The video game industry is hopeful that the 2012 release of a major new "Dragon Quest" title, this one with online play, will energize a domestic market that has slumped as smartphones and social networking sites come into their own as gaming platforms.Square Enix said Monday that "Dragon Quest X" will go on sale for Nintendo Co.'s Wii next year and that it is also developing a version with improved graphics for the console's planned successor, the Wii U Video games continue to change rapidly," Nintendo President Satoru Iwata told a news conference here Monday, adding that the new "Dragon Quest" title could redefine the online RPG.
In "Dragon Quest X," players can form parties with their friends online. As games played on social networking sites like those of Gree Inc. and DeNA Co. draw users, Square Enix hopes to make its hit series more attractive by offering interactions between players over the Net.
The domestic home video game market shrank for three years straight through 2010, according to game magazine publisher Enterbrain Inc. But while hopes are high for "Dragon Quest X," the product will not come out in time for the 2011 year-end shopping season. Nintendo, having posted a 37.7 billion yen operating loss for the April-June quarter, intends to focus for now on boosting sales of the Nintendo 3DS, its 3-D handheld game system released this spring.
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