Chalk up another win for the XBox 360

On Tuesday at E3, Square-Enix announced that Final Fantasy XIII will be released for the PS3 and - yes, there’s an “and“ - the XBox 360. (Link to an article coming when I’m at home and not subject to pesky workplace internet filters.)

Very smart move on the part of SquEnix, as the PS3 is losing to the XBox 360 big-time everywhere in the global market but Japan.

Epic, epic fail for Sony. It was bad enough that the PS3 goes for an arm, leg, pancreas, spleen, both kidneys and a thyroid, although with their more recent announcement of a $100 price-drop for the PS3 prospective buyers now get to keep their spleens. Those prospective buyers have also just essentially lost one major reason to shell out for the PS3. Sony needs to drop a bomb to counteract this – Metal Gear Solid 4 or Halo 4 exclusive, and I’ll see pigs fly before anything of the sort happens - or else this round will be an epic win for Microsoft.

On a personal note – this gives me one more reason to pick up an XBox 360. Woohoo!

Clash Of The Titans – Handheld Console Edition

For a self-professed “gamer”, I’m terribly behind the times where games and consoles are concerned (but I’d never admit it out loud and would insist that I am simply “old-fashioned” or “traditionalist”). My console of choice for years was – and still is – my laptop, thanks to my GBA, SNES and NES emulators. Up until last December, I’d only owned an NES (it’s like that crazy ancient relative that just refuses to kick the bucket), a GBA that wasn’t technically mine to begin with (it’s Munchkin #2’s – not that she ever played it, or that I ever gave her a chance to do so), and an N64; on my 22nd birthday we (finally) added a PS2 to the mix. That opened up a whole new world of soul-devouring gaming action for me to explore – or at least it would have if first semester’s exams, a month-long trip to the Philippines, second semester, and other such important things hadn’t gotten in the way. Being out of school for the time being hasn’t helped that at all, as I spend what was formerly considered class time sitting in front of a computer scanning documents until my eyes fall out of my head.

But I digress.

With my financial prospects looking up for the time being, I’ve decided to invest in a new handheld console for several reasons:

• It’s another way to tune out my co-workers – I can’t vouch for whether or not “Frick, you just made me die” is a more valid admonition than “Frick, you just made me lose my page”, but it’s more likely to garner an apology than a command to suck it up, princess.
• I can retire the GBA – probably to trade it in or something, as it has a tendency to eat my Fire Emblem save files. And if I don’t retire it, I can give it back to Munchkin #2… who will probably trade it in anyhow.
• Although I’ve got emulators aplenty on my laptop, I can’t exactly whip it out on a whim if I were, for example, busing up to campus. It’s awkward. Believe me, I’ve tried.

I was eyeing the DS Lite originally; I’ve been known to borrow (read: steal) Munchkin #1’s DS on occasion, so there won’t be any of that awkward “where the frick are my buttons?!” fumbling that usually comes with handling a new console. A friend of mine recently proposed an alternative: the sleek, sexy, shiny PSP. “You gotta get one,” he says, in a way that subtly implies that if I don’t he’ll disown me. Decisions, decisions.

I did a bit of research, but as the original PSP vs. DS debate is a bit outdated by now, the following ramblings are based more on my personal experience and preferences. Ahem…