SPECIAL COMMENT: Square-Enix, stop this flip-flopping, breaking promises, and lying....NOW!!

Only in this day in age in gaming can we be justified to be able to tell game developers to shove it when it comes to them taking the almighty dollar to develop for a system in which will limit their ability instead of making a game that will give them that same amount of money in return and then some. Only in this day in age of gaming did it seem so common for this practice to go on and on and on, as if it was a broken record.

This has been true of many people in the gaming industry lately, and Microsoft has been adamant in making sure this slimy, uncalled for practice was not only generally accepted throughout the industry thereby damaging the credibility of the industry to actually be fairly competitive, but we actually have self-proclaimed gamers cheering them on as they do so. We have already dissolved Valve of any and all relevance after they went to the well one too many times with their anti-Sony talk, and no, we will not apologize about our past slams on them. We have seen what has been happening with Rockstar and its two exclusive episodic content packs which Rockstar and Microsoft seem to want to tell two different tales about when they will even come out and what they have shored up. One can only imagine what Rockstar must be thinking about Microsoft's diarrhea at the mouth by now, trying to make claims about a game that they never even gave a developer up for. You would think that Take Two would learn their lesson and not give Microsoft more in that field to continue their running of the mouth with the Fallout 3 debacle that we saw at E3, but they still think that Microsoft will learn their lesson.

But never before have we seen not just one company taking another's money and then slapping people in the face, but then practice something that we accuse politicians of all the time: Flip-flopping. You know, when someone says one thing and then the next day says or does the complete opposite of what they did say the day before? Well, congratulations, Square-Enix, because you have become the master of the flip-flopping this generation, and sadly, it's not amusing or funny or clever in the slightest.

What is this flip-flopping? We don't even have to go any further than E3 2008. Before this event, you had said that your marquee title, Final Fantasy XIII, a game that has been promised to be in our hands by now, countless times, was to be a Playstation 3 exclusive. However, at that event, with this brash smirk, Youichi Wada, a man that has brought his own once proud company into the bowels of the sewers of green, and now we're not talking about the money type of green, made that announcement of that game being available for the XBox 360. Within seconds, every single forum in the world exploded, with some mainstream blogs, shame on them for even exposing their bias in this way, that it was a announcement that should've been done a long time ago. Wada did this with such cockiness and friendliness to Microsoft that Sony might as well be Julius Ceaser, with Wada being Brutus. At least with Valve, Gabe Newell tells us where he stands in this video game console war.

But then it goes even further. You tell the entire world that you want your games to be experienced by as many people as possible. However, in an interview with WhatIfGaming.com, a site that should have a plaque in their name for them pressing the question, when they were asked that if that logic worked with bringing Final Fantasy XIII to a system which may not even be relevant in a few years, thereby making the wait possibly that much longer for Playstation 3 owners who just want to play the game because we all know Microsoft would love to have it all their way and want the game released on their system at the same time as the other guys, that it would work bringing your, for now, XBox 360 exclusives like Star Ocean 4 onto the PS3, the only thing Sinji Hashimoto could say, with the egg squarely on his face is:

We want to share as many as possible, but sometimes certain conditions come in the way that prevent that. Next question please.

"Next question, please." Sinji said that as if he was ready to murder the interviewer for even bringing up the possibility. Yet the only thing this WhatIf interviewer did wrong was to not provoke the question even further than he did. In this time where the media seems to be doing Microsoft's work FOR them, this refreshing change of hardball question should've been followed up by the interviewer asking "WHAT certain conditions?" We would all get them being exposed for the rats that are becoming at that moment.

"Certain conditions." Square, we can already see what those certain conditions are now, and we could see them then. Your floor plan of the 2008 Tokyo Game Show, a place in which you can just as easily repair your good standing with the REST of the video game industry, remember that Microsoft is only a small fraction of that entire world we like to call an industry since you clearly have forgotten about them, shows this. You have not only an hour's worth of time worshiping the devil, Wada kissing his feet while Sinji kisses his ass, at your keynote address, but you have a booth that will also show you two side by side, possibly holding hands and singing gospels together with him. We already knew the certain conditions beforehand: As long as Microsoft gets their day in the sun with everything you make while you slap everyone else in the face and then lie about the way you want to do business with everyone else while taking Microsoft's dirty, filthy money, all at the gamer's expense that just want to play a good game, then those conditions are met, aren't they?

