If you live in Canada or possibly in America, you can order Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep for the low low price of 96¢ thanks to The Source, an electronics brand. If you ever wanted to buy it for your friend, so you can play with someone else in the Mirage Arena, this is your chance. Sadly, this is a store only offer so better head up north if you want to bag this bargain! It’s only in Canada….

The Tokyo Game Show is only a few weeks away and we can’t help but speculate over what Square-Enix has coming for us.

We already know that Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance, thanks to the fact that its already 40% complete, and Final Fantasy XIII-2 will be coming in 2012 but what hasn’t been revealed are the release dates of Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep Volume 2 and Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Could we finally hear word of Versus XIII or see a demo? One can only hope.

What unannounced games could we see in Japan’s highlight video game event? One game comes to mind, and that is the Kingdom Hearts 10th Anniversary Collection. Time and time again, Nomura has been quoted to want to celebrate Kingdom Hearts’ 10th Anniversary and in the Famitsu magazine, he has told the press that they were creating “HD Tests.” Wouldn’t it be the perfect time to release a trailer for one of the most wanted franchises to be re-released on PlayStation 3? We, at KHPlanet, can’t wait to hear more about it! Another game would be the infamous Dragon Quest X, which was confirmed to release on the Wii but with the Wii U just around the corner, it would be difficult for the game to sell units. Expect a trailer for the next epic adventure in the Dragon Quest series!

Tokyo Game Show 2011 is sure to be a fantastic event brimmed with new reveals, demos and release dates. We may want Nier 2, or Dragon Quest X or even Kingdom Hearts 3 but who knows? We may see something that surprises us! The Tokyo Game Show of 2011 begins on 15th September 2011 until the 18th. Check KHPlanet for updates during the big three days of Japanese Gaming!

What do you want to see from Tokyo in a few weeks time? Post on the forums!

Click Sora to get to the Response Thread!

Fortune Street is a game by Nintendo and Square-Enix with a long history of Japan only titles but now its finally coming to the US, after an announcement from E3. Where could this rekindled long lasting relationship with Square-Enix lead to? Sora being on Super Smash Bros Wii U, perhaps. Yes, it may sound absurd but there are reasons for this questioning of thought.

Fortune Street Wii

Not much news has surfaced about Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance in E3 but we did receive information on a little project called Fortune Street (Itadaki Street in Japan) on the Wii, created by Square-Enix and Nintendo. It is essentially Mario Party and Monopoly placed together into one game. The aim of it is to buy spaces and make your opponents pay with gold coins by landing on them, much like Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep funnily enough. The winner of the game is determined by a set number of coins and the first person who gets to that amount of cashola wins. This game does involve in majority Mario and Dragon Quest characters but it apparently has secret characters along with it. In previous versions, there have been Final Fantasy characters but this game could possibly have Kingdom Hearts characters in addition to that. Why? Because, many Nintendo fans have shown interest in the Kingdom Hearts franchise: 358/2 Days, Re:Coded and Chain of Memories and soon, Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance.  Fortune Street doesn’t exactly sound that exciting but something else very exciting can lead from this.

Could Sora be on Super Smash Bros 4 on Wii U and 3DS?

Could Sora get a letter from Link?

Square-Enix or workers from within the company have been involved in many Nintendo games now: Mario Hoops 5 vs 5, Super Smash Bros Brawl, Super Mario RPG, Fortune Street, Dragon Quest IX. Kingdom Hearts’ own Tetsuya Nomura designed the costumes for several characters including Fox and Pit. In addition, the composer of Kingdom Hearts, Yuko Shinomura, has also contributed her work on the Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time series and Super Smash Bros Brawl for their soundtracks.   Sora, our favorite hero, also made an appearance in Sakurai’s (the director of Smash Bros) list of possible characters on Super Smash Bros. Sonic and Snake made the cut for the Wii game but Sora never did. Now, Sora has been involved in 4 games on Nintendo systems. and Square-Enix has always been a strong supporter of Nintendo consoles. Wouldn’t it be amazing to see Sora fight Mario? Here’s hoping for Mushroom Kingdom Hearts!! Ha!

