Well this was announced just this last week, well its Sunday now so its last week at this point. But it was announced that it would be coming to the PS3. And to top things off they have announced that there are going to be doing a worldwide release as well. The release date for Star Ocean 4 The Last Hope International will be the first/second week of February. I believe the JP date is 4th and the US date is the 9th and I think the EU date is like 12th or something, but they are all pretty much together.
Whatever the exact dates are the interesting thing is that this will be the first "International" edition from Square that the US will be getting since the International version is usually a PAL version or updated Japanese release. It is going to have Japanese, English, French, German, Spanish and one other dubbed language for the game. Six languages is pretty unheard of for game, but it seems that they are just making one version and shipping it everywhere rather than localizing specific regions. Seeing that it was already localized for the 360 version I'm guess there is almost no localization required apart from replacing 360 terms with PS3/Sony terms.
Always questioned Squares putting it on the 360 when it had been Sony since the beginning I think. They'll get better sales. But the International version is said to have a new playable character, but I don't believe that they've announced what character.
An odd rumor I heard is that Japanese studios are making games on the 360 knowing that are going to lose money since Microsoft gives them money for development. And then they just port over to the PS3 at almost no cost with some additional content to a console where they will be able to get a return on. Strange rumor, but it might explain the odd case of developers making games for the 360 even though they are only hurting their profits because of the lack of an install base in Japan.
Star Ocean 4 is in the Top 5 of best selling 360 games in Japan sitting around 200,000 I think it was. Seeing how the Slim is selling fast and more units out there soon. SO4 will probably do far better on the PS3. Tales of Vesperia only did 70,000 first day on the 360 and it did 140,000-150,000 first day on the PS3. Should be interesting.
I know I can't wait to play SO4. I was really frustrated not being able to play it. PS3 owners only need wait a few months for it. So many RPGs coming for us soon. FFXIII, SO4 and Tales of Vesperia.
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