Submitted by RxS[àR*] from the Kh3 Forums!

What do I have to do?
Simple. Register to the forums and stay active. You’ll get a chance at winning a PSP, and also meeting really nice people. It’s a win-win. In the middle of April I’ll be making an announcement letting everyone know what to do. Hint. It’s a contest with fan-art. Register here!

Why am I doing this?
Basically, the active members/registered members ratio is completely off. 580 members active compared to the 6,000 we have. That’s not good, not to mention there are some really good designers,friendly people, and awesome teams/clans which you can join! I would also like to get people pumped about the new games! So, Register here!

Be sure to say Kaito referred you!

Moving onto the actual news, Yoko Shimomura, the primary composer for the Kingdom Hearts series is set to release an album called Drammatica: The Very Best of Yoko Shimomura on March 26^th in Japan and April 1^st in North America, which will contain a fully orchestrated score of her compositions from Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Live A Live, Kingdom Hearts, Front Mission, Legend of Mana, and Heroes of Mana. At the official Drammatica website, you can stream a preview of the new arrangement of Destati for the album.

The Drammatica: The Very Best of Yoko Shimomura Official Website

Pre-Order Drammatica: The Very Best of Yoko Shimomura at Barnes & Noble

Drammatica info submitted by Doomy on TKH.

Xaldin from KHV created this along with his own composition “One Last Stand” as the music:

Sourced from KHV

To clear up some confusion, Coded is currently only planned for release in Japan on Mobile Phone (Cellphone)

The Official Square-Enix website now has a subsite for Kingdom Hearts: Coded as well. Click below to access it:

Expect to see a Birth By Sleep site soon as well!

The official North American Square-Enix site has been updated with information about the Japanese versions of the 3 upcoming games:

Square Enix, Co., Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan, Square Enix), a leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software and services, announced three new titles in the award-winning KINGDOM HEARTS series at the Tokyo Game Show 2007 held in Makuhari Messe. The new titles are KINGDOM HEARTS 358/2 Days for the Nintendo DS™, KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep for the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, and KINGDOM HEARTS coded for mobile phones. These titles are currently only confirmed for release in Japan. Release in other territories will be determined at a later date.

KINGDOM HEARTS is a fresh and original series of role-playing games created by the collaboration of The Walt Disney Company’s game development affiliate, Disney Interactive Studios, and Square Enix. The first installment, released in 2002, has been followed up by two chart-topping sequels. The immense popularity of the series has earned worldwide shipments of over 11 million copies in only five and a half years.

KINGDOM HEARTS 358/2 Days
Developer: Square Enix Co., Ltd. / h.a.n.d. Inc.
Publisher: Square Enix Co., Ltd.
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: RPG
ESRB: TBD
Ship Date: TBD

The untold story of another hero.
Organization XIII, Number 13, Roxas

In KINGDOM HEARTS 358/2 Days, you will explore a variety of Disney worlds in not only single-player mode, but also in multiplayer missions made possible by the unique networking features of the Nintendo DS.

-Twilight Town-
Roxas and Axel were watching the sunset from their usual spot on the station’s clock tower after a long day of collecting “hearts” from the Heartless, as ordered by their organization. When their daily work ended, they often spent their evenings there. They talked about the day’s work and other things over ice cream.

“Do you know why the sun looks red as it sinks below the horizon? It’s because among the countless colors comprising light, red travels the greatest distance.”

“You’re just trying to show off, Axel!”

It was idle chatter between two boys without hearts.
This is the untold story of Organization XIII’s Roxas.

Staff

Director: Tetsuya Nomura (FINAL FANTASY V-VIII, X, FINAL FANTASY VII, ADVENT CHILDREN, KINGDOM HEARTS)

Co-director: Tomohiro Hasegawa (FINAL FANTASY VIII, X, KINGDOM HEARTS series)

Producer: Patrick Chen (KINGDOM HEARTS series)

Executive Producer: Shinji Hashimoto (KINGDOM HEARTS series)

KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep
Developer: Square Enix Co., Ltd.
Publisher: Square Enix Co., Ltd.
Platform: PSP
Genre: RPG
ESRB: TBD
Ship Date: TBD

It was an awakening that would signal the beginning of the KINGDOM HEARTS saga.

KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep is the tale of a new trio of heroes, told across three scenarios utilizing the groundbreaking technology of the PSP. Exciting new features will be introduced on top of the traditional controls, game system, and visual style of its predecessors.

Long before Sora took up the Keyblade, there were other Keyblade masters. One of these masters, Xehanort, disappeared one day along with his apprentice. This event proved to be a foreshadowing of great disaster to come. Aware of the threat, another master ordered his three apprentices to seek out Xehanort and his cohort.

