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Busting rumors: Sony's PS3 price drop and Square's 360 Final Fantasy plans

arstechnica.com — Everyone is talking about the PlayStation 3 dropping in price and Square-Enix's decision to keep Final Fantasy away from the 360. But is there truth to these rumors? We investigate.

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webtechgeek 1 year 169 days ago, made popular 1 year 169 days ago

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Who Dugg It?

Elranzer, on 10/11/2007, -70/+11They're only losing money by not publishing for the 360. Seriously, these Final Fantasy games cost hundreds of millions to make, and they won't be able to make it all back on just the PS3 install base alone. By the time Final Fantasy X was released, PS2 already had a large base built on hype (which is also what killed the Dreamcast). This time, the Sony hype didn't work.

Of course, they'll make the most money on the Wii. I guess Dragon Quest Swords and FF:CC Crystal Bearers are tests of these waters.
- ahhell, on 10/11/2007, -7/+55"cost hundreds of millions to make"
  Exaggerate much?
- MikeonTV, on 10/11/2007, -25/+2@ahhell
  
  Much!!? he was exaggerating that much.
- micropizzle, on 10/11/2007, -8/+80I think he ment to say "millions of gazillions."
- MaynardJK, on 10/11/2007, -7/+38Maybe he means in yen. The dollar is quickly losing its status as the standard currency.
  
  He's probably just an idiot though.
- j4son, on 10/11/2007, -8/+11Maybe he thinks game development costs are calculated in Pesos.
  
  Bah, MaynardJK beat me to it!
- djSyndrome, on 10/11/2007, -9/+25"and they won't be able to make it all back on just the PS3 install base alone."
  
  Who said anything about install base? Final Fantasy VII sold PS1 consoles, and Final Fantasy X sold PS2 consoles. It remains to be seen how many PS3's FF XIII will sell - Sony cutting the price before its release certainly wouldn't hurt - but a series that sells four to five million copies of each installment moves hardware on its system debut.
- Khabi, on 10/11/2007, -14/+31You realize it costs even *MORE* money to port the game to another system. Espcially if the code is already written for one specific arch, its not like there is some magic switch that will make it work on the 360.
  
  Also, face it Square owes alot to Sony. If they say its a Sony Exclusive, thats exactly what it is. The games sell the systems, so its best for both parties involved that it is. I'll bet Square is getting paid a nice chunk of change to not port this game.
  
  I for one am glad when a game is only released for a single console. I find that games that are ported to others are usually crappy and bug ridden. I wish all of this cross porting crap would end and publishers would develop games for what console it fits best on, rather then trying to milk every dollar out of gamers. I'm probably one of the only people that see it that way tho.
- jsowder18, on 10/11/2007, -14/+4USELESS INFO
  
  I can't believe I just did a search on this page and no one had said "fanboy" yet...
- YouRookies, on 10/11/2007, -19/+15"They're only losing money by not publishing for the 360."
  
  BS, Final Fantasy is SYSTEM SELLER. Final Fantasy does not need to be on the 360 just like Halo 1/2 did not need the PS2 to make sales.
  
  And the 360's dominance over the PS3 right now is overrated at Digg. You guys seem to forget that it's doing horrible in Japan, a country that embraces video games as a legitimate hobby.
  
  And for the nerds that think it's a legitimate hobby in America, we are still labeled as nerds and childish for playing video games instead of watching American Idol.
- chocobomog, on 10/11/2007, -10/+3"They're only losing money by not publishing for the..."
  Tell that to Microsoft too. They are losing even more money by not bringing JRPG exclusives like Blue Dragon over to the PS3. That game has sold about 190,000 copies over 6 months in Japan which is great by Japanese 360 standards, but terrible by industry standards when games like Final Fantasy sell 2+ million in Japan alone. Especially when the game costs "hundreds of millions". But the game won't be ported over because Microsoft publishes it, and Mistwalker stands to lose much more money than SquareEnix does. Until JRPGs start selling well on the 360, there is no incentive to port Final Fantasy games to the 360.
- vhold, on 10/11/2007, -6/+5elranzer: "They're only losing money by not publishing for the 360. "
  Khabi: "You realize it costs even *MORE* money to port the game to another system. Espcially if the code is already written for one specific arch, its not like there is some magic switch that will make it work on the 360."
  
