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Birth by Sleep awakens in this 'new' Kingdom Hearts trailer

by Andrew Yoon { Sep 4th 2009 at 10:59AM }

The DS-based 358/2 Days hasn't arrived in the States yet, but Japan is already preparing for the next installment in the hugely popular Kingdom Hearts franchise. The PSP-exclusive prequel, Birth by Sleep, should be arriving in Japan this winter, and Square Enix is prepping its marketing muscle by opening the game's official website -- and with it, debuting a new direct-feed trailer for the masses. (An off-screen capture was taken at last year's exclusive Closed Mega Theater at TGS.)

This story-heavy trailer shows off a number of Disney movies in action, like Cinderella, Snow White and Alice in Wonderland. (Hey, where's Stitch?) Birth by Sleep will be a huge presence at Tokyo Game Show soon, so expect our hands-on reporting later this month.

Gallery: Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep

[Via PSPHyper]

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep to awaken Japan this Winter

by Andrew Yoon { Aug 23rd 2009 at 12:30PM }

Square Enix has been awfully quiet about its upcoming PSP-exclusive Kingdom Hearts prequel. Birth by Sleep takes place ten years before the events of the original PS2 game, and sets to explain some of the long-unexplained mysteries surrounding the franchise. Although we haven't seen much of the game since TGS last year, it looks as though Square Enix is getting ready to put the finishing touches on the game, readying it for a winter release across the Pacific.

If Birth by Sleep follows the footsteps of its DS brethren 358/2 Days, it should only take about half a year for the game to be localized and released stateside. It seems likely (but unconfirmed) that we'll be playing Birth By Sleep in English before next summer rolls around.

[Via PSPHyper]

Direct-feed Kingdom Hearts trailer, direct from DVD

by Andrew Yoon { Dec 17th 2008 at 10:30AM }

Square Enix sure has a lot of love for the PSP. In addition to the next Parasite Eve game, and a brand new Final Fantasy XIII game, PSP will also be receiving a new Kingdom Hearts game as well. A recent trailer rip has hit the web, and now you can watch in glorious direct-feed. No more off-angle shaky-cam for you, folks. Check it out, after the break.

[Thanks, Edwin A.P.!]

Continued →

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, The 3rd Birthday TGS trailers leaked

by Alan Tsang { Oct 15th 2008 at 10:00PM }

That gorgeous girl above is Aya Brea, the star of the Parasite Eve series of games, in a concept drawing for the latest game in the franchise, The 3rd Birthday . According to Siliconera, the upcoming PSP exclusive (mobile phone version has been scrapped) will be developed by Hexadrive, who was responsible for Rez HD.

What's more, we've got the leaked TGS trailers for Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep and The 3rd Birthday. The Birth by Sleep one is quite the long one, and it begins at about the 2:00 mark -- it includes both cut scenes and gameplay -- most of us haven't seen the game in action, so this is quite a treat. The trailer for The 3rd Birthday, is considerably less exciting, with no gameplay, but keep in mind this is the first trailer. Check them out after the jump.

Source -- Siliconera
Source -- Youtube

[Thanks, dsvw56!]

Continued →

PSP Fanboy hands-on: Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep

by Majed Athab { Oct 10th 2008 at 12:00PM }

The Kingdom Hearts series was first born on the PlayStation 2; however, it has gone and spread its wings into other realms since then and now it carries a new bundle of joy in the form of portable PSP title Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. While the title radically takes the story aspect of the game farther away from the original setting with Sora and friends, this new game will focus on the three (slightly) new faces pictured above (from left: Aqua, Ventus and Tera).

Birth by Sleep was indeed playable on the show floor at TGS and we sunk in some time with the title. The playable build that was available let us try out both Ventus and Tera in battle. We decided to just go with trying out Tera's abilities and then go straight into the action. Tera's level starts off in a forest area which gets you into a fight right away. Kingdom Hearts vets will notice that the controls are incredibly familiar; they're nearly identical to the original console games from the past, though with slight differences due to the change in input interface (ie, shoulder buttons once again control the camera since there are no dual analog nubs).

Gallery: Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep

Continued →

What's playable, and what's not, at Square Enix's TGS booth

by Andrew Yoon { Sep 8th 2008 at 2:00PM }

2008 looks to be yet another excellent year for Tokyo Game Show. There's a lot of excitement over the potential surprises at the show. Square Enix has posted its lineup for this year's show, and we're a little saddened to see Final Fantasy XIII (PS3) still not playable. At the very least, we'll be getting some one-on-one time with Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (PSP). Check out the full PlayStation list here:

Playable

Dissidia: Final Fantasy (PSP)
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (PSP)

Trailers-Only

Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)
Final Fantasy Versus XIII (PS3)
Final Fantasy Agito XIII (PSP)
The 3rd Birthday (PSP)
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete (Blu-ray)

We're expecting many of these trailers will be shown behind closed doors. Fear not, though. We'll provide detailed impressions of the trailers live from Tokyo next month.

What's playable, and what's not, at Square Enix's TGS booth

by Joystiq Staff { Sep 8th 2008 at 2:00PM }

Dissidia: Final Fantasy (PSP)
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (PSP)

Trailers-Only

Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)
Final Fantasy Versus XIII (PS3)
Final Fantasy Agito XIII (PSP)
The 3rd Birthday (PSP)
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete (Blu-ray)

We're expecting many of these trailers will be shown behind closed doors. Fear not, though. We'll provide detailed impressions of the trailers live from Tokyo next month.

