Famitsu has revealed that the Xbox 360 version of Final Fantasy XIII-2 won't be split across multiple discs, a welcome change from Final Fantasy XIII's three-disc release.
It's rare these days that we hear of a sequel taking up less space than its predecessor. As this generation has brought us bigger, more graphically complex games, developers have found themselves butting up against the 8.5 GB space limit. Several high profile games, including Rage and Battlefield 3, will be shipping for the 360 on two discs. Of course, the PS3's Blu-ray, which offers up to 50 GB of space on a dual-layer disc, hasn't presented similar problems.
According to Director Motomu Toriyama, this improvement comes by way of real-time cutscenes. Like most Final Fantasy games, XIII used prerendered videos to drive the story forward. With XIII-2, Square Enix built from the ground up with the 360's limitations in mind, making it the natural decision to render everything in real time.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 launches in Japan on December 15. North America will be getting the game on January 31, and PAL territories will be able to pick it up a few days later on February 3.