Tuesday 8 August 2006
Square Enix, the developer behind Final Fantasy and a host of other successful RPGs, has decided to start work on its own games machine.
It seems Square has been liaising with Japanese coin-op giant Taito to produce some sort of games related hardware. If that sounds vague, that's because Squre Enix president Yoichi Wada doesn't seem too clear on what the product will be either. "In our talks with Taito [which was acquired by Square Enix in September], ideas for an actual physical product have come up. In any case, we will be releasing some 'thing'," Wada told Nikkei Business Online.
Wada has been making noises for some time that the company needed to diversify its products, although this was largely interpreted as being a reference to the type of games it made. But it now appears as if it has much more ambitious plans.
Taito, meanwhile, has a history of creating arcade hardware and plug-and-play TV boxes, either of which could be possibilities for the 'thing'. Or perhaps Square Enix is just going for a full console - some sort of a 'SquareStation' or 'GameCube'.
