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GameStop have posted two Kingdom Hearts III pre-order listings on their website. According to their listings, Kingdom Hearts III is being sold for the PlayStation 4 as well as the Xbox One for $59.99 USD. The game has no description available and has a placeholder date of 12/31/2019 (please note that this date is merely a placeholder at this point in time). As the game gets more concrete information, GameStop will update these listings to match. Will you be pre-ordering Kingdom Hearts III from GameStop? Let us know in the comments below!

Kimberley Wallace from Game Informer recently interviewed Kingdom Hearts composer Yoko Shimomura during her visit to Los Angeles for the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra - World Tour - concerts. During this interview, Yoko talked about her career, touching on some of her favorite pieces and moments during the time spent with Kingdom Hearts, the World Tour, and a possible hint of what's to come for Kingdom Hearts III. You can check out the full interview below: What was your favorite part about this interview? Let us know in the comments below.

The D23 Expo Team has published an update regarding its schedule for the D23 Expo 2017 in Anaheim, California. The update reveals that Kingdom Hearts III will be featured on its "Level Up! The Walt Disney Company’s Video Game Showcase" segment at 1:00 PM PDT on July 15, 2017. A description of the segment follows: The Kingdom Hearts III Orchestra trailer had previously revealed that a new world announcement and a new trailer is upcoming on that day at the D23 Expo. On the second showing of the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra - World Tour -, director Tetsuya Nomura also stated that the announcements to be made on Kingdom Hearts III at the D23 Expo 2017 will make fans even happier than they were when the Kingdom Hearts III Orchestra trailer was revealed.

Tonight at the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra - World Tour - in LA, the Kingdom Hearts series' director Tetsuya Nomura has made another appearance. As translated by the official concert interpreter, Nomura tells fans that he will return in a month for D23 Expo 2017 on July 15, 2017, with "final information" on Kingdom Hearts III. We do not yet know the content of this final information, but we do know that at D23 Expo 2017 we will see a new world reveal as well as a new trailer, as was announced in the most recent Kingdom Hearts III trailer from yesterday's LA concert. UPDATE 1: At yesterdays Kingdom Hearts Orchestra - World Tour - in LA, Kingdom Hearts director Tetsuya Nomura made his third appearance. According to @SkywardWing on Twitter, who was at the concert, Nomura tells fans that, as translated by the official concert interpreter, "If this month's announcements made you happy, next month's will make you even happier." He is referring to the upcoming news and trailer at next month's D23 Expo 2017 on July 15th. UPDATE 2: During the final Kingdom Hearts Orchestra - World Tour - in Osaka, Japan, Kingdom Hearts series director Tetsuya Nomura stated that they raised expectations high for the new Kingdom Hearts III information and news being revealed at D23 2017. He makes sure to note that it will be "normal" Kingdom Hearts III news, and he would like people to spread this word.