  Well, the key is that it costs a -lot- less to make a cross platform game then it does to make 3 games. Most of the money is spent on things that can be reused. A lot of games build off of vendor supplied multi-platform libraries like Renderware.
  
  I agree with you on the quality of cross platform games though. Either they don't compromise and end up absolutely terrible on one of the platforms, or they are the lowest common denominator of all major platforms. I'm having a hard time even thinking of even one really awesome game that had simultaneous multi-platform release. The ones that do come to mind were really good on one platform and gimped on the others. Good games that end up multi-platform seem to be released months, if not years apart on the other systems.
  
  Also I'm sure you are right that Sony has agreed to give square a lot of money. Their deal probably revolves around X number of guaranteed sales.
- ilyag, on 10/11/2007, -20/+7Fun facts:
  
  The last iteration of the Final Fantasy franchise, Final Fantasy XII, sold 1,405,750 units in North America on the PlayStation 2.
  
  Total North American sales for Gears of War, an Xbox 360 exclusive, are currently over 2.1 million copies.
  
  Food for thought.
- NgrHader, on 10/11/2007, -8/+1Now that Blu-Ray disc players are 499.99 a price drop is possible, however to be very competitive they need to price it down to 479.99 like th elite to make it more competitive
- chocobomog, on 10/11/2007, -2/+21@ilyaq
  Perfect, this is why FFXIII on the 360 would not work.
  FFXII has sold more games worldwide than Gears has even though both were released at the same time, but in American GoW sold more than FFXII. In the US, if the PS2 could only sell 1.2 million copies what chance does FFXIII on the 360 have?
  
  JRPGs sell in Japan
  A JRPG for the 360 couldn't even sell 200,000 in Japan (Blue Dragon)
  The majority of 360 owners didn't buy it for JRPG games
  A JRPG-heavy system like the PS2 "only" sells 1.2 million of Final Fantasy in the US
  Therefore 360 probably won't sell many JRPGs outside Japan
- ilyag, on 10/11/2007, -22/+4Wow, this site is a ***** joke. My statement of facts, which lacks any editorializing, is getting modded down. What could the rationale behind that be? Why, let me peek into the mind of a typical Digg user, the kind that would come here, see my post, and mod it down:
  
  "Durrr!!! PS3 rumors! Yay! Durrr!!! Final Fantasy not coming to Xbox? Durrr!!! I want to spew my opinions here in public! DURR!!! Oh *****, look! This guy over there isn't posting opinions! He's posting sales figures! WHY!? DURR! Why would someone post sales figures? We're just discussing games and game sales! DURR! Why would he say how much the game sold compared to another one We're discussing two consoles, and he's posting sales figures for the games on those consoles!? This conversation is for opinions! Who does he think he is posting facts? And telling us 'food for thought' like we're supposed to incorporate those facts into our discussions? ***** DURR! I bury you! From my parents basement, I reach out and push the red thumbs-down icon on your comment! NO FACTS ALLOWED!! Victory shall be OURSSSS!!! YESSS! Mmmm. Phew. That took a lot out of me. Now I'm going to download hentai and masturbate furiously. Yes. Oh yes indeed!"
  
  Retarded *****...
- weareglass, on 10/11/2007, -3/+8FF staying on PS3 should have been obvious to anyone who wasn't thinking wishfully. It's been clear from the beginning of next gen sales that though the Xbox360 did really well in the US, it made no headway in Japan, and practically vice versa for the PS3. And what is the result? One American-centric console and one Japanese-centric console (and Nintendo which will be a healthy mix). If you want the best Japanese games, don't kid yourself. PS3 is going to have the cream of the crop. It's a frustrating state of affairs. Personally, I'm just not gonna get a next gen system for a while, or maybe eventually a Wii, and wait until all their prices drop and some of the dust has cleared.
- wild, on 10/11/2007, -4/+7"Retarded *****..."
  
