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Actor teases new Kingdom Hearts voice work
Jesse McCartney is a voice actor for the Kingdom Hearts series; he's played Roxas for a few different games now. Earlier today, McCartney tweeted that he was "recording the next chapter" of the series, along with a picture of Roxas on a monitor, which you can see above. Unfortunately, the tweet and picture featuring the game have been removed; however, an earlier update confirmed McCartney is currently "behind the mic" working on something.The question remains: what game in the Kingdom Hearts series is McCartney working on? The likely answer is it's the North American release of Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix, which features Final Mix, Chain of Memories, and 358/2 Days. Time will tell.
Disney acquires Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion, LucasArts included
Disney has just announced its purchase of Lucasfilm Limited, the umbrella corporation responsible for all things Star Wars, Indiana Jones and pretty much anything else George Lucas has ever had his hand in. The purchase will set ol' Walt back $4.05 billion.Industrial Light & Magic, Skywalker Sound and LucasArts are all included in the purchase price, meaning that Disney has not only found a way to profit from the production of movies that it isn't making, but also how to get Jar-Jar Binks into a Kingdom Hearts game.The company also announced that Star Wars 7 exists and is aiming for a 2015 release date, which makes this the most insane thing ever. Lucasfilm co-chairman Kathleen Kennedy will become president of Lucasfilm under Disney, and will also act as executive producer on "new Star Wars feature films, with George Lucas serving as creative consultant."
Nomura: 'It'd be unusual' if Kingdom Hearts II HD didn't happen
"It'd be unusual" for there not to be an HD update for Kingdom Hearts II, series director Tetsuya Nomura told Famitsu magazine. As Gematsu reports, following last month's announcement of 1.5 HD Remix, Nomura admitted a second HD update for the Kingdom Hearts series is probably going to happen.With Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories, and 358/2 Days being bundled in 1.5 HD Remix, we'd wager our limited edition Goofy figurine on a second update including the remaining major releases, namely Kingdom Hearts II, the PSP's Birth by Sleep, and the recent 3DS game 3D: Dream Drop Distance.Nomura also dished a few more details on 1.5 HD Remix. Rather than upscaling old character models, the update will simply feature those used in Dream Drop Distance. Also, the gameplay is being tweaked to be closer to Kingdom Hearts II's - which should mean there's no need to fear the return of the first entry's temperamental camera.
See and hear Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix for yourself
The first trailer for Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix not only gives you an idea of what the series looks like with its new coat of paint – it also lets you hear Goofy's Japanese speaking voice.
Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix announced for PS3, features remastered PS2 games
Square Enix has revealed Kingdom Hearts is finally on its way to current-era home consoles. In typical wacky naming fashion for the publisher, the bundle including HD remastered versions of Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, Kingdom Hearts - Re:Chain of Memories, and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days will launch in 2013 under the banner of Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix.No stranger to re-releases, the Kingdom Hearts franchise will further update the PS2 re-release of Chain of Memories – originally a GBA game – to the PS3. Final Mix was a Japanese-exclusive re-release of the first game, which added new content found in the North American version of the game. Though the DS-exclusive 358/2 Days would probably see the most tweaking to get it to land on home consoles, speculation based on a Famitsu report is the PS3 release will only feature remade cutscenes from in the handheld title and not its gameplay.Additionally, Square Enix revealed a browser-based, online social card game set within the Kingdom Hearts universe, according to the same Famitsu report.Joystiq has a team in Japan for TGS 2012 – which officially begins tomorrow – and will look to have Square Enix explain exactly what the PS3 bundle includes and whether the company plans to bring it stateside.
Nomura considering 'HD technical test' for Kingdom Hearts anniversary
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance will finally make its hands-on debut at the Tokyo Game Show later this fall -- but does that news really do anything for you? In the latest issue of Japanese gaming mag Dengeki PlayStation (as translated by Andriasang), Square Enix's Tetsuya Nomura explained that it's becoming difficult to get new players into the series with each new iteration. We get the hesitation -- we've played all the Kingdom Hearts games, and still can't follow a majority of their plots. Nomura mentioned a plan to help bring new players into the fold: As a celebration of the franchise's 10th anniversary, he hopes to release an "HD technical test" of the series. Could that mean remakes of the first two, past-gen games? Maybe a teaser trailer similar to that of Final Fantasy VII HD which Square Enix will undoubtedly never follow up on? We'll try to squeeze some answers out of those lollygaggers during TGS next month.
StarCraft 2 headlines game-related Lightning Deals on Amazon
It's time once again to save on a seemingly random selection of nine games -- the Amazon Gold Box is loaded with game deals today. The Deal of the Day is Starcraft 2 for $39.99, but if that's not the craft you're after, you can also pick up the World of Warcraft Battle Chest right now (until 11AM EST, at least) for $18. Hints for upcoming deals suggest that savings for Dragon Age and Kingdom Hearts games are on the way, along with Bulletstorm. Find the full schedule, with hints, after the break.
