 When Final Fantasy XIII was announced for the Xbox 360, the internet erupted into shock and awe. Many were concerned that a game, so late in its development already would not port well – and it seems they were right. According to Eurogamer’s Digital Foundry the Xbox 360 version is significantly inferior to the the one found on its once exclusive home, the PS3. “The rumours are true. Final Fantasy XIII on Xbox 360 isn’t anywhere near as impressive as it is on PlayStation 3. The real kicker is that it’s a lot worse than it should have been.”
“Square Enix’s latest epic – 4.5 years in the making – follows on the basic principles established by all of its PlayStation predecessors in combining an excellent 3D engine along with vast amounts of pre-rendered CG. This presented two very difficult issues for the developers tasked with porting an already mature PS3 work-in-progress over to the Xbox 360.”
The big problem is that Square Enix did a quick and dirty job in the porting. Instead of retooling the game for the 360’s hardware, they just tried to pretty much shoehorn the already created PS3 assets in to the 360 architecture. The result? The Xbox version runs at a sub-HD resolution of 1024×576, as opposed to the PS3’s 720p. Also making quite a difference is the fact that the 360 videos are quite poorly compressed, using Bink video. I’ve been playing the game (on the 360, unfortunately) and can attest that the CG videos – an intrinsic part of the Final Fantasy experience – are indeed horrible on the 360, suffering from some rather terrible macroblock compression artifacts. the in-engine rendered scenes actually look better than the pre-rendered CG scenes as a result. Having compared the two versions with my own eyes, the PS3 version is indeed the superior, by quite a margin. Sure, the 360 has a slightly smoother frame-rate, but it is running at a significantly lower resolution. In conclusion, Eurogamer made it quite clear : “So, occasionally fine, sometimes grim: a statement that effectively sums up how much of Final Fantasy XIII looks on Xbox 360 when compared to the PlayStation 3 game, meaning that if you own both consoles, there really is only one choice when it comes to the purchasing decision.”
The thing that has made me chuckle a bit on the inside is that after previous Eurogamer comparisons, they were attacked for being biased and pro 360 – but now that there’s one that’s decisively in the PS3’s favour, they’re the paragons of impartiality. Fanboys are a funny sort. Check out more over at Eurogamer. | Posted in PS3, Xbox 360 |  |
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10:30 am
March 5, 2010
10:34 am
makes u think how sneaky they were that time with the pics they photoshopped it to make both look identical, when they know it wasnt
March 5, 2010
10:49 am
Came at the right time for me since I’m ditching the X360 from two weeks ago!
I just hope that the PS3 will continue to have on par ports for other multiplat titles because even though I’m buying the PS3 version, shoddy ports for either console is unexcusable.
Still got to catch up on the PS3 like Killzone, Resistance, Metal Gear, Little Big Planet and many more so I doubt I will play multi plat games anyway.
March 5, 2010
11:24 am
With the amazing library of PS3 exclusives, I might not touch a single Multiplatform game, other than BC2, this entire year.
March 5, 2010
11:26 am
eltonriley so wot your trying to say u still have to play all those exclusives???Wat i would do to do it all over again.I think this is the best time to buy a ps3 coz all the awsome games are platinum!but back to the matter at hand….we are going to c the same thing with the quility issues with rage and doom 5!Most Future games for that matter.Devs are gonna wanne do bigger and better!and its funny coz the tables are turning coz devs used to devlp on 360 first and then port to ps3……thank u sony!!!
March 5, 2010
11:38 am
Thats besides the point, developers see many gamers jumping ship to PS3 (me myself included) so more proper ports will be made in the future. I havent touched my 360 since Monday, now thats really saying something
March 5, 2010
11:50 am
There are other games where the PS3 was the lead developer platform like Burnout Paradise, Dead Space, Mirror’s Edge, Skate 2, Force Unleashed, Dark Sector, Devil May Cry 4 and GTA 4
March 5, 2010
11:54 am
A whole 4 days? It’s been almost 2 years and i still haven’t bought myself a PS3.
That’s purely down to budget and a wife who would probably castrate me if i did
March 5, 2010
12:20 pm
Thats right Alki, I still have to play those great exclusives. I’ve started with Killzone and I must say I am impressed. Can’t wait to play the rest though.
I must be honest, I was a dedicated X360 owner and often joined in on picking on the PS3 and it’s games and it’s communities which was most of the time driven by spite and jealousy (the evil kind). Only now do I see how wrong I was in every area and I’m very excited to be part of the PS3 clique.
March 5, 2010
12:29 pm
Why do people feel the need to be part of any clique? Why is console appreciation so binary?
Why can’t we all just hug it out, and talk about how much we love games.
March 5, 2010
12:31 pm
Shaddup Noob!
March 5, 2010
12:47 pm
I couldn’t agree more. There’s a simple reason though. It’s the same reason people like Beyonce continue to be showered with awards for “songs” about video phones while bands like Arcade Fire get nothing. Here it is:
The majority of people in the world are stupid and there’s really nothing we can do about it.
March 5, 2010
12:51 pm
No most people in the world are ****ing morons. I mean really.. Dollhouse had so much potential…
oh and Joss Whedon is my master now.
March 5, 2010
12:58 pm
I’m admittedly not much of a Joss Whedon fan – but I am quite one of a Dr Horrible . It’s one of the best things to have entered my eyes.
Hats off, Mr Whedon.
March 5, 2010
1:03 pm
Blasphemy. Geoff, I will personally make sure that you don’t get to watch the Dr.Horrible sequel…
March 5, 2010
1:08 pm
By stabbing out my eyes? Bastard!
March 5, 2010
1:23 pm
Dollhouse was horrible compared to previous Whedon work, and honestly they cancelled Sarah Connor chronicles for it, then cancelled it? Astounds me, but yeah I love all my consoles equally.
March 5, 2010
5:46 pm
Ummmm Geoff, where did you get that picture from on the top of this page? I think it is making the Xbox version look alot worse then it really is. I maybe wrong here but sites like the ones below with videos attached dont show much difference unless you really looking for it. I have not read the article as yet but watched the video, at first when I saw the picture I was thinking there is hells no way I will get the game if it looks that crap, but on further inspection it doesnt look nearly as bad as your picture makes it out to be and I can proudly say I will be getting this for Xbox again.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-final-fantasy-xiii-face-off
March 5, 2010
5:51 pm
O wait here is a better picture of the one you had on the site:
http://images.eurogamer.net/assets/articles//a/9/9/4/0/4/1/badcg2.jpg.jpg
Doesnt look nearly as bad as you made me believe.
March 5, 2010
7:56 pm
*lol*
dude, that’s a joke. I *very* obviously edited the image to make it look MUCH, much worse than it really is.
March 5, 2010
9:19 pm
Is it just me that thinks the xbox pic looks better…no?
March 5, 2010
9:24 pm
What Geoff said, it was a joke. If the Xbox version really did look that bad, the world would explode
March 5, 2010
10:17 pm
There is a difference between the 2 pics?
March 6, 2010
3:28 am
lol, well it’s not easy to see but the skin tone is far less natural on the ps3. Also the fingernail of his gun thumb is far more defined. On the other hand, and to the ps3s credit, the flash from the gun barrel appears brighter and slightly more defined.
Personally, I’ve always preferred the SNES final fantasy games, so after this comparison I’m going 360.
March 7, 2010
10:59 am
smoother frame-rate and it looks more like final fantasy 7… YES!