As you've probably read, the recently released issue of Famitsu Weekly has included information on Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance and the future of the Kingdom Hearts series. This includes the results to a survey, as well as an interview with Tetsuya Nomura. Thanks to FF-Reunion and Sokuho@Hokanko, as well as our very own sqexgal, we now have an extensive summary of the interview. Read below.
- The story of 3D is quite mysterious and difficult to understand, the data within Sora is what you will be dealing with in 3D. 3D is being prepared in response to all those fans looking forward to KH3.
- 3D will provide answers about KH3.
- The current Xehanort saga will end in KH3. There are tentative plot ideas for after that too. The main character won’t change, it’ll be Sora.
- Whether we’ll release an HD remake or not is another story, however we are considering doing an HD upgraded version of one of the past titles.
- The development of 3D is currently around 40% to 50%. There will be a secret movie.
- Traverse Town with “????” and “????” are shown, showing a character raising steadily from the top of a building.
- The story will touch upon the hidden data in Sora.
- Gameplay will include jumping up to rooftops.
That's all for now! However, stay tuned, there's more to come. Thanks to sqexgal again, in the next week we'll be able to provide high quality scans of the interview, and a full translation. Hope you look forward to it.
The July 28 issue of Famitsu Weekly magazine, which released on July 14, has included the results to a Kingdom Hearts questionnaire that was posted on Famitsu.com. This survey is significant as Tetsuya Nomura actually read and commented on the results. andriasang.com have translated the results from Sokuho@Hokanko, and this translation can be read below.
In recent survey, whose results were posted in a Square Enix feature in this week's issue, the magazine asked readers of Famitsu.com to name the platform they want to see the next KH game on.
1. PS3 (2,030 votes)
2. PSP (1,010)
3. PS Vita (990)
4. 3DS (440)
5. Wii U (270)
PS3 lead the way, doubling second place PSP. PS Vita and 3DS also played high. Newcomer Wii U also made it in above DS and Xbox 360 (Xbox 360 got 140 votes, by the way).
Joining the platform question, Famitsu asked its readers a number of questions about the Kingdom Hearts series. Here are some of the results that Sokuho@Hokanko summarized.
List the Kingdom Hearts Games You've Played
1. Kingdom Hearts 2 (2,460 votes)
2. Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
3. Kingdom Hearts 1
4. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
5. Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix (1,950 votes)
Favorite Kingdom Hearts Game
1. Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix
2. Kingdom Hearts 2
3. Kingdom Hearts
4. Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Note: If you add up KH2 and KH2 FM, they beat out KH three to one.
Favorite Element of Kingdom Hearts
1. Story
2. Battle
3. Character
Favorite Character
1. Sora
2. Roxas
3. Axel
4. Aqua
5. Terra
Favorite Scene
1. Sora and Roxus fight
2. Kingdom Hearts 1 ending
3. Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep ending
Tetsuya Nomura shared some of his thoughts on the results. He'd heard that many liked the first Kingdom Hearts, so he was surprised to see KH2 and KH2FM in first and second for favorite entry in Famitsu's survey. Nomura's personal most memorable scenes are the endings from KH1 and KH2, and the end of Roxus' summer vacation in KH2.
Today's issue of Famitsu Weekly has included an article about the Kingdom Hearts series. This article contains an interview with the director of the series, Tetsuya Nomura. He discusses Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance and Kingdom Hearts III. Although a full translation has not yet been found or posted, these details about the interview are known thanks to andriasang.com.
Kingdom Hearts 3D
In case you've forgotten in the six months of silence, the three Ds in the 3DS Kingdom Hearts name stand for Dream Drop Distance. Development is currently 40 to 50% complete, Nomura told Famitsu this week. He also confirmed the inclusion of a secret movie.
Sora will be around in future Kingdom Hearts, so why does he look so cross?
Nomura dropped a bunch of vague hints about the game. Here's the vaguest: "XXX and XXX in Traverse Town!" This is apparently supposed to be surprising, so see if you can fill in the XXXs with surprising elements.
The game's story is enigmatic and quite puzzling, said Nomura The story will touch upon the hidden data in Sora.
Just one little gameplay bit: you'll apparently be able to work your way up to the rooftops.
Future of Kingdom Hearts
Regarding the future of the Kingdom Hearts series, Nomura said that those who are anticipating Kingdom Hearts III will find some answers in KH3D.
The Xehanort part of the Kingdom Hearts saga will end with KHIII, he said. He currently has a framework of some form in place for the continuation of the series after that, and Sora will remain as main character.
Regarding possible HD remakes of past titles, Nomura would only say that, separate from whether or not they will release remakes, they're looking into HD techology tests for past titles. (I'm not sure if this question and response is about Kingdom Hearts or just in general.)
Keep checking back for more!
As we announced earlier, the next issue of Famitsu Weekly magazine is said to contain an article concerning Kingdom Hearts. We already knew that results to a questionnaire will be featured, but now we know that the article will contain an interview with Tetsuya Nomura. Here is what has been said about the issue, which releases tomorrow.
Releasing July 14, a Special Feature - Square Enix Release. A questionnaire was conducted concerning the Kingdom Hearts series. many responses were received from abroad. Also, an interview with the series creator, Tetsuya Nomura.
This issue releases July 14, so we should see this interview within the next day! Stay tuned, hopefully this will break the news drought.
