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KH13 give-away: A free pre-order for Kingdom Hearts 3D!

Hey everyone. KH13 will be running a competition to give away a free pre-order for the English version of Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance]! Entering the competition is simple. As long as you do one of the two following things (or both, which will double your chances of winning), then you'll be in the running to win!
1. Like us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/kh13com) and share this post
2. Follow us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/#!/KH13com) and retweet this post

On Friday the 1st of June, 2012 (at 12PM EST time), we'll pick a random winner and contact them. Good luck!
DChiuch

EB Games reveals back cover of English Kingdom Hearts 3D box

EB Games Australia have started advertising the English version of Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] in stores around Australia. Various stores have been reported to be showing the Jump Festa 2012 trailer in Japanese on a television in the stores, with an accompanying poster advertising the July 26, 2012 release date for Australia. They also have promotional boxes of the game, including early versions of both the front and back cover! This is significant, as it's the first time we've seen the back cover in English (although, it is likely to change as they still need to add the technical information). We managed to snap some photos of this for you, and you can see these photos below!
DChiuch

Sketch designs for future Kingdom Hearts plushies released

Thanks to FF-Reunion, we have found that representative Hidemi of Square Enix's merchandise division made a Tweet revealing plans for making three plush toys from the Kingdom Hearts series. The plush toys will include a Shadow from Kingdom Hearts, a Dusk from Kingdom Hearts II, and a Flood from Birth By Sleep. The sketch below was drawn by Nomura, with some alterations to their design giving them a cuter look. There is no news yet of when we can expect these plush toys to be sold, but we will be looking forward to their release.

DChiuch

Benjamin Diskin to voice Young Xehanort in Kingdom Hearts 3D

Benjamin Diskin has hinted at voicing a role in the English version of Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance]. Seen at the screenshot below, a fan asked him if he would be voicing Young Xehanort in the upcoming game, and he basically said that "I can't talk about it, but I did do some work on the game". Awesome! For a list of Ben's roles, check out his Wikipedia page. Thanks to roku from KH13 for the find.


Update: Benjamin has given a solid confirmation of his role in Kingdom Hearts 3D, confirming that he will be voicing Young Xehanort in the game. You can see a screenshot of this confirmation below.

DChiuch

Kingdom Hearts 3D "Mark of Mastery" Collector's Edition announced

Square Enix have announced a collector's edition for Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] in North America, called the Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] MARK OF MASTERY EDITION. This set will release on North America on July 31, 2012 for a price of US$54.99! It contains the following:
- Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] Game, the seventh entry into the series
- 12 Kingdom Hearts 3D Art Cards with chronicled art from the full series
- 5 Augmented Reality (AR) Cards that unlock rare Dream Eaters
- 360° display viewer for in-game Dream Eaters
- Nintendo 3DS Protector Case specially designed for Kingdom Hearts 3D Some of the Dream Eaters that this bundle unlocks are Meowjesty, Frootz Cat and Kab Kannon, the last two of which have of course just had their English names revealed from this. A photo of the Mark of Mastery bundle can be seen below. It looks amazing, definitely worth it!


Update 1: The Kingdom Hearts Facebook page have uploaded a large version of the boxart for the Mark of Mastery Edition of Kingdom Hearts 3D. You can see this below. (Click for a much larger image!)


Update 2: An Amazon page has now been created for pre-order for US fans. The price is listed as $54.99, a mere $15 more than the game by itself. Thanks to Loki from KH13 for the find.

Update 3: Thanks to Nobody from KH13, we now know that GameStop have created a pre-order page for the Mark of Mastery Collection's edition of Kingdom Hearts 3D. Great news for those who wish to purchase it!
DChiuch

New official Kingdom Hearts 3D merchandise to be sold

Square Enix have updated the Square Enix Official Goods Online Shop with a set of three file folders using artwork from Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance]. These items will be sold in "early July 2012", and are available for a price of ¥1,140 (approximately US$14.20).
They have also added a new Kingdom Hearts 3D wall scroll, which will be available for a price of ¥2,300 (approximately US$28.65), and a Kingdom Hearts / Kingdom Hearts II sticker set, which will be available for a price of ¥900 (approximately US$11.21). The former will be sold in early July, while the later will be sold in late June. For pictures of all of these items, check below.


