Square Enix Boss Says New Wii Coming in 2011

In a recent interview with the Financial Times, President of Square Enix, Yoichi Wada had this to say:

“Present game machines already have a lot of functions,” he explained. “They are a network terminal, a Blu-ray or DVD player, and a gaming machine. Compared to these three pillars, the new motion controllers are quite limited, so the impact may be small.”

He also said that he expects Nintendo to release it’s new console in 2011 and that it will be more on par with the PS3 and the Xbox 360 and will include things such as HD graphics and a new controller.
My question is, with the Wii Remote already so successful in bringing new consumers to the market and changing the way some types of games are played, why would Nintendo change that just as people are getting really comfortable with the Wii Remote?

I would love to see Nintendo games rendered in high definition, if only because I just bought a new HD TV this year. The one big change I would like to see is better implementation of the online features. Just make it a bit more user friendly and unify the system across all the games available. Integrate the Wii friends list into all games and get rid of Friend Codes. More and more games are doing that now, so it just makes sense.

The could also include a hard drive to go alongside the SD card, but give users both. Having the SD cards is so much nicer than a bulky memory card if you want to transport your data to different places and that gives people that much more storage in addition to the hard drive.

There’s not a lot I would change about Wii. I really like what Nintendo has going so far. Just a couple small tweaks and giving people the HD they so desperately want would make the system that much more appealing to people and further cement Wii’s place atop the console generation.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers Release Date

It will be too late for kids in North America to ask their parents for the newest game in the Crystal Chronicles franchise, but Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers now has a release date. After a long time of wondering if the game was even going to come out it has finally been announced that the game will launch in North America on December 26th. The day after Christmas is an unusual time to release a game, but it will be in stores for anyone looking to pick up a quality title with their gift money, or gift return money, for that matter.

The game was originally announced during Nintendo's E3 Press Conference back in 2006. We were shown a trailer for the game and then it just sort of fell of the map. It returned later in 2008 with an updated, more mature look and it was probably for the better. It's now been officially announced that it will come out this year and I, for one, am really looking forward to it.

New Content Available for My Life as a Darklord

FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: My Life as a Darklord NEW CONTENT AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD TODAY

London (11th September 2009) – Square Enix Ltd., the publisher of Square Enix® interactive entertainment products in Europe and other PAL territories, today announces that new downloadable add-on content for FINAL FANTASY® CRYSTAL CHRONICLES®: My Life as a Darklord™ for WiiWare™ is available from today.

The ever expanding world of FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: My Life as a Darklord grows even bigger today thanks to its biggest release of downloadable content to date. With two spooky accessories, a chance to recruit FINAL FANTASY IV: The After Years™ dexterous Dragoon, Kain and two brand new stages for her insatiable thirst for conquering, our delightfully evil Darklord, Mira will be spoiled for choice. And she always gets what she wants! The full list of new content is as follows:

Gloomy Armband
200 Wii Points / Blocks Required: 1
Raises your NP by 50 at the start of battle. The effect is permanent with a single purchase. The more accessories you equip, the more NP you'll start with (and the prettier Mira will be). A man once prepared this for his lover, but she died in an accident before he could give it to her. Whoever touches it is said to be blighted by profound despair.

Wailing Doll
200 Wii Points / Blocks Required: 1
Raises your NP by 50 at the start of battle. The effect is permanent with a single purchase. Found in a mansion that burned to the ground, this doll is singed and stained. Anyone who holds it is said to hear it crying for its late owner for all eternity.

Kain
200 Wii Points / Blocks Required: 3
A stout ally making an appearance from FINAL FANTASY IV: The After Years. The strongest of melee fighters, mowing down adventurers with his nimble attack. Kain's prideful spirit and dragoon talents let him play a major role in any Darklord army's forces. Purchase this, and you can place as many of him as your NP allows on the floors.

A Fateful Clash!
500 Wii Points / Blocks Required: 3
Includes two stage collections of varying difficulty. A horde of powerful adventurers is champing at the bit to defeat Mira the Darklord. Shut those conceited peons up with the full brunt of your Darklord power!

Source: Square Enix Press Release

Dragon Quest IX Sales Cause For Panic?

Sales figures out of Japan show the latest information for Dragon Quest IX selling only 79,000 units this week. The life to date sales for the game put it at approximately 3.7 million units sold in Japan since it was released on July 11th. That's only a little over five weeks. Square Enix is hoping to sell 5 million copies of the game in Japan. Is this sudden drop below 100,000 copies in a week going to be cause for concern on their part? I would wait until next week to see if sales go back up or if this is a trend that will continue.

I'm pretty sure the game will have no problem reaching 5 million in Japan, it just may take a little longer than Square had hoped it would. That franchise is a huge seller on the island and once it's released over seas it will just add more millions to that already large total. I don't think there is any cause for concern yet.