We've bought a new server for KH13, and have spent the last week copying the website over and configuring everything. If you can see this news post, that means you're on the new server. This server is much faster than the old one, with about 4x as much theoretical capacity. Hopefully, this means we'll see KH13 loading faster, with much less crashes. With these improvements, let's look forward to uninterrupted coverage of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX's appearance at San Diego Comic-Con International in under 4 day's time!
A couple of days ago, Square Enix showed off photos of the Kingdom Hearts COLLECTORS PACK HD 1.5+2.5 ReMIX bundle for Japan, a collection of both Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX and Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX that will be released in Japan on October 2, 2014. Now, Square Enix have updated HD 2.5 ReMIX's official Japanese website again, revealing some details about both the Kingdom Hearts Music Selection (the Blu-ray music disc included in the collection) and the Kingdom Hearts Visual Art Collection. These details are below.
Kingdom Hearts Music Selection
- 32 re-orchestrated tracks from HD 1.5 ReMIX and HD 2.5 ReMIX
- Here is the complete track listing:
Kingdom Hearts-HD 1.5 ReMIX-
01. Dearly Beloved
02. Destiny Islands
03. Traverse Town
04. To Our Surprise
05. Go for It!
06. Deep Jungle
07. Winnie the Pooh
08. A Day in Agrabah
09. Monstrous Monstro
10. Under the Sea
11. This is Halloween
12. Pirate's Gigue
13. Hollow Bastion
14. Fragments of Sorrow
15. Guardando nel buio
Kingdom Hearts-HD 2.5 ReMIX-
16. Lazy Afternoons
17. Working Together
18. Scherzo Di Notte
19. Waltz of the Damned
20. Fields of Honor
21. The Underworld
22. Monochrome Dreams
23. Bounce-O-Rama
24. He's a Pirate
25. Arabian Dream
26. Spooks of Halloween Town
27. What A Surprise?!
28. Adventures in the Savannah
29. Byte Bashing
30. Deep Anxiety
31. Sacred Moon
32. The Other Promise
Kingdom Hearts Visual Art Collection
- 30 pages long, at a B6 size
- Contains 180 pieces of illustrations
Photos are available here
Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX - ¥6,648 (approximately US$64.97) + tax
- HD 2.5 ReMIX by itself
- Comes with a downloadable PlayStation 3 theme if purchased from Amazon.co.jp
Kingdom Hearts Starter Pack HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX - ¥9,800 (approximately US$95.76) + tax
- Both HD 1.5 ReMIX and HD 2.5 ReMIX
Kingdom Hearts Collectors Pack HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX - ¥14,000 (approximately US$136.79) + tax
- Both HD 1.5 ReMIX and HD 2.5 ReMIX
- Comes with a Blu-ray Music Disc containing tracks from the series
- Comes with an artwork booklet
Each of the above options is also available with the Kingdom Hearts II Play Arts of Sora in Limit Form, for an extra ¥8,389 (approximately US$82.00).
Square Enix North America has announced in a Square Enix Presents video that Tetsuya Nomura, director of the Kingdom Hearts series will be attending San Diego Comic-Con for the first time. Nomura will be holding a special autograph session which will be held at Square Enix's booth (#3829) at an unnamed time. To obtain a ticket for the special autograph session, you must purchase a qualified Play Arts Kai at Square Enix's booth which will be in limited supply.
San Diego Comic-Con 2014 will be held on July 24-27 at the San Diego Convention Center. Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX is confirmed to be featured with a playable demo.
Update: @Hidemi Matsuzuka, the merchandise manager for Square Enix has released the Kingdom Hearts version of the postcard you can get signed by Nomura. You can view it below.
The latest issue of V Jump features Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX. In particular it focuses on the Re:coded HD Cinematic Story Videos. You can view it below thanks to @bKvEBVAvUq
Square Enix has updated the official Japanese website for Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX with various photos showing off the Kingdom Hearts COLLECTORS PACK HD 1.5+2.5 ReMIX along with the other special bundles available. You can view them all below.
Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX - ¥6,648 (approximately US$64.97) + tax
- HD 2.5 ReMIX by itself
- Comes with a downloadable PlayStation 3 theme if purchased from Amazon.co.jp
Kingdom Hearts Starter Pack HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX - ¥9,800 (approximately US$95.76) + tax
- Both HD 1.5 ReMIX and HD 2.5 ReMIX
Kingdom Hearts Collectors Pack HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX - ¥14,000 (approximately US$136.79) + tax
- Both HD 1.5 ReMIX and HD 2.5 ReMIX
- Comes with a Blu-ray Music Disc containing tracks from the series
- Comes with an artwork booklet
Each of the above options is also available with the Kingdom Hearts II Play Arts of Sora in Limit Form, for an extra ¥8,389 (approximately US$82.00).
