FFXIII on 360

[SephYuyX]

Yup, just announced at MS conference, hints at having more features too.

[Kaddisfly]

jinx. 1-2-3-4, got mine in a few seconds before yours

[SephYuyX]

Damn >.x

[Vauce]

And Sony loses another console exclusive. Nice move for SE, so much more money to be made in games that are cross-platform. I guess it helps that the industry finally has two essentially equally matched consoles (debatable.... I know--don't bother).

[jmc]

And Sony loses another console exclusive. Nice move for SE, so much more money to be made in games that are cross-platform. I guess it helps that the industry finally has two essentially equally matched consoles (debatable.... I know--don't bother).

My only question is....

Will the xbox version be 1 disc?

[Kaddisfly]

Yup, just announced at MS conference, hints at having more features too.

Ok, so I guess this will be the dominate topic...

Anywhoot, I just watched the whole conference I did not see anything relating to it "hinting" at having any further features than the PS3 version.

Did I miss something?


Copy/Pasted from my thread:

Edit: Well it sounds like M$ just uppercutted Sony right in the taint. Wonder if this'll start a multiplatform trend with SE. Wouldn't be too surprised as of now, all four (am I missing one?) of their big titles are coming out to both PS3 and 360:

FFXIII
Last Remnant
Infinite Undiscovery
Star Ocean 4 (is this still 360 exclusive?)

Was hoping for a Rapture announcement, tis a shame. Pretty stoked for FFXIII none the less. From what I just viewed of the conference there was nothing mentioned of there being any new or exclusive content for the 360...

Semi-off topic:

How many of you, whom obviously play FFXI, got into FFXI because of your love/hate for the FF franchise?

[SephYuyX]

Added note:
360 version is NA only, no JP release.
There will also be no differences in the PS3 and 360 versions.

[Vauce]

Added note:
360 version is NA only, no JP release.

That's an interesting little tidbit there. Another good move for SE.

[BarthelloSylph]

If there is going to be differences (any) between the two versions, I would assume (perhaps incorrectly) that the bias will be for the PS3 system, for several reasons.

[Kaddisfly]

That's an interesting little tidbit there. Another good move for SE.

Whoa what? You actually think something like region exclusivity is a good move on SE's part? I'm pretty sure the number one reason Microsoft got SE to publish FFXIII for the 360 was to boost sales in Japan. Not the sole reason, but number 1 reason.

I call bullshit on this unless/until SE announces this themselves.

EDIT: Ripped from kotaku's live chat blog:

1:52 And the press has started! Both Kitase and Hashimoto have taken the stage.

1:53 It's an open mic Q&A


1:53 Dean Takahashi asked why they decided to end the exclusive with Sony.

1:55 Says Hashimoto: "We considered the hardware situation. Because of that, we considered the spread of the hardware, so that's why we decided that."

1:56 Question: How will the Xbox 360 and the PS3 versions be different?


1:57 Says Kitase: We planned on having the contents the same, but obviously the Blu-ray and the DVD will be different.

1:57 Asks Christian Nutt: We heard that people were pulled off different teams to work on this.

1:59 Kitase: "As for development, we are using Crystal Tools for development. We are using it for the PC base. We are making the game at a faster pace. We should be able to show new footage in the future."

2:00 Some question about something about the future of the series.


2:00 They only want to talk about FFXIII, so they don't know.

2:01 I ask: How many discs will it ship on?

2:01 Kitase says: "That's still undecided."

2:01 I ask: "About how many?"


2:02 He laughs and won't answer.


2:02 first they will finish ffxiii in japan. and then they will start localization for english.

2:03 at that point, they will start the xbox 360 development.

2:03 so says hashimoto.

2:04 he also adds that ff13 might not be released in the us and europe at the same time because of the language.

2:04 languages, rather.

2:05 kitase says they will try to make the us and the europe release as close as possible and try to make the euro release much faster.

2:05 shane from 1up ask about ff13 coming to japan on the xbox 360........

