Squarenix drops a bomb shell! O_o

[Eric]

Next Dragon Quest game? To the Nintendo DS.

I beat you Seeker! MHAHAHAHAHA.

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3155838

Dragon Quest IX to the DS.

[Zeus]

That just doesn't make any sense.....unless it's being released this winter and they feel the userbase of the DS will net them greater overall profit. It'll also sell for about 25% less. I mean, DQ8 sold 4 million copies in Japan and another million in the US. Sure, the development costs will be much lower, but by then you're going to have 5-10 million Wiis and PS3s in the world, they could easily put the game on one (or both) of those systems and expect no less than 3 million people to buy it.

I'll defer expertise to them and just say that thank the Lord it's not on the PS3. I'm already dreading the fact that I'll have to rent one to play MGS4

[Julius Seeker]

Holy fuck! That is huge news.

This move will mark a major blow against Sony in Japan, if PS3 was not already doing bad enough, it just lost its top franchise in Japan.


Actually the DS makes perfect sense for the series. The DS is the fastest selling system in Japanese hstory, and at this rate, it may soon end up being the best selling system in Japanese history. Games might sell for cheaper, but development costs are also cheaper. Games also sell very well on the DS, in a matter of two years there are already several games that have sold over 5 million copies. A series like Dragon Quest will sell very well on DS. The sequel to Final Fantasy 12 is also coming to DS later on.

From the screenshots, it looks to be a bit more graphically advanced than FF3 DS. http://ds.ign.com/articles/750/750590p1.html


"Development seems to be quite far along. The online arms of magazines Famitsu and Gemaga, report that a demo was held at the press conference, with Horii and other guests playing the game live. Dragon Quest 9 features an action-oriented battle system playable cooperatively by up to four players via Wi-Fi. This is the first network-based Dragon Quest, Horii noted. The DS's dual screen setup is also put to use, with the top screen showing a map and the bottom screen housing all the action.

Horii is aiming for a Japanese release some time in 2007. "

More screenshots:

http://www.the-magicbox.com/0612/game061212a.shtml

[Nev]

Eric - The term is "Squeenix".

[Julius Seeker]

I am with Eric on this one, Squarenix is a much better name than "Squ'eenix"

[SineSwiper]

I hate Dragon Quest. I only played the demo for last game for the PS2, but what I read was sooooooooo cliche. It's like taking the same formula over and over again and throwing up the same old crap.

[Zeus]

I hate Dragon Quest. I only played the demo for last game for the PS2, but what I read was sooooooooo cliche. It's like taking the same formula over and over again and throwing up the same old crap.

That's the history of the series...and it still sells like crazy. That's why it can easily make the transition to the DS and sell like mad. It's old-school in every way, no need to spend millions upon millions on development to make it look pretty when that's not what sells the game anyways.

[Julius Seeker]

There is a nice video for it up on the official website.

http://www.square-enix.co.jp/dragonques ... Q9PVL.html