusive, too) was released with fancier graphics and online multiplayer with exceptional netcode exclusively on the 360. Basically, I can sit here and play VF5 with friends in Japan from my sofa in the US with no perceived latency all evening while PS3 users are stuck playing only people in the same room with less detail and features on their "technically superior" console.
If the game turns out to require multiple discs, I'd assume there would be an option to copy game data to the HDD, as many 360 users have 120GB drives nowadays. Microsoft, although having had hurdles with hardware problems, tends to push for a great gaming experience on the 360.
It's probably going to be detrimental to my karma to suggest we wait and see instead of just assuming anything to do with the 360 is going to crap up the game or offer a lesser experience. It's entirely likely Microsoft will try to make another example out of any former Sony exclusive franchise.
a bad reference, but the first one I found
Modding Trolls +1 inciteful since 1999
At yesterday's E3 announcement from Microsoft, the autumn update for the 360 was unveiled. One of the new features is the optional ability to install your games to the hard drive for fast loading times and no disc switching (if it's a multiple-disc game). You still need to insert the primary disc for the game, to prove you own it, but once it's verified the disc is in the drive it won't spin it up at all and will just read from the disk.
The 360 Elite comes with a 120GB drive. I presume (read: hope) Premium and Core consoles can be fitted with this drive too.
A block of code, sufficiently well-written, is indistinguishable from magick.