Star Ocean 4 currently Xbox exclusive, Last Remnant delayed on PS3

Andrew Yoon-

Fans of Square Enix RPGs may have assumed PS3 was the safe bet this generation of consoles. However, during a press conference in Japan today, the famed RPG maker announced its plans to support Xbox 360, with at least one exclusive, and two timed exclusives for Microsoft's current generation platform.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope, the fourth iteration of the popular RPG series, has been announced for Xbox 360 only.

[rucky]

Sounds fair, so PS3 gets FFXIII and FFVXIII while 360's gets Star Ocean Last Hope and Infinite Discovery with timed-exclusive Last Remnant. I guess this is a good moved by SE to try to expand their western audience while moving consoles for both companies along the way.

We lose though as gamers especially those who don't have a PS360WII and wants to play all those rpgs.

[PS360WII]

well who wouldn't want me ^^

oh you mean the systems :(

[Expy]

With this move though, Tri-Ace is going to lose a lot of fans in Japan, and that isn't a good thing. But as stated by Square-Enix, they haven't decided yet whether or not to release the game on PS3 (Star Ocean 4).

[decapitator]

Another site with a different twist on the already known story...*Sigh*

[Silogon]

So Sony gets all their old franchises while xbox 360 gets the new ones and Star ocean. Great deal! You keep knocking those pins down Sony!

Whatever.

[PSMonster21]

I would say it this way... Sony gets all the AAA franchises and M$ gets whats left over.

[sleepyk]

too bad star ocean is not gonna sell well on 360 especially in japan.

[bababrooks]

the japan market has changed, hand helds and wii seem to be what's in. the market man for sony that said they could charge £600 pounds and people would still buy the system was dreaming! for those that can afford all the systems... life is a gamers paradise: ).

[DeckUKold]

WHY!!!!

[Sayai jin]

I understand your frustration, but consoles still need there exclusives to keep some type difference, variety, etc than their competitors. If a person could get Gears of War 2, MGS4, etc on the one console there would be no room for nother console. The you start dealing with lack of competition, then you go into why should game or console prices be competitive, then why go all out on game play and graphics, and it goes on and on. In a nutshell exclusives keeps customers or converts them over.

[Willio]

Im sad if Star Ocean never comes out for PS3 but more importantly, some rich folks need to buy out the property rights for Xenogears... and make a sequel...

[PoSTedUP]

MS needs to do SOMEthing : ]

[Says you]

Like Take two did with BioShock and the same with the other Japanese developers that said the same thing with Eternal Sonata and Enchanted Arms.

[meepmoopmeep]

by the time SO4 comes out i'll already have a 360
360 needs some exclusive love as well.

[NegativeCreepWA]

It'll come out for PS3. I don't see the big fuss is about. How could they not release it on PS3?

[Aclay]

Well, at least us PS3 owners still get "the big ones" ( Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy versus XIII).

I honestly don't expect SquareEnix's JRPG's on the Xbox 360 to sell well at all. It would make more sense for SquareEnix to release a Western RPG on the Xbox 360 because JRPG's will appeal more to Playstation console users because more JRPG's have been released on the Playstation consoles. Western RPG's will appeal to Playstation console users as well, but when it comes to diversity, the Playstation consoles have the edge over the 360.

I guess SquareEnix is trying to give the Xbox one more chance before they decide what they will do in the future with it when it comes to games, but honestly I think that SquareEnix is wasting their time developing for the 360.

[gerol]

"the big ones" are on ps3

the "so-so ones" are all on the so-so 360

[mindedone]

Why would something be Xbox EXCLUSIVE in order to expand to the west. PS3 sales are very healthy, and I'm sure many people purchased PS3s FOR RPGS (myself being one of them.)

For the life of me I cannot understand how one expands to a market with an established medium such as Star Ocean. One expands to a different market by creating a product that appeals to the untapped market. What S-E is doing is moving away from their core market without anything new (or at least different) to entice the new market.

Look at the Wii for example. The Wii was able to expand into different markets by appealing to those markets, not by pushing old market products in new markets. That's at least one reason why the Xbox is not doing well in Japan. It does not differentiate itself from the PS3.

