More of SE's Bullshit (FF 13 Demo)

[Malacite]

Final Fantasy XIII producer looking into downloadable demo for the West

Square Enix producer Yoshinore Kitase has told VideoGamer.com that Square Enix has "no plan" to release a disc-based demo for Final Fantasy XIII in the States. The demo, bundled with certain copies of the Blu-ray release of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete, thrust PS3 to the top of the Japanese sales charts, and became the best-selling anime Blu-ray in Japan. While including a demo with the upcoming US release of the movie seems like a no-brainer, Kitase explained that a PS3-exclusive demo would be unfair to the Western audience that's also expecting an Xbox 360 demo. "We are going to carry on with the project alongside the Xbox version, so we really can't just make it available only for the PS3," he explained.

Kitase then noted that the company "would like to check" on the possibility of a downloadable demo. We're certain the logistics behind delivering a 5GB demo to the PSN/XBL masses will be quite difficult to figure out.]

Who the fuck do they think they're kidding with this bag of lies? Unfair?! Horse shit.


First you announce the game as a PS3 exclusive, then you say it's multi-platform (that's cool for 360 users) but then you go and say the full release will be delayed (outside of Japan) until both versions are ready (and the 360 version isn't even going to begin until the PS3 build is complete).

What happened to your previous change in policy regarding world wide simultaneous releases? What about Star Ocean 4, The Last Remnant, and Infinite Undiscovery? Was it fair when you made 2 of those 360 exclusive and then decided to just drop the PS3 port of TLR altogether? Where was your delayed release then assholes?


Apparently it's only "unfair" when PS3 owners get the shaft. Oh yeah, and no one's going to bother with a 5 GB download by the way


So, if myself and the many others who commented as such are reading this right, basically they've decided to stop taking Sony's cash in favor of Microsoft's. I see what you did there Wada.

[Feba]

Re: More of SE's Bullshit (FF 13 Demo)

Malacite, I mean this in the nicest possible way, but you're the only person who really gives a shit.

[Skoal]

Re: More of SE's Bullshit (FF 13 Demo)

I imagine FF13 as FFXII and FFI combined. There is definitely a rat tail involved.

[Van'derfel]

Re: More of SE's Bullshit (FF 13 Demo)

I would download a 5 gig demo...
but i got the Elite so i got plenty of space.
and of course, Microsoft's money is better than Sony's =P

[GreatMno]

Re: More of SE's Bullshit (FF 13 Demo)

Malacite, I mean this in the nicest possible way, but you're the only person who really gives a shit.

If only that were true.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: More of SE's Bullshit (FF 13 Demo)

Based off the FF demos I've played in the past, they tend to do a terrible job at communicating what will be the final product because they release the demos so far ahead of the finalization of the actual game.

FFVIII demo, FFX demo, FFX-2 demo, FFXII demo - all of them were vague representations of an unfinalized product. So why should I care about the FFXIII demo?

In short, I don't give a shit about Japan getting the demo and us not getting it. It will be a crap demo. Pretty, but still crap. A pretty crap demo.

I'm just disturbed by the fact that THIS and Advent Children Complete are what spiked PS3 sales in Japan and not an actual game release doing it. Spiked sales over a movie that came out four years ago with some new scenes slapped on and updated for Blu-Ray and a PS3 demo. Very sad the system can't sell on the merits of games that are currently out.

[Mog]

Re: More of SE's Bullshit (FF 13 Demo)

Who cares?

I'd rather just wait for the game to come out than play a demo and wanting more.

[jenova_9]

Re: More of SE's Bullshit (FF 13 Demo)

oh well. I used to own FF7, FF8 and FF12 demos. they really are not worth playing compared to the full game, even if you get a chance to try it sooner.

what matters is that the full game is still on schedule for Japan, so the US can get it sometime next year. This wait has been definitely less painful than FFXII, well actually it feels like we are spending less time waiting for FFXIII than FFXII, but ya
FFXIII will be really really awesome.

I seen all the demo walkthrough videos in HD and all that. I can already picture myself playing the demo, there's no need
to actually get it over here in the states, especially since the demo doesn't even include the complete features the full version's battle system will contain. plus the demo looks way too easy and shorter than they described.

demos really are a poor representation of the actual game, unless it's marble blast ultra. :p

[Murphie]

Re: More of SE's Bullshit (FF 13 Demo)

PERSONALLY, I AM OUTRAGED.

Ok, not really. This isn't even an issue to anyone who doesn't get all ragey at the drop of a hat like Malacite.

[Malacite]

Re: More of SE's Bullshit (FF 13 Demo)

It's more about SE continually being an asshat towards PS3 owners. I was soooo excited about the new star ocean and the last remnant and then WHAM ~ SO becomes exclusive, and TLR for all intents and purposes has been canceled (SE refused to even comment on it)

I own all 3 now (ugh, monies) but that's not the point; I'm sick of companies like SE and Capcom claiming something is unfair for 1 group while simultaneously screwing over another. Either commit to your promise of simultaneous releases or don't bother.

Plus I was hoping to score the demo with the Blu Ray release once it came out here. I can wait for the full game, but I'm more likely to just rent it. If not for FF 11 I'd be just about done feeding SE any of my money (Capcom too... Konami's the only 1 out of my top 3 with any integrity. Kojima-san)

[Feba]

Re: More of SE's Bullshit (FF 13 Demo)

Ok, not really. This isn't even an issue to anyone who doesn't get all ragey at the drop of a hat like Malacite.

