American television broadcasting company, CBS, will be airing its first ever Gamers' Choice Awards! Kingdom Hearts III has been nominated for Most Anticipated Game. The show will air on Sunday, December 9th, 2018 from 5PM - 6PM EST on CBS. Vote for your favorite streamers and games here!
Thankyou to @Chasm for the scoop!
To celebrate Mickey Mouse's 90th birthday, Kingdom Hearts series director Tetsuya Nomura has tweeted a drawing of Sora and Riku wishing Mickey a happy birthday. You can check out the drawing in the gallery below.
Destination D Celebrating Mickey Mouse is a D23 members-exclusive event to celebrate the 90th birthday of Mickey Mouse. It's an event that shares updates about Disney resorts around the world, reveals behind the scenes experiences from different Disney movies and other media, display engaging exhibits, and present exclusive merchandise.
The event this year is from Friday November 16 to Sunday, November 18.
On Saturday, voice actors Bret Iwan and Bill Farmer, who have voiced Goofy and Mickey in the Kingdom Hearts series, took part in an interview for a look back at the voices of Mickey, Goofy, and Pluto through the years, and learn what it’s like to voice some of the world’s most iconic characters. Kingdom Hearts III made an appearance as well, seeing how it's set to release in January.
Translations are as follow. Thanks to KH13 Staff Mio-chan for the translations!
You can find some pictures of the session in the album below.
As Kingdom Hearts III's release draws closer, 7-ELEVEN stores in Japan have started to put up Kingdom Hearts III banners and displays on their stores. Below is a tweet from haru_sorara, featuring the Kingdom Hearts III displays that 7-ELEVEN has put up. Pre-order Kingdom Hearts III from 7-ELEVEN's online store, 7-net, and receive an exclusive Sora rubber strap.
Celebrating Mickey Mouse's 90th birthday, Disney held an art exhibition featuring many different artists who drew Mickey Mouse over the past 90 years. Each artist shared their most memorable memory of Mickey Mouse. Tetsuya Nomura shared his by saying:
"My greatest memory of Mickey Mouse is his appearance in Kingdom Hearts. He (King Mickey) is a cool and collected character, which is slightly different from other works he appears in. I do like that he has a different atmosphere about him from his other titles."
The quote was shown below concept art from 2009's Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded of Sora and Mickey Mouse, which you can view below. Thanks to KH13 Staff xionskeyblade for the pictures!
Tetsuya Nomura's name displayed at the entrance of the exhibit! Thank you nechocat for pointing that out for us!
Tetsuya Nomura's name displayed on the pamphlet given at the exhibition as well!
Walt Disney's original sketches of Mickey Mouse's different designs. Eventually, he came to a decision to which Mickey he chose, the Mickey Mouse we all know and love today.
It seems that advertising has really started picking up in unexpected places now. Today, dasharinganking went to see Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindlewald and managed to catch a new short promotional video of Kingdom Hearts III showing never before seen footage of the game!
It's currently unclear whether or not the promo is playing before every showing.
This seems to be the second promotional video for the game, as Gamestop has put one on the listing page for Kingdom Hearts III.
New screenshots from the worlds of Kingdom of Corona, Hundred Acre Wood, and Twilight Town have been released, along with new information on the plot of Kingdom Hearts III in the form of cutscene subtitles and world blurbs from the official Japanese Kingdom Hearts III website!
From this information, we can confirm that:
A new form of magic, "Water", is present in the game; this screenshot shows "Watara" in green.
Marluxia is helping Gothel get Rapunzel back.
Rapunzel is one of the new Princesses of Heart.
Pascal and Maximus are present in the story.
Sora is told by Merlin that the cover of the Winnie the Pooh book has changed, and dives into the world of the book to investigate it.
Pete and Maleficent have found many "black boxes", but they have turned out to be not the one they were looking for.
Elsa is being chased by the Heartless.
Luxord declares parlay to Jack Sparrow in order to talk about how he is also looking for a black box.
KH13 News Team staff Mio-chan, xionskeyblade, and NihonScribe have kindly translated them for us. They are as follow.
Kingdom of Corona (from Tangled)
The setting of this world is from the movie Tangled. Rapunzel lived in a tower since she was young. She always hoped to leave and go see by herself the lights that appear every year at her birthday. She finally gather her courage, and along the way she encounters Flynn. But her mother, Gothel, goes after her. And it seems that Marluxia from Organization XIII is willing to help her. Just what is his goal…?
“Agreed!”
(or "We got this!" in context)
“Just give up.”
“They are finally having their parent and child reunion, so be quiet and watch.”
“Her daughter, Rapunzel, is an important light to this world.”
“I’ll do anything to find it.”
“I worry so much about you.”
(The following screenshot seems to take place in Kingdom of Corona, but it could easily be somewhere else.)
"But where? We have no other choice than to follow them."
Hundred Acre Wood (from the Winnie the Pooh series)
The setting of the world is from the series Winnie The Pooh. Sora, who was told by Merlin that Pooh’s book cover changed, decided to visit the 100 Acre Wood to investigate its cause. A troubled Rabbit awaited him there…
“You sure love fruits, Lumpy!”
“Rabbit has grown flowers just for Pooh’s sake, right?”
“Wait! It’s not over yet. Next up, we have to harvest fruits from the garden.”
“Sora, next up is the flower garden, but..”
