Summation

[chuckro]

40" (or larger) HD TV: $1,000
XBox 360: $300
Final Fantasy 13: $60
Ikea TV stand suitable new TV: $200
Trip to Ikea: 1 day plus borrowing/renting appropriate car (or +$100 for shipping)
Dealing with Comcast: ~several days of my life

Playing FF13: Priceless Apparently not worth it, after all...

Comments

[lyriendel.livejournal.com]

$1660 is nothing. I bought a >$2K desktop years ago just to play FF8. Got my PS2 to play FF10, and I already have a slimline PS3 (although it broke already and now it's getting warranty-repaired) just because I want FF13 to be *prettier* than it would be on an XBox 360. :)

Besides, if dealing with Comcast is the main barrier, you could get one of these instead:
http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-F5D7330-802-11g-Wireless-Ethernet/dp/B00020H1TG

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

Well, one could argue that you bought the fancy desktop for purposes other than just FF8. It's not like you only booted it up to play that game.

I really should take the time to hook up the wireless router I have and get a repeater so it can reach the living room, independent of video game purchases. My study group has been disappointed by the lack of available wireless in my apartment.

[lyriendel.livejournal.com]

Sure, but you could argue that if you bought a fancy TV, TV stand, and XBox 360, it would also be for purposes other than just FF13. :)

You *could* just run a longer ethernet cable and stick your router in the middle of your apartment. And run another ethernet cable to an XBox 360 in your living room, for that matter.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

And run another ethernet cable to an XBox 360 in your living room, for that matter.

Not really feasible--that'd be 100+ feet of cable, basically from one end of my apartment to the other.

[lyriendel.livejournal.com]

'Not really feasible' is the wrong descriptive phrase here. There are plenty of 100' ethernet cables out there. 'Really ugly' is the right descriptive phrase. :)

[hyouneko.livejournal.com]

You realize FF13's graphic engine is the Unreal engine which is optimized for the 360? We pay epic a good amount in time, money and resources to make sure of this. Neither version is going to be prettier.

[lyriendel.livejournal.com]

Huh. That's interesting. I read that having the game on Blu-Ray rather than on DVDs where higher compression is required, might make the game crisper on PS3. You're probably right that they'll be the same, though.

Anyway, I also (more importantly) bought the PS3 in anticipation of wanting to play FF versus 13, which is exclusive to PS3.

[hyouneko.livejournal.com]

Yeah, most games on the PS3 use compressed graphics to begin with. Since the 360 uses dvd's, they already know they'll be space constrained on one platform (which also happens to sell more games and have more consoles in the wild). Having uncompressed graphics on the PS3 and compressed on the 360 would mean a lot of duplicated work, which just isn't economical in terms of money and time.

Also, the initial press showings have come back with the versions looking almost identical.