who has the time to report such a thing. that's probably why the sun never sets in the UK
Final Fantasy XIII ad banned
By
Jane Douglas, Section Editor
Xbox 360 ad should not have used FMV footage from PS3 version, says UK advertising body, which rules the "misleading" ad should not be shown again.
The UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld an objection over a television advert for the Xbox 360 version of Final Fantasy XIII, ruling that the ad breached codes against misleading advertising and must not be broadcast again in its current form. A viewer had complained that the ad was misleading because the game footage used was taken from the PlayStation 3 version of the game and not the Xbox 360 version.
In response to the objection, Square Enix said the ad did not feature gameplay footage taken from a particular console version, but instead used full-motion video cutscenes. The Japanese publisher argued that the FMVs were not generated by either console's game engine but were played back on the PS3 console to let advertisers capture the FMV footage for the ad in question. The footage could have been captured on any device, said Square Enix, and was not content generated by a particular console.
In assessing the complaint against the Final Fantasy XIII ad, the ASA noted that the viewer, who saw the ad in high definition, was concerned that images from the PS3 version were sharper than those on the Xbox 360. The ASA reports that it "tested the two games, on screens with an identical setup and ran them alongside one another. We noted there was a discernable difference in the picture quality of the two; the PS3 image in video sequences appeared sharper and colours were more vivid than those of the Xbox 360."
The ASA concluded that the Final Fantasy XIII ad for Xbox 360 version "should have featured footage derived from that console," in spite of Square Enix's defence regarding FMV capture. It ruled that the ad was misleading "because we considered that the use of PS3 footage in the ad exaggerated the quality of the footage available on the Xbox 360, albeit marginally."
The ruling comes five months after the American and European release. During that time the graphical differences between the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, and the compression required to fit the game onto the Xbox's three DVDs rather than the PS3's single Blu-ray disc, have been much discussed. Before the game's release, Square Enix had faced criticism for presenting altered PlayStation 3 screenshots as Xbox 360 screenshots for the game; afterwards, the publisher apologised for what was called a "mistake" and released screenshots taken from the Xbox 360 version.
In its response to the ASA's investigation, Square Enix had said that both versions of Final Fantasy XIII "had been designed for output in the same resolution" and "were comparable in terms of quality." The publisher "believed there was no substantive difference in the output of the game, except in very high definition where they may be subtle differences due to the hardware upon which the footage was viewed." Only a viewer who was "reviewing the materially forensically" would notice a difference, said the publisher.
Clearcast, the body that pre-approves most TV advertising in the UK, said that before approving the ad it had been assured there was no difference between the two versions. Like Square Enix, it believed that "it would be unlikely that an average viewer would be able to discern whether footage originated from the PS3 or Xbox 360 format," since the ad was compressed into a standard-definition format for broadcast.
By
Jane Douglas, Section Editor
Jane rejoices in the title of Section Editor, GameSpot UK. Fears: spiders, oblivion.
220 comments
this is why Final Fantasy XIII should have NEVER been ported to the Xbox 360. Square Enix made a mistake
Typical illegal Microsoft stunt. Theyve never been able to compete fairly this generation, so theyve robbed ideas theyve robbed IP's and theyve robbed tech and hardware designs. Plus paying off review sites and they still dont hold a candle to Sony,,, pretty darn sad if u ask me. Am i a Sony Fanboy? You can bet your overpriced jack of some trades, master of none 360 on that! BTW i unfortunately own a 360 and even sadder a Wii all since their respective release days and the PS3 blows and i mean BLOWS the other 2 consoles out of the water in every department. Ahhhh i feel better now!
@Garra12345 - Considering the only good thing FF13 has going for it is the visuals, I'd say it's a key selling point, yeah.
""A viewer had complained that the ad was misleading because the game footage used was taken from the PlayStation 3 version of the game and not the Xbox 360 version. "" -- Viewer mentioned in the article. Me: CRY
Microsoft knows very well that in order to sell FFXIII they have to display the way it looks on the Playstation... pretty sad indeed! Playstation rocks... way too much!
i feel sorry for the poor guy who spent 15 hours watching it over again and again just to spot the difference
"I bet this loser is acting pretty smug ounce he heard about this." @digitalnoodle - yep, in fact he's bragging about it on his blog on Edge.com. The user "Duncan_Stewart" claims he was just bored, but can't help pointing out that he only owns a PS3 and Wii and his posting history is full of attacks on MS.
