The 'exclusives' that aren't exclusive

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Six big games and why they're going platform-hopping

September 5, 2007

Remember when a platform exclusive game really was exclusive? When 'Only for N64' in the corner was a promise and the little Saturn 'S' with a thumbs-up meant you were likely in for something special? Well, those days are long gone.

From the 'GameCube-only' Resident Evil 4 to PS3's Virtua Fighter 5, the word 'exclusive' counts for less and less with each passing day. So here are six games that, despite supposed 'exclusive' status, we are positive will be making the jump to rival machines at some point soon. Print it out and tick them off if you like.

Let's start with the obvious one...

Crysis
The official line at the time of writing is "EA and Crytek the award winning developers of Far Cry, announced that Crysis will be hitting the shelves on November 16th 2007 exclusively for the PC."

However, it's widely known that developer Crytek has been advertising job positions specifically with regard to porting something to PlayStation 3. Unless we're going to be treated to another version of Far Cry (which would surely feel like a snub to many gamers), this is a major clue. Sure it could just be to aid porting of the game's engine to other platforms... but surely the best game to show it off would then be the astonishing-looking Crysis itself.

There are also numerous hints and maybes from the developer. But perhaps the biggest clue here is that Crytek's massively advanced (at the time) PC version of Far Cry appeared on Xbox 360, Xbox and even ended up making an appearance on Wii. That's basically Gamecube technology - therefore nothing is impossible. Of course the Wii version sucked like a grandmother with a box full of eggs, but still - it exists.

Justin Towell
Justin Towell

Justin was a GamesRadar staffer for 10 years but is now a freelancer, musician and videographer. He's big on retro, Sega and racing games (especially retro Sega racing games) and currently also writes for Play Magazine, Traxion.gg, PC Gamer and TopTenReviews, as well as running his own YouTube channel. Having learned to love all platforms equally after Sega left the hardware industry (sniff), his favourite games include Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams, Zelda BotW, Sea of Thieves, Sega Rally Championship and Treasure Island Dizzy.