A special Kingdom Hearts III wallpaper can now be downloaded for both PC and mobile from Square Enix's Gangan site. The artwork was drawn by Kingdom Hearts manga artist Shiro Amano. You can download it now by clicking here.
Thanks to @churroz for the tip!
Will you be downloading it as your new screensaver or lock screen? Let us know in the comments below!
Loungefly has created a new Funko Pop! Disney Kingdom Hearts crossover bag. The bag is now available exclusively at Box Lunch for $59.90 but has a discount price of $47.92. You can view photos of it in the gallery below.
Loungefly has also made a new backpack with the same style. While no information of when and where it will be available, you can check out a first look of the backpack below. We will keep you posted when it will be available! (Thanks to @churroz for the photo)
What do you think of these items? Let us know in the comments below!
Square Enix and the Ad Council have teamed up for the anti-bullying campaign Because of You. Because of You is a campaign designed to "inspire teens to build a more inclusive and welcoming community". You can read a quote from their site below.
A short PSA video featuring scenes from Kingdom Hearts III is also available You can watch it below.
In addition to the video, wallpaper featuring scenes from the game can be downloaded. You can view them in the gallery below.
For more information about the campaign or learn more about anti-bullying including additional resources, you can visit their site by clicking here.
Let us know what you think about this campaign in the comments below!
During the Let it go cutscene that takes place in the world of Arendelle a watermark from the rendering engine Arnold has been found in one frame of the pre-rendered cutscene.
Autodesk Maya software is used by various animation studios including Square Enix to render CG animation. This watermark most likely happened because of a render farm used for high budget animations. A render farm is a network of machines that render a single frame at a time; one of these machines possibly failed to verify the Arnold license and watermarked it. Watermarks are a method used by software companies to prevent people from using the software without paying for a license.
Credit goes to Dranzahi on the Kingdom Hearts subreddit for the discovery.
For more Kingdom Hearts news, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr, and check out the highlights on our Kingdom Hearts III master coverage!
Latest Kingdom Hearts III news:
- KH13's Kingdom Hearts III video review, featuring a full, spoiler-free discussion on the game and rating, is now up
- "A Look at Kingdom Hearts III As Told by Emoji video" has been uploaded by Disney
- Kingdom Hearts III’s development team has shared what it was like working with Disney and Pixar
IGN have recently published a feature and a video on talking with members of the Kingdom Hearts III development team about working with Disney in this project. Toru Yamazaki (art director), Kayoko Yajima (lead facial animator), Tai Yasue (co-director), Koji Inoue and Munenori Shinagawa (animation directors), and Tetsuya Nomura (series director) talked about the rewards and challenges working with Disney and Pixar for the game. The video also shows the Square Enix developers show off some of the work they used for the development. (For those who haven't player or finished Kingdom Hearts III yet, be aware that the video contains some cutscene and gameplay footage from the game.)
In the video, Yamazaki explained how in previous titles they would recreate the characters from scratch based off the properties, whereas for Kingdom Hearts III they asked Disney to share their resources with them. Disney have provided the original polygon shapes of characters with guidelines on how to add more detail, such as hair and clothes) on them. However, things didn't always go as planned as those resources were not originally made to be used in a video game. For example, models' joints weren't defined and so had to be added manually and physics-enabled objects like capes needed to be particularly revisited.
Of course, making sure your game is as accurate to the film as possible means there needed to be lots of things to be approved over time. Both Disney and Square wanted to make sure that the team were doing an incredible job at recreating their magic and sometimes were there approving things every step of the way. It seemed that every single detail in the process had to get approved before even moving on to the next scene, and any change that they had made needed to be explained.
Disney and Pixar not only required changes after things were made; Square needed their approval at almost every stage from concept to finished product. According to Yasue, cutscenes were the most inspected element in the game perhaps due to portraying the source material most intimately.
With things needing to be approved almost every minute, other things they had an easier chance with. As it turns out, the crazier the change to the original property the more likely it had a chance of being approved. This is because changing the character so it is not the same but still recognizable, Disney didn't make a fuss due to perceiving it as a new character altogether.
For gameplay, they team brainstormed ideas that they thought Disney would be likely to approve for its world and characters before letting them see a walkthrough and accepting comments. Painstakingly, every single gameplay action was scrutinized to the smallest detail. However, Disney's role was not only to correct, but to collaborate as well as things had to have some sort of continuity. For instance, Inoue mentioned that when Square approached Disney with a story about a Wreck-It Ralph summon that pounds the ground, Disney recalled a scene from the movie where he did exactly that. Inoue also talked about how pleased Pixar animators were to see their IPs, such as Monsters, Inc., recreated with technology superior to what they had when those movies were first made.
Along with making the Disney experience in Kingdom Hearts III more authentic, getting feedback for their project ended up helping the Square developers in the long run to become better animators and storytellers.
Working with Disney was one thing, but also working with Pixar was very different. Pixar was in fact more attached to their property, approving more stages of production and participating in weekly conference calls with the animation teams to ensure the most accurate representation of their IPs. Both Disney and Pixar kept their teams of animators intact following the release of their IPs - and they all had a say in the reproduction of their work in Kingdom Hearts III. Nomura went on to explain how it was working with both companies, how they reacted differently to the same issue (even within the same studio) with how the plot of the world should go as well as how it should look. He also had some convincing to do for the studios to fall in like with his longtime vision of Sora and friends canonically arriving to the Disney worlds.
Originally announced earlier last month, the Kingdom Hearts III edition Walkman and h.ear headphones are set to release for a limited time starting in late March up until April 19.