  Read the post above yours and understand why you are getting dugg down.
- Herald42, on 10/11/2007, -4/+8@Ilyag
  
  Fun fact:
  
  Whining about getting dugg down gets you dugg down further.
- cthellis, on 10/11/2007, -8/+3In fact, I dug down his post that DIDN'T deserve it simply because of the completely nutbar overreaction in his post that DID.
  
  @ilyag - Chill out, baby. Stay a while... the Internet ain't goin' no place.
- modifiedbears, on 10/11/2007, -5/+4@chocobomog
  Comparing a new IP on a new machine to an established one on the number one last gen system only makes sense in the mind of a fanboy.
  
  Yes, 1 major JRPG won't sell an american console, not a big surprise there. They need to build more of a library to justify the console purchase.
  
  Your digg name says it all when it comes to how bias you are.
- chocobomog, on 10/11/2007, -3/+5@modifiedbears
  I would agree except for the hype around Blue Dragon. It was created and directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi who created almost all Final Fantasy games and is THE name when it comes to JRPGs. For the first 9 games, the biggest connection between the games was that Sakaguchi directed them. It was designed by Akira Toriyama who also designed Dragonball (and Chrono Trigger remake), one of the biggest animes of all time. An d the music was created by Nobuo Uematsu, whose video game music has been performed in numerous concerts and has 50+ different CDs released including everything from piano album, symphonic arrangements, jazz remix, etc. These designers are the "gods" of their industries and helped define their genres. And Blue Dragon was hyped because of it. But it didn't sell.
  
  It would be like Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise, and John Williams made a highly anticipated blockbuster movie that only earn 5 million at the box office (War of the Worlds made much more).
  
  If any new IP should have sold like hotcakes, it was Blue Dragon.
  
  As for my "bias", I would be the one who wants to play Blue Dragon, I am the ideal fan they market this game too. My favorite games of all time came from Sakaguchi. I've played games (and a movie) based on his name alone. I listen to and perform Uematsu's music on a daily basis, and even had it in my wedding (along with Zelda music). Hell, 10 years ago I've based my user name on his characters and have used it ever since. (I'm indifferent to Toriyama, not really a Dragonball fan, but I enjoy his design) And I WANT to play Blue Dragon, but I will not pick up a 360 for this game alone, especially when there is a chance it will be ported or moved to a PC based on these sales. I've probably followed this game more than most people on digg.
- yournamehere, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3Khabi:
  Since most of the production costs goes into art work, voice, music all of which can be ported over it wouldn't cost that much more to go multi console.
- wageslaven, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3@modifiedbears
  I would agree except for the hype around Blue Dragon.
  
  I gave you a mod-up, because I think its important that people remember what a great game Blue Dragon is. Famitsu Loved it. Remember, it *is* the biggest selling title on Xbox 360 in Japan. While i think you are totally wrong, you bring up a topic Ive made posts around digg for a couple days now...
  
  Its no surprise that Blue Dragon _alone_ didnt move 1,000,000 Xbox 360s in overnight. The Xbox 360 is still trying to catch on in Japan, no doubt. But does _anyone_ think that MS wont eventually crack that nut? They are incredibly committed and innovative, they are going to keep fighting there - dont worry.
  
  More important IMHO is what Blue Dragon will mean for Xbox 360 owners in Europe and America(!) Blue Dragon is the product of the All Time All Stars of JRPG and its exclusive to Xbox 360. JRPG fans, outside of those who really really must own a FF title*, are going to get a great JRPG to play.
  
  I know it makes PS3 fans excited to suggest that Xbox 360 owners will be deprived of the precious FF, and they may take pleasure in imagining depressed or unsatisfied Xbox 360 owners -- but Im sorry to say, I just dont feel that way. I'm seriously looking forward to Blue Dragon and its totally new game world, narrative, characters and game-play innovation.
  
  Wont it be equally depressing for PS3 owners to not be able to play Blue Dragon? It is known to be a terrific game. Im not at all worried or upset that I wont be playing FF, if it comes to Xbox 360 or not - I wouldnt be buying it. Im looking forward to trying something new, Sakaguchi-san has had a chance to keep the good and leave the bad, and Blue Dragon is fantastic -- I cant wait to play it.
  
