They're just making sure people know that the franchise is no longer synonymous with the Playstation. Just like what they did with Grand Theft Auto 4, Resident Evil 5, and all the other great franchises that were once Playstation exclusives (or at least closely associated with the Playstation brand).

Got to hand it to Microsoft, they've done an amazing job of getting all the great third party games on Xbox 360 and breaking what was once Sony's iron grip on third parties. It's amazing to have come from the Xbox which played second fiddle when it did manage to get a major third party title (usually delayed for months if we got them at all) to now having the console that gets them day and date or sometimes months (or longer) before PS3.

none of those franchises were ever exclusive to playstation though. resident evil has always been on nintendo consoles. resident evil 4 was a timed gamecube exclusive. metal gear had already been on gamecube and xbox, and it started on nintendo, just like final fanstasy started on nintendo. nintendo also has other final fantasy spin offs and final fantasy 11 has been on the 360 for years now.

the only reason most people consider them "synonymous with the playstation" is because for the most part, that's the system people owned and played those games on.

the game peaked on the playstation, it's the one sold more and sells more it looks like continueing with the ps3. 1.5 million in a single weak in a single region, crazy.

Marketing is a huge part of politics, a ninth of my project was the effect of media on voting behaviour

The American Television industry is by far more diverse, there is a huge market for Television in the USA, in the UK we have a small population, a very successful national broadcaster (The BBC) and we also have license fees (which put poor people off buying a TV altogether).

The BBC is clearly biased towards the left, the only other big competitor is SKY (FOX in the US) and they are biased to the right, people know where they stand.

In America you have NBC, FOX, CNN, MSNBC, ESPN and god knows how many others (that our indusrty has no room for), it is therefore harder to make the distinctions between left and right and you are more likely to be taken in by them since there is no clear line, they must all scramble for the centre ground, so they may seem impartial, but EVERY company is biased. So what I'm trying to say is that it is not the fault of the American public, it is the nature of the system that they are within.

This Final Fantasy advert, when seen by someone who is loyal to the channel it is broadcast on, is not going to question whether or not they are being decieved because they have no reason to (unless they are gamers), they will assume that what they see is the whole truth, why would they lie? The answer is that conglomorates help each other, MSNBC associates with MS in a big way, in fact most American media will side with Microsoft over Sony, it's all about supporting your home economy.

My first statement was never intended as a random attack, nor is it without a basis!

As to my Business qualifications, I come from a family of businessmen, My Uncle was a co-founder of Swinton insurance, My Grandfather ran a Cotton Mill, my other Grandfather ran a two pubs, a Farm and a Corner shop. I was raised to do business my friend :)

But your forgetting that going by the HD sales numbers that the xbox 360 is more likely to have more past Ps2 owners than the ps3.....so those games going multiplat wont be a problem saleswise and the numbers do most of the talking (like in GTA's case)

Look at the article on the front page about the 360 version being "inferior" (lower res). It was already an uphill battle for MS to grab FF fans, this makes things even worse.

I see a couple of faults in your argument:

1)  The 360 advertisement does not claim exclusivity (see bolded above), so no one IS BEING decieved.  Final Fantasy XIII is available on the 360, this ad informs people of that, period.

2)  American businesses are almost to a fault, concerned only with the bottom line.  Very few public companies will pander to the home economy based solely on American nationalism.  If there is some fiduciary incentive to do so, they may, but to suggest that Corporate America is in any way a nationalistic industry, speaks some to your lack of real world knowledge regarding this.

The company I work for is global with offices all across the US, in the EU, as well as Japan, Australlia and South America.  I have worked on numerours global teams and had the benefit of working with a lot of great people from all over the world.  Additionally, while pursuing my MBA, I focused on multinational studies. 

With all my experience...well to me, you generallizing an opinon on a whole nation of people based upon some study you did for school...the hubris there is mind boggling.

As to the op, how quicly people forget that subsidized marketing like this happens all the time; and it is just as frequently Sony that does this as Microsoft.  The only thing desperate I see, is the sad blog responsible for this, deseperately seeking hits.

Sony playing this one smart

Do you really think people are just gonna change their mind around, buy a PS3 even tho they own an Xbox 360 just because a few articles mentioning slight inferior graphics?!?!? You're forgetting we champion for lower quality but better prices products!! If people here own already an Xbox 360 and want to play Final Fantasy 13 they sure won't be making the switch just for slighty better graphics. It is only the die hardcore techies that would do something like that and you can bet your ass not all 50+ million of owners between PS3 and 360 are hardcore only!

Hmm, thread's still open huh? Well. . . wish that was more surprising.