Update: The Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II wall scrolls have received a June 8, 2012 release date, while the Kingdom Hearts 3D items have received a July 6, 2012 release date.
DChiuch

English trailer for Kingdom Hearts 3D released

Square Enix North America have released an English trailer of Kingdom Heart 3D [Dream Drop Distance] on their official webpage. You can watch the trailer below, thanks to Josh Barlett for the tip.
Update 1: You can now view and download this video from our video archive.

Update 2: The European website for Kingdom Hearts 3D has also updated with this same trailer.
DChiuch

Square Enix North America talks Kingdom Hearts 3D

GamerLive.TV have held an interview with Ryan Masuno, the Product Manager at Square Enix North America, concerning the upcoming release of Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance]. Although he does not reveal anything new, it is still nice to see them promoting the game! Thanks to TheDCD and KHInsider for the tip, you can see the video interview and read a transcript of it, below.

Masuno: My name is Ryan Masuno. I'm the Product Manager for Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance]. GamerLiveTV: A lot of people have been looking forward to this because it's the debut of the series for Nintendo 3DS. How psyched are you to bring it to another platform?
Masuno: It's really exciting. It takes advantage of all the 3DS' capabilities. The 3D integration is amazing, and more importantly, this title is the follow-up to Kingdom Hearts II that fans have been waiting for. You know, the continuation of the story; this is it right here.
GamerLiveTV: Can you give us a little detail of the story; where it's going this time?
Masuno: So at the beginning of the game, Yen Sid is basically telling the gang ― King Mickey, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Riku ― that there's an impending threat coming their way, and that Sora and Riku need to be stronger in order to have a chance against them. Basically, Sora and Riku have a natural ability to use the Keyblade, but they were never properly trained to become Keyblade Masters. So what Yen Sid basically tells them is that he's going to send them to the sleeping worlds to unlock seven keyholes, and if they come back from that, then they'll be granted new powers, new abilities, and be considered true Keyblade Masters.
GamerLiveTV: Is the combat about the same as the first two games or is there anything new or exclusive to the 3DS version?
Masuno: The basic combat system is going to feel familiar to anyone who's played Kingdom Hearts I and II, and some of the other ones like Birth by Sleep, but the new features in this make it even different. There's a feature called "Flow Motion" ― characters are able to interact with anything in their environment. If there's a wall, they can kick off of it and perform a really fast stunt-like movement. That can all be chained to attacks, they can be chained to other movements; they can spin off of a wall and hit a pole and spin off of it, and then jump to a rail and ride on it, so once you get the hang of it, you'll basically be able to free roam around the entire stages. That's great for movement and for battle. There's also a feature called "Reality Shift" ― when players are in battle, they can actually enter the bottom screen where they'll be prompted to input some touch-based contextual inputs, and that's different for each world. If you perform them correctly, you'll be able to perform a really powerful attacks on each of the enemies.
GamerLiveTV: Are there going to be some familiar Disney worlds that people have seen in the previous games or are there going to be new ones? How does that work?
Masuno: Every Disney world that you encounter in this game are going to be new to the series.
GamerLiveTV: Can you give us an example of what kind of world you'd expect in the game?
Masuno: We have The Grid from Tron Legacy, the recent movie. We have Fantasia and Hunchback of Notre Dame to name a few.
GamerLiveTV: And the game is coming out actually this summer! It's just about finished!
Masuno: It's almost there: July 31st, 2012.
DChiuch

Various Kingdom Hearts merchandise set for June 8, 2012 release

Amazon.com have updated with three new pieces of official Kingdom Hearts merchandise to be sold. These are a wall scroll based on the Kingdom Hearts cover artwork, and a wall scroll based on the Kingdom Hearts II cover artwork, and a file folder using Kingdom Hearts 3D artwork. While all of these items have been announced before, this is the first time we've heard the release date-- June 8, 2012. Thanks to ArikaMiz for the tip.
DChiuch

Nomura talks Kingdom Hearts 3D & unannounced title in May 10 issue of Famitsu Weekly: confirms KH3D demo in North America

The May 10, 2012 issue of Famitsu Weekly magazine has included an on article on Kingdom Hearts, containing an interview with the director of the series, Tetsuya Nomura. Here, Nomura discusses both Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] and a future, currently unannounced title in the Kingdom Hearts series. He also confirms a North American demo for Kingdom Hearts 3D!

