Final Fantasy XIII & Versus XIII Live Events at E3 Explained

Joyful Xbox 360 owners are painting the town red tonight all due to a surprise announcement made by Yoichi Wada explaining that North America and Europe will see Final Fantasy XIII on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 in addition to Sony’s Playstation 3. Japan’s Playstation 3 however will keep exclusive rights for the game for now. This all but leaves Sony fans in disarray concerning Square Enix’s actions. For them they might as well surrender thier Playstation 3’s now.

Does this therefore mean Versus XIII is coming to the Xbox 360 as well? The answer to that according to Hashimoto is NO! By responsing to a question if Versus will following suit.

Below are the full Square Enix live events blogged from E3 below: important bits highlighted)

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 localisation 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 european 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 platform?”
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 localisation?
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.“

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift NA Trailer Released

Final Fantasy Tactics A2, the strategy roleplaying game from Square Enix for the Nintendo DS handheld game console has recently had a new trailer released for the US version due to hit June 24th 2008. Check it out below.

Although the game was released in Japan last October, the EU will be the last to see the game 3 days after Tactics A2 is released in North America (27th June 2008).

Final Fantasy IV trailer surfaced

The North American website for the upcoming Final Fantasy 4 DS remake has finally been updated and a trailer amongst the new additions!

The trailer is a subtitled version of older promotional footage, which has been tied together to make the video you see below.

Its however not confirmed whether the English version will feature English or Japanese voice acting, but we at Final Fantasy Series will try and break the news to you prior to the release.

Final Fantasy 4 by Matrix Software and Square-Enix is releasing on July 22nd, 2008 across North America. The PAL date is still unconfirmed, although its extremely likely to be released later in the Summer.