  *Why this is the case I dont know. The FF titles are based around a gameplay mechanic (that they are JRPG) and loosely related narratives. Each title has to stand on its own, and there have been hits and misses in the FF series, who knows how this FF will be. Since its has big expectations, I'd bet this particular title will be good, but then, its either a good game on its own or it is not, that it is the part of the FF series isnt as material as "Is It A Good Game?"
Scotty87, on 10/11/2007, -22/+14I don't remember seeing any major marketing execs on digg. I think people should stop pretending to be one. those people are smarter then YOU - live with it and let them do what THEY think is best.
- MaynardJK, on 10/11/2007, -2/+27I don't know about that. Most of the Marketing students at my college were the biggest idiots around. There is a reason that half of the football team majored in it.
  
  You had to be careful when walking around the marketing department building or you might get hit in the head with a diploma.
- Funman1, on 10/11/2007, -18/+2Hoh yeah the marketing people at Sony are the most awesome at predicting how their stuff will sell.... BETA, Mini Disc, BlueRay, PS3 ????
  Give me a break 50% of all diggers are smarter then those marketing idiots over at Sony!!!
- skeeve, on 10/11/2007, -4/+12I wouldn't include MiniDisc on that list. It's still surviving in a nice little niche with all the audiophiles. Also wayy too soon to call PS3 and Blu-ray.
- cthellis, on 10/11/2007, -4/+2@funman
  
  Fun Fact: Companies that make lots of products tend to make ones that sell lots, and ones that sell little. Fascinating, I know! Do you know of a company that makes products and predicts FAILURE for them, or shrugs about their adoption?
  
  Also, MiniDisc indeed doesn't belong one the list entirely. Sony's gameplan in many ways kept it from becoming a universal standard and displacing cassette tapes and floppy disks (they could have aimed at both), and certainly their "sell albums on MD" was a non-starter, but they still pushed out over 80 million units, and up until a couple years back were still outselling MP3 players. (The premium ones, at least. I'm not positive what MP3 player sales were year-by-year if you totalled up ever cheeseball one with 32MB of flash.)
  
  You can, however, blame them for investing in Hi-MD after it became obvious which direction the community was going. (It's possible it didn't cost much and was put out there mainly to slow the descent of MD player sales while they worked on HD/flash-based players, though.) You can also chide them not on the existence of ATRAC at all, but the attempt to displace MP3 with it, which was rather the main factor MD's bombed so hard out here.
Satanael, on 10/11/2007, -8/+47Worthless article... Neither confirms nor denies the possibility of these rumors...
- chris9902, on 10/11/2007, -0/+45sounds about right for a digg story.
  
  "I strongly disagree with this agreement of an opinion about a rumour."
- SpikeZ, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8Haven't read an article with less content than this one in quite awhile.
  Kudos to the author, you must have a politician hiding in you -- talking much yet saying nothing at all.
- widman, on 10/11/2007, -3/+2It's a Journal, not an Ars Technica frontpage article. More like a blog post. They are blameless on this.
harshUC, on 10/11/2007, -3/+4It also takes time, money, and man power to develop the game to run on the 360, resources which could be used to make a new game.
samafito98, on 10/11/2007, -5/+4No true claims...Don't include rumors. Buryed.
NippleNutz, on 10/11/2007, -8/+13I heart snorg tees girl

Off Topic i know so dig me left
adobeartist, on 10/11/2007, -12/+2If they can get the ps3 down to 300$ I will deffinitly buy one.
- mywhitenoise, on 10/11/2007, -3/+6Good luck, you can't even get a decent 360 at that price. I'd be fine with paying $400 for a 60GB PS3
frodsteamin2, on 10/11/2007, -4/+5great i just bought ps3, i couldnt wait...dammit
- lkmbrd, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2It doesn't say if/when there'll be a price drop so I wouldn't beat yourself up too much.
vancanucksfan, on 10/11/2007, -10/+9goddamnit, when will these rumors just ***** die already. they've been debunked to hell and back. everytime it's confirmed that it's ps3 exclusive, this ***** keeps popping up. get it through your thick skulls, FF and MGS4 not coming to xbox.sheesh
Wisgary, on 10/11/2007, -4/+9So wait... the Final Fantasy on the 360 rumor was busted... but it being busted is yet another god damned rumor?! PLEASE people, stop being idiots and just wait for official press releases.
- PhantomRogue, on 10/11/2007, -2/+12But then people couldn't post blogspam and get their google adsense moneys!
jostheller, on 10/11/2007, -6/+16Am I the only one who thinks the PS3's current price is fair? I am not saying that they should not lower the price, but in general when I think about my PS3 I feel that I received a great deal for 586 dollars. I would like to see more games, but overall I am very satisfied with the product. I prefer it over my Wii and I do not own a 360 yet (was waiting for HDMI and now I am letting my feelings for Microsoft's legal threats against the GPL come between my ownership of one. I just don't want my dollars helping their legal team attack Linux)