I just don't see this working, unless they have a marketing campaign of FFVII size.

[badz149]

Square enix made this decision not solely due to marketing strategy or fanbase or even trying to expand to the west! in fact, maybe not at all! can't you see it? from any point of view, this decision is favourable to M$ more than it does to them! Japanese are crazy for JRPGs especially those from SE. hell the are buying buck loads of remakes of older FF and DQ on the PSP and DS!

M$ is not giving up on Japan just yet and they knew that their games are not appealing enough for Japanese to start adopting to 360! in the other hand, SE had their profit down to almost half from what they achieved in the last fiscal year and suffering a lost! so, M$ has the money and SE has all the 'stuff' which are the JRPGs, M$ had always been wanting! there's no other explanation for this decision considering that PS3 is crushing the 360 big time in Japan for next-gen console!

Sony is not going to pay for anything but M$ is willing to pay for everything! This decision has M$ money printed all over it! and if you ask, "why just time exclusive?" - even if SE release the game later on for PS3, it will still sell very well and they know it! they are smart to take M$ money but not as stupid to sacrifice potential PS3 sales! but believe me, when the game come out, M$ will put "only on XBOX" or whatever logo they are using now to say like it's true exclusive just like Bioshock!

[Zhuk]

First Star Ocean, Final Fantasy will be next. Square Enix finally realizes that there is no money to be made on the PS3, but millions to be made on the Xbox 360 a platform where gamers love games and home to this gens hottest JRPGS.

Jump In and play some JRPG's, because you'll find none on the PS3

[Shadow Man]

So true, bubble for you sir!

[PoSTedUP]

yup, looks like its fairy land for 360 this year and next.

but i doubt the new final fantasy will ever be on the 360. do you think gears will ever be on the ps3? you guys have lost your marbles..

[Shadow Man]

Is possible for GoW3 to be on ps3, and also possible for FFXIII to be on 360.

[wingway]

the reason i bought a ps3 was because i thought most of the rpgs were gonna be on it cause when you look at it didn't the ps1 and ps2 have all the rpgs during its time? damn it! i aint freaking rich or nothing and now i gotta save up some dough to get a 360 if those games and future rpgs become 360 exclusive

[badz149]

you'll get your fair share of good JRPGs later on! so far, 360 only has Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey. most of JRPG devs are not as big as SE, thus at the moment, most of them still not diving in developing for next-gen console especially the PS3 but I don't think any of them are developing for 360 either! the only one we knew is SE which is now developing for both! so, once the dev cost went down, you'll see bucket loads of them coming. it's a waiting game actually. it's not like there's nothing to play at all on the PS3 for now. I suggest you wait after FFXIII because the games announced here are not due to come out until after FFXIII

[InMyOpinion]

You are wrong. The 360 has more JRPGS out. Eternal Sonata, Enchanted Arms and Culdcept Saga. I think I'm missing some more.

Then you have Infinite Undiscovery, The Last Remnant, Tales of Vesperia, Blue Dragon 2, Cry On & Star Ocean 4 coming out later.

What JRPGS does the PS3 have to offer at the moment? I'd rather play Lost Odyssey & Blue Dragon than nothing at all...

[NinjaRyu]

come on people give it rest. Just face facts that until sony or SE says something it's a xbox 360 only title. What are you guys crying about anyways, the PS3 still has both FF13's & as far as we know kingdom hearts. So quit your B!tchiung already!

[etownone]

umm. Kingdom Hearts is for the wii.

but ps3 still gets FF one day.... like in 2010.

[pwnmaster3000]

umm not its not
kingdom heart is for the ps3

dumb ass xbots at it again

[PlayStation360]

I agree with ya. At the moment, until stated otherwise, SO4 is 360 exclusive. Sure there is a chance it could go to the PS3, like Yamagishi said. But the PS3 is getting great FPS' (R2, KZ2, etc). So its only fair the 360 should get some great Jrpg's (SO4, IU, etc). If they want to really play those great titles, buy the system its on. No big deal.

