E3 2008: Final Fantasy Launching On Xbox 360 And PS3

i doubt sony would be in a position to lop a bit more off the price of the ps3 - it's already a very cheap blu-ray player in its own rights. (yay to mrdoogso fro being a pc gamer :D). considering the final fantasy series has always been a closed ended RPG series i can't see the need for downloadable content, though a trade station (like mognet and every other final fantasy game on the ds) where people can trade items might be a possibility.

@ Jawad: Easy now fella, it's just a game. Leave those rants at IGN where they belong. :)

I have no love for Microsoft or Sony, they are hardly worth vehemently defending. But consumer choice and multi-platform releases are not bad things in my book, so this seems like good news for gamers.

Personally, I think Hugo is spot on with his assertions of this affecting PS3 sales and being a PR problem for Sony.
I agree with the sentiment in other comments that this probably won't be a massive console shifter for MS, but I can see this hurting Sony's hardware sales globally. There are going to be a portion of gamers out there who would have gone out and bought a PS3 solely (or at least primarily) for the next big FF title - the series is famed for boosting device sales. Exactly how many people are in that situation is anyone's wild guess, but I don't think the number will be insignificant given the popularity of previous FF titles and the Playstation's adoption not being as strong so far in this generation.

Politically, it's a slap in the face. The fact that this headline and the usual heated flamewars are cropping up on all the tech and gaming sites is evidence enough of that. Final Fantasy is one of the big exclusive franchises Sony have enjoyed a lot of success with since FFVII.

That said, SCE seem to have a remarkable ability to take these sort of PR hits on the chin and continue selling a lot of consoles, so I wouldn't say it's that bad for them. It's not like Microsoft managed to pinch an exclusivity deal for the 360, which would have really been a kick in the family jewels for Sony.

Keep your pants up fanboys, open your eyes and start seeing as it is. FFXIII going multiplatforms is a great opportunity for all gamers, final. No PS3 is better, no 360 is better. They all have their pros and cons. We're lucky enough to own all three platforms, and personally, I'd choose the 360 version (even if it is multi-discs). Oh, may I also point out that Final Fantasy only got hooked to the playstation brand from episode 7, wasn't always theirs...

Just wanted to mention that the reason I have observed that the PS3 is way popular in Japan is because of the games. I'm in Japan right now doing an internship and I took a look in a bunch of game stores here. They have a ton of Japanese only games, a lot based on anime. The XBOX just can't compete because it doesn't have all of these Japanese games. Also, Japanese have high respect for products made in Japan. Overall I would say Japanese gamers are just quite a bit different from US gamers.