Square Enix has released new screenshots of upcoming PSP title Final Fantasy Agito XIII.
Regarding Final Fantasy XIII:
It is an upcoming console role-playing game both developed and to be published by Square Enix for PlayStation 3 worldwide, and Xbox 360.
Final Fantasy XIII is the flagship title of the Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII collection. The game contains a common mythology with Final Fantasy Agito XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII, although they are not directly related to each other. Motomu Toriyama, who was Director of Final Fantasy X-2 and Director and Scenario Writer of Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, will direct and write the story for the game.
pic source
The PS3 had an extremely shaky start, launched prematurely to compete against the rival Xbox 360, it suffered major losses. The Sony gaming division lost close to $2.15B in FY07, since they were selling double the number of PS3s but at a loss.
Let me try and explain the “Funda” to those who lack a few ounces of gaming grey. Most consoles are designed with a 4-6 year life cycle, although it is often streached to a staggering 10 year cycle (PS2). The consoles are designed with the latest technology and hence have a very high production rate. The consoles are sold at a loss initially so as to offer attaractive prices for the consumers. The PS3 was initially selling at $499 and $599 but the production cost was somewhere around $800, so the heavy losses. As per a report on Next-Gen:
While $3 billion is a hefty number, Sony did reduce losses year-on-year in the games segment, despite selling nearly twice as many consoles (again, at a loss) in FY08 as it did in FY07.
Sony attributed the segment’s year-on-year cost reduction of about $1 billion to “successful PS3 hardware cost reductions.”
The fact that Sony sold 267.4 million software units across PS3, PS2 and PSP also played a major role in offsetting hardware costs.
Sony CEO Howard Stringer recently said that restoring profitability to the company’s TV and games businesses is a top priority.
A new study from Experian Consumer Research showed that the PS3 is most popular with consumers over the age of 45.
The report also showed that Xbox 360 covered the 35-44 year old demographic, and the Nintendo Wii taking the 18-24 age range.
(What about, 25-34 years? Are they forbidden from playing video games? Or maybe they play all the three.)
Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners/players are more likely to say they cannot live without magazines and video game consoles, and less likely to say they cannot live without television and computers than the average new media respondent. They differ somewhat in their necessity for books, radio and newspapers.
Respondents who play or own the video game consoles depicted are predictably younger skewing than the population of respondents who have been online for 1+ hours per week (new media respondents). The Nintendo Wii console appears to appeal more to the 18-24 demographic, while the Xbox 360 appeals more to the 35-44 demographic and the PlayStation 3 appeals more to those over 44.
This is good news, earlier the PS3 was a Blu Ray Player, a Media center, an awesome gaming console as well a Linux operating hardware, but now it has another feature, its also a Nintendo Wii (almost). There is no doubting the Nintendo Wii and its commendable performance, but the Wii has limitations.
The PS3 on the other hand has loads of features and with an apparent Break-apart controller on its way, it will add yet another unique attribute to its list. As per a report on gameindustry.biz:
Sony Computer Entertainment is working on a new controller for the PlayStation 3, which features the ability to ‘break apart’ into two separate units, each of which contains an accelerometer for ‘Wiimote-like’ motion-sensing functionality, GamesIndustry.biz understands.
It’s not clear when the pad will be officially announced, but it is believed that working units have already been supplied to certain developer partners, according to sources.
The potential for new game types to be developed with the additional motion-sensing functionality should open up the PlayStation 3 to the sorts of gaming audiences that the Nintendo has been so successful at gathering with its Wii console.
Check out the Wii in action below:
While the PS3’s online component, the PlayStation Network, has a long way to go before it can compare to Xbox Live, it has one major advantage, it is free. And apparently gamers in Japan have been signing up by the boatload with the PSN’s Japanese accounts reaching one million users since it’s inception in November 2006. Not bad at all.
To celebrate, Sony is giving away one thousand ¥1,000 (around Rs. 400) PLAYSTATION Network Tickets for use in the PLAYSTATION Store. So if you got a Japanese PSN account, now would be a good time to log on.
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