Final Fantasy XIII Is Coming To Xbox 360 541
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.
I have always been a Sony fanboy... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:I have always been a Sony fanboy... (Score:5, Interesting)
- Final Fantasy Versus XIII is still (supposedly) a PS3-exclusive
- Metal Gear Solid 4, as you mentioned
- Valkyrie Of the Battlefield [wikipedia.org] is coming out later this year
Also I don't think Sony has had their chance to show off at E3 yet, so there may yet be more stuff along the way.
Re:I have always been a Sony fanboy... (Score:5, Insightful)
Also the fact that it's apparently one of the only halfway-decent Blu-Ray players out there.
I was shocked when I first read this, but it's apparently true. How the heck did Blu-Ray "win" when the only decent player is a freakin' PS3?
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I have no idea. I bought a HDDVD player on sale for $99. It is a nice player and since I only have a 720p TV the fact that it is only a 720P player isn't so bad.
Blue-Ray won because Sony got the studios to all jump on the Blue-Ray bandwagon. They also got more players out because each PS-3 is a player.
Had Toshiba got the HD-DVD into the XBox or Wii then things may have been different of course it may have pushed the price of the Wii to high and the 360 wouldn't have had it's year lead.
I have to wonder how g
Re:I have always been a Sony fanboy... (Score:4, Interesting)
Well, you can buy an HD-DVD addon for the Xbox 360. Probably dirt-cheap now, and it'll work on a computer, also -- I use it on Linux, on my laptop (which has a broken optical drive).
I think that for a long time, DVD will be the new DVD. The studios are trying hard to make Blu-Ray look better -- Superbit is gone, and even standard DVDs seem almost deliberately worse in their encoding than they were a few years ago.
The strangest part was that your $99 HD-DVD player had persistent storage, networking, picture-in-picture support, and a script engine built-in, with decent menu animations. Base Blu-Ray players had none of these -- if they had the "script engine" (Java, actually), it'd be much slower (weird, huh?), and the PS3 had neither persistent storage nor network support (for HD-DVD) early on, when it was relevant to the format war.
It really seemed to have absolutely nothing to do with technical merit and everything to do with who was fellating which studio execs, and (possibly) the "extra protection" of the DRM. The same DRM which is so successful [slysoft.com] at stopping piracy [thepiratebay.org] so far.
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Maybe because Toshiba never produced a single decent HD-DVD player, and the discs will scratch to the point of being unplayable if you just look at them wrong.
I could power my PS3 up and load the movie, be through the warnings and have the movie started in less time than it took to even power up my HD-DVD player. Then you had LONG loading times, and there would be a couple of second delay between the time you hit a button and the time the player actually responded. Then there was the space issue. Paramount [highdefdigest.com]
Re:I have always been a Sony fanboy... (Score:4, Informative)
I've never been a Sony fanboy.... BUT (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:I've never been a Sony fanboy.... BUT (Score:4, Informative)
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.
Uh, no. No, they didn't. The spec was published before the PS3 was even released. The interim specification with missing features was published at the request of the other Blu-Ray manufactures, not Sony, and the new disks are still 100% compatible with those old players.
Re:I've never been a Sony fanboy.... BUT (Score:5, Informative)
Well put.
Another point you forgot to mention, but which is just as important in my opinion, is the noise level. The PS3 is very quiet, almost silent in fact, which is of paramount importance when you're watching media in my opinion.
Taking nothing away from the Xbox 360 as a games console but it just doesn't hold a candle to the PS3 as a media centre. You just can't live with the noise it makes, unless your standards are already so low to begin with.
PS3 + Bluray + 1080p screen + decent audio kit = unrivalled in the home.
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I have a PS3, I like my PS3, I went to a friends house to play games on his 360, how can you stand the noise that thing makes? I felt like I was in a server room at work.
Re:I've never been a Sony fanboy.... BUT (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:I've never been a Sony fanboy.... BUT (Score:4, Informative)
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Re:I have always been a Sony fanboy... (Score:5, Insightful)
Clarification for me please?
I haven't gotten any of the new generation consoles (except a wii). I was thinking of a PS3 over a 360 because friends with 360s said they were a headache to own. Lots of failures, very noisy and occasionally even scratching disks.
Why would a PS3 be less useful than a 360 if all the games are the same and the hardware is better?
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I'll try not to be fanboyish here, but here's why I like the 360 more than the ps3.
