FFXI fans asked, creators answered
by Alan Rose 
{ Mar 12th 2006 at 6:00PM }
It was a weekend of contests,
tournaments, and developer panels at the Final Fantasy XI Fan
Festival in Santa Monica. RPGamer has summarized what the Square Enix team had to say regarding the Xbox 360 beta
test, localization issues, and the latest expansion pack, Treasures of Aht Urghan. The developers also
responded to inquiries on the PS3 version of FFXI: "Right now, we still don't know what type of machine
the PS3 is, so we are waiting on Sony to finalize the hardware before we can make that decision." An end of the year launch for
Sony's next console is looking more and more likely.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Josh Warner @ Mar 12th 2006 6:21PM
Yeah, the developer for one of the largest Japanese franchises gets up and says (paraphrased) "We have no effing clue what Sony is doing."
Sony is running scared - the mumbo jumbo and plain evasive answers they've been spouting recently mean something. My guess is that something in the box isn't working or we would have hard info by now. If Square Enix doesn't have a finalized dev box, nobody does. I wonder if it's heat, space, or the power supply? I question even Sony's ability to cram all they claim to into that chassis - I think the final PS3 will look nothing like what we have seen as of yet. "Conceptual model" indeed.
If they slip past holiday season 2006 it won't matter how good the console is, they will have lost this round.
And the truly amazing thing is, some Sony fanboy will flame the crap out of me and claim it is coming out next week a few posts down :)
Jay @ Mar 12th 2006 6:55PM
I thought that was a fairly big thing to say too. Well it looks like Squeenix are no longer a Sony only brand. But that was sort of evident with Crystal Chronicles on the Cube.
Then again I've lost all faith in Square. Every FF game since 7 has been a huge downwards spiral, the only games worth getting being the GBA ports.
Something big is going down in Sony-town. That bit about the Sony exec (sorry forgot his name) saying that the PS3 has never been announced as a gaming machine etc, that games are just it's "killer app". I think Sony need to pull their heads out their arses now. This whole scenario is laughable. the PS3 IS a gaming device, it will have a BluRay player thrown in that we will be surpassed in terms of features, ease of use, GUI and overall quality weeks after its launch (PS1 CD player? PS2 DVD player?). No. Sony want to seem like the second coming. But they make bad, cheeply made devices.
Where is this company that made the walkman? that created the wonderful PS1?
Brett @ Mar 12th 2006 7:09PM
Maybe the PS1 was so great because Nintendo helped develope it.
"Nintendo approached Sony to develop a CD-ROM add-on, tentatively titled the "SNES-CD". A contract was struck, and work began. In 1991, the SNES-CD (now titled the Play Station) was to be announced at the June CES. However, when Hiroshi Yamauchi read the original 1988 contract between Sony and Nintendo and learned that it allowed Sony 25% of the profits from the machine, he was furious. He deemed the contract totally unacceptable, and secretly cancelled all plans for a joint Nintendo-Sony SNES CD attachment."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playstation
Probot @ Mar 12th 2006 7:48PM
First, as someone that still plays FFXI on occasion, this new expansion looks pretty good.
As for the question brought up in the post, I believe, though I may not be correct, that the developer meant his personal team, i.e. FFXI dev team, doesn't have the final dev kit.
SE is still one of the biggest supporters of Sony. Actually, they're partially owned by Sony, so there's no doubt that SE is working on a game for the PS3. I'd be willing to bet that they will have a game released during the "launch window."
I think too many people are worried about nothing. What exactly will Sony gain if they show all their cards now? If we get the final details tomorrow or at E3, it still doesn't change anything. Unless they announce that it's already out in stores, then I could care less about their media silence.
As for the PS3 being a media device, it's not my cup of tea, but the PSP is showing them that direction is paying off. Despite constant criticism about the lack of games, they are still selling about the same as the DS in the US.
The Playstation brand is Sony's bread winner. When all other departments were down, the PS2 kept them afloat. They can't afford for it to fail, and you'd be kidding yourself if you think they don't realize that.
I'm not saying the PS3 will triumph, or even succeed. I'm just saying Sony is making conscious descions to ensure the Playstation 3 will be what it needs to be for them.
Exbzurg @ Mar 12th 2006 7:57PM
yes but by the time sony finished the ps1 it was a completly different beast. Instead of an addon for an aging 16 bit console it was a fully fledged 32bit console with 3d capabilities...
