http://www.cubed3.com/news/12471 (http://www.cubed3.com/news/12471)
Anyone worth his salt knows this man needs no intoduction. The creator of Ivalice, a world that continues to dazzle us to this day, a continuing story that was told bit by bit with every new release. Though no longer Matsuno's, Akitoshi Kawazu has done a fine job of keeping his world alive and vibrant. Granted two 40/40 from the notoriously strict Famitsu Magazine with Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy XII, his fame is unfortunately shadowed by some of the "larger" players in the field.
It has been since early 2006 that after Matsuno left Square (or was more then likely let go, because of time constraints...) he joined up with Nintendo, to most this should come as little surprise, he has always had a close relationship with Nintendo, as I believe FFTA was the first Square game to be put on the GBA way back in the day, he definitely rebuilt that bridge. Also while he was working on FFXII he met occasionally with Shigeru Miyamoto (many fans thought that perhaps they were collaborating to bring FFXII to the Gamecube.)
He worked with a company called PlatinumGames to create a game called MadWorld (A horrendously bloody, yet stylish beat 'em up on the Wii...), he created the story and the overall premise. (Which I have to say is very well done for just an action game.)
Long before that though there was rumors that he was working on a Wii RPG with Xenosaga workers, wth a company called "Monolith", these rumors began ever since he joined with Nintendo in 2006, now Monolith has released the first trailer of their brand new game and people cannot help but see that it carries with it alot of FFXII's influence. So is this the rumored Matsuno game, that people have been rumoring since early 2007? Truly only time will tell...
Very nice introduction LD, and I think you most definitely could be correct.
Well I suppose if you have to make an RPG that has been influenced by a FF title, it should be 12. Just as an aside though, Famitsu is utter trash. What was their Nintendogs score again?