YEAH! Square on Nintendo again! There is a god! Heres the articals off of Yahoo.
News Article: **** FREEZES OVER! Square, FF on Nintendo!
News Date: 03/08/2002
Source: Yahoo/Reuters
Link:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020308/tc_nm/tech_nintendo_square_dc_1)
Discuss it in the Forum!
Remember Yamauchi's fund to support development? Square's getting some of that money to make Final Fantasy games for GameCube and GBA. No, this is not a joke.
Please Use this Talkback thread to discuss this news.
Major props to Powder, who sent us this extremely important news tip! According to the Saturday morning (in Japan) edition of the popular Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper, Square and Nintendo are getting back together to bring Final Fantasy back to Nintendo fans on both GameCube and Game Boy Advance! Here's an excerpt from Nikkei's website. You can see the full story by registering there (credit card required, but you get a two-week free trial period during which you can cancel at any time).
OSAKA (Nikkei)--Nintendo Co. (7974) has agreed to resume procuring the popular "Final Fantasy" video game software for its game consoles from Square Co. (9620) after a five-year hiatus, The Nihon Keizai Shimbun learned Friday.
The big news in this is not only is Square coming back, but Hiroshi Yamauchi himself is funding Square's return, by virtue of Fund Q, the fund set aside to help spark game development on GameCube. The new company to be stared by Square and Akitoshi Kawazu (one of Final Fantasy's developers), should be founded by the end of March.
Another important quote ...
The deal calls on the Square affiliate to produce software allowing users of two Nintendo consoles -- the GameCube and Game Boy Advance -- to play together by the end of the year.
"... to play together"? What does that mean???
Surely the first game to come out of this new venture will be Final Fantasy XI, as Square has been adamant about wanting the game on every console. But could we see a port of Final Fantasy X? And how does the GameBoy Advance fit in? There are a lot more questions to be answered yet.
Still, gamers' prayers have been answered. Square is officially back on Nintendo.
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Update! Yahoo News now has the Reuters story. Text included below.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Japan's Square Co. Ltd. , after a six-year absence, will return the legendary "Final Fantasy" video game series to Nintendo (news - web sites) Co. Ltd.'s consoles, Nintendo said on Friday.
Confirming earlier reports in Japan, a Nintendo of America spokeswoman told Reuters that Square will set up a subsidiary to develop new versions of the series for Nintendo's GameCube console and Game Boy Advance handheld unit.
The development will be backed by Fund Q, a video game development fund started in January by Hiroshi Yamauchi, the long-time president of Nintendo.
Nintendo expects "Final Fantasy" titles for its consoles to be released by the end of the year, the spokeswoman said.
Jeetil Patel, an analyst at Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown who follows the game industry, said having "Final Fantasy" would probably help GameCube sales more in Japan than in the United States. "At the margin it probably helps modestly," he said.
"Final Fantasy X," released last year for Sony Corp (news - web sites).'s PlayStation 2 (news - web sites), was one of the 20 best-selling video games in the United States in 2001, according to NPDFunworld, even though it was released in early December.
Even before "Final Fantasy X," the Final Fantasy series had sold 30 million copies worldwide since its inception.
Square had long developed "Final Fantasy" titles for Nintendo, going back to Nintendo's original Super Famicom and NES in the early 1980s, but in 1996 Square abandoned Nintendo to develop games for Sony's PlayStation platform.
At that time, some Japanese analysts said the defection of Square and other local publishers was a primary factor in PlayStation surpassing Nintendo's N64 console, which was more advanced than the PlayStation but also harder to develop for.
"Final Fantasy XI," the next title in the series, is expected to take advantage of the online multi-player features of the PS2 Sony unveiled on Thursday, and the Nintendo deal is not expected to stop further PS2 production.
A spokeswoman for Electronic Arts Inc. , which co-published the game in the United States with Square under a joint venture, was not immediately available for comment on the Nintendo deal.
Sony in October invested $116 million in Square, making it the company's second-largest shareholder. The infusion came after Square posted its worst-ever loss, caused by the production of a movie version of "Final Fantasy" that was a major commercial flop.
Nintendo's $199 GameCube was launched in the U.S. in November of last year. It competes with both the $299 PS2, which debuted in November 2000, and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox (news - web sites), which was released three days before GameCube.
The $79 Game Boy Advance, a handheld system with as much power under the hood as Nintendo's early 1990s SNES console, dominates the handheld market globally, with almost no competition.
Billy says: This has been confirmed officially by NCL. In a related note, millions of gamers have just **** their pants.
Rick says: I knew it was cold when it started snowing in Seattle in March. But this ... wow.
Who knew that we'd ever see Square on a Nintendo platform while Yamauchi was still head of Nintendo? And with this own money even!!!
Jonathan says: I'm in awe. I know as well as anyone the problems with Final Fantasy and their decline in recent years, but regardless, this is, market-wise, an incredible coup for Nintendo. That's not to even mention the now highly possible appearance of FFXI (online) for GameCube and all the classic FFs and other Square masterpieces being ported to GBA with enhancements. SPOOGE!
David says: If Final Fantasy games start launching on GameCube and PS2 at the same time, this will be a major blow to Sony. This may also further ease the minds at Enix about bringing DQVIII to GameCube as well as (or instead of) PS2. *pinches self*
Mike S says: This has skechy written all over it. I'm looking at the wording here. "Square-affiliate" bugs me. Affiliates don't make THE Final Fantasy. They make spin-off Final Fantasy games. I'm talking about stuff like Final Fantasy Adventure on the Game Boy. Stuff like that. The way this story is worded makes it sound like the actual "Final Fantasy" series itself won't make it to the GameCube (at least not right away). Oh well, I guess some Square is better than no Square.
David says: Perhaps the whole affiliate thing has something to do with the fact that Sony owns 20% of Square. Or maybe it hints towards the fact that we'll be getting late ports instead of the simultaneous launches I mentioned above. Either way, I think it's pretty clear that Nikkie said "Final Fantasy". If they weren't talking about the main series, they would have said so.
Desmond says: Akitoshi Kawazu was a director of the SaGa games (SaGa Frontier 2 for example), and also was involved with the Final Fantasy Unlimited anime. As a big fan of the SaGa games, I hope he has some sort of directorial involvement in the games that this affiliate with produce.
Zosha says: Aisha... this is impossible. Sony has 19% stock in Square. We all know what this means... MONEY HATS.
"...but Hiroshi Yamauchi himself is funding Square's return, by virtue of Fund Q, the fund set aside to help spark game development on GameCube." <- Direct Translation: One of Yamauchi's Money Hat Baskets® was delivered by 1-800-MONEY-HAT today, and was recieved well.
MONEY HATS MONEY HATS MONEY HATS MAKE THE WORLD GO 'ROUND.
Essentially it looks like Yamauchi "bought" some Square "stock". Iesous.