Square Enix launches its first iPod game

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese videogame maker Square Enix Co Ltd said on Tuesday it had launched its first game for Apple Inc's iPod, broadening its target hardware to the top-selling media player.

Square Enix, known for such blockbuster titles as "Final Fantasy" and "Kingdom Hearts", began offering the "Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes" roll-playing game this week in Apple's iTune store.

The game goes for $4.99 in the United States, 4.99 euros ($7.84) in Europe and 600 yen ($5.60) in Japan.

Unlike some iPod games, which are modified versions of mobile phone games, "Song Summoner" was developed exclusively for iPod and is designed to take advantage of the machine's functionality.

A game player picks a song stored in the iPod and the song determines the types and abilities of the fighters in the game, or "Tune Troopers".

There is no sales target for the game, a Square Enix spokeswoman said.

Shares in Square Enix slipped 1.5 percent to 3,280 yen in late afternoon trade in Tokyo, outperforming the Nikkei average which fell 2.5 percent.

($1=107.06 yen)

($1=.6367 euro)

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Brent Kininmont)