Sakaguchi's next-gen RPG revealed

The latest issue of Japanese magazine Shonen Jump has revealed the title of Hironobu Sakaguchi's next-generation Xbox role-playing game: Blue Dragon. The game is currently in production at Mistwalker, Sakaguchi's development studio founded with the help of other former SquareSoft employees.

Characters will be designed by Akira Toriyama, illustrator of Square Enix's Dragon Quest series and author of the popular manga Dragon Ball Z. Sakaguchi and Toriyama previously collaborated on Square's beloved 1995 SNES RPG Chrono Trigger.

Shonen Jump featured illustrations of three characters, all of whom were children: Shu, Jiro, and Kruck. Shu, the main character of the game, is said to be an energetic boy who loves adventure. He has spiky brown hair and wears short pants. One illustration shows a blue dragon coming out of Shu's shadow, huffing fire. The same dragon is also featured on the game's logo. Jiro is an intellectual boy with a stern look and slick short hair. He's shown resting his foot on some sort of electronic machine, which suggests he's a mechanic. Kruck is a girl who's said to be a bit mature for her age, and she wears a plain black dress.

"I've made many RPGs in my past, but I'm planning to make Blue Dragon the most satisfying in terms of volume," commented Sakaguchi. "It will have many adventures and tricks that can only be featured in video games. Please look forward to it."