Shortly after Microsoft announced an Xbox 360 version of Final Fantasy XIII at its E3 press conference, the game's producer Yoshinori Kitase and Square Enix executive director Shinji Hashimoto took part in a Q&A session to give some more details about this surprise announcement.

Hashimoto explained that the decision was made after analyzing the various platform's installed hardware base worldwide and to enable more fans to play the game. Apart from the number of discs the game will ship on, Final Fantasy XIII will be identical on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. No Sixaxis control (for the PlayStation 3 version) or Xbox Live-enabled features (for the Xbox 360 release) are planned at this point. Whether a PC version will be released as well has yet to be determined.

Hashimoto then went on to make one important qualification: The game will remain PlayStation 3-exclusive in Square Enix's home market of Japan. After the initial release in Japan, the game will be released simultaneously on both platforms in the US, and at a later point in Europe.

As for the game's development status, Kitase said, it had reached the stage where the game was running on actual PlayStation 3 hardware. He hopes to show off a new trailer movie in the near future.

Meanwhile, Square Enix clarified that today's announcement does not affect the PlayStation 3-exclusive status of Final Fantasy Versus XIII.

• Famitsuu