1) Xbox live. Sony's online service is free for a reason, it isn't very good *yet*. If it gets to be as good as Live, Xbox will have a problem on their hands. Not yet. I didn't really understand why Live was so important until I signed up for it and saw the drastic difference it made to be the backbone of every game. N
Re:I have always been a Sony fanboy... (Score:4, Insightful)
I just cancelled my Xbox live account yesterday. I have a few friends with Xboxes, but very few games that require me to play online with them. The games that I do play online are PC games which provide FREE online gaming.
My biggest issue with Xbox live, is that it is a service that should be free. I turn on my Xbox and get blasted with ads, and offers to 'buy' games. Of course, to 'buy' the game they mean lease it to my Xbox and only my Xbox (account). There is nothing in Xbox live that I've seen that has been revolutionary that should require a subscription to run. At least not coupled with the sales aspect.
Maybe I missed something, and I'd love for there to be a reason to keep it, but I haven't found it.
(That, and any company that doesn't allow you to cancel online when you can manage every other aspect of your account online pisses me off and I almost cancelled on principle)
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I am not a Microsoft fanboy. I probably would have been in the ps3 camp if Sony had not pulled a Vista with it. Seeing as they did, I have a 360.
Microsoft almost pulled a Vista with this system, though they were saved by 1) Sony screwing up worse and 2) Nintendo pursuing an entirely different demographic with their system. I'm sure you've heard the litany of problems by now, Microsoft screwing up the GPU's by doing the design in-house, heating problems, crappy build problems, etc. Pretty much all of these p
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One thing I still wonder about is the disc scratching problem. Early on, even before all the overheating Red Ring of Death issues, I heard horror stories about the XBox360 drives scoring grooves in the game discs. Has the Xbox360 disc scratching issue been sorted out? Because I buy a lot of my games previously-owned (patient cheapskate that I am), I
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Re:I have always been a Sony fanboy... (Score:4, Insightful)
You have a problem with Microsoft, but not with Sony?
Re:I have always been a Sony fanboy... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:I have always been a Sony fanboy... (Score:4, Interesting)
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Can't we just agree that all companies will behave badly if they think they can earn more money on it?
Re:I have always been a Sony fanboy... (Score:4, Insightful)
Corporations are groups of people. Groups of people will behave differently than individuals. Groups of people with power (which is what corporations are) will behave differently than groups of people without power.
As designed and implemented, corporations encourage groups of people to behave badly. The corporations have economic and political power not available to individuals. As culpability is spread among many people, those many people will, in general, behave worse than they would if they were solely responsible.
"Corporations," as economically and politically empowered groups of people, *do* act. And in general, they will behave in the way that is least good for society, as it is the best good for their short term.
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For any publicly held corporation, the individuals in that corporation have a legal duty to behave badly in order to get more money, as long as that action is within the law.
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Re:I have always been a Sony fanboy... (Score:4, Informative)
It is also useful if you want to work on the Cell.
It is the cheapest Cell development system you can buy.
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2, if you're worried about this, then just step out of the video game market right now. The only three companies left - and the only ones that will be left for a long time - are Microsoft (who we're aware of), Sony (rootkits, Lik-Sang, etc.), and Nintendo, who aren't AS bad, but had their own history o
Re:I have always been a Sony fanboy... (Score:5, Insightful)
No, it's not. If it were Microsoft's dollars at work, then they'd be releasing FF13 on the Xbox 360 in Japan too. But they're not.
No, this is Square Enix taking a long and hard look at the console market and realizing that the PS3, while winning in Japan, is losing everywhere else. In order to justify the cost of releasing it outside Japan, they realized that they'd have to release it for the Xbox 360, since it has over twice the install base of the PS3 in the US and Europe.
It's simply Square Enix being smart. Sony has lost to the Xbox 360 in every territory except Japan. Square Enix has done the math and they know that the cost of porting to the Xbox 360 is far less than the expected gains by effectively tripling their audience.
Re:I have always been a Sony fanboy... (Score:4, Interesting)
then why arent they releasing it for the wii which has a larger install base world wide then both the ps3 and xbox360 combined?
Re:I have always been a Sony fanboy... (Score:5, Interesting)
Probably because a major part of the core Final Fantasy lineage is eye candy... and the Wii doesn't have adequate hardware to provide said eye candy for their flagship title.
