Square Enix Looking Into Final Fantasy XI Port For PlayStation Vita, But Not PS3

[JackDaniels]

It's to my understanding that the ps3 can run psp games.. so wouldn't it also be able to play pspv games?

[Luso]

From what I know, no PSP game is "allowed" to run on the PS3 by legal means; it only has the ability to save save files from the PSP's Memory Stick. I'm sure the PS3 can run PSP games, but that would defeat the purpose of getting one, wouldn't it?

I wouldn't count out the PS3's ability to play PS Vita games, either, but then you run into the issue of games on it that require you to use the touchscreen or back touch panel in certain ways, to which the PS3 can't do, IIRC.

[Selzak]

Damn, this would eat my life.

[Inafking]

I'm prety sure the complaint about this has to go to Sony. I think the Vita has some of the PS2 bios they took out of the PS3. If square is thinking about doing the Vita instead of the PS3 it's because the Vita is an easier port. On the other hand I am really pissed we don't have PS3 software. If their still putting rescources in to making a PS3 client for fail ass XIV they should at least give their popular game some love.

As for popularity, I don't think it will win any new subs but being able to do things like fish or feed your chocobo at / on the way to work could make a spike in some of the more passive XI activities.

[Tsukino_Kaji]

It's to my understanding that the ps3 can run psp games.. so wouldn't it also be able to play pspv games?

I thought it didn't play PSP games, but just "routed" them so you can have it on a screen bigger then 2.5 inches.

[Luso]

No, that's only possible with a Component Cable attached from the PSP (2000 series or above) to the TV.

[Zumi]

All I got to say is if it was true, typing stuff on a touch screen keyboard would kind of be slow wouldn't in.

[Upokupo]

I think that a port to the psVita is a neat idea. The only hurdle would be typing. But when witnessing tiny little teenage hands going a mile a minute texting on their cell phones, I really don't think it would be that big of a hurdle. For the ones in the camp of "MMO's don't work on consoles", well, this one is still going and a lot of people I've chatted with have even bought controllers to play with instead of using mouse/keyboard setup, exclusively.

I don't know what the costs are associated with developing a port. I imagine that still costs quite a bit. If history is any guide, porting from windows to xbox360 couldn't have been that much of a headache as it still uses directx technology (and the fact that it was done). And, if the psVita does have some ps2 bios in it (as someone mentioned earlier) then it could be a possibility. I also think that the menu system could be a lot nicer to use with a touch screen and if it was implemented right. If they keep the menu setup as is, I imagine it'd be too small to use touch and could be hard to read as well.

Though, I think it was stated that the possibility is 'slim'.

[Atomic_Skull]

Dunno if it's actually true or not but
http://www.siliconera.com/2011/07/12...a-but-not-ps3/

claims that "Former Final Fantasy XI lead Hiromichi Tanaka mentioned the possibility of a PlayStation Vita port to Famitsu. Presently, plans are not concrete, but Square Enix is considering a basic port of their MMORPG for PlayStation Vita."

The deciding factor would likely be public interest, so, show some public interest?

PS Vita uses a quad core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU and a quad core SGX543 PowerVR GPU. Rather than build a weird custom architecture like the PS3 or PS2 that's hard to program for they have built a straightforward CPU and GPU architecture using off the shelf licensed technology. The CPU and GPU Sony is using are commonly used in mobile devices (the GPU is a quad core version of the dual core SGX543 PowerVR chip Apple uses in the iPad and it also uses the same CPU)

So porting FFXI to the Vita would be much easier than to the PS3 because the Vita is simply easier to develop for thanks to already existing (and very good) development tools for the ARM + PowerVR platform that's used by almost every mobile device under the sun and a straightforward architecture. (developers are already commenting about how much easier the Vita is to program for than the PS2 or PS3). That's probably one reason SE is considering it, minimal effort compared to a PS3 port. Another reason might be that once ported to the Vita it would be fairly easy to port to most other mobile devices (assuming that the GPU is powerful enough) because virtually all mobile devices these days are using ARM + PowerVR.

What. Why would they port it to a portable instead of the PS3? Not that I own a PS3, but it doesn't make sense to me. Portables tend to lose battery life quickly online, I think.

Shouldn't be a problem because the Vita is essentially a very powerful smartphone without the phone. They used the ARM + PowerVR hardware platform for the same reason everyone else does, unmatched performance per watt.

I would love to see someone take the Series 6 PowerVR GPU and make a 48 core version of it, then crank it up to 1ghz with a fat heat sink. You might have something that could spank Nvidia and ATI. Tile based deferred rendering is really, really efficient compared to the scanline rendering used in PC graphic cards. Remember that Intel's Core architecture is derived from the Pentium M mobile CPU and Core achieves it's performance for the same reason, much higher performance per watt than the Pentium 4. There were early compatibility problems with DirectX and OpenGL back in the late 90's that prevented PowerVR from gaining wide acceptance on PCs but those problems have since been solved so maybe it's time for PowerVR to stage a comeback from it's exile to mobile devices.

[StingRay104]

SE was gonna port the game to the PS3, but Sony put the brakes on it. I believe the reason sony said no was that at the time they had a must be 720P HD requirement to push on the whole blu ray thing and FFXI just isn't there. Nowadays they've relaxed on it a little and it would be a prime time to bring FFXI over but SE just doesn't care now. As for the Vita, I think its hilarious anyone truly intends to play an online game for long periods of time away from any type of power source. Walking down the street playin an mmo, sounds to me like someone has a death wish. All in all I would love to have FFXI on the Vita and PS3 if they finally could get it thru, hell Monster Hunter Freedom Unite on the PSP has an online mode thats supported thru remote play on ps3 so that you could utilize the ps3's ability to have a keyboard to chat, and the Vita is being talked about as having even greater remote play capabilities. I'm thinking use the ps3 as a way to play the game on a TV screen (assuming we don't get component cables). Overall I suggest everyone show much interest in the Vita FFXI version, because it will be the closest we'll get to the PS3 version we want.