Square Enix is in the center of attention by saying that it would bring Final Fantasy XIII to the Xbox 360 gaming console after the game was previously announced as being a PlayStation 3 exclusive. Now, the company is trying to make people more interested in the game itself than in the platforms on which it will be released.

1up managed to get some time with Yoshinori Kitase, lead producer of the Final Fantasy XIII project, and with Shinji Hashimoto, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Square Enix. The questions ranged from the themes of the game to the release dates.

The two Square Enix men clearly stated that the company aims to launch the title with minimal differences between the Japanese, the North American and the European versions. The previous release schedule, which usually offered enough time between launches to permit some additional content for each region, has been revamped, with the same game coming to all the relevant markets.

They also mentioned that the company is working hard to make sure that the Blu-ray version of the game, which is coming to the PS3, is in no way superior to the DVD one which will arrive for Xbox 360 players. They say Square Enix is seeking new ways "to compress the prerendered movies and voice that take up a lot of data in ways that don't affect the final product. As for the in-game visuals, we're going to look for ways to ensure that the quality remains the same between the two versions".

1up also insisted to find out some details on the battle system and got confirmation of the fact that the active time battle concept is reintroduced, even though the title does not copy it directly from previous games, but rather builds on it to create something new and special.

The developers say that the story will be built on the mythology of the Crystal, with the theme entering the game world in the same way that, for example, Greek mythology permeates Western civilization at this point in time. It seems that "Pulse", referenced in the E3 trailer, is such a mythological entry point, but the developers refused to reveal more about the background of the title for the moment, explaining that they would let us know all we need as the release date nears.