I am interested in your opinion when it comes up to M$ buying out popular franchises.

1. Do you think they will continue their tactics to damage PS3 in the upcoming month?

2. Do you think publishers will still give in on M$ money for such kind of deals since PS3 is huge again in word of mouth?

3. Will M$ be able to afford this kind of "exclusive" behaviour anymore?

4. How much do you guess was spent by M$ to obtain exclusive rights timed, true and overall?

It seemed to me that many genres where bought by M$ this generation, genres which were ever settled on Playstation before like GTA (the DLC is just for 360), Final Fantasy XIII attending 360, Star Ocean 4 switching exclusive to 360, Magna Carta 2 and other RPG which have been home to Playstation just coming to 360... The list is long and M$ must have spent millions to obtain those results.

"Will M$ continue to buy out popular franchises?"

what franchise have they bought?

they have already made their maximum

I dont see something "Playstation related" that they could bought

Now, what they can do, it is to get some special deal with WoW (who knows ...) or Starcraft2 or even Diablo3 or any brand new IP
(who said Alan Wake ?)

My hope is that Blizzard is more clever than the asshole Valve ...

^ their whole jrpg line up.
GTA4 and fallout DLC.
and if rumors are too, a port of MG:Rising, considering the said they would "break the bank for E3 2009".
they are not ashamed of it.

Its just speculation I threw into the board but I really have the feeling they paid a lot to get exclusives, FF XIII and the DLC for Fallout 3 / GTA IV - with the fact that PS3 doesnt get it or get it much later. Of course you can answer that you dont think they bought those franchises ;) That is legitimate as well :D

Id just like to know how you think about all this... I have been pissed several times, mostly because Star Ocean 4 was announced for PS3 exclusively but switched to X360 exclusively. There are lots of equal examples.

They haven't bought any. The OP is operating on the tired, fanboyish arguement that nobody would produce games for X-Box if MS didn't pay them (clever use of the th dollar sign by the way - nobody has ever done that before).

While it is certain that MS used money in some cases, $ony did the same thing to Nint£ndo (see what I did there) with PS1. Plenty of developers make games for X-Box for reasons other than bribes. Well, one reason really, and that is MONEY. They can make money on X-Box too, so why not.

None of the three companies are clean of such tactics in their history, and we're all tired of the not so subtle jabs at MS. I don't even own a 360, and I'm tired of it. Give it a rest.

@Crazymann: If u aint interested in the whole thing just let it to the others ;)

You cant tell me a company will not release something on a system which was announced for this system before just because of the choice to produce it for another system - all out of an instance. I would expect a release for both systems then bro... because that would mean to earn a decent amount of cash - thats the point you made above.

The topic IS indeed newsworthy again because PS3 has been in a weak position during the last years and rises up like phoenix from the ashes atm. In this context I am interested in the opinion of the ones who are actually interested in this topic - just continue to educate while we discuss :D

The question now is will MS get the opportunity, the offer to release exclusive content from 3rd parties? Or will those companies be clever and release it at least on both systems? userbase of the black behemot is growing though...

"3. Will M$ be able to afford this kind of "exclusive" behaviour anymore?"

They can't afford not to, plus its cheaper than buying an entire studio.

Let me put it this way... if MS paid more than a very small amount for the JRPG's they got, then they got screwed. Yes, I know, everyone has an opinion, but most of the JRPG's that were exclusive were NOT VERY GOOD, and PS3 folks should not be missing them.

What I am talking about, are games like Tekken 6. There is no good reason NOT to put it in 360. MS shouldn't have to pay for that. But some people level that gripe against MS every time a "Sony" game is made for 360. And it is a bit frustrating.

On the other hand, I totally agree that many of those games should have been on the PS3, and that is not right either.

As far as I am concerned, unless you are designing a game for SPECIFIC features of one console, then multiplat is the way to go. It just makes sense. I think we are in agreement on that.

If you were talking about the JRPG fiasco (only) then I retract my cranky statements. If you were talking about Tekken 6 (etc.) then I am still tired of seeing conspiricy theories. Besides, Sony could wave some money around if it was REALLY important to them. They certainly have before.

@Seece: That is an interesting point you made, indeed makes sense

@Crazymann: I agree with you concerning Tekken 6 and all the - not looked on as 1st party (FF) - titles which have been former PS3 exclusives. Of course it makes sense to release those on as many systems as possible just to get back the investment.

So youre talking about a JRPG fiasco... Thats what I think about it as well.