Square Enix to bring Final Fantasy title to mobile gamers

SAN FRANCISCO--Square Enix today announced that two titles that draw their inspiration from top-selling PlayStation titles in the Square Enix back catalog are on their way to mobile handsets in the US.

Square Enix's president and COO, Ichiro Otobe, and Square Enix producer Kosei Ito are both attending the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. They stopped by the GameSpot offices this morning and showed off the titles and answered questions about the two new mobile games, Final Fantasy VII Snowboarding and Musashi: Mobile Samurai. They declined to specify on which handsets and with which carriers the games would appear.

The former (due out this next month) is a port of the snowboarding minigame found in Final Fantasy VII's Gold Saucer area, while the latter (due out this month) is an action-oriented take on the upcoming PlayStation 2 action RPG.

Both titles will feature 3D graphics similar in quality and style as those found in the recent mobile release, Kingdom Hearts, released by Disney Mobile. Final Fantasy Snowboarding's use of the iconic Chocobo race theme is likely to especially pique the interest of series fans.

While many analysts believe the United States is quickly bridging the technological gap separating our fledgling handsets from those of Japan, Otobe-san still believes we've got a ways to go. "The mobile scene in the US is like that of Japan, [albeit] two or three years ago," he said. Otobe suggested that it will be a while yet before we see a true Final Fantasy phone game. Ito-san (who spoke through a translator) seemed to suggest that the company will be looking closely at its US sales figures before committing to any future mobile projects.