Square Enix has admitted that some Final Fantasy XIII screenshots it released last week, which purported to show the PS3 and 360 versions of the game but were virtually identical, were "altered".

In a statement to Kotaku, the company said that the screens were intended for "pre-production", "non-promotional" use, and their release was a mistake.

It was Kotaku that noticed that the screens were absolutely identical save for the controller button prompts.

Square Enix said it would release new screens soon, but argued that the two console versions were as close as could be anyway. "Unfortunately we did mistakenly include screenshots taken for pre-production (non-promotional use only) in our latest release of assets," ran the statement.

"Screenshots from the final game intended for the press kit will be released shortly. As shown in our recent demo tour and Microsoft's X10 event, there is no material difference between the two consoles."

North American spokesperson Sonia Im said on her Twitter: "These were not meant to be released as a comparison of FFXIII on the two consoles... Aside from easily being proven as altered, and this method not being one we use, we don't feel there is a need to enhance the X360 FFXIII... This was obviously not intentional."

Remember kids, there's only one place to get genuine, independent comparison images and analysis, and that's our own Digital Foundry. Check out DF's tech analysis of the final PS3 version of Final Fantasy XIII, and look out for a full face-off around the time of its release on 9th March.

We also have an interview with the game's producer Yoshinori Kitase and director Motomu Toriyama for you to peruse.

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OH NO THEY DIDN'T!!

Thoughts?