Tagged: square enix

Square Enix boss: Activision must have been crazy to let Sleeping Dogs go

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Activision’s loss is Square Enix’s gain. The latter picked up True Crime: Hong Kong from the former last summer, and is gearing up to release it later this year as Sleeping Dogs. The game has picked up steam in the past few weeks through good press and a constant supply of hype and media.

“The game was, in a sense, discovered,” said Mike Fischer, Square Enix president. “The minute they showed it to us, we really felt like we had found a diamond in the rough.”

He went on to say that Activision must have been “crazy” to let go of the project, which he believes is “fantastic”.

“There’s clearly a lot of inspiration from The Departed and Infernal Affairs. You play an undercover cop who starts to feel mixed loyalties. But the open world feels like Arkham City, the combat feels as good as a fighting game, the driving is as good as a Need for Speed, and the story is every bit as rich as compelling as a Mass Effect. [It’s an] all in one game.”

Sleeping Dogs is due out in August on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. Check out the latest trailer and screenshots.

Barcode Society Hitman community launched, users go bald

Now that the new Hitman game is well on its way, Square Enix has launched a new community portal known as Barcode Society. It will provide the latest news on the series, as well as glimpses of the game during its development. On top of that, there will be competitions, goodies, assets, and more.

Hitman Absolution is due out later this year for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. Additionally, Square Enix Montreal is working on another Hitman project for next-gen systems.

Final Fantasy producer wants to bring the series to Wii U

The Wii U is enticing developers all across the board, and Square Enix seems smitten, too. Final Fantasy XIII-2 producer Yoshinori Kitase has expressed his intention to bring the series to Nintendo’s latest console once again.

“Three or four years ago we joked around about developing a Final Fantasy game on the Wii Fit balance board,” he said, speaking to C3. “But after seeing Wii U revealed at Nintendo’s conference, we are now considering the possibilities of bringing the Final Fantasy series to the format.”

Final Fantasy XIII-2 is the upcoming entry in the long running series. It is due for release early next year on PS3 and Xbox 360.

Strange and beautiful Deus Ex video shows augmentations

The following Deus Ex: Human Revolution video comes courtesy of Sarif Industries, a shady corporation featured in the upcoming game.

Enjoy this strange, beautiful and, at the same time, weird video highlighting how Sarif’s augmentations change lives.

The game is due out late August on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Final Fantasy Madness Coming to Wii

It’s Wii-day today for Square Enix, as the Japanese publisher announced at the GDC the forthcoming releases of new downloadable titles for the Wii.

The games are Final Fantasy IV: The After Years and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord for WiiWare, as well as the Final Fantasy series for the Virtual Console.

FINAL FANTASY IV: THE AFTER YEARS, is an RPG that continues the story that began in the 1991 Super Famicom™ title FINAL FANTASY IV. In Japan, this title was released as a downloadable cellular phone application in February 2008. It has since been lauded for its deep storytelling, and a year after its release, has been downloaded over 3 million times.

FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: My Life as a Darklord is the newest instalment in the FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES series, which has shipped over 2 million copies worldwide and is set to grow further in 2009. This title will be a sequel to FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: My Life as a King™, which launched simultaneously with the WiiWare service in May of 2008.

The Virtual Console release will see the famed RPG series made available for the first time on home console download. The very first game was released for the Famicom in Japan back in 1987 and will be available for download in May 2009.

Dragon Quest Delay May Affect Final Fantasy XIII

It appears that the recently announced delay to the Japanese debut of Dragon Quest IX might impact the highly anticipated Final Fantasy XIII.

"There is a possibility that [the] Dragon Quest IX delay could affect Final Fantasy XIII," said Square Enix head Yoichi Wada.

The shift of DQIX from March to July has left the publisher without a major release for the rest of its fiscal year, which ends March 31. This delay was one of many reasons why the company lowered its profit forecast by nearly 63%.

Final Fantasy XIII is expected out in Japan by the end of this year on the PS3. North America and Europe will see Xbox 360 versions as well, though they aren’t expected before April 2010.

Square Enix Wants Eidos, Lowers Expectations

With Valentine’s Day incoming, Square Enix has made a swoop for Eidos, making an offer to buy out the company for £84 million, which they say is about a 129% premium on Eidos’ current market value.

Eidos directors will recommend that shareholders approve the deal. Additionally, the company is saying that such an acquisition presents “a highly attractive opportunity for the Square Enix group to create further value” for its shareholders. Eidos has a stable of big-name franchises including Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and Hitman.

Despite all this, the Japanese publisher today updated its financial forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, cutting profit expectations by 62.5%. The company now hopes to see a net profit of $49.6 million, instead of the previously anticipated $132.4 million.

Square Enix additionally confirmed that the Japanese debut of Dragon Quest IX has been delayed until July 11. The game was previously expected on March 28; the delay comes after the discovery of several major bugs.

Square Enix LA Studio Working on Downloadable Games

Square Enix US president John Yamamoto has revealed that the new Los Angeles studio will start by working on downloadable games on all platforms – Xbox Live, WiiWare and PlayStation Network.

He notes that the team is still small, but that they hope to increase it to over 30 by the end of the next year.

The new studio will also be charged with researching middleware; Square Enix’s recently title The Last Remnant, which was both a critical and commercial success, was built on Epic’s Unreal Engine 3.

The studio is also currently gearing up to work on a multiplatform action game.