14 DAY TRIAL // Last December, Square Enix made a rather odd statement regarding its Dragon Quest role-playing game series, saying that Dragon Quest IX: Guard of the Starry Night (that title is still being worked on), would be coming exclusively to the DS. Its predecessors (quite the bomb in Japan) were original PlayStation one and later PS2 titles, so shifting to the DS like this is unnatural.
But thankfully, Square Enix's president and CEO, Yoichi Wada, has recently provided an explanation for the decision, as Gamespot reports, which he says was made so that the "widest array of people" could get a glimpse at the latest installment in the RPG series, as posted in the Financial Times. He also believes that bringing the series to the DS means the game could even find fans outside of its current community.
But the real reason seems to be that Square Enix's president isn't such a fan of the next-gen consoles, such as the PlayStationS3 and the Xbox 360. He actually goes and calls them "over-engineered."
"There are too many specs--and you also need a high-definition TV, a broadband connection, and a deep knowledge of gaming--these consoles are mismatched to today's environment. In a year or two years, they will fare better," says Square Enix's president.
Yes, but come on now, were gamers supposed to play 20 years of GameBoy and PSone titles? Actually, Yoichi Wada likes that scenario (although kind of scary) very much: "[Whereas] in the old days,we could just focus on the PlayStation or the Game Boy, the environment has changed completely," said Wada referring to the same over-engineered next-gen platforms, haunting the developing company.
So I guess we won't be seeing any next-gen titles from Square Enix these years to come, huh? Still got your 1989 GameBoy from Nintendo? Good. How about that clunky PSone, still there in the closet, behind the shoes? Don't trade it in just yet (not that you'd get anything for a PSone now), Square Enix might just come up with a few more great titles for the two old-school platforms.