The Future of Kingdom Hearts, 360? or PS3?

"Kingdom Hearts" has quickly become Square-Enix's OTHER RPG megahit. The original quickly shot to the top of the charts and received massive critical acclaim. It was rated the 22nd best PS2 game of all time by IGN.com and was voted as 19th best game of all time by the readers of Famitsu Magazine in Japan. So it's no surprise that to date the game has sold over 5.6 million copies worldwide, and has garnered 1 sequel, and 4 spinoffs spanning across two handheld platforms and mobile phones.

"Kingdom Hearts" is also one of the most influential games of recent history. It totally redefined the crossover genre by blending the magic of Disney and fantasy of "Final Fantasy." It took action RPGs to a new level, introduced a new, young crowd to RPGs, and marked the directorial debut of mastermind Tetsuya Nomura. Nomura-san, who first made a major impact on the gaming industry with his art and design for "Final Fantasy VII," finally got his chance at directing and having full creative control with "Kingdom Hearts."

Needless to say, "Kingdom Hearts" is a major franchise, and a hardware seller.

More after the jump!!

[King Me]

Yeah,if FF13 and FF13 Versus aren't even 50% into development,Kingdom Hearts will proooobably come out sometime in 2011,so whichever console is still being supported at the time,is the one that will get Kingdom Hearts

[Overr8ed]

yea he is and we all know that he loves working with the ps3 and psp. That is what the article is talking about.

[Jamie Foxx]

between the multiplat ff13 and the ps3 exclusive versus then due to the fact with versus they can go all out on the cell and bluray capacity

ff13 unfortunately will now be dumbed down and ideas that they were going to implement now thrown to the wayside i believe because nomatter what they say in the back of their minds the developers are thinking about the 360 hardware and dvd9, why go all out on the ps3 just to make your job super impossible on porting the whole bluray experience onto a dvd9?

[SixTwoTwo]

The BluRay vs DVD9 argument is kind of a moot point when it comes to JRPG's because they can spread the game out over 5 or 6 DVD9's on the 360 vs 1 single or dual layered BluRay on the PS3. As long as FFXIII is not an open world game the DVD9 won't hold it back.

Kingdom Hearts 3?? It's not coming out for years because Nomura is working on Versus XIII. Unless they put someone else in charge of KH3 which would make me lose interest in it anyway.

[Jamie Foxx]

your wrong in some parts.

dvd9 requires alot of compression which inturn dumbs down a game as you will see with the upcoming rage and ff13.

secondly 5-6 discs you say? have you forgotten the charges developers have to pay microsoft for each disc which is a stumbling point

dvd9 is lastgen ps2 introduced it ps3 furthered it

[SixTwoTwo]

I forgot about the whole disc royalty thing with 360 games haha. Well I hope SqEx doesn't try and cut content to make the game fit on 2 disks. I'm already pissed about the PS3 version being held back to launch with the 360 version.

[mikeslemonade]

I don't think Microsoft has Kingdom Hearts on there mind. Versus 13 is still exclusive to PS3. If the game gets enough hype and enough fans cry out on 360 then Microsoft might listen and pay for Kingdom Hearts as well. As of right now they don't need Kingdom Hearts because they think they are in a good position.

[Death]

Versus and FFXIII are on the Crystal Tools multi-platform game engine. Versus should look identical to FFXIII. Blu-Ray still uses compression, but it has enough room that developers can use uncompressed data if they choose. Don't think that Blu-Rays larger size makes it superior in every way. Compromises need to be made today to get Blu-Ray to work well. In time it will be easier, but that is down the road. As an example, trying to find your car parked outside the local convenient store is easy. Trying to find your car outside the local mega mall, not so much. To make up for increased seek and load times on Blu-Ray, devs are duplicating data on the disc and also issuing mandatory installs.

One of the other benefits of Blu-Ray is the ability to have longer games with higher textures that would benefit 1080p display owners. 1080p games are still rare unless you count upscaled games and I've yet to see them longer unless you count MGS which uses quite a bit of passive content to further the story along. Show me the immersive, fully interactive high texture 1080p game that is also longer than a DVD9 based game and I will pick it up today. At 24 gigs, Uncharted is probably the closest thing, but at 10 hours long I don't think that is all that Blu-Ray is capable of.

-Death

[nieto]

you have 10 bubbles with stupid comments like those? impressive.

Blu-ray it is not a dvd with increased capacity. Blu-ray it's a totally new technology that use a different kind of laser to read the disc. It's called blu-ray because the laser it's blue and it needs installation because the read speed it's x4 not because it's difficult to find the data on the massive disc of 25-50 GB.

