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Square Enix has recently chosen to pay homage to the Kingdom Hearts series in an interesting and humorous way. Within Final Fantasy XV, your party will come across many locked doors, and each character will typically have a few remarks about the situation. One of these exchanges is a reference to the Keyblade and its unique abilities. A video clip (courtesy of YouTube user Jaxtaroo) and a transcript of the conversation can be seen below. For those concerned about spoilers, the clip only includes the conversation, so there aren't any important story or gameplay details to skip through. We have, however, decided to put these pieces of information behind spoiler tags nonetheless. Transcript: Video clip: Would you like Square Enix to make more references to Kingdom Hearts like this in the future? Let us know in the comments!

Final Fantasy XV has been released worldwide, and it seems that Square Enix has taken this opportunity to get the word out on Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue. Several Final Fantasy fans have pointed out that an advertisement slip for the next entry in the Kingdom Hearts series has been included alongside Final Fantasy XV's health and safety information. This advertisement was also spotted within copies of World of Final Fantasy earlier this year. Below, you can see examples of this advertising slip in Italian thanks to Everglow and in English/French thanks to Tumblr user soralechance! Interestingly, some copies of the game include an older advertisement, which still lists the inaccurate release window of "December 2016", rather than the updated "January 12th/24th 2016" release date. This is likely due to the specific date that each copy of the game was packaged. Did you pick up Final Fantasy XV, and what are your thoughts about the included advertisement? Let us know in the comments!

Square Enix's Press Site has released new renders of the principal characters of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue as well as high quality screenshots that were previously seen in Famitsu Weekly as well as Jump magazine. Below, you can see high-quality images of Aqua, Mickey, and the Foretellers as well as these screenshots featuring Aqua, Ventus, and Terra. What do you think of the quality of these new renders? Let us know in the comments!

Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 & 2.5 ReMIX has been announced for the PlayStation 4, and will released on March 9, 2017 in Japan, March 28, 2017 in North America and March 31 in Europe. The games will all run at 60 frames per second. You can view the trailer below. The game logo can be seen here: Screenshots from the collection can be seen below. Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX is available on the North American Square Enix store for US$49.99. Square Enix have launched the official Japanese website for Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX, and this lists the retail price for the Japanese version of the game at ¥6,800 (approximately US$64.71).

Nintendo recently released for their new console, the Switch. While there was no footage of Kingdom Hearts III or Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue within the teaser, Nintendo has released a graphic showcasing many of the console's third-party partners, where Square Enix can be seen. Additionally, as shown in the teaser, Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was showcased extensively, so Nintendo seems to be embracing third-party developers much more than in previous console generations. Update: Epic Games, one of the partners for the Switch, has confirmed that Nintendo's newest console will have Unreal Engine 4 support. This is the same engine used for Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover and Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A Fragmentary Passage-, and the engine that Kingdom Hearts III is being developed with. Are you excited for the release of the Nintendo Switch? What do you think of the possibility of a future Kingdom Hearts game on the Switch? Let us know in the comments!

At Milan Games Week 2016, held from October 14th to October 16th, attendees were able to play through the Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance HD demo. Two sources, GamerClick and Sora's Dream, captured a significant amount of footage from this event. This is the first time we have been able to see a great deal of footage from Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance HD, as was merely thirty seconds long. GamerClick's footage, which was uploaded to their Facebook page, focused on Riku, showcasing the included Dive Mode segment, cutscenes from The Grid, and the lightcycle minigame. GamerClick's footage foregoes any field or battle gameplay within any of the included environments. Sora's Dream, meanwhile, captured footage of Sora in Traverse Town, Riku's aforementioned Dive Mode segment, and footage of Riku within the field of The Grid. The Reality Shift mechanic was also shown briefly during the Traverse Town footage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjyGuXBmsRM Sora's Dream also gave their impressions of the demo. They noted that Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A Fragmentary Passage- was not present at the venue, unlike all previous playable demos of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue. Additionally, the Drop Gauge appears to be entirely unchanged from the original version of Kingdom Hearts 3D Dream Drop Distance, giving a definitive answer to a question that many have had since the release of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue's TGS 2016 trailer. Interestingly, Reality Shift seems to use the analog sticks to control its trajectory, rather than using the PlayStation 4's touchpad in order to mimic the design of the Nintendo 3DS version of the game. It is worth noting, however, that only one Reality Shift example (Traverse Town) is available, so it is unknown if the analog-focused design choice is applicable to the rest of the game's Reality Shifts. Finally, Flowmotion's speed, jump height, and responsiveness all seem to have been re-balanced to suit this new version of the game. In addition to gameplay impressions, Sora's Dream also gave their thoughts on the game's graphical fidelity. They said that while textures have been touched up to a significant extent compared to the Nintendo 3DS version, model quality has not received the same level of treatment. Citing a poor amount of polygons, they referred to the models as "too sharp", a problem which also plagues Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix HD. You can read the full article here, but keep in mind that Sora's Dream is an Italian Kingdom Hearts fansite, and that translation may be necessary. What are your thoughts on this footage, as well as Sora's Dream's impressions of the demo? Let us know in the comments!

Tetsuya Nomura, director of the Kingdom Hearts series, was recently interviewed by Dengeki PlayStation. In the interview, Nomura discusses the storyline for Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ. For fans wondering whether or not the ending for Kingdom Hearts χ[chi] will also go down the same path in Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ, he confirms that the ending was only meant for Kingdom Hearts χ[chi], and that Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ will be deviating to an original story midway. Furthermore, Tetsuya Nomura talks about some of the future features coming to Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ, such as the confirmed multiplayer features and the first new world for the game, Castle of Dreams. For those also curious, Nomura reassures that Luxu is not the Master of Masters, and that there are two different cloaked men. Luxu & Masters of Masters have a relationship that will be explained in Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover. You can view a translation of the relevant portion of the interview below. Thanks to Catherine Mueller ([email protected]) for providing us with this translation! What do you think of the direction that Square Enix is taking the Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ storyline?

On October 13th at 12:00 AM (PT), 25 new story quests were added to the international version of Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ, bringing the total number of story quests to 475. These new quests take place within Beast's Castle, and feature the debut of the main villain of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Gaston! Remember that by completing these 25 new quests, you will receive an Orichalcum, which you can use to upgrade one of your Keyblades. In celebration of the long-awaited continuation of the story, the cost for every story quest has been reduced to 1 AP until October 23rd at 11:59 PM (PT). If you have fallen behind on the story, now is the perfect time to catch up! Are you excited for the return of story quests? Let us know in the comments!