Squid of Man

And now for something completely unexpected.

Gamespot are reporting that Yoichi Wada, President of Square Enix, has hinted the company are seriously considering entering the hardware market.

"The strategy behind Nintendo and the iPod, to create a new environment based on hardware, is completely valid. But, this is impossible if you don't have experience making hardware. This is one of the reasons Square Enix will collaborate with Taito, a company that produces physical hardware. In our talks with Taito, ideas for an actual physical product have come up. In any case, we will be releasing some 'thing.'"

So all signs point to Square Enix and Taito launching their own console. Is there room for a fourth console? Maybe. Sure as shit not in the West, but in Japan, where eating babies and mass suicide appears more popular than the Xbox brand, maybe there is. And it'd sell, what with Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest behind it, and those being the only non-DS games anyone there ever buys any more.

Interesting stuff, if it ever proves to be more than speculative horse shit.

PS - Here's an interesting piece on Taito's previous attempt at launching a console. Downloadable, pre-paid content in 1992? Shit, I'd never even heard of this thing. Awesome.