Having Mario and Sora together in one game can only be a good thing, right? What are your opinions? Do you want Nintendo to be involved with Square-Enix? Is there a brawl looming between the two companies’ mascots? Who would you want to see in the next Smash Bros? Comment below or post on the forums!

So this article is a day early and 6 days late. So you’re welcome, and my greatest apologies. Anyways here’s the news for the past two weeks.

~KHPlanet Forums News-

In forums news, nothing big from the forums staff has been announced, however due to comments from various members, we will now be including Square Enix overall news. I not being a huge fan of Square Enix other games such as Final Fantasy, will probably not be covering a whole lot of it, however you can count on some small stuff from them.

In other news, I’m going to restart up the fanfics contest. It wasn’t the greatest success for one reason, many people submitted stuff but none of them were spell checked.

So please people spell check your work if you want it to be put up here. I am not an editor, I will not edit your story, it’ll be posted as is and it will be a huge embarrassment to you.

~Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep to be Re-Released on PSN?

In a discussion with Tetsuya Normura, the Kingdom Hearts creator, he was asked about why the prequel game, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, was not released for the PSN, the only way PSP-Go players could play the game. Normura replied with “It’s difficult of a reason, because I don’t know.” However PSP-Go players may see the game appear on the PSN, Normura just “needs more time”.

~Dissida 012-

Squall’s New Look Squall’s scoring some new clothes in a download code. Players will be able to play as our favorite “Leon” in Dissida. Through this download, Squall is getting the clothes worn by Leon, the name he has in Kingdom Hearts series, to run around in.

This download code is accessible through two sources; V-Jump magazine in Japan and Dissida 012[duodecim]: Final Fantasy. There’s no known way that Americans and other North American fans will be able to score this code quite yet.

That’s all for the news. It’s been pretty quiet in Kingdom Hearts news due to Square Enix being hush, hush on Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, for the Playstation Portable, takes place 10 years before the events of the first game. The world of Departure is the initial setting, where the three main characters; Ventus, Aqua and Terra train to become a keyblade master. Master Eraqus and Master Xehenort are their mentors but as the plot unfolds, we find out that Xehenort is a being of darkness while Eraqus is the being of light. Terra, as he tries to muster his own skills, tries to decide which path to take; light or darkness. Meanwhile, Ventus tries to find Terra as he searches the worlds to find information on his whereabouts. Aqua, in turn, under Eraqus’ orders, is on a mission to search for Ventus so he can come back home in safety. The downfall of the story, however is the lack of new characters other than a particular Final Fantasy character and he, in fact, is the only one in this entire game; Disney have a monopoly over this one, Final Fantasy fans. It would have been great to see new Disney films or Final Fantasy games get the Kingdom Hearts treatment but alas, they replicate the worlds from series’ past. Overall, the worlds chosen for the game are, let’s face it, have a weak plot line but as a general experience, the game deserves praise for blending the deep saga of Kingdom Hearts games and filling a majority of the holes left in the story.

Fans of the series were worried about the game being too much of the same but fans, be rest assured! This game indeed has fundamental changes from its predecessors despite a few setbacks. Firstly, the command system has been totally revamped with a new layout. From the beginning of the game, you have three slots to enter commands with. These commands, in the form of regular attacks, spells and potions can be bought, blended together and sold. In addition, commands are leveled up as you fight the heartless. In the process of progressing through the game, you can obtain recipes for stronger blending options. Unlock new abilities such as HP Boost and finishing moves which upgrade as you fight the Unbirth. Secondly, a new game play mechanic twists the strategy of the game called the shotlock commands which can cause bars of damage when used correctly. They are essentially super moves and can devastate large groups of enemies when he or she is in a tight situation. This is very useful but can be catastrophic because when the player finishes the move, your character tries to regain their composure before being able to move. At this crucial point,  an enemy may find a chance to strike against you. The difficulty, which was criticized in Kingdom Hearts 2, has been revamped and it now has a deep sense of challenge. From time to time, the player will scratch their heads as they get defeated time and time again by the bosses of each world. I played the game on Proud Mode and the challenge of Birth By Sleep gives me nostalgia of the first Kingdom Hearts. The Unbirth, however, are the flip side . Birth By Sleep’s weak point is the lack of common enemies you can face and they rarely change as the story progresses. They are very bland and they are rehashes of the previous games. No innovation has been implemented in this department but the bosses of this Kingdom Hearts prequel definitely smooth out this rigid task of killing common enemies. Overall, the game feels smooth, fast paced and there are enough new mechanics to make it feel fresh to the veteran Kingdom Hearts junkie.