That and the fact that FF is really not a franchise for casual gamers... it doesn't really cater to the Wii audience regardless of how large that audience is.
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I forget. What does "casual gamer" mean this week? ;)
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It means that you play many games, but you don't expect to buy it and you don't have to call the game the next day.
Re:I have always been a Sony fanboy... (Score:4, Informative)
That and the fact that FF is really not a franchise for casual gamers... it doesn't really cater to the Wii audience regardless of how large that audience is.
As of March 31, 2008, Twilight Princess sold 4.52 million copies on the Wii.
Re:I have always been a Sony fanboy... (Score:5, Funny)
Yep. I'm proudly a casual gamer, and I can think of many, many, many things I'd rather do that play through a single player game that last over 9,000 hours. I think releasing it on the 360 is a much smarter idea.
But that's 8,000 hours of cut scenes you're missing.
Re:I have always been a Sony fanboy... (Score:4, Informative)
It does when you're trying to adapt complex graphics originally designed to push the limits of the PS3. "Pleasing" and "Jaw Dropping" are two different things, and FF typically goes after the latter. Adapting the game to the 360 is a matter of tweaking the engine a bit. Adapting the game for the Wii is a matter of completely overhauling the graphics and engine to run on slower hardware.
Re:I have always been a Sony fanboy... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Cutting edge graphics and good gameplay are not mutually exclusive things. This comparison is a fallacy. Nintendo went for cheap components because they knew almost no one would buy a Nintendo console if it was prices higher than their competitors, who already had the more street cred with console gamers (i.e. the Gamecube had third position last gen.).
Nintendo's strategy worked this time around because their gimmicky controller and marketing managed to interest a whole new segment of the market to consoles
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The worst part is, this basicaly means a year or two long delay while they port on the 360 port. SE screws over the US ps3 fanbase so they can port to another system. Many aren't happy about that aspect. As someone who owns both a 360 and a ps3, That's what peeved me about the situation.
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Your friend who works for Best Buy?
I think he may be talking out of his arse (or at least being optimistic). I've not seen any word of this from the gaming press, who I think Microsoft would be a little more likely to tell about this then random Best Buy employees.
Well there goes the history of decent quality.... (Score:2, Interesting)
I might be wrong, but given the trend of games, I am gonna be very skeptical if square-enix can keep the quality of the game up while making it cross-platform.
A good portion of the smoothness, graphically and gameplay wise, was from the fact that the developers knew their system and how to program with it. Odds are that goes out the window and it gets degraded to craptastic quality to meet the "crossplatformm" requirement.
Re:Well there goes the history of decent quality.. (Score:3, Funny)
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Programming? (Score:5, Funny)
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.
You don't want to know what is inside the 360 (Score:3)
I take the sexy magical elf babes thank you very much, you can have monkeyboy.
Re:Well there goes the history of decent quality.. (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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However end result is the PS3 would run games the best due to superior hardware basically, and everyone else would cry foul.
Sadly, the type of "Superior" that PS3 has over the 360 is on paper only. Granted, its more expensive hardware, and on paper it's not just better, it's light years ahead of the 360, but in terms of final output... it has nothing at all over the 360. They are both "more than good enough".
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Don't forget, a small yet common oversight in the console wars is the 360's GPU - it's actually FASTER than the PS3's, plus the 360 has a dedicated hardware scaling unit (which is why you can output at 1080p on the 360 with just about any game).
The CELL is a fantastic piece of kit and I'm glad I've got access to it, but right now a lot of it's power is being used to offset the slower GPU.
This is why nearly all multiplatform games perform just as good on one console over the other.
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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
Re:Well there goes the history of decent quality.. (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:Well there goes the history of decent quality.. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Well there goes the history of decent quality.. (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:Well there goes the history of decent quality.. (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
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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 F
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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.
Re:Well there goes the history of decent quality.. (Score:5, Informative)
PS3 rationalization (Score:5, Funny)
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.
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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 vide
Fan won't follow. (Score:2, Insightful)
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I'm glad someone else is believing the hype they read online. Some of us aren't about the pixel count, but don't like our eyes going cross-eyed trying to read the text in adventure games or making out the targets in games involving shooters.
