This year's E3 convention contained some troubling news for Sony and its Playstation3 when it was announced that Final Fantasy XIII would be dual-released for both PS3 and Xbox360. This is a gut punch to an already ailing system that doesn't need to hear bad news like this.

So why is this so bad for Playstation? It's losing a major, exclusive series to a competitor system that it currently outclassing it. Final Fantasy is a major series with a massive following that has always been exclusive to a system (aside from what I view as "lesser" releases like the handheld games and FFXI, which is an online MMORPG). This series is the type of game that people need the system for, Final Fantasy was the whole reason I invested in a Playstation and Playstation2. People who would need to own a Playstation3 to get access to this series are now cut out of the equation.

It’s like if Halo was released on the PS3 or the Wii. Think of what sort of damaging effect that would have on Xbox360. Having an exclusive series guarantees additional sales and longevity of your system. Imagine if Guitar Hero and Rock Band were system exclusive. How much power would that distributor own having singular rights to those games?

This is a good move for Square/Enix, who will increase the number of units they’re going to sell for the game. By putting it on two consoles, you can increase the number of players who can get their hands on it. They’re going to cash in on this deal when FFXIII is selling more copies to more players, hopefully getting even more people interested in this illustrious series.

Sony’s going to need to step up its game if it wants to continue to compete in this generation. They’ve dominated the last two but are looking very, very shaky in this era. I predicted about a year ago that Sony would be able turn around and claim dominance in this gaming age, but now prediction is looking less and less viable with every passing day. I wonder how much longer they’ll be able to stick it out. They’re either going to need some major game releases, a price drop, or some innovative expansion that will draw major attention to their console. Otherwise they’re going to go the path of Sega in the future if they can’t reclaim their share of the market.