Contrary to previous statements, Square-Enix appears to be doing work on the PS3 and 360 engines for Final Fantasy XIII at the same time, which could be good news for 360 owners in the West wanting to play the game.
Xbox 360 fans scored a major victory last year when Microsoft and Square-Enix announced that the previously PS3-exclusive Final Fantasy XIII would be making its way to the 360 in Western territories. There was only one drawback: the PS3 version would have the priority in development, and work on the 360 version would only begin after the PS3 version was absolutely complete, and that means that the game won’t be hit Western shores (at the earliest) until April 2010.
According to FFXIII lead man Yoshinori Kitase, however, this isn’t exactly the case. Asked whether or not 360 development had begun yet, he remarked that “when it comes to the basic engine it’s likely we are going to keep them on the go simultaneously.” Something may have been lost in translation here, but it sounds like the multiplatform Crystal Tools engine FFXIII is running on is actually doing its job and being used on multiple platforms.
Kitase stressed, however, that when it comes to “the finishing touches, the details” the “PS3 version will be completed first, then we will move on to 360.” That’s better than waiting to finish the PS3 version and then starting the entire 360 port from scratch, undoubtedly.
So there you have it. Encouraging words that might give hope to those who were starting to think that we’d be playing Duke Nukem Forever before Final Fantasy XIII here in the West.