Just betting that Square Enix made everyone shut up when the producer said the difference would only be noticeable when the viewer was "reviewing the material forensically". That's pretty pathetic that someone goes that in depth to argue. Anyways. regardless. Some people are truly out to get others in some sorta trouble. There is nothing misleading about an ADVERTISEMENT being displayed on a PS3 screen compared to a 360. Even if there is a slight sharpness change..or vivid coloring, if it isn't noticeable unless through forensically examining it, then how is it misleading. It's advertising a game...a game shouldn't lead you in the wrong direction through some small graphical difference.
all of this because only 1 person noticed the difference??? I guess in the UK there are no more searius problems to address. The only thing that called my attention... Is it true that the360 version has 3 discs and the PS3 only one? That's shocking
who the hell complains about ads that looks the same in both console?... ps3 version is little more detail than 360 version but you won't noticed it until some1 point finger on it (that the same with every game but don't go all fanboy to these stuff)... so just play the game in your favorite console and enjoy the game (except if the game sucks )
Making a big fuss over something so simple. Its just a FMV, not even a gameplay video >_>.
despite the console the games good the only difference I really paid attention to was the number of disks the game would be on and the save space it takes up
my daughter got it for the xbox360 2 days ago. I saw this yesterday and got the PS3 version for him to compare on our HDTV. Suffice it to say, my xbox360 is going on sale along with its FFX13 version today! Thanks GS for the info. The games both cost thesame on either console. Of course I'll get the superior HD ver afterall that's why i have full HDTV right?
OMG cry me a river...Like PS3 advertised on X360 system's. I'm always fooled into thinking some games are gonna be 1080 when most never are...you don't see me makin a fuss. Pull the ad and get over it. FFXIII is DEF over with..months over with LOL
OMG a video game company was misleading in an ad!! Wow that never happened before. I wonder how Killzone 2 is? The trailer was amazing ;)
LOL WAY DELAYED, sure they are gonna stop advertising it. COS ITS OVER!! LOL anyhooz, they have a point BUT.. there was not much difference anyways, just a few more pixels, whcih i didnt mind because gameplay was the same.
To be honest, I feel that there's nothing wrong with the ad. But, in my own opinion, FFXIII was pretty much the last straw for me. This is no longer a FF series any longer.
I see no reason to complain over such ad like this considering both games are similar in contents and graphics anyways.
There are so many more ads who do so much more damaging, intentional misleading on terrible issues, yet, they have the time for this.
So and I hate saying this but the ps3 version of FFXIII has better grapics then the 360.
Its called false advertising. Misleading consumers is a criminal offense. They are in the right to pull the ad.
@monson21502 Inspite of it's over streamlined (cheapest fast food joint you can imagine streamlined) flaws I really liked FFXIII; but I'm sure the game play work that should have been in XIII is going to be in verses and even XIV. No matter what any high end graphics game designed to pc/ps3 is not going to be as good looking on 360, but the difference was not that bad to deserve this contro. IMHO
we dont need a whole news story. i can sum it all up by saying. ff13 was a big let down.
I feel sorry for people that at this age think everything is noticed using youtube and videogames videos. PEOPLE THESE KIND OF DIFFERENCES ARE ONLY NOTICEABLE IN YOU HOUSE IN FRONT OF YOUR TV SET. This is why you can watched an HD video of a game on youtube and when you get it and play it in HD on your tv it looks a lot better. It doesn't matter that your PC is HD too. Anyway this FF is a total disappointment.
Only in the U.K..So anal it's not even funny. Where was the ASA when Sony used Forza footage for an ad. LMAO!! I didn't hear them saying squat about that. In any case, we all know the quality of the resolution is going to look better on the PS3. Why? Because the game was built from the ground up on the PS3 and then ported to the XBox 360. The quality is never the same on a ported game. All the 360 games that got ported to the PS3 do not look or run as well as they do on the XBox 360. Same goes for port PS3 games to the XBox 360. The visual different is so minor though it's just ridiculous that they want to pull an ad because of this. It's an easy fix though.
Meh... Who cares? I stopped playing this game halfway through and started FFIX again for my third playthrough.
I wonder how much Sony payed ASA for that. If they did they should have spent that time and money into selling their own games instead of uselessly trying to limit the sales of their competition.
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