What did you just say?
Ok, so a couple of Square Enix titles were shown and dates were given, namely Infinite Undiscovery in North America on September 2nd, Star Ocean the last hope in Spring 2009 and The Last Remnant available first on November 20th.
But then. Something nobody saw coming.
Microsoft announces that Final Fantasy XIII will be coming to the Xbox 360 and is no longer and PS3 exclusive. Believe it, it’s true.
Conclusion
Well on the whole, I would say that MS had a really strong Press Conference, with a lot of big announcements and some powerful looking stuff. I think they have stepped the game up somewhat, especially when looking at the console as an entire “connected” media centre. I think that everyone is bringing some big stuff this year. So I can’t wait to see what Sony and Nintendo bring forward.
Last Updated: July 15, 2008
scotty777
July 15, 2008 at 07:05
oh that just sucks, HOW??? you traitors!
lol, I laugh Sony’s announcement is that FFXIII really isn’t coming to the xbox,
JimBob
July 15, 2008 at 08:16
Aaprt from FFXIII, Microsoft’s press conference was uninspiring. Let’s throw in a lot of stupid social networking nonsense and try to copy every thing Nintendo and Sony have ever done in the casual market..Whoohoo 🙄
Where is Alan Wake?
SlippyMadFrog
July 15, 2008 at 08:47
Damn, here comes the sour grapes. If this was for the PS3 you would jizz in your pants. I wonder where Sony got the idea for trophies? mmmm…
Everybody copies each other, get over it.
JimBob
July 15, 2008 at 08:53
Same goes for you Xbots – you’re always like Miis suck, Home sucks, hard drive installs suck, now that Microsoft does it you’re all in favour of it. 🙄
BTW, I’ve never cared for Home, so you’re wrong. Again. I wanted to hear about real new games, not a lot of Wii-esque casual rubbish.
bokka1
July 15, 2008 at 08:57
I am the most pleased about the new display configurations.
I don’t like the Final Fantasy series.
The Hard drive installs will be alright because it is not the same as Sony’s which feature mandatory installs. I quite like the idea to have my favourite game installed on my hard drive.
ewie
July 15, 2008 at 09:18
now they just need to anounce that your favorite game can be bought full from marketplace
kabraal
July 15, 2008 at 09:22
But seriously now, what was so good about it?
First the FF announcement was huge imo. That’s the only thing that raised my eyebrow. Whether you like the series or not, it definitely 1-up MS. Good on them.
But the rest? No new games? No new nothing. Just the usual trailers of games announced at previous E3’s. Oh and just the usual “we’ve got vapourware exclusive download content†pissing contest.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure Sony’s one will be even more dull. I highly doubt whether they have a FF like announcement up their sleeves. They’ll probably ramble on about home for a couple of hours, show some killzone2 videos and be done with it.
Hell, Blizzard’s world wide invitational owns E3 these days wrt. They announce new games, that’s what you do a big events…
SlippyMadFrog
July 15, 2008 at 09:30
“Same goes for you Xbots – you’re always like Miis suck, Home sucks, hard drive installs suck, now that Microsoft does it you’re all in favour of it.”
Who said Miis suck? Who said home suck? HD installs do suck. Don’t group me under “you Xbots”. It’s clear you feel hurt losing FF now you need to do some damage control. You PS3 droids (see, I can give you names as well) are a bunch of whining bitches.
“I wanted to hear about real new games, not a lot of Wii-esque casual rubbish.”
WTF do you care? I didn’t know you owned an Xbox360? Go play some MGS4 or watch Resistance2 trailers or something.
PillsburyDeeBoy
July 15, 2008 at 09:40
Well, okay, lets be frank: Microsoft’s press conference was not very excitingin big part because of the leak. Seriously. If it weren’t for the leak, 360 owners who have become tired of the blades would be excited about the overhaul. MiiToos are alright, as well. Furthermore, yeah, it was what we expected, in terms of the hardcore games. I was hoping for something bold, new, LBPish but nothing. Yet, anybody who says MSes press conference wasn’t ‘great’ doesn’t realise the true significance of Final Fantasy. I’m not an FF fan, myself – merely because I don’t have that kind of time to burn – but I know gagillions of people worldwide are and this levels the playing field a wii bit. Besides, it came out of “no-bloody-where”!
MS hasn’t “won” E3 yet, but man are they pushing hard…
HungryHooligan
July 15, 2008 at 09:44
How, Can’t believe…
JimBob
July 15, 2008 at 09:54
I do own all three consoles, idiot.
SlippyMadFrog
July 15, 2008 at 09:56
That doesn’t clear you of being a stubborn PS3 droid, moron
😉
Anywho, I’m done talking to you. bye!
doobiwan
July 15, 2008 at 10:06
I guess the whole keynote is tuned towards a “This is important to us this year” stance, hence the casual focus.
Frankly I think the thing that a lot of folks are missing is the whole “Live Party”. 8 Player cross chat with media sharing including music and movies? PSN just got torn a new one. Cross game text is so 2006 😉
Add Netflix as well, while not that relevant here is HUGE. Microsoft and Netflix just PWN3D Apple TV and Blockbuster video in one swoop.
For once in my life I think I actually agree with PBD. The leaks have taken the edge off of the announcements, but they are pretty impressive. Also consider That they can’t just dump everything on you in one go otherwise it loses impact. E3 in a few days, and we already now Bungie has an announcement lined up and there are otehr MS presentations coming.