BTW - Did you know the PSP is 802.11g
- roxya, on 10/11/2007, -0/+12The price really depends on whether or not you'll ever watch a blu-ray movie. I buy blu-rays so I'm more than happy with the price (and I paid £400 !!!)
- Pureeviljester, on 10/11/2007, -7/+7360 costs the same as PS3 if they buy HD drive, which they will have to when developers need more space for games.
- nreynolds, on 10/11/2007, -3/+6the best way to justify the price is by looking at what you'll actually pay for a 360. You COULD say HD-DVD player and bigger hard drive but those aren't really necessary. Online play, on the other hand, I think is definitely necessary for a next-gen experience. You pay $50 a year for 360 online, and PS3 online is almost as good (and getting better all the time), for free.
  
  so basically, right now I've paid the same price for my 360 as my PS3 (2 years of Live, and I bought a $500 PS3 when they sold it). Next year, My 360 will cost more.
- staticneuron, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1I remener a point in time when game developers decided whether or not space was needed. What on earth makes you think that Disc space and HD space or only useful to the gamers? Are you that sure devs wouldn't want to take advantage of it? I see.... I used the word "want", I guess the point that your trying to get at is developers do not need these features because you do not need a more unique gaming experience.
- cthellis, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3I think it's completely fair... provided you want ALL the features.
  
  People take it to task they same way they take Apple to task, which is similarly competitive price-wise... if you want ALL the features and software that comes with one. But for the people who don't need the wireless, who don't care about HD DVDs yet and don't see a real gaming advantage coming from the new media... They're annoyed that they're FORCED to pay for things they don't care about.
  
  Certainly there's a good point with that right now in regards to Blu-Ray, which while NICE... is not doing a whole lot to show that it is NECESSARY for HD gaming or providing major advantages yet, which means a tacked-on external drive just for people who WANT it makes more sense for them. (Especially since that one item is what would mainly account for the price difference. No, I have no idea why MS' wireless device costs as retardedly much as it does.) That situation may change in the future, but it's not the case right now.
- Jarett, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1jostheller, psp is the slower 802.11b not 802.11g.
  PS3 however, is wireless g.
UberC, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9Well that was a pretty pointless article.
GrayOne, on 10/11/2007, -11/+4Why doesn't Microsoft just buy Square?

They could have all the Japanese game support they want if they would just buy the publishers.

Microsoft has 29 BILLION DOLLARS OF CASH. They could literally buy Sony if they wanted to.
- Dio82, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3While MS does have a buttload of cash, so does Sony (even if they are losing a lot right now) so MS buying Sony is pretty much impossible. Now buying Square they could do it but i don't see that happen anytime soon either.
  
  And i have to agree with wisgary, people need to stop spreading rumors and wait for the press releases, even then sometime that can change before launch.
- Dp462090, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1"Microsoft has 29 BILLION DOLLARS OF CASH. They could literally buy Sony if they wanted to."
  
  You are aware, that Sony's current market cap is 55.78 billion, right?
- samdu, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3A Microsoft spokesman has already addressed the notion of simply buying up developers. In short, sometimes it makes sense, sometimes not so much. There are a couple of factors to consider with MS and Square. One, it wouldn't be cheap. And while MS has a metric ***** of cash lying around, the gaming division is still deep in the red. Very deep. And they can't just randomly take money from the bank account willy nilly. Then there's the problem of corporate culture. I somehow doubt that Squenix's culture is very similar to Microsoft's. And finally, as with any developer house, there's the very real risk that when you buy the developer, what you end up with is the shell and not the actual developers, who would be free to leave after you've just spent all this money acquiring their now former employer.
JCdaOmnislasher, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3It's very hard to determine if porting Final Fantasy(besides Crystal Chron. and FFIII I think for DS) to other consoles would make any sort of change in the sales of the Final Fantasy series of games for Square/SquareEnix.

