More and more heavy hitters from the console gaming world seem to be making their way to mobile games, with multiple new projects being announced by some big names in the industry.
According to a report from Japanese publication Andriasang, among those big names is Hironobu Sakaguchi. Big-time gaming fans from the 1990s will likely recognize him: he’s the Japanese game director and producer who created the incredibly popular Final Fantasy series. Sakaguchi also oversaw a number of incredibly popular titles at Square Enix during that time, including Chrono Trigger, a port of which just made its way onto iOS late last year.
Sakaguchi responded to a question posed by a fan via Twitter to say that he was making not one, but as many as three iOS titles as his next project. Details beyond that are scarce, however, and it’s likely that Sakaguchi hasn’t begun work on anything just yet. He’s currently touring Europe to promote his game The Last Story and has said he plans to return to Japan on March 1.
Also planning a big iOS release is Take Two Interactive, which is creating a mobile entry to the Max Payne series, according to Fierce Mobile Content. Max Payne is a third-person shooter that first introduced the “bullet time” effect that has become popular in a lot of shooters since then. Max Payne 3 is gearing up for release from developer Rockstar Games, the company behind the recent mobile release of Grand Theft Auto III, and to correspond with the new game, the original Max Payne is going to show up on iOS as well.
Lots of big game companies have been bringing their old titles to Apple’s platform, bringing a lot of classics to the iPhone and iPad. And more companies are opting to try for mobile titles instead of console releases of late. We heard not long ago about developer Eat Sleep Play, having just come off the release of Twisted Metal on the PlayStation 3, is switching gears to make games for iOS. And after hitting it big on Kickstarter, Double Fine Productions plans to release its upcoming Double Fine Adventure title on the iPhone and iPad as well as on PC, Mac and Linux.
It seems there are some pretty big-deal titles on the horizon for Apple device users. The Final Fantasy titles have had a pretty big impact on the iTunes App Store, and it’ll be great to see new offerings from Hironobu Sakaguchi to add to their ranks. Add those to the upcoming offerings both fresh and classic, and 2012 is shaping up to be an exciting time to playing games on your iPhone or iPad.