There are various modes for you and your friends to play with but the problem is the lack of true online gameplay. It could be easily fitted into the structure of BBS’ Mirage Arena…So, what can you play with your friends and how many people can play? The structure of Mirage Arena is set into 4 modes with the offering of 3 player capability ; Battle (where you can fight your friends), Arena (a co-op “survival” mode), Command Board (players play a Monopoly-esque game) and Rumble Racing (A hoverboard racing mode). These 4 modes work very well into the Kingdom Hearts formula for “online” play and while Battle and Arena are pretty obvious to have and work very well, the Command Board surprisingly establishes a great game mechanic. The Command Board is a fun addicting twist of using your abilities for placing spots on a board. However, the game plunges into the darkness with the one mini game called Rumble Racing.  The controls are sloppy and the hover board or the keyboard gets stuck on the edges of the track. Each of the tracks’ layouts felt like they were slapped on by an amateur game designer in Modnation Racers or LittleBigPlanet. Like each of these games’ catchphrases, this game definitely felt like it was “created in minutes” rather than hundreds of hours. It is very obvious that Square did not take this mini game as seriously as the other stellar modes available in the Mirage Arena. The aspect of leveling up is clear in the Mirage Arena as well in the form of ranks and medals. Medals allow you to obtain group commands such as Trinity, new recipes for your command mixing and also crystals which are added when you mesh commands together to create power ups (or abilities); for example, the Thunder Boost. The multiplayer game play is an engaging aspect of Birth By Sleep but alas, the racing implement of the multiplayer is a shameful waste of time for you and your friends.
You may, on the other hand waste many minutes listening to the game’s soundtrack. As soon as you boot the UMD for the first time, you know that you are in for a treat to the ears, as the melancholy sound of Dearly Beloved lifts you up and greets you to start your next quest in the epic saga of Kingdom Hearts! The worlds, beautifully composed by Yuko Shinomura, lighten up with personality and it helps the player feel immersed into this engaging tale. The voice acting, particularly by Jesse McCartney, is top notch and the emotions invoked by the characters feel believable. Jesse McCartney, without spoiling the story, provides a great twist to Ventus’ voice, meshing two characters’ voices together and that, my friends, is a great showing of creative voice acting. The voice actors for Disney characters sound exactly like their original counterparts aswell, giving the Disney worlds, an extra sense of believability. The sounds of keyblades swinging, magic spells whirling and the grunts and cries of the characters when they flinch match the exact movements of the character. The sound, as always in the history of Kingdom Hearts, is magnificent through its alluring soundtrack, the natural sounding voice acting and the sound effects which help immerse the gamer through this excellently told story.

The Playstation Portable, year by year, confounds the Nintendo DS with its superior graphics and in comparison to 358/2 Days, Birth By Sleep finally gives the Kingdom Hearts fans something to smile about, graphics wise. The cut scenes of Birth by Sleep arguably look sharper than its older brother, Kingdom Hearts 2 and have been revised over the past 4 years. One aspect of the graphics which is startling are the clouds. The way they move amongst the landscapes of the worlds look great and whirl around in different fashions. In The Land of Departure, the clouds whirl around a mountain and in one world, I cannot say because of spoilers, the clouds race along the dirty auburn sky. This yet falls short because the worlds feel awkwardly empty. An example of this would be the town of Thebes, where, according to the film “Hercules”, it is bustling and distressing to walk around with salesmen homing down your back but in “Birth By Sleep”, there is nothing but an empty square. The worlds do not feel as vibrant as the movies they are inspired by. The bland atmosphere of the worlds despite the game’s beauty lets down the game presentation wise but it is an improvement over 358/2 Days.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep does not fail to deliver as the hours steadily go up as you finish every feature of this Playstation Portable exclusive. The main story on each character lasts up to 10 hours and collectively bump to 30 hours. This is a heavy PSP title and plenty of replay ability is found here. He or she can take part in the Mirage Arena on offline or the so called “online” modes, play the mini games of Disney Town or  level up while collecting everything in the game. This can total up to more than 4 times the original playtime and possibly much higher, which is an astounding value for the consumer.
Despite the minor hiccups of the game, Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep is easily one of the most unparalleled experiences on the Playstation Portable and if this gaming device, like many others, is collecting dust, liven it back up with this deep, story driven title.
53.5/60