HOW DARE YOU BE SO INSULTING TO PEOPLE WITH SHORT oh look my cat is making funny faces.


hey! anybody wanna go ride bicycles?

[dirtyclown]

Re: More of SE's Bullshit (FF 13 Demo)

I can make a Gimlet.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: More of SE's Bullshit (FF 13 Demo)

It's more about SE continually being an asshat towards PS3 owners. I was soooo excited about the new star ocean and the last remnant and then WHAM ~ SO becomes exclusive, and TLR for all intents and purposes has been canceled (SE refused to even comment on it)

(1) You have all three console, you probably would have had them all anyway - so what the hell is the problem?

(2) Sony says securing exclusives is a sign of desparation, which is why they've exclusively publishing Ghostbusters in UK territories. I guess its only desparation when MS or Nintendo is doing it.

(3) Finally, I don't get what Square-Enix owes Sony here. Before FFXI, Squaresoft was pretty loyal with their titles being exclusive with Sony.

That was before FFXI. FFXI is what changed it because after all the hype, all the hoopla - Sony backed out on supporting it swiftly after launch. They left Square-Enix high and dry. Around the time that happened, SE struck a deal with Nintendo, started making GBA games again and made Crystal Chronicles.

Not only that but with the arrival of 360 and eventually PS3, they saw a lot of business shifting to the western market. There's a lot of reasons for it - one most notably being that Japanese gamers are more interested in handheld/cell phone gaming than they are console gaming. The other being that the quality of western games has dramatically improved in the last several years and we don't have to endure a wait because of localization. Western games can hit the western market almost as soon as they're done.

Two of SE's biggest franchises are published for US and EU gamers and they totally went ignored. No one buys Front Mission 4 and no one buys Dragon Quest VIII even after all the extra trimmings it got exclusively for western release (voicework and whole soundtrack redone by a live orchestra). They got excellent reviews and were easily some of PS2's best.

Would you give those games to the Sony audience again? I wouldn't. And SE isn't. Those games now are going to MS and Nintendo's systems.

Then there's the global economic downturn. It didn't just magically start last summer, things like gas prices were also affecting everyone. Oh and Wii wasn't hideously overpriced like PS3 was. PS3 came out with the wrong price when everyone was already tightening their pursestrings. Do you go with the console no one is buying?

Now here's the real rub. SE gets emulation support for FFXI on PS3. Sony updates the model, removes backward compatibility. The guy who handles the emulation support for Sony quits and finds a new job elsewhere - Sony doesn't replace him (and this comes right from the mouths of the top brass on the FFXI development team). So now SE can't even make a PS3 version to emulate and we all know how they feel about reversioning the code for games.

So basically, SE doesn't really owe Sony or its fans shit - they're just one place they can still make some money. SE treated the both of them well and neither responded completely in kind.

And in this day and age, its suicide to to be exclusive with Sony. Yeah, their sales spiked in the last couple of weeks, its gonna take a lot more than that for them to catch up globally. Not to mention the PSP vs. DS sales are totally misrepresented. Add DS and DSi Sales together and you'll see PSP is winning by havng a single SKU, not by having the most units moved.

Oh and let's not forget Resistance PSP. Over 100,000 people playing online... and less than 20% percent of that is on a legitimate copy. If Sony can't secure things for their own teams, why would you feel safe with them? Dissidia already sees a lot of piracy.

This is how a portion of the Sony fanbase thanks SE. I'd say "Fuck 'em" too.

[Malacite]

Re: More of SE's Bullshit (FF 13 Demo)

I got the 360 because there were like, 2 or 3 games I really wanted and a lot of stuff that was previously going to be multi went exclusive. My point is just about the morality of them siding with 1 group over another when you're supposed to be sharing a product with both audiences.

The core of it probably still lies with the much lower sales rate of the PS3 vs the 360 but I blame whatever absolute moron (being generous here too...) decided that not paying Rockstar the $50 million they wanted to keep GTA 4 PS3-exclusive was a good idea. Yes, let's not maintain a monopoly on the best selling video game series that has been proven to sell consoles.


I'm also just mad at SE in general.

- They've just about destroyed one of my most treasured series (Seiken Densetsu; they're even considering abandoning the franchise altogether)

- They refused to give up the rights to Xenogears even though they publicly stated that they have no intention of using the license ever again for any new titles (hence the way Xenosaga turned out)

- Absolutely no word on what's happening with the PS3 version of The Last Remnant (likely cancelled)

- FF7 released on PSN but Japan only

- ACP (nuff said)

[Feba]

Re: More of SE's Bullshit (FF 13 Demo)

- FF7 released on PSN but Japan only

Man people that bitch about downloadable games are annoying.

"HEY WHY AREN'T YOU GIVING US THAT GAME IN THIS REGION, THAT OTHER REGION HAS IT, ALSO YOU'RE NOT GIVING US ALL THE CLASSICS I WANT ANWYAY"

Because companies have all of the legalities and rights to everything and don't have to do any sort of prep work or other requirements for anything. Profitability isn't a concern either; why, they should just give them out for free since they're so old. I'm sure they won't lose any money on it.