Which brings us back to the flip-flopping. You have said that you want to be multiplatform, and that you are not partial to any one system. Well, not only have you looked partial to the 360 and then lied that you are not, but you showed to us that by going multiplatform you meant that if one of your games is coming out on any other platform besides the 360, then you need to find whatever means you can, and step on any toes you need to step on to make sure that that one game DOES come out on the 360, especially if it was to be a Sony exclusive, and to hell with the same logic going the other way, and to belittle, berate, and bully any interviewer who dares to ask just for the receipt for the emperor's new clothes.

Of course, you have done this flip-flopping before with Nintendo in the past, didn't you? You left them holding the bag when they didn't want to go disc-based for the Nintendo 64, did you? You went to Sony, even though that reason was better accepted and better thought out than the reason behind this shift change now. But we should've learned then that when you build trust with someone, especially with us gamers, it's, at least to you, meant to be broken. Et tu, Brutus.

Yet you don't stop there. Even though they failed to see it, you have also seemed to want to have Microsoft holding the bag, too. At that DK event shortly after the E3 08 event, you had said that the 360 and PS3 versions of Final Fantasy XIII would release simultaneously in the English speaking territories that you're going to let Microsoft have that game, though we're not exactly holding our breaths on you keeping your word on that still exclusive to PS3 in Japan nonsense, since you have broken your promises many times before as long as it was promises for every gamer and company besides Microsoft, more on that in a moment. But then, in a recent interview with Kotaku, and no, we're not holding our breaths on Kotaku being on the gamer's side, either, you say that the Playstation 3 version wouldn't be delayed by the 360 announcement, even though you never yet even announced ANY release date for any version. That little rumor that sparked from the site of broken record known as the Bitbag that you were going to make Final Fantasy XIII available to the 360 in Japan, however irrelevant the Editor In Cheif of that website really is compared to what his inflated ego thinks he is, drew ire of even MORE people that don't think you can hold true to your word.

Yet, we do know how Microsoft, again, loves to pull that NDA card and that  contract card, and we know how fanboys love to think that Microsoft invented and then patented, among other things that they were wrong about, the NDA and trying hands behind backs. They will want this to be released the same time, and will do whatever they can to get you to do it. Look up the words "Level 5" in Wikipedia, and we are sure you will find out how good of a relationship Microsoft gave to that developer, who, by the way, is making a RPG for the Playstation 3 that right now has more hype and more excitement given to it than you can ever hope to have the way you are acting right now.

And let's not forget Microsoft's mouth. They love to run it. Play around with what details you decide to give and Microsoft will seize on that and try to do whatever they can in order to make their own claims about a game they are not even developing, and make it sound like it was revealed yesterday and it was set in stone. Yes, you will have to correct Microsoft, several times, just as Rockstar has about their claims about Grand Theft Auto 4. Again, Take Two has not learned their lesson yet, and one can only think that Rockstar is getting tired of Microsoft never caring about when they need to just be quiet and let developers make their games.

And let's not forget that Microsoft may not want to stop there with Final Fantasy XIII. You can put your money on the notion that some of their top people are in the conference room right now, working on ways to persuade you to stop all production of the Playstation 3 version of Final Fantasy XIII and all of its related games (sorry Nomura , but they might as well step on your toes, too, to bend over backwards for Microsoft). and only make the 360 version, if not make that trend of exclusive downloadable content continue for them that has worked SO well forRockstar . This is because they have introduced tactics into this industry that are so slimy, you would think that it was the ides of March....oh wait, I forgot, you atE3 2008 with that smirk grin as if to say "screw you, Sony faithful" and playground antics was the ides of March, was it?

Yet you will give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt, will you? Because that's how you've played your cards this time, and this is how it's come out. You've lied to us, lied to the game industry, lied to the companies that got you to the dance. Yes, Final Fantasy did start out on Nintendo systems, but it didn't get the type of mainstream appeal it has now gotten until you began publishing for the Sony consoles. You didn't become the juggernaut you are not by publishing for Nintendo. Hell, Nintendo made you censor certain things from your games back in the day, did they? But Sony gave you all the freedom in the world, and this how you repay them? This is not you playing fair with the video game industry. It's like a damned game of Colorforms to you, isn't it, Square? This notion that you will go about saying one thing, that you will support all systems, then try to make it seem like there is only one system TO support. It's like pretending that the Playstation 3 and the Wii don't exist.

