1UP: It's been reported that the draw distance on the Xbox 360 will be twice as long as the PC version. Will this give Xbox 360 players an added advantage because they can see enemies from a longer distance, helping 360 owners to camp rare monsters more efficiently? HT: Actually, the draw distance will mostly affect the overall scenery of the game. The distance between the players and enemies will be the same as the Windows and PS2 version. 1UP: Was putting FFXI on Xbox 360 a way to sustain the game because Sony yanked hard-drive support for the PS2 (Thanks, Sony!)? Nowadays if you want to pick up FFXI and start playing, the PC version is the only option at the moment. HT: It's not so much the survival of FFXI as is it giving players an option to play the game on next-generation hardware. Of course the added bonus for those players is to play the game in high-definition on widescreen HD televisions. 1UP: Will the 360 version support voice-chat? We sure hope not. HT: No, it won't. The reason being is that we track player abuse through the chat logs, and if we removed the necessity of the chat log, it would be impossible to take action against abusive players.
GS: What does the future hold for what you do? Can we look forward to another MMO with the Final Fantasy franchise? What platforms do you see yourself focusing on? HT: For MMOs, the platform isn't that important anymore. The only real requirement is its ability to display the images from the game. As technology advances it should be possible to play one game across different platforms. GS: Does that complicate things for you as you move forward, as typically developers have had to appeal to one specific audience such as console or PC players? HT: Since MMOs require a keyboard, that's really the only requirement now. If the platform supports a keyboard it doesn't matter whether it's a console or PC. From this point on it should be possible to make games for either.
GI: So with the Xbox 360 version you can use the headset? Tanaka: You’ll be able to use the headset, and it’ll be possible to use the voice chat with other Xbox users. GI: So Xbox 360 players will be able to communicate with each other with the headset, but there will be no voice chat with PS2 or PC? Tanaka: Yes. GI: Are you going to try to add that for PS2 and PC so everybody can talk together? Tanaka: No. We’d rather have people use text as a means of communication so we can keep track of harassment and such. GI: Well then how are you going to keep track of that with the Xbox 360? Tanaka: That’s not actually a part of FFXI. Using the voice chat with Xbox 360 is a separate function of the 360. GI: Say if I am playing on a PS2 and everyone else in my party is playing on a 360 and chatting on the headset. Will I be able to at least hear what they are saying to know what’s going on? Tanaka: There’s no voice chat at all in the game for PS2 players and Xbox 360 players [sic; presumably this should be "PC players"]. The 360 users would have to find the people through Xbox Live. To answer your question, PS2 players can’t hear the voice chat. Well a lot of players in Japan don’t want to talk with voice chat. There are a lot of people playing female characters that don’t want people in the game to know that they are actually males.