89%

NOTE: The rating is usually out of 50 with 10 being the score for each category; Presentation, Story, Gameplay, Replayability and Sound. This is what has totaled the score of 89%. If you have any comments or complaints, please email me at thecanukgamer@gmail.com or go to my YouTube accounts, chrispen9 and thecanukgamer.

Sorry it’s been a while!

More news for all of you. So a little earlier today news was released about a new Kingdom Hearts game coming out this January for Japan. This new Kingdom Hearts game will have English voice acting and many more extra stuff versus the English version. If you haven’t caught on yet, I’m referring to Kingdom Hearts Final Mix Birth by Sleep. Nothing real clear quite yet, but it sounds like this game will also be available for the PSP. Thanks to forums member StarKiller.

Those of you who are like me and have no access to Japanese games I’m sure aren’t real happy about this new game. So this isn’t everything I’m leaving you at today. Today I got an email from GameSpot on Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded. The GameSpot team was able to test out Kingdom Hearts re:Coded. They reviewed the game which you can find a link to here.

Also a bit more additional information. First off, if you’re taking news from KHPlanet.com or KHPlanet.com/forums, a link back to us would be appreciated, time is taken out of our busy schedule to search for the latest news updates. Also remember to PM me your short stories, I didn’t get around to it this past Sunday, but I hope to this Sunday, and I haven’t received as many short stories I was hoping to receive.

Discuss this on the forums here.

Hey guys, sorry it’s been a while, boy have I been busy. To start my week off, my computer was hit with this massive virus. Throughout the week I have extracurricular activities to attend to and school work, and you really do not care about all of this about me.

You care about Kingdom Hearts news, and today I have a few things to share with you. A lot of things that will interest you and hopefully excite you.

As Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep was released recently to over sea fans (the North America September 7 and Europe September 10), many fans rushed to video game stores everywhere near them. As many as our forums members have as well. Well the charts for the weak on top games came in. This was for September 9, 2010 so Europe wasn’t even counted. Two days after it’s released, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep is ranked number 2 on Amazon’s most bought video game for the North America. What surprising news this was to hear!

Besides from the information about the sales on Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Normura also twittered, on the Kingdom Hearts Twitter page, a message to overseas fans.

“Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep has finally been released in North America and Europe. A huge thank you to overseas fans for waiting. I’m confident in this work please buy and play it.”

And what a wait it has been. Just a little surprise fact, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep was announced as an actual project back in June 2005! Just a little over 5 years, so it was a mighty wait, but a wait fans stuck through and Normura is positive that will be enjoyed.

Thanks to forum member Bankai and fellow Kingdom Hearts Forums News Staff for this update. As We all know Kingdom Hearts re:Coded will definitely be at the Tokyo Game Show later this month, but there are two games in production for the Kingdom Hearts series, the other one being Kingdom Hearts 3D, a game that is hidden in the shadows where nobody knows about at all.

Many internet rumor have stated that the game will be available to play as a Nintendo 3DS exclusive at Tokyo Game Show, however nothing is confirmed. We can only hope though that some news about the mystery game is revealed, just make sure you stick with us while we keep you up to date.

Discuss it on our forums here

Hey, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything on the main site but hopefully the recent drought of news and updates on KHPlanet.com is coming to an end. I’ll be taking over the major updates for the site from now on and I hope you’ll stick around for the ride. With that being said, might as well get to some news of interest.

Now let me ask you something, if you were to walk up to most Kingdom Hearts fans and ask them if Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep is one of the best games on PSP ? The answer for most I’m guessing would probably be a massive Yes! On top of that having been tipped earlier this summer by most publications as one of the PSP’s most anticipated games it’s refreshing to see the game live up to its expectations in the eyes of its fans.

