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So Many Square Enix Toys, So Little Time
At this year’s Tokyo Toy Show, Square Enix showed off…toys. There are loads of Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts figures and knick-knacks. Makes sense, because there are loads of Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts games. I like the inflatable Slimes. Have a look for yourself. ［東京おもちゃショー2010］スクウェア・エニックスでフィギュア三昧 [Gizmodo Japan]
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 15, 2010 -
Screw English, It’s All About C
This month, Japanese online retailer Rakuten.com decided the language that was used internally by the company would no longer be Japanese. By 2012, the company’s official in-house language will be English. That would mean all meetings would be conducted in English and all internal documents would be in English. English, English, English! Rakuten has been…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 8, 2010 -
Kingdom Hearts Designer Talks Picking and Choosing
Last year, it was revealed that Square Enix designer Tetsuya Nomura originally conceived with chainsaws. “There things I wanted to do [with Kingdom Hearts]”, Nomura recently told Kotaku, “but things that were not allowed.” Maybe like chainsaws? Obviously, you can’t have Mickey Mouse wield a chainsaw. (Well, I guess you could. And I guess it…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 25, 2010 -
The Kingdom Hearts Keyblade Takes Disneyland
Over at Disneyland forum MiceChat, member AcmePunched created a keyblade weapon from Square Enix’s Disney franchise Kingdom Hearts. That’s no big deal. What she did, however, is. AcmePunched took the Keyblade to Disneyland and had an array of characters pose with it until… “A security guard came up to me and asked about the key,”…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 17, 2010 -
Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded Debuts In America Next Week
The Nintendo DS re-make of a Japanese Kingdom Hearts cell-phone game will be at video game mega-show E3 next week. Cool, but is that the Kingdom Hearts E3 mystery game? This is what we know: Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded is not Kingdom Hearts 3. No way. It’s one of two Kingdom Hearts games Square Enix confirmed…
By Stephen Totilo Published June 9, 2010 -
What Is Your Favorite Square Enix Series?
A recent pol asked 3,000 people that same question in Japan. But before we get to that, let me ask you this: What’s your favorite Square Enix franchise? Here are the results to said poll: 10. Valkyrie Profile series 2.7 percent 9. Front Mission series 2.8 percent 8. Kingdom Hearts series 2.9 percent 7. Itadaki…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 9, 2010 -
New Kingdom Hearts Game Will Be At E3
E3 may well be full of unexpected surprises, but one thing that’s for sure is we’ll see a new Kingdom Hearts game. Series director Tetsuya Nomura was interviewed in the latest issue of Game Informer, and while he stopped short of saying that one of two KH games currently in development is Kingdom Hearts 3,…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 7, 2010 -
Kingdom Hearts Figures Might Be Too Damn Cute
Kingdom Hearts fans, who we know like things cute, will surely snap up these new figures from Square Enix, which are not only based on Kingdom hearts characters, but are incredibly, impossibly cute. There are five available – Sora, Cloud, Tifa, Axel and Riku – with the catch being you need to buy them as…
By Luke Plunkett Published April 29, 2010 -
What Does Kingdom Hearts 3 Depend On?
Kingdom Hearts is the Square Enix role-playing series staring Disney characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. The series has had several spin-offs, but gamers are eagerly awaiting Kingdom Hearts 3. “About the next title, Kingdom Hearts 3 depends on Final Fantasy Versus XIII, but development of the next title is already underway,” Kingdom Heart…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 25, 2010 -
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep Snoozes Its Way To America
Square Enix is bringing the PSP prequel to its incredibly popular Kingdom Hearts series to North American shores, unsurprisingly, applying a vague “summer” release date to Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep. The fifth entry in the Disney-Square Enix crossover series, Birth By Sleep will be armed with a few new additions in its North American…
By Michael McWhertor Published March 16, 2010 -
Thank Kingdom Hearts For Epic Mickey
No, the head of Disney’s gaming division wasn’t taking the bait and announcing Kingdom Hearts 3 here at the annual DICE convention near Las Vegas. But he did tell Kotaku that franchise paved the way for another big Disney game. “It forced us to challenge assumptions,” Disney’s game studio chief Graham Hopper said of the…
By Stephen Totilo Published February 18, 2010 -
Final Fantasy XIII, Chrono Trigger and Kingdom Hearts: The Statues
The small Square-Enix booth at Toy Fair 2010 had some fancy Final Fantasy jewelry, the newest versions of upcoming Final Fantasy XIII statues, some tiny Chrono Trigger pieces and some new Kingdom Hearts figures. Sorry, I didn’t photograph the jewelry.
By Stephen Totilo Published February 17, 2010 -
Snuggle Up With Kingdom Hearts
And you won’t even have to worry about being poked with a keyblade. This is an officially licensed “comfy throw blanket with sleeves” — because regular blankets are just not comfy enough. Sleeves make everything better. So does Disney. And keyblades. And punch. Man, we love punch. Thanks ZeroGinc for the tip!
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 23, 2009 -
Some Kingdom Hearts Figures To Jingle Your Bells
Toysmiths Kotobukiya have a new line of Kingdom Hearts figures on the way, due for release in Japan early next year. Available for pre-order now, they’ll go on sale in April for ¥3800 (USD$40) a piece. There will be three figures to choose from: King Mickey, Christmas Town Sora (so seasonal!) and Cloud/Vincent. Pre-order info…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 7, 2009 -
Head In The Clouds: Flying In Video Games
There’s something fantastical about flying in a video game. We can easily run, jump and swim in real life. Flight is more exotic. But we do fantasize about it. Where do you think the term “flights of fancy” comes from? Nowhere is the realization of flight grander or more satisfying than in video games. When…
By AJ Glasser Published November 9, 2009 -
Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep Wakes Up To Japanese Release Date
PSP role-playing-game Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep has been dated for Japan. The game will be released on January 9 and priced at ¥6,090 (US$67). Birth By Sleep is an action RPG set ten years before the first Kingdom Hearts game. Be sure to check out our impressions on the game.
By Brian Ashcraft Published October 21, 2009 -
Looks Like A New Game Mode For Birth By Sleep
I was jealous when I heard Stephen Totilo played Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep at the Tokyo Game Show. But even if he saw it first, it looks like he didn’t see everything. Apparently there’s a board game-type of mode in Birth By Sleep that breaks up the hack ‘n’ slash monotony many non-KH fans…
By AJ Glasser Published October 15, 2009 -
Week Of Disney: When A Games Journalist Moonlights
GamesRadar is doing Disney theme week to celebrate the upcoming release of Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days and yours truly was lucky enough to participate. So if you ever wonder what I do when I’m not blogging my little heart out for Kotaku, go check out this massive feature I put together on the history of…
By AJ Glasser Published September 24, 2009 -
Tokyo’s Video Game Toys And Final Fantasy Jewelry, Of Course
The Tokyo Game Show hasn’t started here in Japan yet, so half of your Kotaku team has been left with time to visit toy stores. We found a horde of video game toys and at least one other curious thing. All photos from Kiddy Land, a toy store in Tokyo’s Harajuku district.
By Stephen Totilo Published September 21, 2009 -
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days Manga Kicks Off
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days isn’t due out in North America for another two months or so, but maybe the manga will tide you over ’til then. The July issue of Shounen Gangan features an eight-page preview chapter of the manga which basically re-hashes all the names and some of the neuroses of Organization XIII‘s members.…
By AJ Glasser Published July 24, 2009