A lot of you out there may be very excited about Square Enix's upcoming event this August 2 and 3 in hopes of seeing more stuff related to Final Fantasy Versus XIII, but don' get your hopes way up high because you might get disappointed. The game's development has been placed on hold to allow team members to concentrate on higher priorities. More details about that and the rest of Square Enix's projects after the jump.

 Is there any truth that there's a bitter rivalry between Square Enix icons Yoshinori Kitase and Tetsuya Nomura? Is this the reason why they're supposedly working on separate Final Fantasy Versus XIII games? What does he think of former boss Hironobu Sakaguchi's work with the Final Fantasy franchise? All the answers in the full article.

It's somewhat rare to find a good RPG gem from Square Enix not based on one of its more popular franchises (i.e. Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest). However, its latest original IP title for the Nintendo DS definitely classifies itself as a keeper. Read all about QJ.NET's review of The World Ends With You in our full article after the jump.

Most of us are heating up with the impending release of Grand Theft Auto 4, but there's no need to lose your cool. Just like last week, a modest batch of titles will hit shelves as prelude to April's main act. Square Enix is ready to make some noise in The World Ends With You, while Nintendo is letting the Pokemon loose with Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness and Explorers of Time. The rest are waiting at the full article.

* Article originally posted Apr 21, 2008 at 12:48AM

Through press wire, Square Enix just announced that The World Ends With You is set for release on April 22 in North America. It's that stylish Nintendo DS title from famed game designer Tetsuya Nomura who created the Kingdom Hearts series and also has been Final Fantasy's consistent character designer. For more details, check out the full article.

It's official: Square Enix' stylish action RPG, The World Ends With You for the Nintendo DS, is set to reach western shores. Europe and other PAL territories are expected to get the game (originally planned to see release in the U.S. as It's a Wonderful World) by spring 2008. To celebrate, more details and screenshots are at the full article!

 

If you're wondering how the next generation of Kingdom Hearts games will be running, then wonder no more. In an interview conducted by Famitsu, a lot of details about Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days was discussed and its development on the Nintendo Wii platform.

Three big names in the ranks of Square Enix lent their insight on the upcoming game: Tetsuya Nomura (Director of Kingdom Hearts), Hiroshi Takai (Director of Last Remnant), and Koji Yamashita (Senior Vice President of Square Enix's Network Division). Nomura briefly discussed the new plot of the game, which will focus on the mysterious Organization XIII and centers on Roxas, one of the main characters in Kingdom Hearts 2.

He also said that the title of the game itself is a code which will be revealed upon beating the game. He explains this further:

The word Day, is attached and the progress of the game is to show how the Organization came to be, as well as the daily life of the Organization XIII. They are always faced with the duty from a place, and then have to return. The game will focus around Roxas, who is a member of the Organization. It will be an adventure game, repetition is also one of the concepts of the game.

Nomura said that they chose the DS because of its easy to use multiplayer capabilities. He said that this made it possible to use the characters of Organization XIII and build the story from there. However, Nomura and Hiroshi were still looking into the development of the controls since the DS has less buttons than the other consoles.

One thing to look out for is how both the multiplayer and single player mode of the game directly coincide with one another. Players can apparently use any of the Organization XIII members during multiplayer in short missions that they can clear to raise their levels for the single player mode.

Fans of the game can expect to see a lot of familiar faces in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. All three interviewees invited everyone to watch out for this highly anticipated sequel of this great RPG adventure series.

Feeling excited by the slew of Kingdom Hearts titles for the handhelds? No? Well, we do. Character designer Tetsuya Nomura for Square Enix was interviewed by Japanese game magazine Gemaga, and he revealed some tidbits about Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, and Kingdom Hearts: Coded.

Nomura said that the control scheme of the previous two Kingdom Hearts games for the PlayStation 2 will be retained, so we'll be likely to see real-time menu surfing while beating up the baddies. As difficult as it may sound, its actually a breeze to do after some practice.

As for Birth by Sleep, Nomura said that there will be three scenarios, and players can choose which scenario to do first. There's no scenario which is more important that the others, so players can even stop in the middle of the first scenario to do another one, said Nomura.

The main theme of all three scenarios will be to answer the question "Ven, who are you?", referring to the young boy who looks like Roxas.

Kingdom Hearts for the PSP will use an evolved version of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories' card battle system, as well as a mysterious "character growth system" that Nomura didn't discuss in detail at this point.

Moving on to Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days (he revealed that it's pronounced as "Three Five Eight Days over Two"), Nomura revealed that due to Roxa's slightly detached attitude, the Disney character treatment will be slightly different in 358/2 Days.

How about the controls? Nomura revealed that they will use the stylus minimally, as they want to retain the control scheme of previous Kingdom Hearts games, with the same interface as the PlayStation 2 Kingdom Hearts titles. Instead, it will be used for an in-game chat system, but he did not clarify if it will be through the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection, or through a local-based wireless connection.

Multiplayer in 358/2 Days looks fun, as players will be able to choose from any of the members of Organization XIII (that's 13 playable characters!), and will have plenty of missions like defeating enemies or retrieving items.

As for Kingdom Hearts: Coded for the mobile phones, it is unique in such a way that it takes place after Kingdom Hearts 2, and not a prequel like the other two games. The gameplay has not been touched upon by Nomura, but screenshots revealed that it will have the same interface as the first two Kingdom Hearts games for the PS2. 

Whew! That's definitely so much info. We sure can't wait for Kingdom Hearts, so you can expect us to sniff out more updates for you. Til then, stay tuned!

We have for you today the first images of upcoming Nintendo DS video game Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days in the form of Famitsu magazine scans. The title was just revealed at the recent Tokyo Game Show alongside the other WIP mobile games for the KH franchise.

358/2 Days features the story of Organization XIII's Number 13 Roxas. Those who became familiar with the character in the PS2 game Kingdom Hearts 2 will finally understand what happened to him during his earlier days and life in the group.

Aside from him, other characters from Organization XIII will also be featured in this title. Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days is being developed by the same Square Enix team that came up with the other DS title Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales. It is being directed by Tetsuya Nomura and Tomohiro Hasegawa.

Entice your eyeballs with wonderful-flavored eye candy in this video update of Square Enix's It's a Wonderful World for the Nintendo DS. Featuring a unique art style and direction that's delightfully Tetsuya Nomura's, Square Enix may just have a new epic game franchise on their hands.

The first video shows the game's ingenious use of both screens, with your two characters duking it out with the monsters via the D-pad and the touchscreen. The upper screen seems to be for physical attacks, with a DDR-esque control mechanic that has you pressing directions to execute a damaging combo string. The touchscreen is where you dole out the magic attacks, with Neck disposing of the Noise with a neat-looking fire spell.

The second video shows off the game's manga-esque intro, and it's where we see Neck being given his 7-day time limit. Rather scary stuff, that - seeing that you have only one week left to live.

Fast and furious action, stylized visuals, a great soundtrack - definitely a classic for the DS. Enjoy the videos!

The other video at the jump!