Tetsuya Nomura Talks

To promote the US release of Kingdom Hearts II character designer and director Tetsuya Nomura talked about the title and the future of the popular series.

First he talked about the difference between the Japanese and the North American version. The differences are minimal like one thing that is modified is the gun design of the Pirates of the Caribbean level. This is because of the ESRB rating the game has to make it guns look less like weapons. He also said that there won't be a Final Mix version of the game, due to the lack of changes.

Nomura already has some new ideas about the feature development of Kingdom Hearts. But, when the ideas will be turned into a project, fans should not expect a new numbered title or something like KH: Chain of Memories. Furthermore, Nomura also ruled out a foray into media forms other than games, such as animation. Famitsuu speculates that one possibility would be something along the lines of a gaiden.

As final thing, he promised major announcements for this year's edition for the Electronic Entertainment Expo and the Tokyo Game Show. Square Enix corporate executive director Shinji Hashimoto confirmed as much, saying his company would hold a big "surprise ceremony" at E3. Following the release of Kingdom Hearts II in North America and Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII in Japan, the development team of Nomura and Hashimoto is currently working on two confirmed projects: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII for PlayStation Portable and an untitled Final Fantasy installment for PlayStation 3.

Source: RPGFan