Sony’s Tretton: ‘Disappointed’ In Multiplatform FFXIII Through MS’ ‘Currying Favor’ Speaking at a roundtable Q&A attended by Gamasutra, Sony’s Jack Tretton has been discussing Final Fantasy XIII’s move from a PlayStation 3 exclusive to a multiplatform title, suggesting Microsoft has spent most of their money “trying to curry favor with third parties”.

When asked whether he was disappointed about the surprise announcement that the game would also debut on Xbox 360 in the West, Tretton noted: “I guess disappointed is clearly an appropriate term.”

Tretton then launched into invective discussing Sony’s decision to concentrate heavily on internal development, noting that it constituted “over half of our employee base all over the world”, and adding that “…we’ve built up our base and that’s where we’ve chosen to spend our dollars.”

However, he warned: “I think Microsoft has spent the majority of their money on trying to curry favor with third parties” - implying that Final Fantasy XIII moving to multiplatform was more of a Microsoft-subsidized decision than one guided purely by sales reasons.

Tretton concluded: “I think software companies look and say ‘there’s no check big enough for us to do exclusive development’ …I think it’s going to be harder and harder to have third-party exclusives as we move forward.”

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“To see that a company like Microsoft has taken something we’ve done and kind of looked at it in a way and brought it out on their platform to kind of show that we’ve done has become the standard, I find quite flattering,” Miyamoto told IGN.

Miyamoto is confident that each company will take its avatar system two separate ways for two different audiences, despite Microsoft appearing to be after the casual audience that has been so lucrative for Nintendo and its Wii.

“On the other hand, I think probably the basic ideas behind perhaps those two different systems are different, and because of that I think they will probably develop in different ways,” said Miyamoto.

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CEO of SCEA Jack Tretton talks up PS3’s power as he shoots down this week’s big rumour.

Following fervent speculation that Metal Gear Solid 4 would follow Final Fantasy in becoming a PlayStation-associated brand that moves onto Xbox 360, SCEA CEO Jack Tretton has argued no other console could handle the technical demands of Konami’s the Konami title.

Speaking to assembled press at the platform holder’s conference in LA earlier today, Tretton added that the Blu-Ray capabilities of PS3 had already seen of HD-DVD – and would now see off the company’s console competition.

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Say so long to those delay rumors. While word has yet to come on whether Take-Two will accede to Electronic Arts’ $2 billion acquisition offer, one scenario that will not occur is analysts’ speculated delay of Grand Theft Auto IV.

During Take-Two’s shareholders’ meeting today, the publisher said that GTAIV has gone gold. The game is “in production and in trucks en route to retailers,” proclaimed Take-Two CEO Ben Feder. Rated M for Mature, GTAIV will be released on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on April 29.

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Japan’s Famitsu magazine recently conducted a video interview with Jun Takeuchi, the producer of Resident Evil 5 and now the Capcom blog has the video uploaded for your viewing pleasure.

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It almost sounds too good to be true. Almost? It is too good to be true. Could Cry Engine 2 on consoles really look any where near as good as Crysis on the PC? Crytek’s Engine Business Manager, Harald Seeley, states that they expect the console versions to “look like they’re running at high settings, or nearly high settings, on a PC.”

Yes, we definitely tailor the engine specifically to each platform. More than just the difference in CPU and video hardware capabilities of PCs and consoles is at play here. So are the much smaller memory budgets we must work with, the lack of a hard disk on some models, and the acceptance requirements of the hardware vendors themselves. All have an effect on how we approach each version of the engine.

The surprising thing has been how well the consoles can perform visually, once this tailoring is in place. We expect the final outcome will result in games that look like they’re running at high settings, or nearly high settings, on a PC. Actually, we found it as much or more challenging to address the memory limitations of the consoles when converting our current AI system, as we did while converting our rendering engine or physics system, which was not something you might have expected at the start.

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Kotaku get a hands on preview with GTA IVs multiplayer mode.

To start playing a multiplayer game you bring up Niko’s cell phone in the single player campaign and, using the in-phone menu, select multiplayer. So you can drop into one of these sessions whenever you want.

While you can’t play as Nikko, the campaign’s main character, you can customize your own character, creating someone by choosing male or female and then selecting among four different heads, four torsos, four legs and several types of glasses and hats.

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Xbox 360 Version Of Wii Remote Has Been In Development Since Summer, a Source has Exclusively told MTV News.

Apparently evidence of a prototype was provided by an anonymous source.
The sketch shows a Wiimote-like design featuring an analogue stick rather than d-pad, and suggests there will be no nunchuk and that it will interact with the Live Vision camera.

“The whole thing is a colossal clusterf***,” the source told MTV. “[Microsoft] marketing just want it so they can match the Wii point for point. The biggest parts of their marketing materials outline how easy it would be for third parties to port their Wii games to the 360.”

The source goes on to reveal that Rare is the creative force behind the interface as well as the controller design, and will also be creating a Mii avatar system to go with it.

The source concludes by revealing that Microsoft has been working on the project since last August and is trying to get its motion-sensing controller ready for launch by the end of the year.

What do you think? Time will tell if there is any truth to this story.

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When the BBDC cleared GTA4 for release, they had to look at (then detail) everything the game had to offer, Like this:

During gameplay the character can pick up prostitutes… What follows is an un-detailed portrayal of masturbation, fellatio and intercourse. The character can also visit lap dancing clubs and request a private dance.

You can read more of the leaked BBFC report at the link below.

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Microsoft have just signed a deal with the Safran Company, whereby the Hollywood production team will put together a series of 10-minute original, scripted (ie not reality TV) programs for the 360’s video marketplace. Sure, Peter Safran himself has produced some shitty, shitty movies (Meet the Spartans, My Baby’s Daddy), but he’s got his own company now, so hopefully he won’t be the one personally involved. And hey, even if they do suck, Microsoft’s Scott Nocas has said it’s only “the first of many” such deals. So, what can we expect? The New York Times reports:

He said he planned initially to focus on genres, like comedy and horror, that appeal to the Xbox 360 audience, which is heavily concentrated from the ages of 14 to 34, and tends to be more male than female. The first shows are expected to be available to viewers by the fall

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