Final Fantasy XIII news.

I am not much of a big E3 fans these days. For the most part, I think the show has lost its prominence. As much of the videogame world knows by now, yesterday Microsoft announced that Final Fantasy XIII would be released on the Xbox 360. Gasps! Gnashing of teeth! You heard it all yesterday from Sony fans. Buildings were burning, chaos ruled the day, messageboards crashed.

In the end does it matter? Third party exclusives are going the way of the dinosaur. At one point they would make or break a console, but these days, the prices of software development are so damn expensive that publishers have to release their software for multiple consoles. From Sony’s standpoint it has to matter in terms of sales and allowing key franchises from the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 days to slip away to their competitors. Grand Theft and Final Fantasy were synonymous with the PlayStation brand. [Yes, I am disregarding the fact that Final Fantasy was once a niche RPG franchise for Nintendo.]

For third party games, the only thing that really matters is the leading development platform, and how developers take advantage of a system’s key features. The Xbox continuously took it up the pipe because the inferior PS2 was the lead system. So far, the worm has turned, and the 360 has been the lead platform. Things are changing. In theory GTA IV is better on the PS3 and there are a handful of games including DiRT that fall into this category. Final Fantasy XIII should also take full advantage of the PS3’s capabilities.

Today we will hear all sorts of conspiracy theories on how Microsoft pulled off the Final Fantasy deal. No doubt, money bags are in order. Same thing apparently happened with GTA IV. Sony has done the same thing in the past, so it should not come as a surprise. What Sony fans should ask “is Sony is asleep at the wheel?” If Sony does not have a major response today, then they will come across as completely indifferent, incompetent, or worse.

So chin up Sony fans. The sun still came up this morning, and Final Fantasy XIII is still coming to your favorite system. Of course it may no longer look and smell like roses. Funny how a multiplatform release will do that to your favorite title.

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2 thoughts on “Final Fantasy XIII news.”

  1. Well the accounts of the Sony conference were that Sony didn’t really answer.

    I don’t think any of the companies had great announcements. FF XIII is a coup but they won’t get a release in Japan, which is where at least 50% of the sales will come from. And the Sony version should sell better in Europe as well.

    Sony showed CGI clips of a new game, MAG (military shooter) and God of War 3.

    Their big guns for the fall appear to be Resistance 2 and Little Big Planet.

    Oh and while not a price cut, they’re eliminating the $500 SKU and upping the hard drive on the current 40 GB unit to 80 GB and keeping it at $400.

  2. I agree. Nothing really exciting, but the Final Fantasy news was a surprise. Kudos to Microsoft for pulling it off. It is always fun to watch all the “fanboys” get upset over this type of thing.

    I have been waiting for Little Big Planet for over a year; not really not a surprise title. Games like MAG and Resistance are not my cup of tea. God of War on the PS3 could be interesting, but I never got into the first couple of games.

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