Staff

Director: Tetsuya Nomura (FINAL FANTASY V-VIII, X, FINAL FANTASY VII, ADVENT CHILDREN, KINGDOM HEARTS)

Co-director: Tai Yasue (KINGDOM HEARTS Re: Chain of Memories)

Producer: Patrick Chen (KINGDOM HEARTS series)

Co-producer: Yoichi Yoshimoto (Musashi Series, KINGDOM HEARTS CHAIN OF MEMORIES)

Executive Producer: Shinji Hashimoto (KINGDOM HEARTS series)

KINGDOM HEARTS coded
Developer: Square Enix Co., Ltd.
Publisher: Square Enix Co., Ltd.
Platform: Mobile Phones (devices/carriers TBD)
Genre: RPG
ESRB: TBD
Ship Date: TBD

A Disney universe as vast as the mobile network awaits you.

In KINGDOM HEARTS coded, you will journey through a variety of Disney worlds on an exciting adventure brought to life by advanced mobile phone technology and gorgeous graphics never before seen on the platform. This marks the first collaboration between Square Enix and the Walt Disney Internet Group.

After the events of KINGDOM HEARTS, Jiminy Cricket returned to Disney Castle to organize his journal. While he arranged his records, his eyes fell upon a page with a mysterious message.

We must return to free them from their torment.

However, no matter how hard Jiminy tried to recall the source of the text, he couldn’t remember. So the King digitized the contents of the journal and started an investigation. Within the world traced from the contents of Jiminy’s Journal, a boy awoke on Destiny Island. It was the beginning of a new quest for a virtual Sora.

Staff

Director: Tetsuya Nomura (FINAL FANTASY V-VIII, X, FINAL FANTASY VII, ADVENT CHILDREN, KINGDOM HEARTS)

Co-director: Hajime Tabata (BEFORE CRISIS –FINAL FANTASY VII–, CRISIS CORE –FINAL FANTASY VII-)

Producer: Kakuko Obinata (KINGDOM HEARTS series)

Associate Producer: Kousei Itou (BEFORE CRISIS -FINAL FANTASY VII-)

Executive Producer: Shinji Hashimoto (KINGDOM HEARTS series)

*All of the above information applies only to the Japanese version of the games announced.

KHN’s Tomogirl has translated a blog user’s descriptions of the 3 Kingdom Hearts Games Trailers shown at the Tokyo Game Show 2007. These trailers are not yet available for view.

• The title of “KINGDOM HEARTS NEW CONCEPTS, NEW TITLES” is displayed with the beginning image in a form of waves.
• It shows the ending scene of Kingdom Hearts II. Sora, Riku, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy are in Destiny Islands’ play island laughing together in the water.
• Words appear:
  “Flow of time.”
  “The secret is solved.”
  “The world extends.”
• It begins with an image of Jiminy Cricket narrating the scenes. (The blog user notes that the words that are placed down as Jiminy speaks are made to look very vague.)
• Jiminy: “My two journals are completed. One of them became blank because of Castle Oblivion. The words that were written in the journal said, ‘Give thanks to Namine’ ………eh?”
• One strange sentence that was written in Jiminy’s Journal that should’ve become blank by events in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories: “It’s necessary to return to healing their wounds.”
• Jiminy finds the strange sentences and reports them to the King in a panicking manner.
• King: “He is the only one who is able to solve this mystery.”
• Jiminy: “I think so too.”
• Sora appears standing on Destiny Islands. A special effect surrounds Sora’s body looking like he’s being forwarded by a computer which momentarily hangs.
~Battle Scene Is Shown~
• The Heartless attack. Sora is shown moving a pile of blocks. (Are there a variety of mini game elements such as puzzle games built in?)
• In “Debugging Mode”, Sora’s movement quickens, and a variety of actions join together when the command is executed. (Is it like the reaction command triangle button in Kingdom Hearts II?)
• The scene where Sora goes off to Traverse Town in Kingdom Hearts is shown at the end. Pluto tries to lick Sora’s face and Sora wakes up in the back of the alley in Traverse Town.
• Sora chases Pluto and runs to the center of the town.
• Sora: “Here is where…?” which he remembers from the first Kingdom Hearts. (It’s a bit different, although, it definitely looks like the beginning scene of Traverse Town.)
• The King comes out of the back of the alley with a hand held up and walks toward Sora. (The King is in his usual clothing and not the clothes of Organization XIII.)
• King: “Sora, I was here on that day. Let me speak the truth.”