sqexgal has completely translated this interview, and you can read this translation below. The full version of the interview contains strong spoilers for Kingdom Hearts 3D, and can be read here. For a spoiler-free version, keep reading.
— Speaking of the previous titles, about when do you start thinking of the ‘next title’? Nomura: It’s a gradual process. When Kingdom Hearts was in production, I was considering ideas for Kingdom Hearts II and Chain of Memories. And when those two were in production, I was thinking of ideas for the next three, 358/2 Days, Coded, and Birth by Sleep.
— Were you thinking of KH3D when those 3 titles were in production?
Nomura: KH3D was put together relatively quickly, I was still concepting the story when I brought it to the table.
— What about in the secret movie of Birth by Sleep Final Mix…?
Nomura: Well… (Laughs.) Now that you mention it, that secret movie was referred to as “A fragmentary passage”, meaning bits and pieces of something whole. A story connected to Kingdom Hearts exists out of that, but I don’t know whether or not it’ll be told hereafter.
— The secret message and secret movie of KH3D were loaded with things to wonder about. Is it finally time for KH3?
Nomura: I’ll leave that up to everyone’s imagination. Though, it might be a curve ball. (Laughs.)
— Lastly, a message for our readers.
Nomura: We’ve decided to distribute a KH3D demo in North America as well as Japan. You can play part of Sora’s scenario in Traverse Town. So if your friends haven’t played it yet, you can recommend it to them. And of course, give the co-op mini game Flick Rush a try. Also, an unannounced title is being prepared as well, though it’s something lighter. There are still songs continuing to be distributed for Theartrhythm Final Fantasy so you can look forward to that as well.
DChiuch

Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] Ultimania coverage: Nomura interview completely translated

Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] Ultimania, the official guidebook for Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance], released last week in Japan. This guidebook contains interviews with Tetsuya Nomura, the director of the Kingdom Hearts series, where he discusses both Kingdom Hearts 3D and the future of the Kingdom Hearts series. sqexgal and goldpanner have translated both Nomura interviews from the book, and you can read these below. Enjoy!