Square Enix has updated the official Japanese website for Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX with the cover artwork for Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX. Below you can view the cover, as well as the artwork by itself.
@hidemi_mad_dog, the merchandise manager for Square Enix Japan, has revealed a new piece of merchandise that will tie in with Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX-- Trading Rubber Straps. The image shown is a box containing 6 of these rubber straps, including Terra, Ventus, Aqua, a Shadow Heartless, Sephiroth, and Halloween Town Sora.
The latest issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump features Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX. In particular it focuses on the Re:coded HD Cinematic Story Videos. You can view it below thanks to @kazu4281
Square Enix has confirmed in a press announcement that Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX will be featured at San Diego Comic-Con with what we can assume will be the E3 2014 trailer and playable demo.
San Diego Comic-Con 2014 will be held on July 24-27 at the San Diego Convention Center.
Amazon.co.jp have put up a listing for Volume 8 of the official Kingdom Hearts II manga series, revealing that the new volume will release in Japanese on July 22, 2014. Thanks go to @ArikaMiz for the tip.
Update: Thanks to @h141127 (Shiro Amano) the cover for volume 8 of the Kingdom Hearts II manga has been released online. You can view it below.
Disney nearly made an animated TV series for Kingdom Hearts. Seth Kearsley, the rejected TV series' director and writer, released a storyboard on deviantART dating back to 2002. Here, he reveals that a short pilot episode was producted, but that Disney eventually decided to not go ahead with the series. You can view the storyboard below, and also read his words that he posted on his DeviantArt page.
This goes back to about 2002. Only the first game had come out at this point. I was hired by Disney TV animation to develop and direct an animatic for a possible Kingdom Hearts animated series. I played the first game from beginning to end and was so excited to get this opportunity. This would have been the perfect thing for me, especially because of my action/comedy background with Mummies. It was dark. It combined anime and classic disney characters. Are you kidding me? This was awesome. I also had control of the script on this so it was INCREDIBLY DARK...but then so is the game. The darkest moment in the pilot was when Maleficent possessed Riku after he snatched the lamp. That's the very last panel here.
You'll notice a series lack of backgrounds in these boards. There was a pretty good reason for that. As part of the project, I was able to go to the Disney Animation Archives. The episode took place on Agrabah, so I pulled actual production BGs from Aladdin and boarded with it in mind that I would use this backgrounds.
This is one of those projects I really wish I could go back and have another crack at. Especially with the technology now. Looking back at these drawings, I can't believe how small some of them are. I also can't believe I inked them and did marker tones on all of them. I must have been temporarily insane.
At any rate, the pilot animatic tested exceptionally well but it was decided there wouldn't be an animated series because they planned on making many more games. WHO KNOWS...there could be a Kingdom Hearts animated series at some point.
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I actually played the entire game myself to the end and tossed the script they originally had because it read more like an episode of Aladdin guest starring the characters from Kingdom Hearts. I wanted to be very true to the game without just copying the game. The episode took place in Agrabah and centered around Sora and Riku trying to get the lamp, which was the key to Argrabah. It started on the island the way the game starts so we could meet Sora, Riku and Kiri then it turns into a bit of a nightmare and Sora wakes up on the ship with Donald and Goofy as they're approaching Agrabah. We see Riku with Maleficent and Jafar. Riku and Sora meet up in a fight against the heartless in the streets. They both go for the lamp. As soon as Riku touches the lamp it's as though Maleficent has control of him and ultimately Sora gets the lamp away from Riku before a giant heartless hand pulls him through a portal. SOOO....quite a lot of information to get through in a 7 minute pilot presentation.
Ultimately, it tested very well but there was so much respect for the Japanese Director who was doing the games and there were still so many games in the works that they didn't want to muddy the water with a series. Who knows. Maybe they'll still do one down the road. When I see Disney acquiring Marvel and then LucasFilms, all I think is, "Those would be awesome worlds to battle heartless."