June 10th, 2017 was a monumental day for the Kingdom Hearts community, due to the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra - World Tour - holding its first show in the United States on this date. According to many who attended this performance, this experience was "once in a lifetime", and as a fellow attendee, this particular sentiment is definitely shared by the writer of this article. A surprise appearance by series director Tetsuya Nomura and the unveiling of a brand new Kingdom Hearts III trailer, the two largest contributors to fans' enthusiasm, served as the perfect conclusion to this event. This trailer captured fans' hearts and pushed the excitement for the game to never-before-seen heights, to the point where "Kingdom Hearts III" and "Sora" became trending topics on Twitter. Today, however, we would like to peel away the initial burst of emotion and analyze every aspect of this trailer, in order to find out as much as we can about both the gameplay and story developments of Kingdom Hearts III. Throughout this trailer, the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra - World Tour - version of "Wave of Darkness" is played. Furthermore, if you happened to attend this orchestra event in-person on any of the dates that this trailer was shown, the song was played live by the orchestra! The trailer begins with a quote; "Don't assume your dreams are just fantasy. If you can imagine a world, believe in it...and dive in." The first gameplay segment thereafter is reminiscent of the Dive sections of Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance. Sora, appearing in his new outfit, is falling toward Olympus Coliseum. As he is about to land, he uses an area of effect attack against the surrounding Heartless. This Dive-esque sequence seems to be seamlessly integrated into the overall world layout, considering that we saw Sora jumping from an alarmingly tall mountain in the E3 2015 trailer. However, considering the quote at the beginning of this trailer, this gameplay element may also be a way of entering each world. Throughout the Olympus Coliseum portions of this trailer, the bottom right corner of the screen that a four-person party is available. In this instance, Sora, Donald, and Goofy are joined by Hercules. In previous Kingdom Hearts games, a three-person party was the standard, and the capability for guest characters was restricted to certain encounters and boss battles, but it seems to now be a regular feature. As we see Sora battling the aforementioned group of Heartless, a new command, "Counter Shield" appears above the command menu, in a style identical to that of Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage-. Activating this Style Change puts Sora into the Counter Shield Command Style, where his outfit becomes the new Guard Form (visually reminiscent of Kingdom Hearts II's Master Form) and his Keyblade takes the form of a shield. Counter Shield uses a large area-of-effect attack as it activates, uses shield bashes as its basic attacks, and can perform a flurry of punches with giant magical fists as a special attack. This is likely a combo finisher, as the "Finish" command is not used. During this segment, we also get a glimpse at the fact that two Shotlock options will be available for each Command Style, referred to as Unleash and Flowchain. Unleash seems to be the traditional Shotlock variety, consisting of a powerful attack, while Flowchain appears to be the Flowmotion-esque Shotlock seen in the E3 2016 trailer. Counter Shield's particular Unleash Shotlock consists of Sora calling down a ball of energy from the sky, and once it impacts the shield, it unleashes a devastating shower of sparks as an area-of-effect attack. In the following gameplay segment, we see Sora in another Command Style called "Second Form", which seems to be tied to the Kingdom Key, and is heavily based on Sora's older abilities seen in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II. Perhaps this is the successor to the much-beloved Limit Form from Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix? In this form, combo finishers such as Magnet Burst make a return, and some combo finishers seem to have a slightly more cinematic tone, as the camera zooms in a small amount when Sora uses Magnet Burst. Returning to the default Kingdom Hearts III outfit, Sora and Goofy activate a Limit, during which Sora jumps onto Goofy's raised shield, the two launch like a rocket, and Sora throws Goofy into a swarm of Heartless below, dealing massive damage to each enemy in the impact radius. In the trailer's first story segment, Maleficent and Pete exit a corridor of darkness into Olympus Coliseum, with Pete greeting Hades menacingly. When Hades tries to make the duo leave, Maleficent says that she is merely looking for information, specifically the location of a distinctive black box. The scene ends before Hades can answer the question in detail. When taking into account the events of the secret ending to Kingdom Hearts χ[chi], Maleficent seems to have found Daybreak Town and has learned about the Master of Masters and the mysterious box he possessed in Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover. The next gameplay segment has often been described as immersive, tense, and gripping. Sora is seen running along a mountain path in the middle of a storm, preparing to confront the Rock Titan. The Titan hurls a boulder in Sora's direction, narrowly missing himdamaging the path in the process. This segment then concludes with Sora using magic against two groups of Heartless. This demonstration of magic continues into the next segment, with Firaga, Blizzaga, Thundaga, and Aeroga all being showcased. At this point, several different Situation Commands are available to Sora. These commands consist of level 4 magic, with the specific spells being Firaza, Blizzaza, Thundaza, and Aeroza. They appear to have decided to change the "-ja" suffix at the end of the level 4 spells from Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage- into a "-za" suffix for Kingdom Hearts III's tier 4 spells. Both the tier 4 spells of the Japanese versions of Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage- and Kingdom Hearts III translate to the same thing, so it's unknown why they decided to make the names different in the English versions of the two games. Counter Shield is also shown to have an ability reminiscent of Ventus' Faith command in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. Next, the Kingdom Key's Style Change, "Second Form", is shown yet again. As mentioned previously, the abilities of this Command Style seem to draw from Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix's Limit Form, with abilities such as Stun Impact and an aerial version of Sonic Blade being used. However, it is worth noting that one of the melee combos seems to have entirely new animations, suggesting that this form may be a hybrid between old and new techniques. This segment concludes by showing a brief clip of Flowmotion, as Sora makes his way up a slope using a rail. The following segment showcases the Rock Titan boss fight. Sora is shown running up a cliff, similar to a brief clip seen in the E3 2015 trailer. Sora is mostly kept from attacking the Rock Titan due to its stomps making the top of the cliff hazardous. However, with quick use of Flowmotion, a few melee attacks are possible. The trailer's final sequence shows Sora, Donald, and Goofy confronting Xemnas and Ansem, Seeker of Darkness near Twilight Town's mansion. Xemnas asks Sora how he expects to bring Roxas back when he should never have existed. The only way to accomplish this seemingly impossible task, according to Xemnas, is for Sora to call upon the darkness and presumably make himself vulnerable to Xehanort's schemes. While Donald and Goofy remain ready to fight, Sora's response is to drop his guard and assume a neutral yet confused stance. Could he be considering the option presented to him? The trailer concludes with a note detailing that Kingdom Hearts III will appear at D23 Expo 2017 on July 15th, 2017, complete with a new world announcement and a new trailer. Additionally, given Tetsuya Nomura's comments at the orchestra concert on June 11th, 2017, there is a possibility that he will reveal the game's "final information" at this expo, in his own words. Speaking entirely subjectively, I think that this trailer was absolutely incredible! The music complimented each scene flawlessly, and many scenes were very gripping in their own right! The inclusion of Second Form appeals to my borderline obsessive love for Limit Form, and that Dive sequence looks quite fun! Finally and perhaps most importantly to me, both of the story elements serve to only make me more excited to see the story unfold! I can't wait to see what Nomura will be revealing next month! What was your favorite part of the trailer? Did you notice anything we missed in our analysis? Let us know in the comments below!

Earlier today, the D23 Expo site was updated to include the activity schedule for the three-day event. The most recent Kingdom Hearts III trailer confirms that the game will appear at D23 with a new world announcement in addition to a new trailer on July 15th, 2017, but the current schedule released on the D23 website does not list a Kingdom Hearts event on July 15th. There is a note made on the page claiming that the schedule is not final and is schedule to change. You can view the schedule by clicking on the image below:

During the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra - World Tour -, a new trailer for Kingdom Hearts III was shown. At the end of it, a message was shown confirming that on July 15th, at the D23 Expo in Anaheim, California, a new world and a new trailer would be shown for the game. Be sure to keep an eye at our website as we will update with anything new shown in the following days! UPDATE: Kingdom Hearts III will be at the "Level Up! The Walt Disney Company's Video Game Showcase" at 1:00 PM PDT at the D23 Expo Arena.

With the surprise appearance of series director Tetsuya Nomura on stage, the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra - World Tour - presented a new Kingdom Hearts III trailer today at its North American premiere in Los Angeles, California. The trailer showcased exciting new gameplay from the upcoming game along with some cutscenes. The trailer was soon uploaded on the internet by the official Square Enix YouTube channel in Japanese. You can view the trailer with English subtitles below. The trailer ended with a message that a new world and a new trailer will be revealed at the D23 Expo on July 15, 2017! Square Enix Press Center describes the trailer as follows: Below is the trailer with no subtitles.