European fans of Kingdom Hearts will no doubt remember that the Birth by Sleep Special Edition will be released next month alongside the Normal Edition. Those fans might also like to view the image below for a better understanding of what the Special Edition will include.
As a reminder, this edition will come with the game (obviously), two art prints of both versions of the box art and a 48-page art book. There is still no good news for North American fans, who won't be receiving a Special Edition, but they are more than welcome to enjoy the lovely picture courtesy of the European Birth by Sleep Facebook group.
Birth by Sleep will be released on the 10th of September in Europe with North America getting a slightly earlier release on the 7th.
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep will be releasing in just over a month but some unfortunate news found on the Australian Playstation Website has fans a little dissapointed. Players were looking forward to the game's assumed online co-operative mode, the 'Mirage Arena', until it was revealed that the game will not be using any sort of online infrastructure.
Instead, the Mirage Arena will be restricted to the PSP's Ad Hoc Mode, that is to say that players who want to play multiplayer will have to be within 60ft of each other to play. It is not clear as to why the game couldn't use 'Infrastructure Mode' to allow online play for players wanting to play with friends around the world but this is the decision Square Enix have decided to go with.
All is not doom and gloom however, Playstation 3 owners will probably remember the Ad Hoc application on their PS3s. It allows any Ad Hoc enabled game to be played online using the PS3s very own online structure, with this in mind, players can still play online, they just need to own a PS3.
Square Enix recently attended the San Diego Comic Con with a line-up of various upcoming games with a more notable appearance from Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded and Birth by Sleep. Although we here at KHU missed out on the oppurtunity to attend, Kingdom Hearts Ultimania were there and managed to bring back with them some videos and pictures of the event.
The videos in the full story are comprised of the English Re:Coded trailer, gameplay featuring Terra and Aqua and a fully fledged cut-scene of a meeting between Aqua, King Mickey, Kairi and Kairi's grandmother. The gameplay demos were actually at E3 last month but no pictures or video were allowed to be taken, we did however get hands-on with the game and our impressions can be found in the full story.
It has been a while since we last reported any updates on the North American Birth by Sleep Website, but it doesn't mean that there weren't any. Square Enix have recently added some new videos, maps and screenshots that we have listed in the full story so that you, the readers, can see what is new.
Special Editions of games are certainly not a rarity in the game's industry and it looks like Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep will be getting one aswell. The problem? North America will not be recieving it.
The Special Edition of Birth by Sleep has been seen recently on Amazon's French, German and English websites, but not on Amazon.com (their American site). Europeans on the other hand will be happy to know that the Special Edition of the game will be packed along with two art prints and a 48-page art book. According to Amazon.co.uk, the Special Edition will be a mere £5 (just over EUR 5) more than the standard edition, sounds like a good deal to any Kingdom Hearts fan.
Unfortunately fans of Kingdom Hearts in North America will be missing out on yet another special edition. Dissidia: Final Fantasy was the last Square Enix game to come with a region exclusive edition and it looks like it is becoming a trend.
Sorry North America, but look on the bright side, at least you get stickers if you pre-order at Amazon.com, Best Buy or Gamestop.
Update: According to the Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep (EU) Facebook page, we now have the complete list of countries set to receive the special edition of the game: UK, France, Nordic countries, Germany/Austria/Switzerland, Benelux, Spain, Italy, Australia/New Zealand, Russia and Cyprus.
Thankyou to GamingUnion.net Forum member RedRose for the update.
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep is just over a month away from its Western release date and fans will be happy to know that a brand new trailer has been released, in English.
Gamespot.com have had the exclusive pleasure to release the new trailer with never before seen English cut-scenes and battle sequences. It seems like a lifetime has passed since the game's original Japanese release date back in January but Western fans only have to wait til the 7th of September to finally get their hands on the PSP title.
Gamespot also had the privilege of sitting down with the game's Director, Tetsuya Nomura, to talk about many various topics about the game itself and how it came to be. A small snippet of the interview can be found in the full story along with the new trailer.
Square Enix has published a new gameplay trailer for Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, highlighting Aqua, Terra and Ventus battling all over the place, in all their flashy goodness. The trailer shows off a few environments we've seen through other trailers and screens, but no less Disney and Kingdom Hearts fans should be able to recognize the worlds of Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty in the trailer. Unfortunately no breaking developments from this video, but it sure is pretty to watch.
The trailer is also in English, however there's virtually no speech aside from battle grunting. Alongside the grunting are plenty of special attacks and spells. Check out the video below, or click here to watch it in HD.
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep releases September 7th in North America, and September 10th in Europe.
While Square Enix lacked any big surprises for Kingdom Hearts fans at E3 2010, they did at least bring a fully translated version of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep with them to the show floor. We checked up on the Square Enix booth to get some more hands-on time with Birth by Sleep, as the last time we had played it was Tokyo Game Show 2009, shortly before the game's Japanese release.
While gameplay feels exactly the same, we were however presented with a choice to play through new segments of Ventus' story, Aqua's story, or Terra's story, and of course, it was all voiced in English. Kicking things off with Ventus' story segment, Ventus is in the middle of chasing down a huge squid-like Unverse (the "new heartless" for Birth by Sleep) through some sort of space worm hole. Ventus is clad head to toe in his knight suit, atop a space surf board of sorts, assumed on a mission to take down the Unverse.
The cutscene becomes gameplay as Ventus attacks the Unverse, allowing the player to dash around on the board as Ventus, slicing and slamming into it. With lock-on it's fairly easy to beat the Unverse, but to little surprise when the screen turns white, the Unverse gets away. Ventus, still chasing the Unverse, winds up in a giant space ship in the Deep Space world, home to Disney's Stitch, of Lilo & Stitch. Stitch is there, but has been captured at gun point, and is being held when Ventus arrives on the ship; when the Alien who captured Stitch leaves the holding area to check up on the new arrival (Ventus), Stitch breaks outs.
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As a reminder, this edition will come with the game (obviously), two art prints of both versions of the box art and a 48-page art book. There is still no good news for North American fans, who won't be receiving a Special Edition, but they are more than welcome to enjoy the lovely picture courtesy of the European Birth by Sleep Facebook group. 
