Ben’s Week In Review: September 12

I'm actually not home right now; giving you the Week in Review from a remote location. 🙂

Still unsure about Final Fantasy Versus XIII

Okay, so on the surface, it's a positive update: Square-Enix says they're developing Versus XIII with only the PlayStation 3 in mind . That's currently how they're progressing in the creation and design process. Hence, even if they do end up bringing it over to the Xbox 360, it'll have to be a port, which means we can all assume the PS3 version will be superior. As a rule, ports tend to fall well short. However, they also aren't saying the game will be a PS3 exclusive, and it probably wouldn't come as a huge shock to learn they're considering going multi…after all, it's sort of what they do now. This being the case, I just have to ask: they may not be developing it for the 360 but might they be considering that angle, if only vaguely…? In other words, might the designers be thinking to themselves, "gee, we might have to bring this to the 360 at some point so maybe we need to keep that in mind…?"

Get what I'm saying? When it comes to Uncharted 2 or MGS4 or whatever, those developers never once had the thought enter their minds. They did whatever they could to bring out the best of the PS3's hardware, and it showed. Maybe I'm just being overly nervous but the whole situation still sort of irritates me…

Okay, I have some faith in Itagaki…

Yeah, the guy always talks big. Having the "bad boy" image, it's sort of a requirement. Besides, the Ninja Gaiden titles have been pretty amazing over the years and Itagaki was part of a team that routinely produced top-notch presentations. I'm not saying the guy is a stone-cold perfectionist but I think our expectations should be high for Devil's Third . Itagaki's introduction of a "new gaming paradigm" may fly or stumble but for now, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. A game that looks like a cross between a fast-paced hack 'n slash and an over-the-top third-person shooter has a lot of promise; the premise alone is enough to gain attention. We'll have to see more media and gameplay before passing initial judgment, of course, but I believe the game could surprise a lot of people when it finally arrives in 2012.

Personal gaming update

I didn't quite finish Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions but I had plenty of fun with it, and I've also been playing Cladun: This is an RPG for the PSP. It's obviously geared towards veteran, old-school role-playing aficionados; all I can say right now is that if you enjoyed 3D Dot Game Heroes , you'll probably like this. It's more of a straight-up dungeon crawler but the intended audience is obvious. Beyond that, I'll be getting Halo: Reach in a bit, and I still have to review Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2 . Oh, and I should have Quantum Theory right around the time it comes out – if not a bit before – so stay tuned for that later this month.

Okay, that's all for now. Long day, so I'm heading off to bed.