• The ending scene of Re: Chain of Memories is shown. Sora is seen sleeping in order to regain his memory.
• Words appear:
  “The other side is returning to Sora to sleep.”
  “Whenever crossing, the mind comes back.”
• The scene with Roxas and Axel sitting on the clock tower of Twilight Town is shown.
• Roxas and Axel are watching the evening sun from the clock tower at the station as usual. The duty of the two people, who belong to the Organization, is to deal with the Heartless and to collect “Hearts”. They always meet in the clock tower at this station at the end of each duty. They talk about their duties, while eating sea-salt ice cream together.
• Axel: “The sunset, do we know why it would be red?”
• Axel: “It shows any colours, as it stretches until there are some colours in its light, and it especially has red because is the furthest colour.”
• Roxas: “Why is Axel in a good mood?”
• The scene changes to inside the White Woom where Roxas is with the other Organization XIII members being introduced. It seems, this is the scene where Roxas enters the Organization.
• Axel and Saïx are talking about Castle Oblivion.
• Saïx: “There is a member in Castle Oblivion who is a betrayer.”
• Saïx: “Erase him as soon as we find him.”
• Axel: “Is this really an instruction from Xemnas?”
• (Does Saïx’s expression deepen?)
• The King meets a man with a black hood in the forest. The King looks mysterious himself. (He is wearing his black hood appearance.)
• The King is surprised, pulls out his keyblade, and momentarily, at the same time, pulls down his hood.
~Battle Scene Is Shown~
• Roxas is manipulated, and the Heartless are being knocked down.
• The operation to Glide is possible to be used in the air.
• In addition, this scene has the members of the Organization XIII members struggling in a joint battle, and seems to be the first multi-player battle of the Kingdom Hearts series.
• The screen appears to be divided into four, and the players are able to operate Roxas, Xigbar, Saïx, and Axel.
• Xemnas is talking in the White Room where the Organization XIII are gathered.
• The Organization members all have deep expressions.
• Xemnas: “A new companion came to join us. ……. It is the 14th.”
• The person who is called the 14th is a girl who is wearing a black hood. Her face isn’t able to be seen.
• Axel and Roxas are flying/hopping on the roofs of houses of Twilight Town.
• Roxas: “…Ahead of me, I see Xemnas….”
• Roxas looks at the sunset on the clock tower again: “I will disappear from this world in 151 days.”

• The beginning scene is from the ending of Kingdom Hearts to its opening.
• Words appear: “Sleep gives birth to the concealed fate in the far past.”
• The boy with different clothes, and has the same face as Roxas, is talking to the person known as Terra who has dark hair. The boy who looks like Roxas is called “Ven” by Terra.
• ????: “Are you the one who, at one time, saved me?”
  ????: “Ah, promise.”
• Terra is shown to continuously face the Elderly Man who appeared in the Secret Movie of Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+ in the wilderness. (The voice and appearance of Xehanort is quite different from his appearance in KH although. The Elderly Man is called “Xehanort” by Terra.)
• Terra calls out the keyblade in his right hand. (The effect is the same as the man in mysterious armour who “stays put thoughtfully” that appeared in Final Mix+.)
• Though Terra is hostile towards the elderly person, Xehanort, the words spoken were used before in defense of Roxas.
• Xehanort meets Ven in the Olympus Coliseum. (Additionally, the forest from Sleeping Beauty’s world is shown!)
• Ven: “Who? I don’t know you.”
• Elderly Man: “Only soon, will you know, and you are asleep.”
• Elderly Man: “The one that was lost was to lose, and the one to be obtained was obtained.”
• Elderly Man: “You must grab and take it now.”
• The Elderly Man waves his hand in a movement as if to summon magic.
• Ven watches with an expression that becomes confused with fear.
• Afterwards, the world of the wilderness appears again.
• The person wearing a black helmet and black clothes (shown in the Final Mix+ Secret Movie) encounters Ven.
• The person of mystery blows off Ven.
• The King summons and uses the Keyblade to momentarily protect a fallen Ven. (Is the King wearing clothing that hasn’t been seen so far?)
• The scene has changed completely to the wilderness, and this time, the Elderly Man starts to appeal for something.
• Elderly Man: “Please, I ask of you to correct my mistake!” (The man says more, but the blog user can’t remember what.)
• Terra is watching the coast of Destiny Islands.
• There are two boys who are playing using wooden swords as Terra watches from a grove. (Sora and Riku?)
• Ven is watching from a similar coast. This place isn’t Destiny Islands, but Twilight Town.
• Ven: “Because he’s my friend, please erase me.”

Created by an FF&KH Blog user, translated by Tomogirl, and corrected and edited by myself.