On one note, as I see it, you have the Final Fantasy gamers who have more or less played the series of the games since the time of its existence. These may be people who are willing to shell out 600 dollars for the PS3 just to play the newer current gen Final Fantasy games.

There is also some speculation (I've thought I read in the past long ago but could be mistaken) that Final Fantasy games released in the future will stay on the PS2 console should the high price of PS3 system stay where it is.

Also, quite a few people I have played with on Final Fantasy XI enjoy playing this online game for the XBOX 360 much more than they would on a PC or a PS2. It might be a possibility that they is a huge interest out there for Final Fantasy games to be cross platformed.

All and all, I believe that there will be no sure-fire notice anytime soon if the Final Fantasy series of games will be crossplatformed to the XBOX or other consoles. We will just have to patient and wait and see.
- bIuebonics, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3i'd have to go out on a limb and say that there is little square can do to increase final fantasy sales; they're already phenomenal. i've known people who bought consoles just for final fantasy games. XI is probably the exception, as an mmo is always going to do better on pc or cross-platform than a single system, and square knows this, of course.
- cthellis, on 10/11/2007, -4/+0"There is also some speculation (I've thought I read in the past long ago but could be mistaken) that Final Fantasy games released in the future will stay on the PS2 console should the high price of PS3 system stay where it is."
  
  So... you think that after XIII and Versus XIII come out, they'll decide upon their sales performance and the PS3 price point whether or not to backpedal and put their primary technical tour-de-force on _PS2_? ...that they won't really even START the development of their art assets until that point? So we wouldn't hear from XIV until 2011?
  
  Or are you saying that they would have course still have chosen a platform for FFXIV, but might backpedal to PS2 for FFXV? ...that they think it would be a good idea to ditch any semblance of the graphical tour-de-force and amazing CG they usually pull off and go back to a 12-year-old platform? You'd think at the VERY least they would head to the Wii... Heh.
trer, on 10/11/2007, -5/+7Sony lower prices? That's unpossible!
ptsd, on 10/11/2007, -2/+5untill some of these rumors start to become a reality i wont be buying a ps3 or an xbox360...
ilovethissite, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5PS3 just came out, Sony is not considering dropping its price till probably 2008 at least
Pureeviljester, on 10/11/2007, -14/+5i hate that people say ps3 is more expensive than xbox 360.
The ps3 comes with a blu-ray dvd player and you have to buy it for the 360 making the prices the same.
MSG4 isn't coming to 360 cause there is no space on the normal dvds and not everyone has a hd drive.

But I'm pretty much getting a 360 cause the games exclusives are awesome.
- Pureeviljester, on 10/11/2007, -6/+11360- $399.99
  hd-dvd- $199.99
  Total- $599.98
  
  PS3- $599.99
  BR-dvd- (already included)
  Total- $599.99
  
  It's hard to let go of that penny.
- sugarazor, on 10/11/2007, -7/+5And if I have no interest in an HD or Blu-ray player since both formats have pretty much been ignored in relation to regular DVDs?
- Pureeviljester, on 10/11/2007, -8/+6games will need more space eventually, so if you want to play the good games later on you will need one of them.
  
  Example: MGS4
- sugarazor, on 10/11/2007, -6/+4Or developers can just use multiple discs?
  
  Example: MGS1
- Pureeviljester, on 10/11/2007, -6/+2or they can save money and put it on one disc....
  They won't care if you have to buy a 200 dollar drive to play.
- sugarazor, on 10/11/2007, -2/+5Right. Because developers took such a huge financial hit on games like MGS, Final Fantasy 7-9, and Resident Evil 4 because they were multiple discs.
- jostheller, on 10/11/2007, -5/+11Is it not a better comparison to say
  
  360 Elite - $479.99
  hd-dvd - $199.99
  total $679.99
  
  PS3- $599.99
  BR-dvd- (already included)
  Total- $599.99
  
  because really HDMI is a required output to a "content protected HD DVD" thus if you have the 360 (non-elite) and the HD_DVD drive then you really only have a 600 dollar DVD player since it wont play content protected HD_DVD's at anything greater then 480p.
  
