New Info On Next Square Enix MMO Coming Soon?
The White Engine is the name for Square Enix's new generation middleware game development tool, and it's being used to create Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy Versus XIII, and an unnamed MMORPG that hasn't really been discussed by the company. Now as part of the Game Developers Conference, head of R&D at Square Enix Taku Murata is presenting the whats, whys, and hows of the White Engine, presumably including demonstrations. Could this lead to an unveiling of media from the new MMO? Anything's possible. Square usually like to keep information close to their vest, but if one views this as a coming out party for a new development tool they hope to sell to other game companies, it would probably work in their advantage to show what the engine can really do. Additionally, despite releasing an expansion for the game this November, Final Fantasy XI, their current MMORPG for the PS2, Xbox 360, and PC, is showing it's age and if they want to keep players from defecting to newer MMOs (as well as win over new customers), it's likely they'll show something soon.
Of course, this is working under the assumption that the new MMORPG is going to be part of the Final Fantasy series. While that's a good bet, due to the name recognition and worldwide popularity of the games, it's also possible that the company could mine another one of it's franchises for the game, such as Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts, or perhaps a glorious rebirth for Rad Racer. It's possible nothing will come of it, but those who just can't wait should make sure to pay attention in a few weeks to the flood of information coming out of GDC.
The Technology of Final Fantasy [GDC]
[via: PS3Fanboy]
Dawdle
Posted to Video Games on 10 February 2008
· Comments (3)
Other stuff like this: final fantasy, gdc 2008, square enix, taku murata, white engine
Interesting, as Square usually doesn't normally participate heavily in developers' conferences like this.
But I guess if they have an engine to sell, they have no choice.
Wow. A Kingdom Hearts MMORPG? Not sure how that would work. It might be interesting, but -- that would be one hell of a thing to pull off and that would get my attention.
I can see a DQ MMORPG -- that would be somewhat interesting, but I wouldn't be jumping ship from WoW for it unless it had something really unique to offer.
I'm also interested to see if SQX licenses the "White Engine" to other development companies.
Wow. A Kingdom Hearts MMORPG? Not sure how that would work. It might be interesting, but -- that would be one hell of a thing to pull off and that would get my attention.
I can see a DQ MMORPG -- that would be somewhat interesting, but I wouldn't be jumping ship from WoW for it unless it had something really unique to offer.
I'm also interested to see if SQX licenses the "White Engine" to other development companies.