“… Instead of greeting me, can you tell me if you had troubles or noticed anything unusual?”
Twilight Town
The town in an eternal dusk, Twilight Town. Sora went back to this town in search of Roxas, whom he considers to be his alter ego. Teaming up with friends from his previous adventures, Hayner, Pence and Olette, they are looking for clues about “the other Twilight Town”.
"There’s a lot of black boxes, and all end up being the wrong one!"
Toy Box (from Toy Story)
The setting of this world is from the movie Toy Story. An unexplainable incident arises in Andy’s room involving Woody and Andy’s toys. Andy and the other toys disappearance seems to add up with the Heartless arrival.
Monstropolis (from Monsters, Inc.)
The setting of this world is from the movie Monsters Inc., is. Sora steps into this world and becomes a monster. Sulley and Mike explain to Sora that Monsters Inc. is ‘turning the screams of human children into energy’. But Randall, who doesn’t like Sully, involves Sora and causes problems.
Arendelle (from Frozen)
The world of the movie Frozen opens with a snowy mountain, where Sora & co. are greeted by a chagrined Elsa. Sora is amazed by Elsa’s powers, but she is chased by the Heartless. As Sora tries to help her, he encounters a member of Organization XIII, Larxene.
The Caribbean (from Pirates of the Caribbean)
The setting of The Caribbean is from the adventure movie, Pirates of the Caribbean. Sora, Donald, and Goofy rowing towards World’s End, meet up once again with Jack Sparrow. Jack explains that he has a chance to defeat Davy Jones and that he is in search of a box. Organization XIII member Luxord appears declaring Parley, stating that he was also looking for a box.
Olympus (from Hercules)
The setting of this world is from the movie Hercules. Sora, who lost his powers and searches a way to recover them, came to this world to ask help from Hercules. Maleficent and Pete also came to this world looking for something: a box. There, they encounter Hades who wants to take revenge on Hercules…
San Fransokyo (from Big Hero 6)
Set after the movie Big Hero 6. Sora and his friends are excited to be in a big city, the likes of which Sora has never seen. There, they meet “Big Hero 6,” a group who stated that they are “protecting the city.” As they work together as a group with Sora to take down the Heartless, they encounter a strange enemy. Also, the one who stands in front of Sora is a figure donning the black coat who appears to be Riku…?
Japanese organization CERO (Computer Entertainment Rating Organization) has given Kingdom Hearts III a rating of A for content that is suitable for all ages. According to this rating, the game should contain no content that should offend children.
The rating is displayed on the Japanese website for the game.
Thanks @orange_desuyo_n for the tip!
Kingdom Hearts III has also been rated E10+ by ESRB and PG by ACB.
In Europe, it has been rated PEGI 12, according to which it shows "violence of a slightly more graphic nature towards fantasy characters or non-realistic violence towards human-like characters would fall in this age category." Furthermore, this rating allows: "sexual innuendo or sexual posturing can be present, while any bad language must be mild"; "gambling as it is normally carried out in real life in casinos or gambling halls can also be present (e.g. card games that in real life would be played for money)."
German organization USK (Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle) has rated the game 12 (suitable for those above 12 years of age). A general description of video game featured under this rating can be found below:
In an interview with Game Informer, Sony Interactive Entertainment has stated that they will not be participating in next year’s E3 as they are “exploring new and familiar ways to engage the community in 2019”. In the interview they stated that, "We are looking at events as a whole and how we can speak more to our fans and continue to wow them. The timing of PSX and E3 didn't allow for that, but lots of exciting things to come, and we hope to share shortly. Some of our biggest games will have key milestones next year so we will work hard to blow those up." The company also clarified that they will not be holding any press conferences around E3.
This news comes in light of the fact that we are entering the 25-year anniversary of the PlayStation, with games like the Final Fantasy 7 remake, Ghost of Tsushima, Death Stranding and The Last of Us Part 2 in the pipeline, Sony has a big year ahead of them.
SuperGroupies will be releasing exclusive Kingdom Hearts III apparel themed after Sora, Riku, Kairi, Roxas, and Axel! For a limited time between December 1-5, these character-themed clothing and accessories, including jackets, bags, watches, and jewelry, will be sold at a pop-up store at the Seibu Ikebukuro Main store. Preorders for limited items, item displays, and photo spots will be available for fans between December 1-5, with an estimated arrival date of late April. Fans will also be able to pose with a Twilight Town clock tower backdrop at the store!
For customers preordering at the Seibu Ikebukuro Main store or SuperGroupies online store, 2 posters will come with each item purchased! Newly drawn posters of characters wearing the limited time items and real life model posters will come in a set for the bonus! In the gallery below, you can find the drawing of Sora wearing his SuperGroupies themed apparel; more drawings of the other characters will be revealed soon.
You can find more information about the campaign here.
You can find more information about the products, including their product purchase pages, here.
You can find general promotional pictures below, along with a gallery for each character! You can also find a photo album of the designer, Keyblade designer, make-up artist, and photographer and pictures of the work behind this Kingdom Hearts III line! The artists behind the line were interviewed; we will publish a translation of the interview as soon as we can!
A video was also released showing footage of the make-up, dress-up, and photoshoot sessions for the models as they cosplay Sora, Riku, Kairi, Roxas, and Axel, and put on their character-themed SuperGroupies apparel! You can watch it below.
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