In general, Microsoft events are best left to other sites (here is a good one), but two of Microsoft’s announcements were quite a surprise and worth discussing here.

Final Finatasy XIII

FFXIII is no longer PS3 exclusive and will be simultaneously released on both PS3 and 360. This title was long rumored as one of the PS3’s last huge third party exclusives along with MGS4 (which so far, has remained exclusive). On the bright side, it still ships for PS3. Also, while discussing Star Ocean and Last Remnant, Microsoft and Square avoided saying that they would be exclusive which is a strong sign that a PS3 version may be a possibility. Also, Level 5’s White Knight Story is being published by Sony so there is little chance of losing that exclusive. Hopefully, there will be more good news tomorrow.

UPDATE: Square Enix says that FFXIII will initially be developed and released for PS3 only in Japan only. Then they will do the westernized version and 360 version. This suggests that the 360 version may be western-only and may not come out in Japan, although that isn’t completely clear from the wording that is used.

Netflix

Netflix has long had a Internet movie streaming service for Windows PCs. Now, you will be able to use a 360 as well, which is nicer since 360s tend to be setup in living rooms where people generally watch movies. Netflix has a formidable movie selection, so this is a useful service. Some sites are reporting the Netflix/360 deal is “exclusive”, which would mean that Netflix would not be coming to the PS3 (of course, this isn’t fully exclusive since the PC already does this and they intend to support Macs as well). Sony is launching their movie service soon as well. We shall see how these different services compare.