Final Fantasy 13 just got announced for XBOX 360
Not only is this quite monumental for the series, but it goes to show how divided the current hardware market really is. Apparently Japan isn’t getting a 360 version, no surprises there, but Square Enix clearly feel that a PS3-only release would hinder International sales of the title. Fanboys may be screaming “OMG! They sold out!” as they cry into their Blu-ray drives, but by that logic Square already sold out, in the mid nineties…to Sony.
Let’s be honest, the PS3 has had a bumpy ride since the day it was released. At the beginning the price was way too high, the games weren’t all that great (bar a few like Resistance) and one of the main reasons to buy the system (major exclusives) seemed to be dying a death. Series’ such as Grand Theft Auto, Devil May Cry and Virtua Fighter have all gone to 360 with near identical graphics, leaving only two big hitters left for Sony - Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy. However MGS already has this tradition of re-releasing with some added extra bonus features on other consoles, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see MGS4:SubstantialSubstance on 360 some time soon.
And so now the PS3 doesn’t really have much left to tempt me. Home? Free online? Built-in Wireless? I suppose I could buy all my dvd’s again in High Definition. Okay, apart from Final Fantasy I did have one other definite reason to buy the big shiny black box. It meant I could pack away my noisy old temperamental PS2 and play a lot of the PS2 games that I haven’t had time to play yet, only with up-scaled graphics - but then they went and dropped backwards compatibility from the console.
Having said all that I’ll still probably end up getting a PS3 sometime in the future, I love video games too much not to plus there actually are some great exclusives for the system. Home does also genuinely excite me, however I just can’t see myself handing over the cash any time soon and whatever way you look at it, losing Final Fantasy is another direct hit to an already shaky PlayStation Empire. Here’s hoping Sony have a lot of earth shattering announcements at their E3 Conference this week and that Home lives up to the hype.
Chris.