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I saw them playing Blue Dragon at GIGA Games tonight, and it seems to be a solid RPG. Unfortunately it's XBox360 exclusive. And no other than following 3 guys worked on the game:
- Hironobu Sakaguchi of Final Fantasy fame handled the game's scenarios.
- Nobuo Uematsu, also of Final Fantasy fame, composed the score.
- Akira Toriyama, of such works as Dragonball Z and Dragon Quest, provided character and monster designs.
Here you can have a look at the homepage and d/l some videos.
Based on those names it should be brilliant. Could this be the first real 360 game that actually entices me to buy one?
Although I took a look at the trailer and I'm not sure about the character designs. Maybe a bit too cartoony? I know that many other RPGs have used similar styles, and I've enjoyed them, but I'm still not sure about these from the video.
I used to watch the Dragon Ball anime from Toriyama a lot when I was a kid, but I dislike his character designs in games. He designed the characters for all the Dragon Quest RPGs. I don't know - there just doesn't seem to be a lot of imagination in them.
I'm considering whether I should buy an Xbox360 as well. I still haven't gotten a next-gen console: no Wii because there just isn't any stock left, no PS3 because it's a tad expensive still and there's no games for it yet that appeal to me, and no Xbox360 because I've heard its cooling system sounds like a frickin' jet engine.
If the upcoming Ace Combat 6 remains Xbox-exclusive, I'll probably bite the bullet.
Out of the three next gen systems then PS3 appeals to me the most, but I am waiting until more worthwhile titles are released. I can see it eventually becoming as popular for RPGs are the PS2 which is one of the main reasons for eventually wanting one. Also it has a lot of power and features that are slowly being expanded through firmware updates.
In contrast I just don't have much interest in the Wii other than 2 or 3 games at most. I will probably eventually get one towards the end of its life when the system will be at its cheapest and the games can be picked up for peanuts on ebay. ;) Same may be true for the 360, although there are starting to be a few more games released on the system that I'm taking an interest in. Forza 2 for one.
My impression is that the Wii-hype isn't going to last very long. Once the novelty wears off, then that's the end of it.
It'll be interesting to see which console the developers will end up flocking to. The PS3 should still have an advantage, considering Microsoft just isn't managing to get a grip on the Japanese market. If the Xbox360 userbase in Japan remains low, there isn't much incentive for developers there to support the platform. And the past has shown that support from the big name companies like Capcom, Sega, Square-Enix and Namco simply is vital.
On the other hand, platform exclusivity seems to be becoming a rarity. Many of the big-name releases are rumoured to be multi-platform, and Microsoft has managed to acquire games that were thought to be PS3-exclusive initially (Devil May Cry 4, Soulcalibur 4, just to name two). If MS manages to pick up a popular RPG like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, I can see how the tables might turn.
I'm still more inclined to get a PS3 first, but we'll see.
And about Forza, Gran Turismo 5 is still going to wh00p its @ss, y0.
In 2010, maybe.
Considering the Xbox 360 has been out over a year longer than the PS3, there is still no real heavyweight developers flocking to the system. I expect this will be different for the PS3 once it has been around for a year.
The problem with RPGs compared to other genres is that they do mainly stick to one release system due to the very long development times required for the games. I cannot see Final Fantasy or any other RPG originating in Japan jumping ship and going exclusively to the xbox. They are going to be releasing on PS3 and maybe in some cases on Wii (remote chance) before the xbox. But we will see.
The only thing that might change this is the western market. Japanese developers want to make as much money out of the US and Europe markets as well as their own Japanese marketplace, so if the Xbox 360 is appearing more popular than the PS3 in either region it could change their minds about which formats to release and develop for, but I still think that for titles like FF that have huge Japanese fan bases this will not happen.