Microsoft has announced that it has inked a deal with Hironobu Sakaguchi, father of the smash hit Final Fantasy series, to develop two role-playing games for Xbox 2, widely expected to be launched by the end of 2005 or early in 2006.

Sakaguchi will work on both games under a new game development company, Mistwalker, headquartered in Japan.

This will be the first time for Sakaguchi to work with Microsoft for the Xbox 2 platform. His former company, Square, developed 11 versions of Final Fantasy for Nintendo platforms, followed by Sony Playstation.

The Final Fantasy series is the single most successful role-playing game in video gaming history, selling approximately 60 million copies worldwide and spawning several copycats along the way.

Sakaguchi?s deal with Microsoft is expected to boost the Xbox 2 presence in Japan, considered the second biggest market for video games after the US.

Earlier Microsoft reported slow gains in the Japanese market, selling only 1.8 million units of the first generation Xbox, compared to 19 million units of Sony Playstation 2.

Prior to leaving Square, Sakaguchi directed the box-office flop ?Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.? He then put up his own game development company, now developing another RPG for the Nintendo DS platform.

-InQ7

-Also.. i need some feed back on what you all would like to hear about, if anything. :roll: