Square Enix Ships iPod Game

[E6600]

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese videogame maker Square Enix Co Ltd said on Tuesday it had launched its first game for Apple Inc's iPod, broadening its target hardware to the top-selling media player.
Square Enix, known for such blockbuster titles as "Final Fantasy" and "Kingdom Hearts," began offering the "Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes" role-playing game this week in Apple's iTune store.
The game goes for $4.99 in the United States, 4.99 euros ($7.84) in Europe and 600 yen ($5.60) in Japan.
Unlike some iPod games, which are modified versions of mobile phone games, "Song Summoner" was developed exclusively for iPod and is designed to take advantage of the machine's functionality.
A game player picks a song stored in the iPod and the song determines the types and abilities of the fighters in the game, or "Tune Troopers."
There is no sales target for the game, a Square Enix spokeswoman said.
Shares in Square Enix slipped 1.5 percent to 3,280 yen in late afternoon trade in Tokyo, outperforming the Nikkei average which fell 2.5 percent.

Copyright 2007 Reuters.

[E6600]

From Sqaure Enix: (includes nice screenshots)



STORY

From the days of old, Melodica was a land of music, a land of freedom. The people sang, played and danced to the music they so cherished. Until one day, they came — the Mechanoids, who enhanced their bodies with machinery. Those who were tempted by greed and power willingly gave away their souls for bodies of steel, forsaking their humanity to become cold, emotionless automatons. Now, they seek to destroy all that do not embrace their way of life.

But there is hope on the horizon. There are those who are fated to stand against the tyranny of the machines — the Superstars, who can turn sound into lethal weapons, and the Conductor, also known as the Song Summoner, who can summon powerful warriors born of music.

In their most desperate hour, Melodica awaits the arrival of their new Song Summoner...


FEATURES

Transform your iPod songs into "Tune Troopers" to combat the evil Mechanical Militia
Tune Trooper types and abilities are determined by the songs used to create them
Your Tune Troopers can be powered up even outside of the game--just by listening to the songs you used to create them!
Control Ziggy, a "Conductor" that creates warriors out of music, and guide him through his journey to save his brother Zero from the Mechanical Militia
Experience a turn-based tactics battle system, divided into player and enemy phases where each side takes turns maneuvering their forces
Deploy the right troopers at the right time, and use contraptions found on the map effectively to achieve victory in battle!
iPod Click Wheelallows players to play the game as easily as selecting music


SQUARE ENIX ANNOUNCES SONG SUMMONER : The Unsung Heroes, a Full-Scale Role-Playing Game for iPod, Now Available on iTunes | SQUARE ENIX

[AaronSOLDIER]

SQUARE ENIX need to concentrate on the next gen console games right now, seriously, PlayStation aint the same without FF, instead they're releasing all the handheld/mobile games

[E6600]

Originally Posted by AaronSOLDIER

SQUARE ENIX need to concentrate on the next gen console games right now, seriously, PlayStation aint the same without FF, instead they're releasing all the handheld/mobile games

burn

too bad it wont work on my iPod either time to buy a new one

[AaronSOLDIER]

Originally Posted by E6600

burn

too bad it wont work on my iPod either time to buy a new one

Do you really think SE are getting better? Seriously, SE are turning into SEGA, the squaresoft days were the best, and SE's doing a good job to keep it that way

[Leonidas]

you want to see square make money, dont you?

[AaronSOLDIER]

no not really, I want them to make awesome games like they once did, since ill be getting the games and not their money.

But if this is just a plan to make money for better future games from SE I have no problem, but thats unlikely.

[E6600]

Originally Posted by AaronSOLDIER

Do you really think SE are getting better? Seriously, SE are turning into SEGA, the squaresoft days were the best, and SE's doing a good job to keep it that way

I agree with you, SE has gone downhill and fast. When they were separate companies they put out a whole lot of great games.
Now SE makes lousy games, but this actually looks good for a change. I certainly wasn't impressed with ANY SE game, especially Final Fantasy XII and Valkyrie Profile 2.

[AaronSOLDIER]

Well, as you probably know, my fav game is FF7, a squaresoft game, but back in the 90's, if you saw a game with SQUARESOFT on it you knew it would be awesome, heres a list of some of those awesome games:

FF4
FF6
FF7
FF8
FF9
Parasite eve 1 and 2

But even Im starting to think FF is starting to suck, but FF13 looks promising, lets hope so...

[E6600]

Originally Posted by AaronSOLDIER

Well, as you probably know, my fav game is FF7, a squaresoft game, but back in the 90's, if you saw a game with SQUARESOFT on it you knew it would be awesome, heres a list of some of those awesome games:

FF4
FF6
FF7
FF8
FF9
Parasite eve 1 and 2

But even Im starting to think FF is starting to suck, but FF13 looks promising, lets hope so...

hey finally someone with nearly the same exact opinion, I have the same exact FF favorite, and FF10 and later aren't among them
in addition to other favorites like Chrono Trigger and Cross, and Xenogears, Parasite Eve was great fun too

Square's best titles were on the SNES and PS1.