The way I see it from everything I read, Crystal Tools is a multi-platform development tool. A game engine developed to optimize code for mulitple platforms and exploit each console to the best of it's (Crystal Tool's) potential. The developers develop the game for Crystal Tools first and foremost. Crystal Tools then optimizes and translates the code to work on the platform of choice. The code is then further debugged and optimized to work on the platform.
So the (oversimplified) steps from what I've gathered are:
1. Develop on PC with Crystal Tools
2. Translate the code over to PS3 of choice using Crystal Tools
3. Further Debug and optimize the code to work on the PS3
4. Compile for PS3
...
They currently seem to be on step 3 for the PS3. Now if people are going to assume that the 360 version is a port, we'd have to assume that they are going to take the code from step 3 for the PS3 and then try to get that working for the 360. That would be extremely counter-productive. They developed Crystal Tools so that they wouldn't have to do that. With, what I would guess would take the same amount of effort, they could take the code from step 1, translate the code for the 360 like in step 2, and then make that code work for the 360 like in step 3.
My presumed 360 step list:
1. Take code which was developed on PC with Crystal Tools
2. Translate the code over to 360 of choice using Crystal Tools
3. Further Debug and optimize the code to work on the 360
4. Compile for 360
It also depends on what the definition of port is. Developers will use the word "port" to mean to translate the code to work on different hardware. Gamers use the word "port" with a more negative connotation to mean that they took the finished code and duct taped it together to work on the new hardware.
Dictionary.com definition of word "port":
Computers. to create a new version of (an application program) to run on a different hardware platform (sometimes fol. by over).
During the SE conference, they most likely used the word port with the defintion I supplied which would be steps 2 and 3 for the 360 in my little step list above. So, both are ports in one sense of the word. In the other sense of the word, neither are.