But they do exist and they will fire back, and so will we. You have said that you wanted the Final Fantasy XIII experience to be had by everyone, thus your 360 development decision. Yet you have failed to realize what happened when Tales Of Vespera, another 360 exclusive game you seem to be playing Colorforms on, too, was released in Japan. People bought the 360 just to play that one game. Yet, before that point, you could say that no one in Japan had a 360 but every single house in Japan had a Playstation 3 hooked up in their house.

This should tell you something. Not that the 360 will prevail no matter what, as the amount of systems it ended up selling was just a drop in the bucket. Rather that if you build it, they will come. Such would've been the case with the Playstation 3. If you had kept Final Fantasy XIII exclusive. Did you see the amount of PS3s that were sold on the account of Metal Gear Solid 4? Yes, people WILL buy a system if a game they want will come out FOR only that system. You would not have to USE that excuse because the install base WOULD change, because people are gobbling up the Playstation 3 alot more than the 360 lately, and by this time next year, you could very well see not only the Playstation 3 be on top of the 360 by a wide margin in the install base, but you could also see Microsoft abandon the 360 for a whole new system, just as they did before, and make you be the ones holding the bag, given that you don't bend over for them when they do that, either.

And to the gaming media, we need you now more than ever, not just with this Square-Enix thing, but with the Valve issue. Do not be afraid to ruffle the feathers of those who try to dodge questions like Sinji tried to do. Make them want to end the interview with them, and then ask the questions they don't want you to ask. Too many times we have seen you being soft toward the companies that do this to us. Take a lesson from WhatIf, and force the developers to either break whatever NDAs they are in or have them walk out of the interview, and then show to us the entire interview plus the walking out part. In this time when Microsoft is even influencing the once proud developers that Square was, you guys are obviously not doing your damn jobs.

We, as gamers, do not deserve this from you, Square-Enix, and we should not have to put up with this. There are other fishes in the sea you are swimming in, and there are alot better developers lately that keep their word and do not change positions every single time someone hands them a black briefcase full of hundreds. Microsoft is right now buying their victory, and if they didn't have that type of cash and if they didn't have this slime covered tactic to their name, the 360 would've gone the way of the Atari Jaguar by now. But you, a still relevant developer, sometimes barely anymore, can help stop it, but you have to start acting. NOW!! Because gamers have seen and found the light at the end of the Valve tunnel, and now we're beginning to see that there IS light at the end of your tunnel, as well.

Only it is not too late. You can make a different, starting with the Tokyo Game Show. Tomorrow, your road to redemption can begin. Start by proving a new story from PSX Extreme saying that you won't have anything new for Sony wrong, and dead wrong. Make sure the Sony faithful know that you have not forgotten about them. Make the Kingdom Hearts 3 reveal rumor true. Do something, anything, to tell people that you know that there are other relevant systems out their other than Microsoft or handhelds, and that you haven't forgotten the company that made you be able to get this far, and no, it wasn't Nintendo. Hell, at the Tokyo Game Show, make Star Ocean multiplatform, because that would give a scare to Microsoft that they cannot buy out EVERYTHING they want to, and that would make things even because God forbid Microsoft would lose a release day exclusive, right? The light at the end of the tunnel can be, instead of us forgetting about you as a relevant developer going the way of Valve, you finally being able to keep your word in the game industry.

You can find the light WITH us, and you can stop this flip-flopping, because we do not stand for it. Because there was another person who kept changing his story and his reasons. His name is President George W. Bush, and his lies and flip-flopping caused 4,000-plus men and women of our American Armed Forces to die in an unjust war called Iraq.

Get your act together, start supporting the Playstation 3 in the way you SAID you would at the start of this whole thing, or you will start seeing 4,000-plus of your fans die in your unjust fabrication of what you think is multiplatform and support for all systems, and tell us that you know the same common sense that we all know: That multiplatform love should mean that all systems get a fair shake of exclusives from you, not just Microsoft and handhelds.

Because we can just as easily vote you out of relevance. Before we are Playstation 3 fanboys, 360 fanboys, or Wii fanboys, we are gamers first, and only a fool would think differently. We ALL will leave you if you do not change this habit. Get your act together and stop taking the money (you'll get that too if you build things correct instead of gobbling up Microsoft's money to put up with their BS'ing about your games), or get the HELL out of the video game industry!

Because we deserve much, much more than this, especially out of a third-party company, that should know better.

Good night, and good luck.