@etown
Wa? I thought all that KH3 WII exclusivity was found to be false. :(

[Cusco]

Oh noes?? Xbox 360 got some exclusives. Bah, PS3 users should stafoo. MGS4 comes out tomorrow, big slap in the face to the xbot community. Also, the BIG and IMPORTANT RPGs like FF and White Knight Story are coming to PS3. Square Enix isn't stupid and it wants to make some money on the side.
Peace

[LuHawk]

Slap in the face to the xbox community?
A slap in the face is exactly what you need

[NinjaRyu]

give it a rest! Stop being so greedy for once & be happy the 360 gets some J-RPG love from SE. What the hell gives you fanboys the right to say PS3 magically gets all of SE's Big name games & doesn't have to share. MS should be able to enjoy at least one big name from SE's!

[alster23]

SO4 will be on ps3 once they see the sales numbers, im guessing around 800,000, theyll get the messege. i wonder why SE wanted to release SO4 on the 360? werent they aware that it will sell like crap in japan and american gamers prefer more action as opposed to a story or an more strategic type of gaming imo

[PS360WII]

Umm I think they would be rather happy with 800k for SO4. The second and third only sold a million each. So getting 800k on just the 360 would make them content I'm sure

[Says you]

Come so many jrpgs on your platform have flopped over there in Japan?? Shadow Man you must be an idiot or something to believe something coming from Zhuk the ultimate loser of the universe.

[etownone]

Seems like the 360 is the console for FPS's, RTS's, and now RPG's.

I can't believe it's ok for some of you sonydroids that FF13 is possibly going to be released in 2010... you do realize the next Xbox would probably be coming out that year too.

[PoSTedUP]

i can play any computer game on my ps3 : P

but RTS's suck on consoles.

oblivion is the only RPG i need as of right now.

[REDZEV]

First of to all the SONY FANBOYZZZZ I want to congratulate all of you on getting finally a Real First Party AAA Title this week. I know you dont get to many but hey Congrats!!! give your self a big pat on the back. I mean Crap it took like 5 years for this game!!! This thing with Square shouldn't be to surprising to any of you either. Sony has lost so many chances at having alot of exclusive AAA titles locked up even before the PS3 came out like Assasins Creed, GTA IV, Devil May Cry etc. but just couldnt close the deal. So whats the reason behind this you might ask??? Is it simply bad management on SONYS part or were they more concerned with putting their money behind other markets such as BLU-RAY??? Square enix and Capcom were the Biggest loyalists backing Sony all the way from the PS1 days and now the tables have turned with games like Dead Rising being exclusive and Lost Planet which was a timed Exclusive for the 360. And now with Square having one exclusive and a timed exclusive on the horizon for the 360 I guarantee you this is just the tip of the Iceberg. If these games sell and I know they the will. FFXIII will come to 360 that will be the biggest slap in the face to all you sony loyalist and you shouldnt be angry about it because at the end of the day its all about making money and thats it. So have fun playing MGS4 Im sure it will be awesome game but Im not to worried. Ill be playing it on my 360 in about 14 months..... mark my words.

[juuken]

REDZEV...MGS4 won't come to the PS3. If Kojima couldn't fit all that he wanted on a 50gb, what makes you think it'll come to the 360? And we're talking about Star Ocean, NOT MGS4 so I don't know why you would mention that.

360 fanatics never fail to amuse me.

[etownone]

hey juuken, there are already rumors that MGS4 is only 33gb.

anyways, it can easily be compressed and scattered across a couple of dvd's.

[juuken]

And etownone, you can keep on wishing that MGS4 will come to the 360. Kojima would have to remake the ENTIRE game if he was to bring it to the 360.

[GUNS N SWORDS]

the head of tri-ace did mention that the only console they would consider over in the US was 360, it's the same reason why the creator of eternal sonata said that the ps3 port version would be a deal exclusively for japan.

infinite undiscovery, Tales of Vesperia, eternal sonata, and star ocean, are games that are owned by tri-ace.

http://www.tri-ace.co.jp/en...

[CAPT IRISH]

exclusives for regions? doesn't make sense to me

[PS360WII]

Tales of is Namco but I think you meant Valkyrie Profile anyways ;)

[Aclay]

It's obvious that Microsoft probably dangled some money in front of SquareEnix for Star Ocean 4 to be a timed Exclusive.

