Square Enix have revealed that the next installment in the Dragon Quest series will be released on the Nintendo Wii as an online RPG. At a press conference, they stated that the Wii version of Dragon Quest X will be released sometime in 2012, and a Wii U version will follow at a time yet to be determined. This is also the first time that a Dragon Quest game is being developed internally at Square Enix.

Dragon Quest X will be released not only on a single Wii disc but is also set to be shipped with a USB thumb drive that will allow for post release content to be stored on it. The game will also support Wii Remotes with Nunchucks, the classic controller and USB keyboards as well. A listing for the game states that Dragon Quest X will charge a fee to play online, but what that fee will be has yet to be revealed. Hopefully being on the Wii, Square Enix will not charge a ridiculous amount for DQ’s online experience and may feature yearly or lifetime subscriptions.

Dragon Quest X is described as having a massive world consisting of five continents and five different, playable races as well as featuring a job class system. An important detail about the game is that players can complete the game offline. While playing the online one player can become an ally for another player and allow their character to be used as an NPC in another player’s game. Though not confirmed, Square Enix did mention that there might be the possibility of Nintendo 3DS functionality, giving players the ability to transfer friends and character information via SpotPass.