That would be like saying that a bigger hard disk with more space it's slower but in realty it is much faster. And the installation of games are not only for the sake of speed up loadings...

[princejb134]

in my opinion it will end up on the ps3
if a it was to be passed on to the 360, most 360 owners will be lost in the story, not knowing what happened in the first 2 games if they only owned a xbox.
if one has a ps3 (60gig, 80gig) they can always go back and play both games to keep up with the story.
yes it was done with final fantasy but each final fantasy begins with new characters and a new story while kingdom hearts the story continues in its own pace.

[Homicide]

As long as it's not a Wii exclusive, then I'm alright with it.

[BlackTar]

But that was a misleading and ill informed post. No one should read that and take anthing from it. It was jargon. Sorry post on but please refrain from using your personal self formulated defintion and such to explain to those who are less informed. Think about the poor guy who says what you did to a person who is obv. way more educated on this matter he would get laughed at and in a worse postiton then if he didnt read anything at all.

[Death]

Yes, I am aware Blu-Ray lasers are blue which is a much narrower laser beam than red. By using a narrow blue beam you can fit more data by having a higher quantity of narrower tracks. Blu-Ray is also slower and at a fixed speed compared to traditional red lasers used in DVD. I tried making it simple so it is easy to understand, but it is a fact that finding data on a Blu-Ray can take longer than a DVD. Devs can optimize data placement on the disc, but this isn't always the easiest thing to do. By forcing an install to the much faster HDD, Blu-Ray related issues can be resolved. Devs are also placing redundant data on the Blu-Ray disc to make access faster.

Here's a link if you want to know what some devs have said, http://multiplayerblog.mtv....

-Death

[SkyGamer]

Why can't you just change disks? I mean in a fps or racing, you wouldn't want to swap disks, but in an rpg where it really doesn't matter that much, I don't know.

[Raoh]

both most likely

[Lord Shuhei Yoshida]

I agree.Square Enix loves the smell of money

[LastPlace-tation 3rd]

lol who doesn't??? It's on XBox 360.

KH3 will be on Xbox 360.

[AngryTypingGuy]

It will be on the 360 if they want it to actually sell. That's where the gamers are.

[Quickstrike]

nope because if u did read you would've seen that it said that there are 5 reasons that KH 3 wont be coming to the 360. for those that are too lazy to click the jump here they are from the artical.

1) Tetsuya Nomura is the director and calls all the shots.

2) It most likely won’t even begin its development for another year, and as we’ve seen with recent titles like Doom 4, DVD9 is quickly becoming too small to handle the games developers are pumping out. And if ID can fill up a DVD so much that they need more than one disc at this current time, surely Nomura and his team can in a year or more from now.

3) The game honestly has a better chance of finding its way to the Wii before the Xbox. Nomura seems to have quite a liking for Nintendo, he’s already developed 2 “Kingdom Hearts” titles for them, “Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories” for the Gameboy Advance, and the upcoming “Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days” for the DS

4) Disney has a lot of influence in “Kingdom Hearts,” and as we all know, they have developed quite the intimate relationship with Sony because of the Blu Ray format. While I certainly don’t think this would be a strong factor, it is still a fact.

5) And finally, the Xbox 360 itself. We certainly have seen a good amount of RPGs heading to the system, but other than “Tales of Vesperia,” we have yet to really see how well they fair. Both “Blue Dragon” and “Lost Odyssey” did fair, but neither managed to really break the mold on the 360. Sure, they were good games, but they didn’t seem to get that push that so many action and adventure games get on 360. Not to mention, that neither managed to even make a dent in 360 sales in Japan, a big factor for Square-Enix. It will be interesting to see how well “Tales of Vesperia” does outside of Japan. 360 may have finally found its RPG megahit if the Japanese sales are any indicator. Still, the 360 is almost non existent in Japan, and that certainly is a not a good argument for the “Kingdom Hearts” franchise.

[Pain]

.

[Lelouch V Brit]

"I agree.Square Enix loves the smell of money"

Yes, if Microsoft wants to sell more in japan, xbox 360 needs this game.

[ShinMaster]

Neither Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, or Eternal Sonata sell anywhere near 1 million.

They sold 0.50 on average.

Besides, no 360 fanboy knows the story to KH.

[Mao]

I don't think it'll matter. We're not seeing this game for YEARS. However, just based on technological superiority, I really want to see Square sit down and truly develop a dedicated title for the PS3 and go MGS4 with it. I'm talking full Cell usage, complete blu-ray space utilization and full PSN support. Hopefully, MAYBE we'll get to see that with FFvsXIII.

