Unlike Microsoft’s big showy E3 presentation, Square Enix’s show is a slightly more modest affair with SE executive Shinji Hashimoto and Final Fantasy XIII’s producer Yoshinori Kitase settled to take questions from the press. I’ve plucked the most important points from the event and detailed them with a little speculation here and there for your delegation.

Hit the jump for the big, big points from the Square Enix E3 event, most of which may involve FFXIII.

Why end the PS3 exclusivity?
When asked why the Final Fantasy series has made the leap to the Xbox 360 rather than remaining on the PlayStation 3, Hashimoto said the “spread of the hardware” was taken into account. In other words, the Xbox 360 sells a lot of consoles in the US and Europe, and Square Enix will want as much cash as possible (as is the typical situation with most large companies) so why not capitalise and go multi-format? It’s an obvious decision to make given the success (and profit) that the series has already brought.

Hashimoto comments that the decision to port FFXIII to the 360 was a very recent one, and that their “relationship with Microsoft” needed to be “adjusted”. It might be jumping the gun in saying this, but I’m willing to bet that Microsoft offered up a big sack of money if Square were to develop a port.

However in Japan Final Fantasy XIII wont be released on the Xbox 360, but on the PS3 only, with the two men citing the 360’s great install base in the West (and less than great install base in Japan) as the reason for going PS3-exclusive in this area of the world. It wouldn’t be cost-effective to sell it on a system that doesn’t sell well in the country as it is.

On the subject of the number of discs for the 360 (because there’s no way FFXIII will fit on a single 8.7GB DVD) both men were fairly silent. In fairness, I’m not even sure they know themselves, as 360 development will be considered the last part of the entire process: the Japanese edition will come first (for the PS3) and localisation will follow, with 360 porting being performed last. Square Enix is stating that both versions will be identical. No word on online play yet.

The 360 is only getting the ‘RPG’ edition of FFXIII. The PlayStation 3 will still receive Final Fantasy Versus XIII, a more action-oriented title set in the same universe as the new RPG but sharing nothing else. Versus VIII will feature real-time combat similar to that in Kingdom Hearts and FFXII and incorporate gunplay like that found in the (dire) FFVII spin-off Dirge of Cerberus.

What’s new in FFXIII?
There’s nothing solid being said yet, but producer Kitase has said that “the tempo and the speed are different…the entire direction is different. It’s flashier.” Judging from what we’ve just witnessed at the Microsoft presser and from what we’ve seen of screenshots in the past, I think those words can be justified.

I think that’s your lot for now, but if any new details spring up the post will be promptly updated. Anyway 360 owners, as long as you’re not in Japan, you can get psyched up now because you lot are getting Final Fantasy XIII, and the Sony fanboys have got one less thing to brag about.

Revel in it.

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