If you wish Bahamut looked as shiny and rain-slick as the dinosaurs in the new Turok, I've got good news for you. Square-Enix announced today that they've licensed Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 for use in development for future games. This marks the first instance of engine outsourcing for Square-Enix and has some sexy, sexy implications: namely, the hope of multiplatform titles thanks to Unreal Engine 3.0's impressive portability. From the press release:

Square Enix has built its highly successful franchises such as FINAL FANTASY®, DRAGON QUEST® and KINGDOM HEARTS by pushing game consoles to their limits and providing unparalleled user experiences for more than 20 years. This was achieved through the company’s proprietary technologies, which were mostly optimized for each game given the limited resources of game consoles. However, in order to ensure both game quality and development efficiency for next-generation game systems including consoles, PCs and network titles, Square Enix is now building a technology platform to be used throughout the company utilizing proprietary technologies as well as introducing third-party solutions such as Unreal Engine 3.

It seems like a bang-up combination. Unreal Engine 3 is already set to power a marquee RPG from another legendary team (Mistwalker's Lost Odyssey); who knows how Square-Enix will use it? Let's just cross our fingers and hope in our heart of hearts that Unreal Engine 3 can offer the same outrageously pretty results as Square-Enix's usual in-house graphic technology.

Check out the full press release after the jump.

Tokyo, Japan, (Jan. 25, 2007) – Square Enix Co., Ltd. today announced a licensing agreement with Epic Games that enables Square Enix to introduce Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 middleware into its next-generation game development process.

Square Enix has built its highly successful franchises such as FINAL FANTASY®, DRAGON QUEST® and KINGDOM HEARTS by pushing game consoles to their limits and providing unparalleled user experiences for more than 20 years. This was achieved through the company’s proprietary technologies, which were mostly optimized for each game given the limited resources of game consoles. However, in order to ensure both game quality and development efficiency for next-generation game systems including consoles, PCs and network titles, Square Enix is now building a technology platform to be used throughout the company utilizing proprietary technologies as well as introducing third-party solutions such as Unreal Engine 3.

“The complexity of next-generation game systems featuring HD graphics and multi-core parallel processing poses a number of technological challenges to our game development. However, we can expedite our game development process significantly while allowing extra time and resources to be spent on game design and mechanics by establishing an effective technology platform,” said Taku Murata, General Manager, Research and Development Division, Square Enix, Co., Ltd. “The technology platform for game development is becoming more important than ever. I’m excited to be partnering with Epic Games in such an important area.”

“We’re extremely excited to be working with Square Enix,” said Jay Wilbur, Vice President, Epic Games, Inc. “Square Enix is one of the biggest and most influential companies in the world-wide game business, and having them work with Unreal Engine 3 is a major honor for us and something we’re very proud to be announcing.”