Square Enix grabbed pretty much all the top headlines at Japanese game websites today with the announcement of a more specific time frame for the release of Dragon Quest IX.
The DS entry in Japan's number one RPG series will arrive in March of 2009, the company confirmed. Pricing has yet to be set.
DQIX has endured somewhat of a rocky path before arriving at this final release time frame. The game was originally announced back in late 2006 as being due for a 2007 release. That was later pushed to 2008 as the game saw some changes to its battle system from the originally announced action-oriented system to classic-style menus.
Recently, in interviews with the mainstream media, Square Enix president Yoichi Wada said that a Dragon Quest game would make it out around the new year. He was either misquoted, or he was referring to another Dragon Quest game (or, just maybe, Square Enix celebrates New Years in March).
DQIX will make it to the Tokyo Game Show this year, but only in non-playable form. Square Enix will hold a stage show for the game, sharing the first details following a long period of silence.