Despite a successful release of Final Fantasy XIII worldwide on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Square Enix has announced that it will be remaking its latest HD epic into a more bite-sized title. Tentatively titled Final Fantasy XIII Alternative, the game is being redone using the recent 16-bit engine used in the latest Chrono Trigger DS port to bring FFXIII to handheld systems later this year.
"Final Fantasy XIII is a hallmark of this generation," said the game's producer, Yoshinori Kitase, "but unfortunately, HD gaming has limited appeal."
Kitase explains that though the graphical prowess of the PS3 and 360 a nice for kids and single men, most people - especially in Japan, he says - are too busy to sit in front of a TV for over 60 hours to play a game like Final Fantasy XIII.
Porting the title to more portable devices seems like a smart business move in Japan where the games market is currently dominated by the DS and PSP, and even Square Enix's latest in the Dragon Quest franchise made its debut on DS."The DS is the obvious first step for Final Fantasy XIII," Kitase said, "but I think the 16-bit graphics engine we have chosen will work on PSP as well as various cellphones."
The game is still apparently very early in its development, but will likely be available early this fall, probably before Nintendo's new 3DS hits the market.
Its important to remember that the screens released here are still from a pre-alpha build, and will probably be cleaned up before launch.
Final Fantasy XIII was not everything I hoped for, but it was decent enough. I'm quite frankly not surprised to see this move from Square Enix, but that doesn't mean I'll be buying it again.
How about you?
UPDATE: Just kidding. ;)
1 comment:
If only! That would be so cool.
Post a Comment