So, yeah! Final Fantasy XIII is coming to the Xbox 360. And now Square Enix is having a press conference, probably to explain how that went down. FFXIII producer Yoshinori Kitase is expected to be on hand as is Square Enix exec Shinji Hashimoto. Hit the jump for the liveblog.

1:52
     And the press has started! Both Kitase and Hashimoto have taken the stage
     
1:53
     It's an open mic Q&A
     
1:53
     Dean Takahashi asked why they decided to end the exclusive with Sony.
   
1:55
     Says Hashimoto: "We considered the hardware situation. Because of that, we considered the spread of the hardware, so that's why we decided that."
     
1:56
     Question: How will the Xbox 360 and the PS3 versions be different?
     
1:57
     
      Says Kitase: We planned on having the contents the same, but obviously the Blu-ray and the DVD will be different.
    
1:57
     Asks Christian Nutt: We heard that people were pulled off different teams to work on this.
     
1:59
     Kitase: "As for development, we are using Crystal Tools for development. We are using it for the PC base. We are making the game at a faster pace. We should be able to show new footage in the future."
     
2:00
     Some question about something about the future of the series.
     
2:00
     They only want to talk about FFXIII, so they don't know.
     
2:01
     I ask: How many discs will it ship on?
     
2:01
     Kitase says: "That's still undecided."    

2:01
     I ask: "About how many?"

2:02
     He laughs and won't answer.
     
2:02
     first they will finish ffxiii in japan. and then they will start localization for english.

2:03
     at that point, they will start the xbox 360 development.    

2:03
     so says hashimoto.

2:04
     he also adds that ff13 might not be released in the us and europe at the same time because of the language.

2:04
     languages, rather.

2:05
     kitase says they will try to make the us and the europe release as close as possible and try to make the euro release much faster.

2:05
     shane from 1up ask about ff13 coming to japan on the xbox 360........

2:07
     Hashimoto says something like "I think you are right [in assuming that it's not coming out in Japan]"

2:08
     asked about the differences between the 360 and the ps3 differences (again)

2:09
     Hashimoto pointed out that they have no plans to make the versions differences.

2:10
     question: "Is the reason why the Japanese 360 version is not announced because of   the hardware situation or some sort of contract arrangement?"
     
2:12
     Hashimoto: As I have already mentioned, considering that the install base was one of the reasons why decided to release it in the West on the Xbox 360...     

2:15
     
He also added that they haven't decided whether they'll do an Asian version.

Question: Motion controls?

Kitase: "No, we have no plans."

Question: "Will FF Versus 13 be multi plat?"

Hashimoto: No.

Question: FFXIII uses a properitary engine. Correct me if I'm wrong, that's the last time, it will be used.

Hashimoto: "We haven't made any changes about that."

2:17
     Kitase says they're using it (Crystal Tools) with a MMO.

2:19
     question: what's influcenes you guys? are you influenced by mass effect?
   
2:21
     question: when was the timing of the xbox 360 decision?
     
2:24
     hashimoto: "it wasn't a long time ago that we made the decision. we had to adjust things, like our relationship with microsoft. it was recent."
     
2:25
     question: by using the the crystal tools, what's the work load for localization?
     
2:28
     kitase says they're currently running it on a pc, so they don't know the work load of getting it on the 360. they are putting priority on the PC version.
     
2:29
     question: which do you think will do better? ps3 or xbox 360?
     
2:30
     hashimoto says, "We've just made the announcement. So in the future, we'll be able to make speculation, but we need to do some market research."
2:33
     question: which do you think will do better? ps3 or xbox 360?

hashimoto says they've just made the announcement, so they don't know. they need to do more market research and then they can speculate in the future. 
     
2:35
     
question: will ff13 have mmo elements? ff12 had mmo elements.
   
kitase: each time we made a game, we try to make it unique. so it won't be like the last game.

question: about xbox live?

kitase: currently, we're still deciding.

2:40
     question: how does the gameplay for ff12 and ff13 differ?
   
kitase: "overall, the atmosphere is difference. the tempo and the speed are different. the entire direction is different. It's flashier."

Hey guys, favorite Final Fantasy game?

Hashimoto likes FFVII since he was so deeply involved with it.
     
Kitase says "Me too!" 

Was the fighting in FF XIII inspired by the fighting sequences in Advent Children? Is there an effort to bring that experience to games, and is it turn based?
     
Apparently Advent Children gave Kitase "stimulation." I'm going to guess something got lost in translation.         

The fighting will use a system called ATB. Details cannot be given on it.       

And that's it! It's over! See ya next time, kids!