Kingdom Hearts 3D to feature all new Disney worlds, Nomura says
Famitsu recently had a chance to chat with Tetsuya Nomura, the zipper-loving director of the Kingdom Hearts franchise. In the interview (translated by Andriasang), Nomura revealed that new "gameplay systems" are in the works for the next iteration of the game, Kingdom Hearts 3D for the 3DS, and that some of these mechanics may even find their way into the long-awaited (but still unannounced) Kingdom Hearts 3. For example, both Sora and Riku will be playable characters in the upcoming game, and Nomura is promising some differences between the two characters. The reason why Sora and Riku appear as they do in the first Kingdom Hearts game hasn't been explained, with Nomura simply teasing that it is "a secret" and necessary for the story. Perhaps the most exciting revelation from the interview is Nomura's intention to include brand new Disney worlds for the upcoming sequel. Although Traverse Town and "other original creations" will make a reappearance, it'll be interesting to see exactly what Disney worlds make it into the next game. Frankly, we're not even entirely sure what Square Enix has yet to dig up from the Disney vault.
Buy Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded at GameStop or Amazon, get puffy stickers
If you pre-order Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded from GameStop or Amazon, you can kind of make your DS look like the Japan-exclusive Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days DSi. Kind of. Square Enix announced that pre-orders of the DS jaunt through Jiminy's memories will include the above sticker sheet, containing 32 2mm-thick stickers with various emblems from the series. The offer has yet to show up on either retailer's site, but if you wish upon a star (or wait a bit) we're confident it will appear.
Kingdom Hearts Re: coded being re: leased January 11
Square Enix has announced the release date of Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded, for those of you who have devoured Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep already and are eagerly awaiting your next fix of spiky haired Disney fanfic. The publisher will release the prettied-up DS port of the mobile game on January 11, 2011. New Yorkers will be able to get their hands on Jiminy Cricket's journal (or, rather, inhabit it as Sora) this weekend. Re: Coded will be playable at Square Enix's New York Comic-Con booth, #1823.%Gallery-104474%
Kingdom Hearts 3DS development underway, to follow Re:Coded
Fans eager for a new Kingdom Hearts console game will have to wait even longer, it seems. In an interview with Famitsu, designer Tetsuya Nomura revealed that the next game in the franchise will be the 3DS game, first unveiled at E3 earlier this year. "Next is Kingdom Hearts 3D," he told the magazine. "The time frame for 3D is after Re:Coded." According to Nomura, development is already underway on the project and will only accelerate once the Final Mix team is done working on that Japan-only PSP release. "We'd like to announce it as soon as possible," Nomura said of the 3DS game, seemingly ignoring the fact that he was technically announcing the game as he spoke.
New Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded trailer is a genre-bender
The latest Japanese trailer for Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded features some startling freshness for the action-RPG series: gameplay segments featuring different genres. Footage of turn-based combat, platforming and even a Space Harrier-style shoot 'em up wait in the trailer below.
Kingdom Hearts: Re:Coded getting graphics and combat upgrade, FF13 cameo
The latest Famitsu has an interview with Square Enix producer Tetsuya Nomura about Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded, the game originally leaked by a voice actor and then officially announced at E3 last week. The title is indeed a remake of the mobile phone game from Japan -- Square Enix found that none of the phones required to play the game were sold in North America, so it decided to bring it to the Nintendo DS instead. The hardware will bring 3D models into some parts of the game, and the battle system will be different, incorporating some elements from 358/2 Days, though Nomura says it will be more casual than that game. And the extra development time will allow Square Enix to sneak some more characters in, too, including Final Fantasy XIII's Lightning. Which sounds great to us -- in fact, we'll take anyone but Hope. Man, Hope is really annoying.
Preview: Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
At last year's E3, I got a chance to check out Kingdom Hearts' first North American outing on handhelds, 358/2 Days (or, as Google's automatic calculator called it when I just searched to make sure I had the name right, 179 Days). I recall being impressed at how they managed to ape the solid experience the game delivered on PS2 on a portable platform, albeit at the cost of a bit of visual power and general gameplay depth. To describe Birth By Sleep using these terms would be awfully irresponsible. If 358/2 Days was Square-Enix's attempt to emulate the franchise's previous offerings on a handheld, then Sleep represents the fruits of the studio's developmental labor. It's not just an attempt to squish the core franchise down to a smaller format -- it's a fully realized extension of said franchise.
Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded for DS revealed in Square Enix E3 lineup
Square Enix has announced its lineup of games to be shown at E3, and, while there may be surprises yet to be revealed, the company has already unveiled a rather big one. Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded, a new DS game by 358/2 Days developer h.a.n.d., will be on display at the show. The game sounds like an action-RPG remake of the Japan-only mobile game Kingdom Hearts: Coded, in which a virtual Sora retraces his steps through the original Kingdom Hearts. "Jiminy Cricket is looking over the journal he used to document his first adventure with Sora when he discovers a mysterious message," according to the description of Re:Coded included in Square's E3 press release. "He didn't write it – so how on earth did it get there? King Mickey is determined to find out, so he and his friends decide to digitize the journal and delve into its deepest secrets. Inside this "datascape" dwells a second Sora who is about to embark on a grand adventure of his very own." The game currently has a "TBD" release date. Square Enix didn't specify how much of the game would be shown, but considering it's just been announced, we expect little more than a trailer.