2:07 Hashimoto says something like "I think you are right [in assuming that it's not coming out in Japan]"

2:08 asked about the differences between the 360 and the ps3 differences (again)

2:09 Hashimoto pointed out that they have no plans to make the versions differences.

2:10 question: "Is the reason why the Japanese 360 version is not announced because of the hardware situation or some sort of contract arrangement?"

2:12 Hashimoto: As I have already mentioned, considering that the install base was one of the reasons why decided to release it in the West on the Xbox 360...

2:15 He also added that they haven't decided whether they'll do an Asian version.

Question: Motion controls?

Kitase: "No, we have no plans."

Question: "Will FF Versus 13 be multi plat?"

Hashimoto: No.

Question: FFXIII uses a properitary engine. Correct me if I'm wrong, that's the last time, it will be used.


Hashimoto: "We haven't made any changes about that."

2:16 gah

2:17 Kitase says they're using it (Crystal Tools) with a MMO.

2:18 (that hashimoto quote above gah is incorrect -- live blog software error)

2:19 question: what's influcenes you guys? are you influenced by mass effect?

2:21 question: when was the timing of the xbox 360 decision?

2:24 hashimoto: "it wasn't a long time ago that we made the decision. we had to adjust things, like our relationship with microsoft. it was recent."

2:25 question: by using the the crystal tools, what's the work load for localization?

2:28 kitase says they're currently running it on a pc, so they don't know the work load of getting it on the 360. they are putting priority on the PC version.

2:29 question: which do you think will do better? ps3 or xbox 360?

2:30 hashimoto says, "We've just made the announcement. So in the future, we'll be able to make speculation, but we need to do some market research."

2:33 question: which do you think will do better? ps3 or xbox 360?

hashimoto says they've just made the announcement, so they don't know. they need to do more market research and then they can speculate in the future.

2:35 question: will ff13 have mmo elements? ff12 had mmo elements.

kitase: each time we made a game, we try to make it unique. so it won't be like the last game.

question: about xbox live?

kitase: currently, we're still deciding.

2:40 question: how does the gameplay for ff12 and ff13 differ?
kitase: "overall, the atmosphere is difference. the tempo and the speed are different. the entire direction is different. It's flashier."



Seph you can't say that it's NOT coming to Japan on the 360, that sounds to me like Kotaku really wasn't sure what the answer was on that, let alone wouldn't make sense. My foot is halfway in my mouth at the moment, but not quite all the way there.

[SamanosukeShiva]

this will be an epic 10 disk set

[Kaddisfly]

2:07 Hashimoto says something like "I think you are right [in assuming that it's not coming out in Japan]"

2:12 Hashimoto: As I have already mentioned, considering that the install base was one of the reasons why decided to release it in the West on the Xbox 360...

2:15 He also added that they haven't decided whether they'll do an Asian version.

I see where you're coming from based off of the two statements by Hashimoto, but that doesn't seem like it's set in stone.

Also, can someone with further marketing knowledge than me comment as to why a SE would do this with region exclusivity? Because it baffles me.

[Vauce]

Whoa what? You actually think something like region exclusivity is a good move on SE's part? I'm pretty sure the number one reason Microsoft got SE to publish FFXIII for the 360 was to boost sales in Japan. Not the sole reason, but number 1 reason.

360 sales are quite low in Japan. If anything, I'd think SE was influenced to publish on the 360 because of the huge potential in America of 360 owners that haven't jumped onto the PS3 bandwagon. In the end, its all about money--if your sales in a region are not stellar, then why put the extra man hours into development when your consumers are going to flock to another version anyways? It works the other way too, if you have the potential for incredible sales, then why release console specific and not tap the greatest part of your potential market? This kind of thing happens all the time, just this time its being released partially instead of not at all.

This is all contingent on the fact that regional exclusivity is really true. I'm kind of like you, keeping an open mind until I hear something official.

[Chezo]

How many of you, whom obviously play FFXI, got into FFXI because of your love/hate for the FF franchise?

Me, FFXI was my first MMO just because it was FF is the only reason I tried it, now 5yrs later still playing.

About FFXIII on 360 Im very happy for this, was not looking forward to buying a PS3.

