Yes, Square Enix has "betrayed" another console again, this time jumping on board the Xbox bandwagon. They're still on the PS3, but in North America and Europe, it will be on both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. Meanwhile, in Japan, they are still a PlayStation 3 exclusive. People are making this big news because it means that Sony is basically done to most people for this generation. This was one of Sony's last exclusives, and the lost it. Well, that is true, as many people are saying they are getting a Xbox 360 in the forums and when commenting on news, but this is bad news for Microsoft. Yes I just said that, bad news for Microsoft, in fact, the whole gaming community as a whole.

When I said it was bad for Microsoft, you have to look at the big thing here: it's still a PS3 exclusive in Japan, but not anywhere else. Think about it, if it is not financially smart to put out a version of a game in one area but it is everywhere else, is that good? No. This simply shows how weak Microsoft is in Japan. Not only that, but probably all two 360 owners in Japan would have bought this, considering it is an RPG from their own country. That is some bad stuff. Too bad too, if FFXIII would have been sold in Japan on the 360, sales would have probably quadrupled. If Microsoft wants to beat Nintendo, they need more Japan-native titles. JRPGs would probably be best. This is a big problem for Bill Gates & Co., and they need to fix it ASAP.

Now, time for the gaming community problem. You see, the big news shouldn't be that Final Fantasy XIII will be on the 360, but it will be on two platforms. Square Enix has never had a Final Fantasy multi-platform title if my memory serves (this does not count ports like the recent release of Final Fantasy IV on the DS, and FamiCom and the NES are the same thing), so this is big. Big in a bad way. Square Enix probably needed to put FFXIII on two platforms, they wouldn't take a chance on being called sell-outs by gamers. Obviously, they are getting less money in their pockets, so they needed, to be able to make a profit on this game, to put it on two platforms. Sure, it could also be that production costs are rising, which is bad anyway, but this is not good news for anyone.

So next time someone asks you if you heard the news about Final Fantasy XIII, don't say an excited "Yeah!", but say a sad one. This is good news in some ways (we 360 owners can play FFXIII, and I am happy about that), but overall, it is bad news if you look beneath the surface.