[power of Green]

Based on technological superiority, games like SO4 are possible.

[Mao]

I'm not turning this into a fanboy arguement, I'm stating facts. The 360 has a lot going for it, but I think if you sat down and gave half a second considering specs, the answer is simple: PS3 is more powerful.

It's not a blind follower's statement, it's just the obvious truth. That said, Star Ocean 4 should be an incredible game. Don't go taking offense to every pro PS3 comment posted, okay?

[juuken]

...PoG, give it a rest. He has a point. -.-

[MazzingerZ]

If they want to make easy money without much effort = Wii exclusive
Otherwise this one goes PS3-X360. Today more than ever before, HWs a re too different...

[MazzingerZ]

"Based on technological superiority, games like SO4 are possible"

I have yet to see it running...Blue Dragon had slow downs, it was like watching a movie and pausing randomly, Lost Oddissey had also issues...it doesn't matter how many discs they ship, they still need to compress data and it shows.

[mistertwoturbo]

"games like SO4 are possible."

Being possible is one thing, but being the highest quality is another.

LO and Blue Dragon just needed more polish. Great games hampered by rushed development.

[Voiceofreason]

Claiming that PS3 is the most powerful really sounds like a blind fanboy statement to me. If PS3 was really more powerful, games like GTA4 would not play at a lower resolution on PS3 compared to 360. I dont own either console so dont go thinking I support MS because I see something you cant. If PS3 was really everything you kids made it out to be, we would be able to clearly see that today, however according to most reviews around 90% of multi platform games look and play better on 360.

[cellypower]

360 was the lead platform .If you look at the ps3 exclusives coming out your argument is invalid.

[socomnick]

how can you compare exclusives when there isnt a direct game on the other system to compare. I also think comparing exclusives is dumb. Imo gears of war 2 looks better than killzone 2. Then again alot of people on this site will disagree with me.

[SuperM]

Silly discussion. Every game that has xbox as the lead platform will ofcourse look atleast as good on the 360 if not better. That is just pure logic and has nothing to do with what console being more powerfull. PS3 architecture is so different from the xbox that just doing a simple port will not work. it requires more work for it to fit with the arcitecture.

Infact the only way to compare what system has most graphical capability is through exclusives. Now every fanboy have no problem lieing to themselves claiming that gears look better then kz2, uncharted or whatever. But if you leave all the bias behind, all the fanboy crap you will see that games like KZ2 looks better then anything coming out on the 360 including gears2. Infact it is not really anything to be discussing. Anyone not being a fanboy can see this.

Now since we probably havent seen the most out of either system we cant say for sure what is the most powerfull, but it is like this. Either PS3 game developers are more skilled at making graphicly better games, or the PS3 is more powerfull. Its one of those.

I dont however find it very realisticly that ps3 developers are more skilled at making graphics then any other developers (they might be), so to me it seems quite clear that the PS3 is infact more powerfull. It makes sense as the Cell is far superior to the processor in the 360. Cell is capable of rendering graphics, so it works as both a gpu and a cpu.

[mistertwoturbo]

"Anyone not being a fanboy can see this."

Which basically counts 95% of N4G commentors out. lol

[00]

"But if you leave all the bias behind, all the fanboy crap you will see that games like KZ2 looks better then anything coming out on the 360 including gears2"

Wait you say fanboys have no problem saying this game looks better then that game but then claim that KZ2 looks better then any game coming out on the 360, Kind of hypercritical.

[Surfman]

PS3 exclusive or wii... sadly

[Blaze929]

If anything at all, i see this title going to the Wii the most. Remember way back:

"we dont want the PS3 to be the overwhelming winnner...so we cant support them too much. But we dont want them to be the overwhelming looser...so we'll support them a bit"

They still aint support the Wii..and whatll be bigger than KH on it? Maybe somehow tying with the Nintendo KH series; the GBA one...DS one...etc

[clintos59]

Reason I say this is because this has always been a big hit on the ps brand and is why I wouldnt be suprised if they announce this a ps3 exclusive at TGS or down the line.

A wii exclusive would also sound like a reality aswell since the wii is selling very well and in japan the wii is the most successful console out of the three which I wouldnt be suprised if it were a wii exclusive aswelll.

Either way it could go anyway but I believe square hasnt been showing much love to the ps3 and is a big reason I think this will most likely be a ps3 exclusive unless they have something else for the ps3. We will never know now since the FF13 on 360 news.

[Asurastrike]

Nomura is the father of Kingdom Hearts. He is also the one behind FF Versus XIII, and that game is a PS3 exclusive.

