Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIII is to receive a long overdue release on Xbox 360 in Japan.

The RPG will launch for Microsoft’s console on December 16 for 4,980 yen, (£39 / $60), a year after its December 17, 2009 PS3 release, according to Famitsu (via Gamasutra).

Dubbed Final Fantasy XIII Ultimate Hits Edition, it will be an international edition boasting content from the Western versions of the game not present in the PS3 original. It will also feature an easy mode, English voice-acting, a post-completion quest called ‘Episode I’ and sections of content cut from the original release, which had sold 5.5 million copies as of May 2010.

“We feel that there are…a lot of people in Japan who own nothing but 360s,” producer Yoshinori Kitase said about the decision to bring the game to Xbox. “Thanks to the new [Slim] system and such, the situation’s a lot different than it was in July 2008.”

FFXIII director Motomu Toriyama also confirmed that initial plans to release downloadable content for the game had been scrapped.

The news came alongside Microsoft’s announcement that Kinect will launch on Japan on November 20.

Source: http://www.next-gen.biz/news/japan-finally-getting-final-fantasy-xiii-on-xbox-360