I wouldn’t say MS has “won” E3 just yet, but they have set a fairly high bar for the competition and Home, “Motion Plus” & “Wii Jog” aren’t going to cut it.
doobiwan’s last blog post..The Games that made the consoles
SlippyMadFrog
July 15, 2008 at 10:11
I knew MS had some things in their sleeves since they have been quite for a while but I wasn’t expecting this.
XBL is turning into a great social networking tool.
PaasHaas
July 15, 2008 at 10:21
MS pretty much won E3 hands down imo. FF is awesomely huge and was the primary reason that I actually got PS3.
If I knew this a year+ ago I would probably have owned a 360 at this time.
The only thing imo that could possibly counter this is if Sony announced FF7 remake… but thats not gonna happening.
Only thing Sony has left to do at E3 is damage control
Nick
July 15, 2008 at 10:22
I must say that MS has really upped their game with Xbox Live now, it actually feels like its going to be more of a social network rather than just a means to navigate the consoles functions.
I really do think that they pulled off a good conference but I want to see what the other 2 are going to do. E3 isn’t over yet so we might see a little more from them still.
kabraal
July 15, 2008 at 10:26
Yeah this is bad. It’s worse than the Freitzl incest story from Belgium… 😛 😛
abe
July 15, 2008 at 10:31
A few reasons why I think the FF announcment doesnt matter:
-Previously FFXII was on xbox1, no one cared and it hardly moved.
-Its still coming to PS3
-Its being made for PS3 and being ported to 360
-FF is boring and I would rather play RFoM2 😀
I seriously dont get why people are losing their shit over this?!? I dont think Im a hardcore enough gamer, I dont even think E3 matters, no matter what i sreleased on either side. I just go into a shop and pick up whatever interests me, I dont think I could name more than four games that are in developement!
kabraal
July 15, 2008 at 10:34
What’s the issue with this social interaction, home, face book emo bullshit? Seriously, I want to play games SP, easy MP access, and run certain media apps. I don’t want to video chat with someone in Uzbekistan. I agree here with doobiwan. That netflix partnership is also huge. For SA’cans, if only Telkom could start playing nicely.
Nick
July 15, 2008 at 10:46
Well Kabraal, the social thing is a biggie in my books. Its the simple things… like how we have all had to jump into a COD4 lobby just to discuss something for a clan match coming up, instead of easily being able to all jump into a conference chat.
I have certain people on Live that I play with everyday and the ability to create a group on the dashboard and move everyone around to a new game or sharing session will make things a lot smoother and easier for us.
The other thing is that everyone has learnt from Nintendo that social networking is taking the world by storm and if you don’t have a strong offering in that department then you might get left behind. everybodys doing it.
SlippyMadFrog
July 15, 2008 at 10:56
The social interaction thing is great if you got a couple of close friends on XBL (and I reckon in Home as well).
doobiwan
July 15, 2008 at 11:36
The “social” bit is an extension of the way Live currently works, that’s why everyone’s excited about it, not because of the avatars etc. It’s not a Home clone.
Often you end up starting a conversation in game and want to continue while you move to something else, but you can’t. This basically takes an in Game Party system and makes it a platform level thing, but goes one up and adds media sharing functionality as well.
doobiwan’s last blog post..The Games that made the consoles
Gazza ZA
July 15, 2008 at 12:40
oh no its another pillsbury!
Gazza ZA’s last blog post..Microsofts motion controller
Gazza ZA
July 15, 2008 at 12:48
If you look at last years e3 MS did they same thing they concentrated on the now and whats coming out now, as for no big announcemets well yeah ok most of it was spoilt already but i must admit if your are a 360 owner youve gotta be chuffed the dashboard overhaul looks really great and they have address all the issues with the current version (besides the fact you pay for it). Secondly I dont care if the steal other consoles ideas, theve evolved them to fit and lets be honest Mii’s for instance are not a console seller. As for the games Im all for the casual games, hell so should everyone that owns a 360 cause the more people it appeals to the better, its not like they scapped the development of gears 2 to make lips (which is set to totally outclass singstar).
Gears 2 looks awesome so does fallout 3, banjo, fable so on. I wouldnt call anything i saw a disappointment
Gazza ZA’s last blog post..Microsofts motion controller
scotty777
July 15, 2008 at 15:14
well this is going to be a fun year!
I wonder if microsoft is feeling the Sony pressure and are now trying to take out Sony by any means? I mean, sure, xbox 360 got ff, but at what cost? I mean, did M$ buy the game???
I wonder if Sony realises that M$ is not playing nice, and if they do, what will sony do know ???
scotty777
July 15, 2008 at 15:15
I gotta agree with abe 100%… my friend play FF, and I gotta say, FF IS LAME 😆
I’m getting RFoM 2 😀
doobiwan
July 15, 2008 at 15:59
I don’t think it’s a case of “not being nice”, it’s just business. Sony buys studios and release first party games. Microsoft contracts out to independents to create first party IP.
SE are going multiplat purely for their own bottom line. PS2 owned all of it’s markets. PS3 is Miles behind in the US and is not even a 3rd of the market in Europe. Development costs are so high, they have to spread it out.
doobiwan’s last blog post..The Games that made the consoles
Nick
July 15, 2008 at 16:12
I really hope we see less and less of full exclusivity, i have no issues with timed exclusives but I want everything to be available to everyone eventually.