It would have been such an amazing show. With the pilot, I actually went to the Disney Archive and pulled production backgrounds from Aladdin to use as backgrounds for the pilot and then did the board with those backgrounds in mind. So when Sora and Riku were fighting in the streets, it was the actual backgrounds from the movie. When Riku grabs the lamp, it was the background from when Aladdin grabbed the lamp. My plan was to do that for all of the lands they would visit in the series. I felt that using the actual backgrounds would not only save a bunch of money it would keep us from recreating the wheel for each of those lands and it would have a visceral effect and make you feel like you had seen this before. I thought it would do an interesting thing to the brain of any hardcore fans.
So...yeah...it was the coolest project that never got off the ground for reasons that had nothing to do with the project itself but more company wide strategizing.
Update: @_branden_ of @khunion has conducted an interview with Seth Kearsley, the series' director and writer. You can listen to it here, or below on YouTube.
Square Enix has updated the official Japanese website for Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX. Included in this update is new screenshots and renders along with screenshots recently released but now in HD resolution. Also included is a few screenshots comparing the original version of Kingdom Hearts II to the HD remaster's version. It also confirms that upon completion of Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix you will unlock a custom PlayStation 3 theme. You can view all the added screenshots, renders and comparison images below, in our gallery.
Game Informer have conducted an interview with the co-director of the Kingdom Hearts series, Tai Yasue, to discuss Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX and Kingdom Hearts III.
Here, Yasue reveals many details about the development of HD 2.5 ReMIX, teases some of the game's additions and new cutscenes, explains the team's thoughts on a possible Dream Drop Distance HD release, mentions some trophies to be included in the collection, and explains the current progress on Kingdom Hearts III. The interview is definitely worth a read, so check it out at the link below.
Kingdom Hearts III Co-Director Teases What's To Come, Reveals More On 2.5
The official Kingdom Hearts channel on YouTube have uploaded a new trailer for Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX, titled "Interactive SD/HD Comparison Trailer". This trailer shows the visual differences between the original releases of Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, and their remastered Final Mix appearances in the HD collection. You can view the new trailer below.
Update: The official Japanese website for HD 2.5 ReMIX has been updated with the Japanese version of the trailer. You can view it here.
Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX, the upcoming HD collection containing remasters of Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix, as well as a Theatre Mode of Kingdom Hearts Re:coded cutscenes, releases on October 2, 2014 in Japan, December 2 in North America, December 4 in Australia, and December 5 in Europe.
RPG Site have conducted an interview with the co-director of the Kingdom Hearts series, Tai Yasue, to discuss Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX following its appearance at E3 2014. Here, Yasue talks about the development of the game, hints at possibilities for inclusions in Kingdom Hearts III and more. You can read the full interview at RPG Site, or check out our summary below.
Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX
- Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] was not included in this collection, since the game released very recently (within the last 2 years), and thus only Birth by Sleep and Re:coded were considered for inclusion. There are no plans for a HD release of Kingdom Hearts 3D and they haven't decided anything, but it is on the table-- and might "perhaps" be considered later for "something like" a downloadable title.
- The Re:coded cutscenes are 3 hours long, with 2 hours being "totally new". This will explain some more back story to other Kingdom Hearts titles.
- Many things were considered for inclusion in the HD collection, but ended up being decided against so as to not delay Kingdom Hearts III even further (since the same team is making KH3 & KH2.5). These things were-- making Re:coded into a full game, multiplayer in Mirage Arena (which is now single player, with a challenge system where you can accrue bonuses, better balance, and updated boss AI), and lastly, capes in Birth by Sleep (which would have required costly and difficult animations). To be clear, all of this was decided against in order to focus more on Kingdom Hearts III.
- 70-80 people worked on HD 2.5 ReMIX, including around 35 people working on cutscenes, 5 programmers, and an unknown amount of designers, sound staff and more.
- There's a possibility that the HD collections will be considered for the PlayStation Vita, but the initial focus was concentrating on the PlayStation 3-- later, they will look at considerations for other platforms and evaluate the markets and schedules.
- Regarding a collector's edition for HD 2.5 ReMIX in the West, they are looking into what they can do, but nothing has been finalized yet.
Kingdom Hearts III
- When asked about the possibility of Star Wars and Marvel based worlds, Yasue said "Star Wars and Marvel is great, but I of course can't make any announcements at all!"
- Later, Yasue brought up the movie Frozen after being asked about the world selection process-- "On a personal level... I would really like Frozen. The snow, ice formations and story are very magical, the music too of course. I saw it with my daughter and it was very enjoyable."
- There is "always the possibility" of releasing another Kingdom Hearts title before Kingdom Hearts III. They are "taking into consideration a lot of different titles", but nothing has been decided on yet.