The device ships with a 16gb hard drive and comes pre-loaded with "Face My Fears" Japanese Version by Utada Hikaru and "Chikai" by Utada Hikaru. It's releasing around the end of March for ¥28,880 yen and is available for pre-order here. The hard drive can be extended to 144gb through the use of optional MicroSD cards.
As well as the Walkman, the Kingdom Hearts III Edition h.ear on 2 Mini Wireless headphones are releasing at the same time until April 19. They're available for pre-order here for ¥24,880 yen.
In commemoration of Kingdom Hearts III's release, Disney has added four new Kingdom Hearts tsum tsums to their mobile game! The app's icon has been updated with Kingdom Hearts characters and so has the start menu! Available now are Kingdom Hearts III Sora, Kingdom Hearts II Organization Mickey, Xemnas, and Ansem. Along with the new tsum tsums, a Kingdom Hearts event has taken place in which the player can go through worlds using the gummi ship and complete missions to receive coins, tickets, and a Shadow tsum tsum! At the moment, the Kingdom Hearts event is currently only available in Japan. See the Kingdom Hearts tsum tsum updates in our gallery below!
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Disney has uploaded a "A Told by Emoji" video on their Youtube channel pertaining to Kingdom Hearts. The video shows the story of the first Kingdom Hearts game as well as showing the interactions with Disney characters in Kingdom Hearts III. You can watch the video below.
Note: There could be potential spoilers for Kingdom Hearts III.
What do you think of this video? Let us know in the comments below!
In the first three days since its Japan release, Kingdom Hearts III had no trouble topping the weekly video game sales chart in the country with over 600,000 copies, selling almost 2.5 times more copies than Resident Evil 2 in second place (which released on the same day).
In the following week, commencing Monday, January 28, Kingdom Hearts III kept its number one position selling 91,019* more copies, adding to a cumulative 701,096* copies sold in Japan as of February 3. This includes both individual and bundled versions of the game.
Kingdom Hearts III became the most downloaded game on the PlayStation Store in January despite releasing only 3 days before the end of the month. It was also the Players' Choice Winner of the month and the top PlayStation game in the Australian charts in its first week. It took the top spot in its first week also in video game sales in the UK.
Square Enix have reported that the game sold more than 5 million copies worldwide within a week of its international release, including digitally and across all platforms, making it the fastest selling game in the series.
Before its release, Kingdom Hearts III (PS4) was the most pre-ordered game on Amazon and remained the #1 bestseller entertainment software on the website until the end of the month.
*This data was collected by Media Create. A higher cumulative number of copies sold is reported by Famitsu, who report that Kingdom Hearts III sold 81,795 copies in week commencing January 28, adding to a cumulative sales of 722,201.
As 2019 came, so did January, so did Kingdom Hearts III, and so did all the merch! KH13 is therefore duly back with its monthly Kingdom Hearts merch roundup.
The first merch to report might be a good choice in case you’re looking for some cool streetwear or winterly accessories. Gamestop is selling a Kingdom Hearts themed New Era baseball cap (fitting name, I must say) for $24.99 and a beanie with pom for $14.99.
GameStop have also started to sell a Heartless themed Satchel for $20, and a Sora Wallet for $19.99. These two goodies look absolutely stunning, and might be even better if paired to match an evening outfit. Speaking of... these might be a good accessory to wear at the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra -World of Tres-!
Looking for some fancy looking Destiny Islands or Keyblade inspired t-shirts? You might want to take a look at these. According to fan @TheFluffMother, the Destiny Islands one is being sold by BoxLunch, and the other one is by Spencers.
You might also want to consider to replace your old and holed socks with this new pair of Kingdom Hearts Icon Socks, which is going for $9.90 on the BoxLunch website. Be aware that this article is currently discounted by 25% ($7.42)!
In case you’re looking for hair accessories, keep in mind that Kingdom Hearts Scrunchies will release in Japan in April 2019 with a price of 3200 yen each ($29.27). The available designs are based on Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Roxas!
HotTopic sure has much to offer in terms of hoodies and jackets! They have started selling a bunch of new Kingdom Hearts III character-inspired clothes:
a KHII Sora hoodie (no price confirmed at the moment);
a KHII Sora Jacket for $59.90;
a KHIII Kairi hoodie for $34.90;
an Axel crop top plaid shirt for $36.90.
But that's not all: HotTopic is also selling an Organization XIII long jacket, which is currently priced at $103.90, and a Riku jacket for $59.90.
Looks like HotTopic also wanted to catch shortalls lovers’ attention too by offering this amazing Kingdom Hearts shortall for $49.90. They are also selling a KH3D shirt designed with the official game cover artwork, and it comes for $24.90.
HotTopic is also selling Kingdom Hearts icon soft shorts for $19.90 and a Heartless hoodie for $54.90 on their online shop.
Now that you've got your hands on Kingdom Hearts III (and have probably been playing it for hours and hours and hours), your addiction to Sora's new outfit might have grown so much that you are looking forward to cosplay him. You know what? This hoodie from HotTopic is a really good choice for both cosplay purposes and casual wear, and it can be yours for $59.90. This tip and photos were provided by @KingdomPlayer19 and @Churro!
Looking for a light-colored shirt, perfect for those warm and sunny days when your only thought is to lie down on a gold sandy beach? It seems that despite the cold weather, Hot Topic has managed to bring some
summer sunshine with the Sea Salt Ice Cream/Paopu Fruit shirt for $24.90.
Let's shift our attention from clothes to collectible figures. You might be interested in these new exclusive Kingdom Hearts figures from Diamond Select Toys, which are currently being sold at Walgreens.
Have some of the listed merch caught your attention? If there is anything which you are considering buying, don't forget to let us know in the comment section below!
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