Earlier this month, our first image competition occurred in order to celebrate the reopening of our Member Images gallery-- a place where members can upload fan-art. We're happy to announce that the competition was a success; many signatures were submitted and we're impressed by the result. It was difficult to pick a winner, but, first place goes to -Ventus-.
For second and third place, please view the competition thread on our forum. Thanks everyone for participating! Please stay tuned as we will announce more competitions later. If you have any suggestions about these, please let us know.
KH13.com's Gallery has been updated with Chapter 10 of the manga for Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. This translated copy is thanks to The Kingdom Hearts Translation Project. You can read it in our gallery by clicking below.
358/2 Days → Chapter 11
Volume 3 of the Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep novel series, titled To the Future, has had some chapters appear translated online. A summary of these chapters has been posted by OmniaVanitas on FanFiction.Net, and can be read there, or read below. The chapters focus on the origin of Vanitas and Ventus, providing a lot of back story and further advancing their character. Enjoy.
More information has been revealed about the official game novel for Kingdom Hearts Re:coded. Most importantly, the cover of the novel has been revealed. This can be seen below, in our gallery. Also, we know that the novel will release on 28 July 2011 in Japan, and be available at a price of ¥800 (approximately US$9.84) Square Enix e-STORE.
Books → Re:coded
The next issue of Famitsu Weekly will be doing a special on Square Enix titles. During this week's issue in an interview about Final Fantasy Type-0, Kingdom Hearts director Tetsuya Nomura is quoted saying:
Could the new title be related to Kingdom Hearts? Let's hope so! This issue will also post the results from the Kingdom Hearts related fan poll.
Source: FF-Reunion.net
KH13.com's Gallery has been updated with Chapter 10 of the manga for Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. This translated copy is thanks to The Kingdom Hearts Translation Project. You can read it in our gallery by clicking below.
358/2 Days → Chapter 10
KH13.com will be running various monthly competitions each month, and this includes a member image competition. The theme of the July 2011 competition will be signatures. Winners will be announced next Sunday, on 10 July 2011, so please submit your entries before then.
How to enter
- Signatures may be Kingdom Hearts related or otherwise.
- You may upload multiple entries.
- Signatures must be your own work.
- To enter, simply upload the signature to "Signatures" in the Member Images.
Japan Expo 2011, an event occuring in Paris, France, is currently underway. At this event, awards were given out to various game titles. According to Kingdom Hearts Destiny, the award for "best game on a portable console" went to Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. You can see this award below.
You've probably all seen this before, but, it came to my attention that the Nintendo World 2011 trailer was missing from our video archive of Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance trailers. This video, which is an 8 second clip showing the game, can be seen below, or viewed and downloaded from our video archive. All past Dream Drop Distance trailers can be seen here. Enjoy.
The July 2011 issue of Nintendo Power magazine has included an interview with the composer for the Kingdom Hearts series, Yoko Shimomura. Shimomura is responsible for most of the music in the series, as the interview deals with her involvement in this. It can be read below, thanks to Ventus Air-Man from Kingdom Hearts Insider. Also, scans of the article can be seen below, in our gallery.
Musician Yoko Shimomura began her career at Capcom, submitting tracks for everything from Final Fight to a racy mahjong game. Her soundtracks for the company's Street Fighter series raised her profile considerably, but her heart was elsewhere; with few opportunities to write the classically flavored music that interested her most, she joined Squaresoft in the early '90s. There she defined the sound of such RPG franchises as Front Mission, Parasite Eve, and, most famously, Kingdom hearts. But the long hours and a desire to work with a wider variety of creators led her to go freelance in 2002. Contrary to the experience of many composers who take that leap into the unknown, Shimomura's career has only flourished; she continues to compose for major Square Enix franchises such as Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy, while also finding rewarding work with Nintendo's Mario and Luigi series and, most recently, Atlus's well-received DS RPG Radiant Historia.
--How did you feel when you were approached to work on the Kingdom Hearts series?
Shimomura: I was like, "Whaaaaaat?! I get to compose music for a Disney project?! Really?! Me?!" Yes, as you can see, I don't really have much self-confidence. [Laughs] I was struck by a great sense of insecurity by this request. But I tried my best to create the score with the image of Disney's worlds in my mind.
--"Dearly Beloved" from Kingdom hearts has become quite an iconic tune. How did you come up with this particular piece of music?
Shimomura: Actually, this tune was originally written for a certain event in the game, and I created it instantly, intuitively...and there were no thoughts running through my mind while I was at it. But eventually, the tune was [cut from the game]. And when I was asked to compose something for the title music (they said it could be a temporary song; just give us anything), I proposed "Dearly Beloved." The next thing you know, this tune was chosen to be the title music! Quite a reversal of fortune! (laughs)
--Was it intimidating to work with Disney franchises that already had such recognizable music?
Shimomura: In the beginning I struggled a lot; all I could do was grope around. But one day, suddenly everything came together, like, "Oh! I see it now!" Luckily, I had never received any 'no-good' remarks from Disney. I was very happy.
Nintendo Power → July 2011
We have created an official Tumblr account for KH13.com, to go along with our existing Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts. Here, will we repost any Kingdom Hearts news, and often update with interesting Kingdom Hearts-related images-- whether it be fan-art, screens from the game, or something completely different. We hope you enjoy this.
Also, as always we'll give you a sneak peak of what's coming soon-- Kingdom Hearts II cutscenes, a re-release of our gallery on the forum as "Member Images", and a new "Member Videos" feature. Look forward to it!
