The Creator of Final Fantasy Speaks!

Hironobu Sakaguchi, the mastermind behind the creation of the remarkably popular Final Fantasy series, has recently had some stern things to say about many subjects in today’s gaming industry. Not all of it was positive, either – he blasts Sony and the Playstation 3, but besides these personal things he touches us up with some information on his newest projects.

When asked about how he feels about the Playstation 3 in the recent Electronic Gaming Monthly interview [EGM, June 2007 issue], Sakaguchi responded by saying

“I’m not interested in the Playstation 3. The machine’s architecture is tricky, and I don’t’ like Kutaragi”.

Ouch. Despite this, he still believes in the Wii and especially the Xbox 360. While he has several plans for new Xbox 360 games (which I will get to in a moment), he said that

“The [Wii] is intriguing, but right now I have no plans on making a game for the Wii”.

With the enormous popularity of the Wii, you could probably expect him to make something unique for it down the road. Hell, even beyond this, Sukaguchi even talks about the recent global warming phenomenon by saying that he’d like to make a game about it based on the bizarre changes in climates he experiences where he’s current living (Hawaii).

You can read the article in it’s entirety in the June 2007 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, on newsstands now.

In the mean time, here are some looks at his future Xbox 360 projects:

Blue Dragon

Already released in Japan, Blue Dragon was one of the few Xbox 360 games to gain popularity on the other side of the pond. It helped sell some 360’s over in the Land of the Rising Sun, and even though it didn’t significantly help out the struggling system over there it became a bit of a hit nonetheless. With great reception from the important version and a talented team working on it, you can expect Blue Dragon to be received warmly when it hits the U.S. this fall.

Lost Odyssey

Not much information has been revealed about this intriguing title yet, except that it will have a rather complex storyline and be powered by the same engine found in last year’s tech-powerhouse Gears of War.

Cry On

Appropriately titled, Cry On will feature a story line that Sakaguchi hopes makes you cry every 15 minutest (yep, he actually said that).

Grand Theft Auto: IV Part II: Thoughts From the Mind of Ross

So you’ve probably seen the trailer for Grand Theft Auto: IV by now (if not, don’t fret – I’ve included it in this post). I and millions of other gamers across the land of the internet have been eagerly awaiting this trailer for awhile now. In fact, for me, it was my most anticipated game trailer of all time. So did it live up to the hype?

Well, to be honest, I was a bit let down. Although New York City is a fantastic location and should make a very interesting playground for the next GTA, part of the fun of playing a new Grand Theft Auto game is to experience a new location (that is why the mediocre ‘Stories’ side games didn’t intrigue me at all). Also, the game play found in the 3D Grand Theft Auto games were fine for last generation, but they’re beyond outdated now (True Crime: New York City had a far superior combat system – let’s hope Rockstar “borrows” some key elements from that superb title…). And while the visuals certainly looked snazzy in the trailer, those were just mere cinematic – how will Grand Theft Auto IV look on my HD-TV when I’m actually playing it?

Still, not all was bad. Although I’ve mentioned that the game play was outdated in past titles, you’d have to be very foolish to assume Rockstar would just rest on their laurels and give us the same ol’ antiquated combat and aiming systems from years ago. Also, maybe this whole realistic New York City thing will work out (especially with the impressive power of the next-gen consoles). And, as a Russian-American, it’s nice to see that the main character found in the new Grand Theft Auto is of Russian-descent. I’m betting that Rockstar will prove us skeptics wrong and deliver a top-quality product when Grand Theft Auto: IV hits this fall. Despite my skepticism, I still can’t wait to get my hands on it.

The trailer