  Additionally the 360 doesn't include 802.11g at that price point but the PS3 does. Additionally the PS3 offers free online community where xbox charges 50 bucks... Additionally the PS3 allows you to install a different OS, where microsoft doesn't... But hold the bus. Microsoft gives you twice the HD space, and we all know how great that price difference is between a 60 GB HD and a 120 GB HD. errrrr....
- Pureeviljester, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3@ sugar
  
  right, and now those games are on 1 disc. cause the technology is out to put them on one disc.
  And RE4 is one disc, not like the earlier ones.
  As cd-roms became dvds the discs went down. Now that HD discs are out, expect history to repeat itself.
- dysonlu, on 10/11/2007, -2/+7@pureeviljester:
  
  360- $399.99
  hd-dvd- $199.99
  Wifi adapter: $99.99
  Total- $699.97
drjekelmrhyde, on 10/11/2007, -5/+5Is SCE a american car company ?? Big, ugly, overpacked with useless features, juice guzzeler, overpriced, and no fun to play with
stevey5036, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6Burying this article.. it provides no good information at all..
Barnolde, on 10/11/2007, -2/+6FF not going to 360 is obvious, because 360 doesn't exist in Japan as far as Square Enix is concerned and if any series will sell PS3s, it'll be Final Fantasy.

PS3 price drop WILL happen sometime, as all consoles drop in price. Those screaming FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) about it are forgetting that the system hasn't even been out a year, is still $600 and hasn't even has its big games come out yet. People thought the same thing about the PS2, especially since the DC came out earlier, had better games at a lower price, but nothing lasts forever.
- wageslaven, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2FF not going to 360 is obvious, because 360 doesn't exist in Japan.
  What if Square wants to sell this game in America?
  
  PS3 price drop WILL happen sometime, as all consoles drop in price.
  Even at a equal price, the Xbox 360 has much to argue makes it better than PS3. Further, you are aware that Nintendo & MS could _also_ lower their price?
twodayslate, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2A rumor for the price drop for the PS3 has been around for a long time...
velvet396, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6ps3 price drop "news" is a rumor, Square's FF "news" was not a rumor. Inaccurate title and useless article, buried.
Galaeron, on 10/11/2007, -5/+3Well I for one will not be buying a Playstation 3 just to play Final Fantasy. Good bye childhood.
callidusdigg, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4This article didn't bust any rumors.

I saw no proof showing that the price of the PS3 was NOT going to drop or that the FF franchise signed a deal with the 360.

In fact the only thing the article told me was that the PS3 price drop and FF leaving 360 rumors were just rumors.

Thanks for nothing.

Buried for lameness.
- EDmAN, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1what?
blair260, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Rumor + Digg = Crap
yardman, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Ok how can sony do a price cut when they are still losing money on every unit they sell?
- cthellis, on 10/11/2007, -2/+0Didn't stop Microsoft, did it? ;-) Granted they have a much bigger pile of cash to burn through, while Sony had started GETTING lots of cash from the Playstation division.
  
  Likely the manufacturing costs have dropped a bit (especially in Blu-Ray drive production), and since the $500 version wasn't selling appreciably anyway they're "losing less" on the $600 model, and don't have the differing production lines, shipping and stocking quirks...
  
  While a price drop at some point will mean they go back to losing MORE money (or conceivably going from "breaking even" to "losing money again." I doubt there will be any "profiting" until they can get some nice process shrinks in there), they'll be aiming for a sweet spot where they attract enough consumers to sell more games (making them more money), sell some Blu-Ray movies to people because "hey, I already have a player" or even just increase the demand from places like Netflix and Blockbuster (making them more money), sell more peripherals (making them more money), having more friends able to show off the console to THEIR friends (providing at-hand advertising), increasing 3rd party developer and publisher confidence in the platform...
  
