In a recent interview, Square Enix president Youichi Wada commented on the Japanese release date of Dragon Quest IX. Wada said he expected the game to be available sometime in early 2009. Originally announced in December 2006, the first main series installment to appear on a handheld (excluding ports and remakes, of course) was initially set to be available in 2007. The release date was later pushed back to sometime this year. At a presentation of Square Enix's financial results in May, Wada effectively danced around the issue, refusing to commit to a release date.

As for the failed attempt to take over rival third party publisher Tecmo, apparently all has not been said and done yet. Square Enix management has only postponed any decision on the deal. As previously reported, Tecmo had rejected Square Enix's take-over bid and instead entered into negotiations about a business tie-up with Koei.

• Yahoo Japan News