[Kaddisfly]

360 sales are quite low in Japan. If anything, I'd think SE was influenced to publish on the 360 because of the huge potential in America of 360 owners that haven't jumped onto the PS3 bandwagon. In the end, its all about money--if your sales in a region are not stellar, then why put the extra man hours into development when your consumers are going to flock to another version anyways? It works the other way too, if you have the potential for incredible sales, then why release console specific and not tap the greatest part of your potential market? This kind of thing happens all the time, just this time its being released partially instead of not at all.

This is all contingent on the fact that regional exclusivity is really true. I'm kind of like you, keeping an open mind until I hear something official.

I understand your points but still feel that it wouldn't cost them that much money to also publish a japanese version for the 360. I mean, if I was M$ I would offer an incentive bonus for SE in helping get 360 sales in Japan on the rise. Unless of course M$ is simply turning a blind eye to the Asian territories now, but... that just seems silly!

Bah, who knows... we'll have more solid data in the oncoming days/weeks.

[Isiolia]

Whoa what? You actually think something like region exclusivity is a good move on SE's part? I'm pretty sure the number one reason Microsoft got SE to publish FFXIII for the 360 was to boost sales in Japan. Not the sole reason, but number 1 reason.

I call bullshit on this unless/until SE announces this themselves.

SE indicated it themselves at their press conference, at least, as blogged by Kotaku. http://kotaku.com/5025033/livebloggi...ess-conference

It seems like a twofold rationale of that a.) FFXIII (though not Versus) being developed on the Crystal Tools engine/kit/whatever which can produce for PC/360/PS3 and b.) Lots of 360s in the US and Europe.

'course, they also say that it's going to be the same game on both, except the storage capacity issue (though, really, how many cross platform games have had differences due to that?).

Sony still has their exclusive with FF Versus XIII, and the HD gaming world at large has it available to them. Makes sense, considering SE's "general market appeal" focus as of a few weeks ago.

[Kaylia]

this will be an epic 10 disk set

What take space on a disk is the uncompressed sound and uncompressed texture. The sound can often be compressed without any drop in quality except for some surround sound, and texture can be compressed at the cost of a slightly longer loading (or installation). Beside this, rendered cutscene take a lot of space, but they aren't needed anymore with current graphic engine.

I'm not expecting it to be on a single DVD, but I doubt it will be anywhere close to 10.

[Kaddisfly]

SE indicated it themselves at their press conference, at least, as blogged by Kotaku. http://kotaku.com/5025033/livebloggi...ess-conference

It seems like a twofold rationale of that a.) FFXIII (though not Versus) being developed on the Crystal Tools engine/kit/whatever which can produce for PC/360/PS3 and b.) Lots of 360s in the US and Europe.

'course, they also say that it's going to be the same game on both, except the storage capacity issue (though, really, how many cross platform games have had differences due to that?).

Sony still has their exclusive with FF Versus XIII, and the HD gaming world at large has it available to them. Makes sense, considering SE's "general market appeal" focus as of a few weeks ago.

Ya I saw that as soon as I opened my big mouth and posted. Actually in my following post I posted the Kotaku Live Blog chat with SE. But it still typical Square Enix made their comments extremely vague.


Update from Kotaku:
Microsoft- Is Final Fantasy XIII Xbox 360 Coming To Japan? "Ask Them"

That's Xbox Japan bossman Takashi Sensui in that candy house. Earlier today, he wasn't in a candy house, but the Square Enix press conference. And he was sitting in the first row! While Final Fantasy XIII has not been announced for Japanese Xbox 360s, we asked Sensui how he felt about the announcement:

Question: "How do you feel about the announcement?"
Sensui: "We're really excited about it."
Question: "Do you think Final Fantasy XIII will be released on the Xbox 360 in Japan?"
Sensui: "Ask them [Square Enix]."

Okay, so Square Enix, will it?

[Natallon]

ive heard that it was confirmed that the 360 version will be NA and Europe only.

PS3 will be everywhere

[Kazen]

New JP FF13 trailer says "For PS3 only in Japan" at the end.