Birth By Sleep Reviewed By IGN
Fri, Sep 3rd, 2010, 10:35 am (EST) by Nick
Online Gaming Site IGN recently had the chance to review Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, and like most Japanese Reviewers, they gave it a great write-up. The review is not all praise however as the game, like any other, has a few minor problems.
Please check out the video review in the full story
We here at KHU can't comment much on IGN's review as we have only played a preview demo, supplied by Square Enix at this year's E3. What we can say is that IGN's score has us optimistic for the game in both the gameplay and the story.
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep will be available on the 7th of this month for North America and the 10th for Europe. I hope all of you Kingdom Hearts fans out there have pre-ordered already.
Thanks to GU forum riku for the news.
Animation Director Koji Hamada Blogs About Birth By Sleep
Sat, Aug 28th, 2010, 6:09 pm (EST) by Nick
1UP.com has recently been host to the Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Developer Blog offering up brief insights into the game's features and development. Battle Director Tai Yasue and Art Director Takeshi Fujimoto have already shared their involvement in the game's design but now Koji Hamada, the game's Art Director, has spoken about his.
"An animator's main duty is to breathe life into the characters and gimmicks in the game by giving them movement," Hamada explains. "This includes everything from crafting the motions for the main, Disney and enemy characters (like the Unversed), to objects like jumping platforms and street lamps that shake when they're hit."
Hamada goes on to explain what his goals were for Birth by Sleep and the new Unversed characters that players will be facing off against. The rest of the blog explains the 3-D tool that was used to construct each character's animations and how it actually works.
Leading up to Birth by Sleep's release next month, fans will be excited to learn anything and everything they can about the game before then. Birth by Sleep will be available in North America on the 7th of September and in Europe on the 10th.
Check out the full blog at 1UP.com.
Birth By Sleep Gets A TV Commercial
Fri, Aug 27th, 2010, 12:47 pm (EST) by Nick
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep will be released next month and what better way to let the public know than by giving it its own TV commercial.
The North American commercial features gameplay, cut-scenes and well, not much else, but what do you expect from a 30 second long video? What was a little interesting was the lack of Disney input. Mickey and Captain Hook are clearly seen near the beginning of the commercial but not much after that.
Maybe Square Enix are focusing on the older gamer much more than the average Disney cartoon fan? If this is true then the story will surely be worth the wait. Just in case you miss it, Birth by Sleep will be available on the 7th of September in North America and the 10th for Europe exclusively for the PSP.
Check out the video in the full story.
Voice Actor Confirmed For Terra In Birth By Sleep
Sat, Aug 21st, 2010, 5:00 pm (EST) by Nick
When playing a game such as Kingdom Hearts, or indeed any game at all, it is important for players to connect with the characters that they both play as and interact with. Voice actors are in a position to strengthen these relationships through playing their role well and giving players that sense of familiarity whenever they come across their specific character.
Fans of Kingdom Hearts care a great deal about the voice actors that bring to life their favourite characters and so it is expected that they care enough to try and find out who is voicing who. The voice of Terra was always a mystery to fans until Jason Dohring confirmed that he would be voicing the new character in Birth by Sleep. Dohring spoke about his role in the game during a radio interview on blogtalkradio.com.
Find out what he said in our full story.
Birth By Sleep's Final Trailer Gets Finalised
Sat, Aug 21st, 2010, 1:29 pm (EST) by Nick
The final trailer for Birth by Sleep was recently released only to have an updated version come out less than a week later.
Unfortunately there isn't much that can be said about the new 'final' trailer, it is a simple mix-up of the previous trailer but in a different order. Eagle-eyed viewers may spot that there are six seconds of extra time from the previous trailer but it is hard to spot any new parts to the already seven minute long video.
Birth by Sleep is being released exclusively on the Sony PSP and will be available in North America on the 7th of September and Europe on the 10th.
Don't forget to actually watch the trailer in our full story
Art Director Takeshi Fujimoto Blogs About Birth By Sleep
Sat, Aug 21st, 2010, 10:22 am (EST) by Nick
Two weeks ago, a series of blogs created by Square Enix staff about Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep were to be published exclusively on 1UP.com's website. The first blog, written by Co-Director/Battle Director Tai Yasue, had explained the PSP title's new battle system, the second blog however is more focused on the art direction.
Takeshi Fujimoto, Art Director of Birth by Sleep, has written his own blog on his team's involvement in the game. Fujimoto describes how his team were able to come up with the map designs, how helpful Disney were on the project and how watching too many Disney films can be a good thing.
For Disney worlds such as Castle of Dreams (Cinderella) and Dwarf Woodlands (Snow White), we based a lot of the map designs on the film. Basically we watched the DVDs over and over and recreated the worlds in 3-D as accurately as possible.
Fukimoto also describes some of the challenges that had cropped up while working on the anticipated Kingdom Hearts title, stating "It was hard to determine how much data we could use during early development, since the game engine wasn’t running optimally yet."
Read the full blog at 1UP.com.
Final Birth By Sleep Trailer Released
Fri, Aug 20th, 2010, 2:21 pm (EST) by Nick
With only a month to go, the official Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Trailer has been unleashed onto the public clocking in at a hefty seven minutes of gameplay, cut-scenes and beautiful visuals. Courtesy of RedRose, a member of GamingUnion, we have the trailer in our full story for everyone to watch and enjoy as more of the Birth by Sleep story is revealed.
To continue our Youtube themed news story, we also have a video of screenshots made possible by KHInsider.com. Though it's hard to tell what is going on in some of the images, it is clear to see that the game will look stunning on the PSP.
Birth by Sleep will be released exclusively on the PSP on the 7th of September for North America and the 10th in Europe. Though the game may not be the Kingdom Hearts 3 that everyone wants, it has been described as being the equivalent of a numbered title which will contain as much content and story to keep fans happy.
Remember to watch the videos in our full story.
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