Square Enix recently had an event in Japan showcasing all of the Xbox 360’s upcoming RPG lineup for the next couple of months, as was written about previously on GamerNode. Now the list wasn’t all too big, but some of the games did look fairly interesting. With Microsoft struggling in Japan to secure a name for themselves there, they would need to appeal to the Japanese audience. What better way to show how much they care than with a special event dedicated to RPGs for the 360 from the leader in RPG design?
Now the interesting thing about this whole news post is a game called The Last Remnant. Originally shown in TGS last year, it was advertised to be multiplatform (360/PS3) with a simultaneous release date, plus the added bonus of it being sold to Japan, North America and Europe with a very small gap in between. Things changed, however, when Square Enix recently showcased the game and told fans that the game will indeed come to the Xbox 360 first, with the PS3 version to follow shortly after. The whole point of this story is to bring up this notion of exclusivity, particularly something called limited exclusivity.
Is Microsoft paying big bucks just so they can have a game out on the market a month or two longer than their competitors? Is that really a viable solution to boosting sales, when players can just wait a couple more weeks to buy the same game on a system they already own? Bioshock comes to mind when it was touted as being for the Xbox 360 and PC only. That means you can only play it on the Xbox 360 or PC and everyone else had to weep. Come this fall, lo and behold Bioshock will be coming out on the PS3. It all seems to be a waiting game from my perspective.
[via Famitsu]