  They may be able to hold to their current price point while riding out the "good game wave" coming in the fall (year one games for any platform are usually lackluster, as the potentially huge ones are still in development), but personally I think a price drop immediately preceding the launch of many key titles and the holiday frenzy would go a long way toward gaining ground and traction.
xdevit, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Is it just me or shouldn't Final Fantasy just throw in the towel.
I personally am not a fan of RPG's but alot of my friends loved that game but said this past one was a joke. Game reviews also showed this.
- DarkJC, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2Yeah, 40/40 in Famitsu magazine sure makes it a joke reviews wise.
EDmAN, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1This probably has more to do with the fact that the current Final Fantasy is being produced on the "White Engine" which is a gaming engine specifically designed to get the most out of the PS3's hardware. In other words the White Engine can not just be ported over to the 360 like Unreal Engine 3. The White Engine is actually using the Cell to help render graphics, up to 6 of the SPEs are allocated to this. I'm sure someone will hate me for saying this, but FFXIII will look almost like a CG movie and that will put FFXIIIs graphics way out of the Xbox 360s range. If you don't believe me read this....

"The game runs on the White Engine, an all-new exclusive seventh generation game engine built for Square Enix's future games. Both the engine and the game were originally slated to be used with the PlayStation 2 but were later moved to the PlayStation 3.[12] The engine handles advanced audio processing, cinematic cut-scene transition, physics effects calculations and special effects rendering. The White Engine reportedly uses 4 of the 6 developer-available synergistic processing elements (SPEs) of the Cell processor to achieve near-pre-rendered CGI quality in realtime.[13]"
source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_XIII

The 360 processor can not help the ATI graphics card render and therefore the level of detail that will be in this game, if the report is correct, will not be achievable on the 360. This is not fanboyism, I am merely stating what has been said about the correlation and cooperation between the Cell and the RSX which is supposibly able to deliever some gorgeous graphics when harnessed properly.
- wageslaven, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2"up to 6 of the SPEs are allocated to this." You are wrong.
  
  The PS3 *always* dedicates 1 Cell Core to the OS. Always, unavailable to the game.
  The PS3 *always* dedicates 1 Cell Core to the OS *if* any online features are employed *AND* Part of a 2nd core becomes "sometimes unavailable" (meaning, you cannot schedule that 3rd core and have it reliably available).
  
  So, Any Game that runs online (will FF have any Online features?) has 5.5 Consumed for *non-game* functionality (as in for the OS, IP and DRM.)
  
  6 cores arent availble *for the whole ***** game* let alone your magic 6-core graphics talk. I wont even bother telling you how much Memory is dedicated for OS and Comms. that become unavailable.
  
  Here, drop the "PS3 is a mega-supercomputer!11!" marketing and get informed:
  http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060413-6600.html
  http://www.innerbits.com/blog/2007/03/01/ps3-online-friends-and-cross-game-features/
  http://www.innerbits.com/blog/2007/05/09/ps3-memory-footprint/
  
  Before you start talking out your arse about what the Xbox 360 can and cannot do, perhaps you should understand how console development on the PS3 works? Clearly, the PS3 is motivating your pseduo-techno-speak.
xmuzik, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1i'm not buying a ps3 no matter what games they drop because i'm perfectly happy with my 360, but i will admit that with even a small price drop and a new Final Fantasy on the market as a exclusive that the PS3 will sell several million more units easily.

in my opinion the ps3's only problem is not it's price but it's lack of a quality library of games, but that seems to be picking up a little steam,

ya gotta remember that no matter how tight money is for people in some areas of the country there are now millions & millions of people that have no problem dropping $5 or $600 on a system and a $1,000 on a tv for a quality gaming/online/movie experience.

at times it's hard to believe & it will even make you scratch your head in disbelief but there is really a huge demand and market for a hardcore multi-media experience and people are like dope fiends when it comes to getting their digital fix
fixedcoma, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3Woah, Woah, Woah wait a minute! Don't let these sabaths talk ***** in your ear... There was a final fanasy for the xbox 360 and it came out April 18th 2006 "final fantasy XI" So the answer is " yes " there is a final fantasy already for xbox 360!!!!!
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Busting rumors: Sony's PS3 price drop and Square's 360 Final Fantasy plans

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