Tech Shout!

Today morning, Namco Bandai announced that they have sold a major portion of their share in Tokyo-based developer Monolith Soft to Nintendo

Japanese entertainment company Monolith Soft or MLSI specializes in developing video games for various consoles like the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Wii, Nintendo DS, and mobile phones. Monolith Soft is the creator of the Xenosaga RPG series for PlayStation 2 and the Baten Kaitos series for Nintendo GameCube. And readers please don’t mistake Monolith Software for Monolith Productions, the Washington-based studio behind F.E.A.R.

At the E3 2006 event, Nintendo announced that Monolith Soft was creating a Wii game to be published by Nintendo called Disaster: Day of Crisis.

Namco Bandai held 96% of the stock in Monolith Soft. Now, after the announcement it will retain 16% of the stock, and Nintendo will become majority shareholder with 80%.

In today’s statement, Namco Bandai said that it would continue to work closely with Monolith Soft on game development in the future.

The first Baten Kaitos game was published by Namco Bandai in the US. Nintendo bought the rights to the Baten Kaitos franchise from Namco Bandai, the original publisher, during the development of Baten Kaitos Origins, the 2006 prequel to Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean.