Yamauchi says no to Square

[01.29.00] » Nintendo's president continues his hostility towards everything, including comments on Microsoft and a startling public refusal to accept Square development.

    In what must come as a shock to Nintendo fans hoping for a return from Square, NCL President Hiroshi Yamauchi has now publically refused to consider the idea, even after a friendly overture from Square last week regarding Game Boy Advance remakes of Final Fantasy IV-VI.

    "There is no contract with Square, and that matter is not open to further discussion...[Square] can say whatever they want, but we have no intention of signing a contract, and there's little chance of one being signed in the future," Yamauchi said in an interview conducted by Bloomberg Japan and partially translated by Gamers.com. This was in stark constrast to his position on rival Sega, who he said "has an agreement" to make GBA software and has already begun development.

    The other company to feel Yamauchi's wrath was Microsoft. He acknowledged that Bill Gates is "a great businessman, but he is only human."

    "There is one thing he knows nothing about, and that's games. If you know nothing about sumo, you can't expect to take on a yokozuna...I expect even in a year's time they'll be able to see the consequences of this," he continued.

    Having now served as president of NCL for over 50 years, Yamauchi said again that there were no plans for his retirement and that he had given "no thought at all" to a successor.