Microsoft is relying too much on 3rd party and they obviously know it because they are paying for timed exclusives. I guess since Microsoft literally has no first party developing they have plenty of money to throw around for 3rd party. Star Ocean 4 will be coming to the Playstation 3. As long as Sony keeps pumping out the First Party, I'm happy.

All of those 3rd party 360 games have the potential to be made on the PS3 easily because it's not like the 360 is using Tech that the PS3 can't handle. Kojima said in his latest interview with Gamespot that some of the things in MGS4 was ONLY possible on the Playstation 3, and when it comes to 3rd party Exclusive games like that, they are guaranteed to be PS3 exclusives.

.... But, if SquareEnix want's to be restricted to DVD-9, that's their own decision. If I was a developer, I would want to get the most out of Blu-ray and make my game the best that it can be without having to reduce the quality of the game by having it on multiple discs, but that's just me.

[367 To Your Ass]

and restrictions of a DVD, that's all you guy's ever say if not even more BS, blu-ray isn't helping games look better, if it did haze, dark sector and GTA4 (ps3 versions) wouldn't have it's problems, goes to show you that blu-ray can only go so far.

[tako2000]

I don't know you are still young or just being naive, but it IS about money...MS is dedicate to win this war and they are willing use any resources(example:money) they have. Is that a bad thing? No! I wish Sony have such rich "resources".

Beside that, I understand you want to argue about AclayPS3's point where base on hypothesize plus personal opinion, but the examples you used are all caused by hardware/developer. When AclayPS3 said quality he means "the possible game-element can be add due to the extra space". You could say D-9 capacity can be expand further(we already have new layer technology for that, didn't we?) or good game can still be developed without such capacity(and throw in some X360 exclusive). Otherwise you really didn't make much point through your examples...

[Silver360]

There are more 360's in North America. Square-Enix wants to get deeper into the western market. Make it exclusive for a system that has almost 3 times the installed base In North America. Give the other system time to grow a larger base in North America, then release it. This not about Japan, this about getting the highest sell through rate for your game.

[juuken]

As long as they don't get FFXIII and Versus, I'm fine with that. Let them have their fame for a while until those two games come out. 360 fanatics are just trying to egt Sony owners riles up. You guys need to settle down. We still have the two games I just mentioned there.

[WildArmed]

They are keeping the good stuff in PS3 while making money off the desperate.
They still love Sony alot.

[Bazookajoe_83]

Star ocean 4 in my eyes havent been stated 360 only...

Please evaluate if you have the time...

[PS360WII]

Well you can say 'as of right now' it's exclusive because they haven't said a peep about any PS3 version other than maybe or maybe not.

[GamerMan]

Not exactly what I was expecting, unfortunately I don't have the money to spend on a X360 for SO4 and if this becomes the norm I will have to start saving up like I did for the PS3.

Strategically from past experience I was expecting a whole lot more JRPGs to come out on the PS3 since majority of Western gamers don't like cutscenes or in general JRPG style games (Although I really love them and prefer them more for my money). Correct me if I made an incorrect assumption. So I bought a PS3 for strategy, RPGs, racing, and TPSs. The majority of them left Nintendo and went to Sony which is why I got my first Playstation.

I will wait til closer to the launch date of SO4 to see if it does stay exclusive but I have a feeling it won't. I checked the official site in Japan and sure enough it does say only X360.

At least White Knight Story, Disgaea 3, FFXIII, and FFXIII Versus will be out and I will be able to say with main series of FF games, but there is a storyline to follow with SO4 and I wonder how many newcomers to the game will be able to understand it and how they will help new people to the series get into the game. Only time will tell and there is plenty of other games for me to play until that time frame. :)

[PS360WII]

Well while the West in general doesn't like turnbased RPGs they don't mind action RPG's which Tales of, Infinite Undiscovery, and Star Ocean happen to be.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

IMO... Sony's biggest problem this gen is assumtion, and not delivering. They assumed everyone would just forget about Nintendo and Microsoft and go to Sony because they are Sony. They didn't deliver because nothing they have promised has yet to come out for the PS3. They also assumed they would have a PS2 style gen pushing Blu-Ray. RPGs are a huge part of gaming, it's as huge as action, FPS or online. I'm not a big fan of these kinds of RPG's but the fanbase here is so big, this is a slap in the face to both Nintendo and Sony.

