Downtrodden Taito U.S. employee confirms Arkanoid and Space Invaders

With the boxarts, prices, and release dates on Gamestop's website, it seems like a pretty sure bet that Space Invaders Extreme and Arkanoid DS will indeed be published by Square Enix in North America. However, in the absence of an official press release like the one that just came out for Europe, we could use all the confirmation we can get. Two recent bits of information help cement the notion that these games really will come out.

First, Arkanoid has finally joined Invaders as a game rated by the ESRB. The E rating has finally shown up on the ratings board's website, indicating that it is planned for release. Second, Keiji Fujita, the sole Taito rep in the U.S., confirmed it directly in a Gamasutra interview. "Arkanoid was released last year in Japan, and Space Invaders Extreme [was released in February]. In fact, these two games will be published by Square Enix in the United States." Since they're being published by Square Enix, though, Fujita has nothing to do with them -- with the only Taito console games to come out this year.

If we want more Taito games (and we do), then we should maybe consider buying at least one of these two. Fujita said that the future of Taito games, at least as published by Square Enix, hinges on the success of Invaders and Arkanoid.