Birth by Sleep and Dissidia: video, Famitsu scans, trailer summary

by Alan Tsang { Aug 6th 2008 at 1:00PM }

Wowzers! So there is a lot more information out there on Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep than we anticipated. First we got some translated hands-on impressions gathered from various Japanese sites over at KHInsider, along with a trailer summary. Some of this information we know about already, so here are highlights of the new stuff:

The new enemies are called Unbirths.
Xehanort and Maleficent are both after the Princesses of Hearts
Ven's level is the Castle of Dreams, Cinderella's world. Ven cooperates with Jaq the mouse to collect materials to make Cinderella's dress. After going through a maze and finding the necessary items, a boss fight ensues with Lucifer. No, not Lucifer the demon, but rather the cat from Cinderella.

Secondly, we have 3 pages of Famitsu scans courtesy of PSPHyper. Reading the hands-on impressions while looking at these scans, you can almost pretend you were playing the demo. Lastly, IGN has a few seconds of video footage of both Birth by Sleep and Dissidia from their Game Scoop show. Look for that after the jump.

[Thanks, Kristopher G. and MonkeyKHI!]

Source -- PSPHyper; Famitsu scans
Source -- KHInsider; trailer summary and hands-on impressions
Source -- IGN Video; Game Scoop: Square Enix Party

Gallery: Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep

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Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep dated for 2009 in Japan

by Alan Tsang { Aug 4th 2008 at 3:30PM }

Not only did those who were invited to the ultra-exclusive DKΣ3713 Private Party get a chance to play Dissidia, they also played through two levels of the upcoming Kingdom Hearts prequel Birth by Sleep. As we predicted, Square announced that a Japanese release will occur some time in 2009.

IGN had a chance to play through the two stages, and here's what they had to tell us, after the jump:

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New skillz fo' Kingdom Hearts' Terra

by Alan Tsang { Jul 30th 2008 at 4:45PM }

Japanese publication Shonen Jump is providing us with another small update on the Kingdom Hearts prequel Birth by Sleep. A new special skill for Terra (not to be confused with Final Fantasy VI's Terra, whose name is Tina in the original Japanese version) named Shock Lock System is shown, along with a screenshot of Ven. PSPHyper has the entire scan for you right here.

Nomura has commented before that the DS Kingdom Hearts title 358/2 Days will likely debut before Birth by Sleep. Since the scan shows 358/2 Days coming out in 2008, we can safely assume Birth by Sleep won't be arriving until 2009.

Some stellar fan-made Kingdom Hearts box arts

by Andrew Yoon { Jun 19th 2008 at 8:00PM }

We stumbled upon a great collection of fan-made box art for the upcoming PSP Kingdom Hearts game. Many of these efforts do a great job of capturing the spirit of previous Kingdom Hearts games. In fact, many of these look like the real deal. Check them out here.

Kingdom Hearts and Dissidia playable at Square Enix party

by Andrew Yoon { Jun 18th 2008 at 2:30PM }

Finally! It seems like we're inching ever closer to the releases of Dissidia and Kingdom Hearts on PSP. Dissidia has been playable before, so we're excited to hear that Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep is in a state where it can be played as well. Unlike the other Kingdom Hearts spin-off titles, Birth by Sleep looks to most closely resemble the PS2 games -- not just graphically, but in terms of gameplay as well. For many, that's exactly what they're looking for.

Invitations to this closed party are incredibly limited, so we're hoping that someone will be fortunate enough to attend the show and report on how both of these games play.

[Via Kotaku]

Square Enix Party announced for August

by Majed Athab { Jun 11th 2008 at 11:15AM }

It appears that the Japanese side of Square Enix is going to hold an event promoting some of the company's upcoming software. The event, dubbed DKΣ3713, will take place on August 2 and 3 in Harajuku in Tokyo. It's invite-only which means there's a huge chance you won't be able to go (read: absolutely no chance if you don't live in Japan); however, SE is giving people the chance to sign up and be selected to receive an invite.

Square Enix is giving away 2,400 invites to eager gamers waiting to see the latest on PS3 games: Final Fantasy XIII, Versus XIII, and PSP games: Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep and Dissidia. The application period starts this June 23 and will end July 13. Invites will be selected after those dates. Check out the full list of games here.

We won't be in Japan for this, but we hope our (few) Japanese readers will be able to enjoy the festivities. As for the rest of you, let's just look forward to Secret Agent Clank and Space Invaders Extreme next week.

Square Enix Party announced for August

by Majed Athab { Jun 11th 2008 at 10:45AM }

It appears that the Japanese side of Square Enix is going to hold an event promoting some of the company's upcoming software. The event, dubbed DKΣ3713, will take place on August 2 and 3 in Harajuku in Tokyo. It's invite-only which means there's a huge chance you won't be able to go (read: absolutely no chance if you don't live in Japan); however, SE is giving people the chance to sign up and be selected to receive an invite.

Square Enix is giving away 2,400 invites to eager gamers waiting to see the latest on PS3 games: Final Fantasy XIII, Versus XIII, and PSP games: Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep and Dissidia. The application period starts this June 23 and will end July 13. Invites will be selected after those dates. Check out the full list of games here.

We won't be in Japan for this, but we hope our (few) Japanese readers will be able to enjoy the festivities. As for the rest of you, we're sure you're too excited for Metal Gear Solid 4 today that you won't be too bummed out on missing something like this.

Kingdom Hearts trailer, back online with subtitles

by Andrew Yoon { Jun 9th 2008 at 5:00PM }

Square Enix is notorious for being overly secretive about its upcoming projects. Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, the upcoming PSP addition to the popular Disney franchise, has been no different. When a new trailer leaked to the web, Square Enix's ninjas destroyed the video.

Well, it looks like a new vid is making its way through the web, this time with English subtitles. However, considering how cryptic the story of Birth by Sleep is right now, maybe the translation doesn't help too much! Regardless, we're excited (and we hope this trailer doesn't get taken down too soon).

[Thanks, Saigon!]