Dragon Quest X landing on Wii and Wii U in 2012

During the recent Dragon Quest 25th anniversary press conference held in Japan, Square Enix announced that the 10th title in the Dragon Quest role-playing game franchise, Dragon Quest X: Rise of the Five Tribes will be making its way to the Wii. The event was streamed on Square Enix's Ustream channel.

Nier and Drakengard producer Yosuke Saito will be acting as producer on the new title, alongside director and franchise creator Yuji Horii and character designer Akira Toriyama. Tailored after the likes of World of Warcraft and EverQuest, Dragon Quest X is billed as an online RPG, but Saito stated that gamers can play the game solo.

The first game trailer on the stream showed off five different races banding together to defeat monsters in turn-based fashion. Just like previous titles, players can select skills and magic spells from menus during fights, as well as customize their character's skills and equipment out of combat. Users can also create their own clothes in the game's new sewing system.

Dragon Quest X is also going to be released on Nintendo's upcoming Wii U platform, with enhanced graphics. Both versions of the game will be sharing the same world. Horii also let on that he is working on an idea where players can transfer character data onto a Nintendo 3DS, obtain StreetPass data from the device, and transfer the data back onto the Wii or Wii U to see online players they've met.

According to Horii, Dragon Quest X will be out in 2012. Beta testing details will be announced shortly at the game's official site. For more information on its predecessor, check out GameSpot's coverage on Dragon Quest IX.