Well it’s not just the fans that are ranting and raving about the game. Another large site namely ElectricPig.co.uk has gone one step further and actually slapped Birth by Sleep into the number 1 position on their Best PSP Games list beating out other big titles such as Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker, Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions, God of War: Chains of Olympus, and LittleBigPlanet.

In their words they’ve said about Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.

“We love: Varied combat and simple, fun gameplay, plus a well executed narrative, We hate: Some of the earlier worlds are a little on the easy side, Verdict: If you love RPGs you’ll be sure to feel the same way about Birth By Sleep.”

You can discuss this topic over at our forums here

Source: ElectricPig.co.uk

Thanks to KH Insider, we’ve been able to check out the latest press release from Square’s website, after the terrific information about the game’s distribution to the US and UK. Read to the bottom to see what the game’s director, Tetsuya Nomura had to say about why the US game was delayed!

Official Press Release

“LOS ANGELES (May 17, 2010) — Square Enix, Inc., the publisher of SQUARE ENIX® interactive entertainment products in North America, announced today that KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep will be available at North American retailers on September 7, 2010. KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep brings to life unexplored worlds from everyone’s favorite Disney stories, and will be appearing exclusively on the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system.

A prequel to the mega-hit series, this pivotal installment takes players back to the beginnings of the KINGDOM HEARTS saga, long before Sora was chosen by his Keyblade. Players will explore iconic Disney worlds in a unique gaming experience that unfolds through the perspectives of three different main characters: Terra, Ventus and Aqua. Their journeys will take them through Sleeping Beauty’s Enchanted Dominion, the Dwarf Woodlands from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Deep Space from Lilo & Stitch. Additionally, KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep includes four all-new multiplayer modes that allow players to enjoy the action with their friends.

KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep is being brought to life through voice talents including Mark Hamill, Willa Holland, Jesse McCartney, Leonard Nimoy and James Woods. With an enhanced and action-packed battle system accompanied by stellar performances from pop-culture icons, KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep continues to push the franchise forward.

In celebration of the game’s launch, Square Enix and Sony Computer Entertainment America, LLC are introducing a limited edition KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep PSP Entertainment Pack, which brings together the stunning visuals of KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep and the robust portable gaming experience only possible on the PSP system. Available in North America, this GameStop exclusive bundle will include a “Mystic Silver” PSP-3000 system, KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep on UMD® (Universal Media Disc), a movie (title to be announced; movie content will not be related to KINGDOM HEARTS series.) as well as a 4GB Memory Stick PRO Duo™.

“The entire development team is extremely happy to announce the North American release date for KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep,” said Tetsuya Nomura, director of the KINGDOM HEARTS series. “We hate to keep fans waiting, but we’ve added some brand-new features for the North American version, so even those who have been following the Japanese version are sure to find a few surprises. In addition, we’ve put together an outstanding voice cast. We can’t wait for everyone to experience this game!”
With more than 14 million copies shipped worldwide, KINGDOM HEARTS is one of the most beloved video game series. Discover the origins of its captivating story on September 7, with KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep.”

New Screenshots!

KH Insider has compiled a great gallery of photos from the game, including many new ones, so thank you, thank you to them and we’ll share a few here.

I know, it feels like it’s been forever and you’re thinking: is this another rumor with no serious or grounded facts behind it? No, dear friends, this is the true news from the Square Enix websites themselves! (Which has also been confirmed by our friends over at KH Insider, as well as the gaming review website, GameSpot.)

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep Arrives to the US and UK

The United States release to the PSP will be Tuesday, September 7, 2010. The game drops into stores in the United Kingdom just three days later on Friday, September 10, 2010. Birth By Sleep will be available in English for the US and English, French, Spanish, Italian, and German for the UK.

Trailers!

Along with these highly, highly anticipated dates, the American and European websites have trailers for the game in different languages, so the lovin’ that Kingdom Hearts not only deserves but desires from us, can now be shared across what was once language barriers!

Rejoice Everyone

How excited are you, on a scale of one to ten? So excited you just had an accident? Totally pumped but remaining sane? Freaking out because you still don’t have a PSP? Unsure how you feel about another game without Sora as the protagonist? Share with us!