Tetsuya Nomura, voice actors to appear at Kingdom Hearts event Tetsuya Nomura, director and character designer for Kingdom Hearts, will make a guest appearance during the Kingdom Hearts Consumer Demo Day at the Sony Metreon's PlayStation store. Voice actors David Gallagher (7th Heaven) and Hayden Panettiere (Ally McBeal, Remember the Titans) are also scheduled to appear. The event takes place August 23 from 2-6 PM. Link
Square EA to host Kingdom Hearts Pre-Launch Party To top off the pre-launch promotional blitz, Square EA has scheduled a party for the North American release of Kingdom Hearts. Many of KH's voice actors, including Haley Joel Osment, Lance Bass, David Boreanaz, and Mandy Moore, are scheduled to appear. The event will take place August 28 at the W Los Angeles Hotel in Westwood from 6-10 PM. As though the guest appearances weren't enough, "attendees will groove to the music of DJ Jason Bentley." Link
Ikaruga on Gamecube. Games Are Fun (article) reports that the most recent issue of Famitsu reveals that Treasure has indeed confirmed Ikaruga for a January 2003 Gamecube release.
English version of Kingdom Hearts theme song renamed The English version of "Hikari," the vocal theme song of Kingdom Hearts, will now be titled "Simple and Clean." Japanese pop star Utada Hikaru, who performs the vocals to "Hikari," also sings the English lyrics.
For many of you who have already seen the English lyrics to the "Hikari" remix, this "news" proves that we live in a vacuum.
Final Fantasy I?II Original Soundtrack Announced Although officially an "original" soundtrack, the FFI?II OST is ostensibly based on the rearrangements of the original Famicom-quality music for the PlayStation remakes of Final Fantasy I and II. The music on the OST is arranged by Tsuyoshi Sekido, with Nobuo Uematsu supervising the project. The 2-CD OST will be released October 23 in Japan for 2,718 yen (about $23 US), one week before the FFI and FFII PS remakes are released.
(Link points directly to Japanese album info.) Link
Final Fantasy XII, two unknown titles to be revealed at TGS Square will reportedly debut Final Fantasy XII and two other unknown titles, one online, at the upcoming Tokyo Games Show. In addition, other titles will be featured at the show such as Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicle, Unlimited SaGa, and the Final Fantasy X spinoffs. Gameforms
Greece: "Video games... bah!" "In an attempt to curb the scourge of gambling within its borders, the Greek government recently enacted a ban on electronic game of any kind. That includes computer gaming, console gaming, and even playing Monkey Ball on your PCS phone. Those found gaming will either receive jail time, or a minimum fine of $75,000. The law is under appeal." Gameforms
Breath of Fire V receives blessings of gaming music gods Yasunori Mitsuda and Hitoshi Sakimoto, two of gaming music's most celebrated composers, have collaborated on the score for Capcom's upcoming RPG Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter, to be released November 14 in Japan. Also, Capcom took a page out of Square's marketing playbook by announcing that Chihiro Onitsuka, a famous Japanese pop artist, will perform the game's theme song. Music samples are available at the official Breath of Fire V website. RPGFanFull Article
Hanjuku Hero announced for PS2 Square announced the development of Hanjuku Hero VS 3D for the PlayStation 2 in the latest issue of Japan's Weekly Jump magazine. The latest game in the quirky, comedic simulation-RPG series pits the army forces of "2D" (represented with traditional sprite-like graphics) against "3D" (rendered as CG models). True to the series' name ("hanjuku" means "half-boiled"), "egg heroes" may once again be summoned to do battle. The Magic Box
More information revealed on Square's upcoming GBA titles Mentioned several weeks ago, Square's Chocobo-based title for the GameBoy Advance is called Chocobo Land: A Game of Dice, the sequel to Dice de Chocobo (a board game) for the PlayStation. The objective in Chocobo Land, to be released late 2002 in Japan, is to claim all the land on the board (with the aid of magic stones) and triumph over rival players. Also, Square is developing a GBA port of the Super Famicom's Hanjuku Hero. A WonderSwan Color port of the game was released February 2002 in Japan. The Magic Box
Miyamoto speak. You listen. Shigeru Miyamoto has reportedly told some interview guy that there will be at least one new title in both the Zelda and Mario series for the Gamecube. Miyamoto also said that Nintendo itself has an online title in the works for a release soon but fell asleep before he could delve into any further details. The Magic Box
Rare: sold, slapped, and kicked in the ass on the way out the door The hottest topic of rumor columnists and gaming sites alike for the past eight months has arguably been the apparent disbanment of Rare from longtime ally Nintendo. Now Microsoft has reportedly scored on an opportunity Nintendo missed. Full Article