Late last week, it was revealed that Square plans to establish an affiliate company for the purposes of developing games for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance and GameCube. However, the details of the agreement have not been finalized. "The new company is tentatively called Game Designers Studios," said Kazuyoshi Murakawa, a Square investor relations representative. "[But] the deal between Square and Nintendo is still an ongoing process and has not been finalized."

　　In addition, it was initially reported that Fund Q--a fund set up by Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi to help encourage game development, focusing specifically on games that utilize the connectivity feature between the GameCube and Game Boy Advance--would also factor into the agreement. But Murakawa told GameSpot that Fund Q is only one of several approaches Square plans to take with the new company. He did, however, say that the company still may take the connectivity option into account. "The objective of the new company is to develop GBA titles, so GameCube titles are not a part of the plan," he said. "But because the Game Boy Advance and GameCube allow for link connectivity, we may make use of such a feature in the future."

　　As reported earlier, it seems as though the company will begin producing games right away. "We intend to release new, original titles, as well as ports of classic titles," Murakawa said. "We plan to release between three to four games within this fiscal year, and hopefully one of them by the end of this year." Murakawa also reaffirmed the news that Final Fantasy Tactics is a likely candidate but said that nothing has been finalized.

　　But perhaps the most interesting piece of news is that Game Designers Studios will have only one staff member: Akitoshi Kawazu, who has worked on games in the Final Fantasy and SaGa series. Murakawa noted that the actual development of games will be handled externally, through the parent company SquareSoft.

　　We'll bring you new details on the Square-Nintendo agreement as they are unveiled.