Legend to design Xbox games
2005-02-25 10:56
Tokyo - Microsoft has clinched a deal with the creator of Final Fantasy, the role-playing game which helped Sony's PlayStation triumph, to design titles for the US giant's next-generation Xbox machine.
Videogame legend Hironobu Sakaguchi will lead the creation of two role-playing games exclusive to the next-generation Xbox, Microsoft said.
Sakaguchi is best known for creating the Final Fantasy series in which heroes join forces to save the world over an intricate computer landscape.
The games have sold 60 million units worldwide and helped in Sony's own conquest to dominate the home console market.
"Microsofts cutting-edge technologies in the next-generation platform will allow me to bring to life an array of ideas that I have had for many years," the company quoted Sakaguchi as saying on Thursday.
It was not announced when the new tiles will come out although the next-generation Xbox is widely expected to be launched later this year.
Microsoft has sold 19.9 million Xbox machines worldwide since they were launched in February 2002, the company said, but sales have been especially sluggish in Japan, home of Sony and Nintendo.
Nintendo, besides dominating the portable market, has sold 18.03 GameCube home consoles globally since their debut in September 2001. Sony has shipped 81.4 million PlayStation 2 consoles since March 2000, company figures show.