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep coming stateside September 7
A trailer embedded in a post on the U.S. PlayStation.Blog has revealed that Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, which had previously been promised to hit North American store shelves this summer, has received a firm release date of September 7. If you're extra enthusiastic about vanquishing the Heartless, the post explains that you'll also be able to pick up a hardware bundle that includes the game, an unannounced movie, a 4GB memory stick and a "Mystic Silver" (that's fancy-speak for "plain ol' silver") PSP-3000 on the same day. The PlayStation.Blog post didn't mention a price for this package -- we'd guess it'll be around the usual $199.99 price point that other PSP bundles are currently being offered for, but we've contacted Sony to try and get a more official number. In the meantime, check out the brand new, ever-so-brief trailer for Birth by Sleep that's posted above. Update: A press release accompanying this announcement just arrived in our inbox, revealing a handful of the game's auspicious cast of voice actors: Mark Hamill, Willa Holland, Jesse McCartney, James Woods and Leonard Nimoy. Oh, Nimoy, our oldest friend. It's been too long. Update 2: A Square Enix representative confirmed the bundle will retail for $199.99.
Nomura mentions three more Kingdom Hearts games in interview
An interview with Square Enix's Tetsuya Nomura, printed in the Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep Ultimania guide book, outs the planning of three new games in the Disney/Square action RPG series. And one of them is, for real, Kingdom Hearts III. However, Nomura hasn't started the actual production of the title -- evidently he's busy with Final Fantasy Versus XIII, which is apparently a real game that people are working on. "We won't take up KH3 until we've reached a certain target with FF Versus XIII," Nomura said, according to Andriasang's translation of the text provided by FF-Reunion. One of the two additional Kingdom Hearts games will be out this year. Another, due later, features multiple protagonists like Birth by Sleep. Nomura also dashed any hope of another super-deluxe re-release like the Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix. "The voice actors for the overseas version are all high caliber, so it wouldn't be bad to release a Final Mix version," he said. " ... However, because for KH2FM+ we released Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories as a set, we have the feeling that people's expectations for the content of a Final Mix have become extremely high. I'd like to say this here -- we won't do anything that big ever again. (laughs)."
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep to be born unto the U.S. this summer
Square Enix is sure hoping that the recent release of its long-in-production RPG hasn't caused you to forget about its other long-in-production RPG: The PSP-exclusive Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep. The company recently sent a jolt through the series' dormant U.S. fan base by announcing that the title will come stateside sometime this summer. According to Squeenix's press release announcement, the North American version of the game will include new features, such as "an extra boss and additional multiplayer options," as well as something called "Crown Stickers." That certainly sounds like powerful weapon in the fight against the Heartless. We hear those guys hate stickers.
Square Enix summons strong sales for first nine months of fiscal year
According to Square Enix's financial report covering the first nine months (ending this past December) of its fiscal year, the company is going to finish its annual business cycle with plenty of glistening gil. Overall, the company's profits are up 48 percent from the same period last year, and it forecasts a profit of ¥10 billion (which is far less shocking when converted to $112 million) for the fiscal year ending in March 2010. The company's games division saw limit breaker sales and profits during the period due to Dragon Quest IX, Final Fantasy XIII, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days and Batman: Arkham Asylum -- which it obtained as part of the Eidos buyout. Square Enix's games group saw sales of ¥72 billion ($806 million, a 97 percent increase over last year), along with a profit of ¥18 billion ($202 million, a 99 percent increase during the same time). Kupos to you, Square Enix.
Nomura working to 'realize' Kingdom Hearts III, explains Sora's furry origins
Two noteworthy pieces of information came out of a recent Famitsu interview (as translated by Andriasang) with Square Enix's Tetsuya Nomura regarding the prolific Disney-Final Fantasy mash-up franchise, Kingdom Hearts. The first isn't all that surprising -- when questioned at the end of the interview about Kingdom Hearts III, Nomura simply replied "Regarding III, fans and partners alike are pressing us for it, so we'll work to realize it as soon as possible." Here's the more intriguing (or disturbing, depending on how you look at it) tidbit -- when asked about Sora's character design, Nomura remarked that the Disney staff made a few alterations to his outfit, explaining his stupid big shoes and pants. He went on to reveal that, in addition to wielding a chainsaw-sword instead of a giant key, Sora once possessed a tail and "beast-like ears." That can only mean one thing in our book: Furry. We'll take outrageously baggy pants over unsettling therianthropy any day of the week.