Director interview: The full version of the interview contains strong spoilers for Kingdom Hearts 3D, and can be read here. For a spoiler-free version, keep reading. Make sure to read the end, where he refers to future titles!
— When did you start thinking up the idea for Kingdom Hearts 3D? Nomura: Probably during the production of Birth by Sleep. At the time there weren’t plans to start another Kingdom Hearts title, but when I looked at the 3DS hardware, the idea came to me.
— It seems that every entry into the Kingdom Hearts series aims to utilize the features of its platforms, so what elements of the 3DS were you looking into?
Nomura: I thought that the Flowmotion ability was something I wanted to do in the next Kingdom Hearts, so why not do it now with this title? I thought of the Dive Mode function afterwards when I saw the 3DS in action. It’s similar to the Gummi Ship mini game that appeared in KH1 and KH2, but this time rather than ride a vehicle I wanted the characters to drop directly into their destination world. Since the Dive Mode appears first, it feels like the game’s system is established from there.
— What sparked the idea to introduce the Flowmotion ability?
Nomura: I’ve been working on a few action RPGs outside of Kingdom Hearts like Final Fantasy Type-0 and Final Fantasy Versus XIII, so the first thought I had was I wanted it to clearly stand out from the others. I planned on showing that this is the direction the Kingdom Hearts series is headed. When I thought of the elements that really defined the Kingdom Hearts series, I thought of the bold sort of action that realistic characters can’t express. My idea was that with Flowmotion, you’d be able to jump to impossible heights in comparison to how you could jump in the previous titles.
— It seemed that the Flowmotion system might dishevel the game’s balance, but there was a lot of attention put towards regulating it.
Nomura: Well, the staff really didn’t like it. (Laughs.) If the character could make a huge jump freely, then there is no telling where he’d go. Since you had to deal with every action the player made, the opinion coming forth in the beginning was that it was difficult. But since I explained to the staff that this was the sort of direction Kingdom Hearts was going, we did it anyways.
— In the games prior to this one, there were treasure chests you couldn’t reach until you had obtained High Jump, but this time it seems you can take just about all the treasure using Flowmotion.
Nomura: It makes things interesting, doesn’t it? Flowmotion is designed to take over the movement if you don’t control it, but if you’re able to use it well, you can obtain the treasure chests without needing the High Jump ability. It’s a different style compared to the regular Kingdom Hearts games, which I think is one of the system’s charms. I thought it’d be better this way rather than making it boring with restricted actions.
— For the title KH3D, we thought it was very clever how the ’3D’ doesn’t just stand for ‘three-dimensional’, but also for the first letter of each of the three words in the subtitle.
Nomura: I thought of making it ’3D’ with three D’s early on. However, while I was able to settle on ‘Dream’ and ‘Drop’ smoothly, the last one just wouldn’t come to me. When we were at the point where we had a scenario, ‘Distance’ occurred to me from the distance between Sora and Riku, on the verge of meeting but unable to. There’s one more unsaid meaning behind deciding on ‘Distance’, and that is the distance between ’3D’ and the number 3 itself.
— When you included ‘Dream’ and ‘Drop’ in the title, were you assuming from that point in time that there would be a Drop System?
Nomura: Yes, I suppose so. We have made KH titles before in which the story is divided between characters, but because some people were of the opinion that each story felt like a short-story, this time we decided to think of the plot as one string from the beginning. For it to be like that, we had to consider many things regarding how to best handle switching back and forth between which character the player is controlling. We considered whether we should let people choose when to switch, but we wanted some sort of thrill. Throughout the series so far there’s always been that thrill of danger when HP is running out, but that becomes less of a threat as the player levels up. I thought, I want to put in something else on top of that, and it took the shape of forcibly switching the character being controlled with Drop. Also, if we had made the switching completely optional there would be people who only went along playing either Sora or Riku, and one of the characters could get too much stronger than the other, so it’s also a means of controlling that.
— With more than fifty breeds of Spirits you can make friends with, the Spirit growth system is also a factor that makes this game worth more than a speedrun, isn’t it?
Nomura: Well it was like, if I were to make a system where you get an enemy character onto your team and develop them, this is how I’d want it to be. I wouldn’t want players to get enemies on their team by defeating them, I would want to have people experience the process of raising them from birth until they got strong, and have them feel attached to the target of their raising. To bring that system into reality, it would have been weird setup-wise to make friends with Heartless and Nobodies, so we went with creating a new type of being called Dream Eaters. In the beginning there were less breeds, but I thought it was lacking variation, and I told the staff they’d probably need to make more than fifty. We had to show they were cooperating with Sora and Riku to fight enemies, so riding on their backs and the like with link attacks was necessary too, which made our workload incredible.
— Which Dream Eaters did you design yourself?
Nomura: The only one I drew myself is Meow Wow. I drew it basically all in one go, and didn’t edit it at all. As for the other Spirits, I showed Meow Wow to the staff and requested that they ‘please give them a design that is strange, charming without being too cute’. They drew for me in high spirits, and came out with one interesting design after another.
[Question removed due to spoilers. Click here for the full version of the interview.]
— Many worlds in this title are appearing for the first time in the series. How did you choose them?
Nomura: Basically, from the Osaka Development Team’s proposals. Worlds they wanted to have appear, what they wanted to do there–I received proposals for both those things, and I chose from among them. You know, in the beginning there was even the idea to divide ‘Fantasia’ and ‘Fantasia 2000′ between Sora and Riku in Symphony of Sorcery.
— Did the characters from The World Ends With You appear in Traverse Town due to the Osaka Development Team’s proposal, too?
Nomura: No, in the first scenario they planned to have Leon and Cid and the others like always. However, it would have been weird for them to be in the Traverse Town in this title, and maybe it’s time to give the “arrive in Traverse-Town, Cid says ‘Hey kid’ routine” a rest. So, when I thought about who’d feel fresh to put in, I thought it might be interesting to depict teenagers from a city like Shibuya coming into contact with country kids like Sora, thus I decided to put in the characters from TWEWY. Also, another reason was that in this title, Traverse Town is a world in which many things must be explained, and Joshua is just right for the role of explainer.
— Being able to view flashback scenes whenever we wanted with the Memento feature was new.
Nomura: Production-wise, we were trying to make the story as deep and layered as possible, but then we’d have to show many explanatory cutscenes. I’d always thought there was no way to progress the story other than to increase the number of cutscenes, but I think we found a way after all with the Memento feature. It’s like, people who want to enjoy the story can watch it whenever, and people who want to hurry and advance through the game can fly through and perhaps watch it while taking a break.
— We thought it was very refreshing being able to read summaries of all the past titles with the Chronicles feature too.
Nomura: Those were originally written by Oka (Mr. Masaru Oka: Scenario and Cutscene Director) with revisions by me. If we’d had time I would have wanted to do them in pictures, but we couldn’t go that far this time. It is, of course, so people who hadn’t played a title could follow along, but the text is written to be so clear that it even includes parts that weren’t asserted definitively in each game, so if people who already know the story read along to see if they had things right, they may discover new things. I think pictures would have been a good way to do it too, but text does have the advantage of allowing people to reexamine the necessary parts straight away.
[Question removed due to spoilers. Click here for the full version of the interview.]
— Now we would like to ask a few questions about the future of the KH series. First of all, if you get the letters ‘Secret Message Unlocked’ in the credits for this title you can read a message in the Keyword Glossary. The English letters there surely mean we can hope for KH3 next?
Nomura: I will leave that to your imaginations. Well, you’ll know the answer soon, I suppose.
— At the end of the credits, when Sora and Riku go into the light, the shape of the light looks like a III…
Nomura: I can’t go into detail, but you could think of it as a secret message from me.
— Now, is there a possibility you will make a KH3D Final Mix title?
Nomura: I don’t know what might happen in the years to come, but as of now there are no plans. Osaka Development Team have several titles on their hands, it’s not the right time for that.
— At the end of the secret movie for KHBBSFM, an interesting message that said ‘Birth by Sleep -Volume Two’ appeared. Is there a chance that a KHBBS2 will be appearing?
Nomura: It seems that many people thought that, but during that movie there were the words ‘A fragmentary passage’, weren’t there? That means a ‘bits and pieces of something whole’. In short, a story for ‘Volume Two’ exists that ought to be told, but the story cuts off with those scenes. Because of that, I won’t say there is absolutely no chance that we will produce a title to follow KHBBS , but there are no plans as of now.
— In an interview in the KH Days Ultimania, you said ‘I’m thinking of a mystery KH that made the producer go “what??”‘. Was that KH3D?
Nomura: No, it wasn’t. I originally planned to make that after KHBBS, but we ended up making KH3D and the project was stopped. It’s a shame, but we won’t be starting that project again.
[Questions removed due to spoilers. Click here for the full version of the interview.]
— Are there any Disney titles you’d like to see appear in the future of the series?
Nomura: I wish and wish, but I’ve wanted for a long time to have Pixar titles appear in the series. I’m already working on many ideas, but I can’t say whether they will become a reality or not.
— Pixar has many wonderful titles, and we’d love to see them appear. Finally, when will next play a new Kingdom Hearts game?
Nomura: I still can’t say when, but various developments have already started regarding a new title in the Kingdom Hearts series.
— More than one?!
Nomura: I am sure we’ll be able to make some kind of announcement when the time is right, so in the meantime I’d like you to keep playing KH3D. There’s a high degree of freedom in the play style and the story is full of mysteries, so I would be very pleased if you tried playing on a high level of difficulty and investigating the plot. Also, the mini game ‘Flick Rush’ is pretty exciting, so please give it a try.