[MR LOOKINGBILL]

This move caught Sony off guard. They never thought tri-ace/SE would stab them in the back and side with MS. Its Sony arrogance that has got them in this predicament.

[tako2000]

I don't think anyone see that coming...This may well become the beginning of the end for the console war.

If SE really side with MS, then the possibility of PS3 to win will become slim. PS3 might still have a chance if SE just want to be neutral by giving each console their own exclusive title. Only time will tell now.

[JeepGamer]

Does it seem to anyone that Microsofts new strategy is to snatch up as many JRPG as they can? It's not a bad idea per se because it's a pretty certain bet that they've sold a 360 to just about everyone who is going to buy one just to play action oriented games (FPS and such).

The RPG market comes as two fold... It's an attempt to get the Japanese market at some future point by establishing a president for whatever follows the 360. The second plan is to get various America/Europe consumers who have been lacking for RPGs this generation.

[REDZEV]

See junken you must go to best buy and circuit city and you must eat it all up about what they say to you about how amazing Blu-Gay or I mean Blu-Ray is and about its 50gb capacity. all you fan boys rant about how oh!!!! it can hold 50 gbs on disc. It is completly meaningless!!! who cares!!! if it comes out on 2 discs it doesnt matter it doesnt take away from the gaming expierence so let it go. have you bought any collector editions blu ray movies they come in two disc and sometimes three discs why??? when they can put it all on one disc??? ask your self this? Bdjava+ is implmented in your blu ray discs and thats whats causes all your problems with your games and movies so who cares about your 50gb discs thats the only thing blu ray had on hd-dvd

[PoSTedUP]

blu-gay? how old are you? MGS4 is 50gigs compressed. you dont compress movies so it will look better, its motion picture, not a game.
where do you get this stuff from?

-play games dude : )

[juuken]

Desperation at it's finest!

[Britjadg]

@ REDZEV, so the amount of disks a game is on doesn't spoil the game?

for the record i agree, but its on par in "ridiculousness" with reviews docking points for installations to HDD. yet how many ppl (and fanboys) spout that bs at every opportunity?

[JokesOnYou]

Why does everybody overlook the possiblility that SE may have made a business descision *independent of micro to bring more content to the 360 to *expand their idea that they want to make more profits outside of Japan. YES they could do that by going multiplat but it seems they want to take a more dramatic approach to change the perception in the *near future that they are mostly a ps loyal developer. I think they are well aware that this descision will cost them some money in the short-term (simultaneous multiplat releases would draw huge profits) but I honestly believe they want to become well known as a multiplatform Japanese dev where the bigger profits are(not just a few older titles released on other platforms later), using micro as a start is just by default. If you pay attention thats exactly what they have been making alot of noise about over the last year:

"We don't want the PlayStation 3 to be the overwhelming loser, so we want to support them," he said. "But we don't want them to be the overwhelming winner either, so we can't support them too much."
-Square Enix senior VP Michihiro Sasaki
http://www.gamesarefun.com/...

"We would like to develop a strategy to equal the moves made by Sega and Capcom, or maybe exceed them," he said.
-Yoichi Wada, Square Enix president
http://www.psu.com/Square-E...

"To enable us to do that I think the North American and European side of Square Enix have to work very, very hard (of course), and we have to release titles across multiple formats. We used to release a title exclusively for one format. I feel it's crucial we release titles for multiple platforms as most of the Western publishers are doing."
-John Yamamoto, President North American and European Operations, Executive Officer in Japan
http://uk.games.ign.com/art...

If you actually follow what SE has been saying this isn't just because of the "black majic trick"($$$$) on evil micro's part, SE has continued to state that *THEY themeselves want to refocus their business strategy, this short-term solution will go along way to change perceptions and eventually I think they will be a big time multiplat Japanese developer.

JOY

[B-Rein]

its the TRI-ACE part of square enix tahts making all the 360 rpgs, square and enix so far are making ps3 exclusives so not to worry, but im not sure wich part of square enix is making last remnat, but its multi (and timed exclusive for 360)