Kingdom Hearts II, Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, FF7 movie Gaming / Sony Posted by zmcnulty on Sep 26, 2003 - 03:42 PM |
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Kingdom Hearts II, GBA, and the FF7 movie. Original Story: http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20030926/se1.htm [1] Written by: Jin Funtasu (rd?) Translated by: Me The top development department of the Square/Enix Corporation presented their new titles today, immediately following the mid-day announcement of Tactics online. Since the titles announced were more or less completely different, there were actually two seperate sections of the presentation. The first presented was Buena Vista's Graham Hopper's PS2 "Kingdom Hearts 2" and GBA "Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories." The second section presented was the non-interactive film entitled "Final Fantasy VII -Advent Children-". "Kingdom Hearts," featuring Disney characters and Squaresoft characters, has been a big hit in not only Japan, but all over the world. At this presentation, it was announced that 1,300,000 units have been sold in Japan, and 2,000,000 units overseas. Squaresoft's Chief Public Relations representative, Hirokazu Nigita (rd?) had this to say: "Games have gained a lot of respect in the past 20 years. While there have been great strides in the presentation of images, we'd like to see the world's people enjoy a game with the characters that the entire world knows, and unites us." As per the main cause of the success, Nigata said "Just as Disney characters are loved throughout the entire world, having fun is also common to every place in the world." The genre will continue on with the Gameboy Advance's platformer "Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories," taking place right where the previous title left off. A movie was presented, by Mr. Masashi Hashimoto, who said , "To start off by playing a beautiful movie for you. This is not an introduction (i.e. intro) movie, but actual GBA images." When the movie played cries of "Bullshit!" came from the audience. To put it bluntly, the movies were just as vivd as the PS2 game...if this is true, then it is a miracle. While it is too early to tell, one cannot help but be astonished by this. A few screenshots of the game in action were also featured. They seemed to feature a lot of 2D action, but since there was no explanation, this is only speculation. But, just like the "Seiken Densetsu New Testament" presented the other day, the character screens and such seemed to be drastically improved. "Kingdom Hearts 2", to be released for the PS2, will supposedly answer the questions left unanswered by the first game. A movie was played with a man in a black coat grasping a large key, after the ending of the previous game. (This can also be said about "Chain of Memories.") The movie also featured Mickey Mouse (?) holding a golden key, along with an all-star cast. Just like the last game, it will featuring characters from Square and Disney, as well as original characters, and a lot of new characters. We also got the impression (from the movements) of an enemy who morphed. Hopper said "As the last title was successful, Nigita and I went to Nomura with our ideas. Nomura also had a lot of ideas, which lead to the creation of two seperate titles." While the project was relatively balanced between Disney and Square, "final decisions and direction came from Nomura" said Hashimoto. After looking at as much "Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories" as possible, and due to the extreme infancy that the Kingdom Hearts II project is in, a release is not yet decided, but the group seems to be shooting for 2004. Final Fantasy The second group to present was not a game, but the film "Final Fantasy VII -Advent Children-." At the event was Yoshinori Kitase, who said "I was talking with the Visual production guys, and I overheard one of them say 'I want to win at visual production.' At the start, it was thought that images from back in the day would be used, but then I figured that we should go with an all 3D 'Final Fantasy VII'". The models presented are not yet concrete. Though the images presented at the announcement were indeed beautiful, they are still in the early development stages. They are shooting for a Summer 2004 release date. President Nigita said "We will not stop at just a movie or DVD; as digital contents are our forte, we plan on releasing a lot to the public." At the present condition, the feature is planned to be 60 minutes long. Some ***** in the crowd asked "How will this be different from that shitty movie from before?" To this, Nigita simply replied "We have a lot of experience, and we will not step in the same rut again. We have financially invested a lot in this, and have brought together the staff of 'Final Fantasy VII.' They are all working in the company. Though 'Square Pictures' has broken up, a lot of the manpower and artistic skills from this period will be utilized. They will contribute on a wide variety of medias." Nigita also said "We have a scene featuring Cloud for cell phones, and it should be implemented on the next-generation FOMA phones from yesterday." Meanwhile, Nomura, in charge of the project, said "There is a lot we want to do. Cloud and the whole image has changed. The models are bit more deformed than those from 'Final Fantasy X' but I think they look real. I think this deformation is a rather distinguishing characteristic." Between the cool tints of the graphics to the showdown scene, there is a lot to expect from this movie. |
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This article is from TechJapan http://www.techjapan.com/ The URL for this story is: http://www.techjapan.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=16 Links in this article [1] http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20030926/se1.htm |