The PS3 is not expensive, percentage-wise its now very competitive with the Wii (not just with the 360). The PS3 has a base of excellent exclusive software that is very fun and unmatched elsewhere. So does the Wii. The 360 I must say has very few exclusives I find co
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The PS3 is not expensive, percentage-wise its now very competitive with the Wii (not just with the 360).
Um, what?
I've been expecting this for years (Score:2, Troll)
...and all of you who already have a PS3 specifically because you wanted it for FFXII someday, please slap yourself. Especially if you bought your PS3 more than a year ago for a game that would happen "someday".
And it's not like Squeenix doesn't have 360 experience. There's a lot of folks using a 360 for FFXI.
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I know a lot of people who bought a Wii just for Super Smash Bros Brawl, some others bought it just for Wii sports. A lot of people bought a 360 for Halo too. The difference is, Mario/Zelda/Pokemon/Metroid are all going to be 100% only on Nintendo. And Halo seems to be only on the Xbox and Windows. The PS3 has... Metal Gear Solid? And even that is a third-party title. The PS3 has just about 0 first-party titles that are worth getting. The Wii is only surviving on first-party titles and the 360 has Halo wh
Reasons to buy PS3 (Score:2, Funny)
That's a pretty slim list Sony. Seriously, are you even trying?
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Gran Turismo? The biggest selling franchise on Playstation?
Killzone 2?
Little Big Planet?
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I would, but I'd say I'm still more a 360 fan than a PS3 fan, so I'll just point you here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_big_planet [wikipedia.org]
This is a reason I've always hated consoles... (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Xbox360 version not in Japan (Score:2, Informative)
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!
Exclusive as in 'owners club'. (Score:2)
I saw some article the other day called '10 reasons to own a PS3' or something like that, with ten games coming out in the next few months. I'd never heard of most of them, and they all looked terrible.
I've got one in my lounge. I call it the obelisk. It was last on in March.
Nintendo? Dissed. (Score:2)
Of course, no mention of the Wii.
Another slap in the face to the company that *made* Squenix who they are today.
Sorry, Nintendo fans, guess you have to go and buy another 3D remake for the DS.
Cheer up CmdrTaco (Score:5, Funny)
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...!
A mixed blessing (Score:5, Insightful)
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...
You keep using that word but... (Score:3, Insightful)
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
My PS3 justification (Score:3, Informative)
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.
As someone who owns both systems (Score:2)
The 360 has no shortage of flaws (faulty hardware, dumb move of not making the hard drive standard, charging for Xbox Live, etc.), they have definitely stepped up to the plate in the one area where it REALLY counts: games.
Sony, by contrast has some really great hardware (very reliable, built in wifi, blu-ray player, hard drive st
So whats the big deal? (Score:4, Insightful)
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...
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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Never underestimate the appeal of the lowest common denominator. What's the appeal of McDonalds or Budweiser?
God knows (Score:3, Funny)
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 k
Re:Insert Fan-Boy posts bellow (n/t) (Score:5, Funny)
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Source?
I've not heard anything except rumour and speculation on a blu-ray equipped 360.
A more logical assumption was that Square realised that there'd be a fucktonne more money to be made from going multi-platform. I don't think they ever cited the optical drive as a limitation, they just loved Sony (hence why FFXII never appeared on the Xbox for example), but even if that WAS their reasoning, I'd say Microsoft told them about the new game installs you can now do and they decided it'd be ok.
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Re:Elderly games. (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Re:What ever... (Score:5, Funny)
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!)
Re:What ever... (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Re:What ever... (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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3 (tops) video cards over 12 years is 600 bucks.
2 processors over 12 years is 300 bucks.
Thats 900 total.
BTW, I'm in a "real band" and it pays more than 900 a week, just playing in local bars.
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Doesn't Never Ending Story have NEVER ENDING in the title? Shouldn't we have more sequels to this thing?
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There is more to blueray than movies.
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Cigarette?
Re:Final Post (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:Final Post (Score:4, Insightful)
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 ;)
Speculation/FUD+Slashdot == Karama! (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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Well, to my understanding Sony was initially working on FFXIII and the White engine (now Crystal Tools) for the PS2 and started redesigning both for the PS3 some time back.
One has to keep in mind the FF series isn't about pushing technical limits in beautiful graphics, it's more smart implementation and efficient use of resources. This dates back even to their original games with very nice looking sprites. A 19x19 sprite done by a shitty artist didn't take more CPU to move around than one of the same size d
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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.
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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) Premi