Elessar @ Mar 12th 2006 8:13PM
@ #1 - 'Sony is running scared'
How so? Running scared would be throwing out different release dates each month, or announcing new info each time your competitor does. Sony isnt doing any of that. Their following their own course which bodes well.
So running scared...i dont think so. Holding all the cards...definitely. Being able to play the cards when they feel the time is right...priceless ;)
Navstar @ Mar 12th 2006 9:43PM
I think all the trouble resides with the Blu-Ray drive. 1X Blu transfer rates are nowhere near today's 16x DVD speeds. If PS3 doesn't have at least a 2x Blu drive, load times are going to be impossibly long with HD textures and all.
I don't think Sony can get Blu-Ray to 2X speeds at a reasonable cost.
l0tus @ Mar 12th 2006 10:14PM
sony...? holding all the cards? that's the funniest thing i've read in months. thank you, elessar, for that beautiful bit of pure comedy gold. hopefully, your career as a comedian will keep you entertained while you wait for sony's next big mistake.
Jim N @ Mar 12th 2006 11:37PM
While I do not think that Josh W. is correct in saying that Sony is running scared, I sure do not think that Elessar is correct in saying that Sony is holding all the cards and be able to play them at their leisure. I think there are problems in Playstation Town. There is something that has held up the project, in the article it says they are waiting for them to finalize the hardware. That right there says something, it means there are problems somewhere.
But to Sonys credit they are not throwing out some piece of crap. They should take their time and do this right. Last numbers I read they own something like 70% of the gaming market. And Microsoft has even come out and said they do not think they will take over the market with this generation of consoles. They are hoping to slowly pick away and Sonys Market share. Which I believe they are accomplishing. But getting back to Sony, they do not need their console out right now. There are plenty of great games slated for release on the PS2 that should hold their loyal fan base until they get their console ready for release. I can say this though they better have some sort of organized online play service in place. And this HUB service they are talking about better concentrate on and focus on providing great online game play. And not just be some crappy software full of root kits and other garbage trying to push their crappy music service or deliver their movies. If they can provide great game play, and do the other stuff with out being intrusive fine, but the game play should be the main focus.
silverwolf @ Mar 13th 2006 9:53AM
Regardless of what people think about square's game's they are greatly regarded in Japan. They can release a crap fest there and still sell a ton. So they are a very important part of the Sony's developer support community. There has got to be something wrong in Sony camp "holding there cards" as many say doesn't seem likely. I mean they are already trying to copy MS xbox live and xbox live arcade (a little too late if you ask me)and made it public. So why hold off, we all know what the cell is. Why the secrecy? Unless they know they ordered more food than they can chew.
m3mnoch @ Mar 13th 2006 1:20PM
"And Microsoft has even come out and said they do not think they will take over the market with this generation of consoles."
yeah. but, really. look at microsoft's point of view on 'taking over the market.' heh. they say they don't own the browser market because their penetration has 'fallen' to a 'lowly' 85% or so. look at windows. look at office.
i bet they don't consider sony to have owned the last generation because they 'only' had 70%.
i have this totally funny image in my head of bach, allard and moore in 5 years all sitting around in a 'pity party' talking about how they didn't take over the market because they only had 89% of consoles out there instead of the requisite 90%.
those microsoft fellah's have a skewed view of the product marketing and success, man.
m3mnoch.
tactics @ Mar 13th 2006 1:25PM
jim... this is sony you're talking about. OF COURSE their "hub" service is going to be (wait for it...) PRIMARILY a vessel for their online music service. believe it or not, theyve got a grudge with apple. ever since the ipod completely destroyed the "walkman," sony's been pissed. so anyway, they can use their huge marketshare and loyal ps2 fanbase to shove a sony multi-purpose machine (ps3... duh.) into their homes, with the blu-ray player, and hope to take over the home movie industry with this new disc format. they'll use their HUB service to stream movie trailers to your UMDs (to saturate your "psp" with commercials)... connect your ericsson phones to BUY ringtones and games... etc etc.
the point i'm trying to make here, is that sony's HUB service will absolutely NOT be focused on online gaming. it's going to be another medium for reaching this ever-elusice 18-35 male advertising demographic, and making themselves and their advertising partners more money. watch and see. it'll be absolutely disgusting.