Final Fantasy XIII Xbox 360 Confirmed For Japan

Following a series of leaks in the Japanese gaming press, Square Enix has confirmed Final Fantasy XIII will finally release on the Xbox 360 in Japan this winter. Previously, only the PlayStation 3 version of the game had been available in the territory. Asked why there had been such a delay in bringing the Xbox 360 version of the game to Japan, producer Yoshinori Kitase said: “We feel that there are…a lot of people in Japan who own nothing but 360s. Thanks to the new [Slim] system and such, the situation’s a lot different than it was in July 2008.” Following series tradition, the release will be an international edition featuring content from the Western versions of the game not present in the Japanese original. Dubbed Final Fantasy XIII Ultimate Hits Edition, the title will be available from December 16 for the budget price of ¥4,980, ($60) according to the latest issue of Famitsu. The release will be the first Xbox 360 title in Square’s Ultimate Hits budget line and will feature an easy mode, a post-completion quest titled ‘Episode I’, the English voice-acting from the western release and portions of the reportedly large amount of content that was cut from the original release. The game’s director, Motomu Toriyama, also told Famitsu that plans for Final Fantasy XIII downloadable content had been scrapped following the game's original release. He had previously advised players to “hold on to their saves from the end of the game” but in this week’s interview said: “that plan [for DLC] wound up not happening.” In May Square-Enix reported FFXIII had sold 5.5 million copies of the game.