Scenario mysteries: We can't show this interview without giving strong spoilers for Kingdom Hearts 3D, so please click here to read it.
DChiuch

Square Enix releases new English screenshots & renders for Kingdom Hearts 3D

Square Enix have released new screenshots and renders for the English version of Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance]. Many of these were uploaded to the Square Enix France Facebook page, while KHUltimania received a larger set of images from Square Enix, in preparation for E3 2012. You can see all of these screenshots and renders below, in our gallery.
Update: Square Enix Members have published a blog post and updated their Kingdom Hearts 3D page regarding the screenshots based in Traverse Town. They also offered the following explanation of the first world of the game:
The are many worlds that Sora and Riku will visit, each with their own unique characteristics and charm. One of the first worlds for you to discover will be the familiar Traverse town which has appeared at various points throughout the Kingdom Hearts series. It's the first major playable world and acts as an introduction to Dream Eaters, spirits that will aid you in your quest and protect you from the evil spirits, known as 'Nightmares'. During their journey through Traverse Town you'll come across Neku, Shiki, Joshua, Rhyme and Beat, characters from The World Ends With You. Much like Sora and Riku, they've become separated and you must help them be reunited with their partners. Learn the abilities needed to fight in the Realm of Sleep and you might just be able to help them do that
DChiuch

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