Also, don't forget the fact that KH was born on PS hardware. Unlike Final Fantasy which started on Nintendo, then went to Sony.

Expect to see KH3 as a PS3 exclusive very late in this hardware cycle.

[Xiru]

Either PS3 or 360 is fine with me. Just don't put it on the Wii please.

[tako2000]

agree~

But we won't see anything about KH3 till...least not before both FF13 series is out

[JD_Shadow]

1. Why the hatred for the Wii? Sure, Nintendo dropped the ball somewhat with the system, but it isn't THAT bad of a system, people! C'mon! That stupid lady that calls the shots for them now REALLY needs to be fired or something, that's all.
2. Did anyone read the part that stated that Nomura is a PS3 fanboy, basically? This would mean that the game is basically a lock for the PS3 when it comes out.
3. I can already smell the smoke from the brains of people like Kotaku and GameDaily in an attempt to trash Nomura and his games the way they did with Kojima and MGS4 JUST because MGS4 happened to be PS3 exclusive and is more or less going to stay that way....and it'll probably be WAY before KH3 is even considered...FF Versus 13 will be their target, mark my words.

[Lord Shuhei Yoshida]

Dont worry about it.By the time Kingdom Hearts 3 comes to PS3 or Wii in 2011,Kotaku and Gamedaily will be treated like a joke site for doubting the PS3's power and titles.

[mistertwoturbo]

Would you rather see a true next-gen Kingdom Hearts on the PS3 or 360? Or see the exact same thing we've seen on PS2 but with motion controls.

'nuff said

[Voiceofreason]

Last time I looed Wii was way more powerful than PS2. Someone needs to put their blind fanboyism aside.

[mistertwoturbo]

Way more powerful than PS2? WOW, what do you want to give Nintendo? A cookie for such a powerful hardware over a system that's 8 1/2 years old!?

And here's a PS2 game that proves the Wii aint "Super super 503245203403243X more powerful" than a PS2

http://static2.filefront.co...

[RSX]

Jesus Christ, not one wii game matches/looks better than that.
I have to get my hands on that game.

[solideagle1]

it will go multi but who knows. it could be wii like dragon quest 9 on DS. i m only worried about TEKKEN going multi. Tekken should not go multi.
thanx

[timmyrulz]

NO NO NO, ff13 wont be dumbed down as you put it, i'm sure the core of the game is already finished, the 360 version will be on multiple disks. Rockstar couldnt even do GTA4 in 720p and thats with a 100 million dollar budget so you cant go around saying the game will be dumbed down. As for the article i can see kingdom hearts been a wii exclusive

[xxBATTLECATxx]

i would buy a Wii for KH3
with that said, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let it be ps3 exclusive, i love this series and i dont want to see it anywhere else

[vlazed]

What I think we need is a direct competitor to Square Enix. They constantly rehash and simply don't innovate like they used too. We need someone to go out on a limb and make a truly giant and epic jrpg that puts FF13 to shame and can reignite that fire that they once had. 100 gig blu-ray disc anyone?

[mistertwoturbo]

I put my money on Level-5. If anybody can do it, it's certainly them. The problem is, they just don't have the same enormous budget like SE does.

[muddygamesite]

"What I think we need is a direct competitor to Square Enix. They constantly rehash and simply don't innovate like they used too. We need someone to go out on a limb and make a truly giant and epic jrpg that puts FF13 to shame and can reignite that fire that they once had. 100 gig blu-ray disc anyone?"

What a True statement. I have Been Saying this for a long time. Level 5 could be that company. IF WKS ends up being a hit, Sony should just buy them and solve all their RPG troubles.

[soul899er]

not gonna happen, Nomura-san is and always loved developing for Sony systems. its always been that way (i think)

[mistertwoturbo]

It doesn't matter what system Nomura loves. If his boss says "develope for this system" then he has to.

[Intrepid]

Mistertwoturbo is right. Disney owns a HUGE portion of the Kingdom Hearts name. If they want to put it on the Wii, it'll most likely go to the Wii.

[JD_Shadow]

1. Nomura has a LOT of pull there (he basically IS one of the bosses). Yeah, he may have bosses, but it's not like he's on the bottom of their food chain or something like that. He's a top guy there, and whoever IS his boss is going to be VERY lenient with him because he's made them a TON of money. If his bosses told him to make the games he makes for another console and he doesn't like that, he could just as easily not make the games at all or quit the company.
2. Disney DOES have a good relationship with Sony, so much so that they will more or less lock that KH3 will still be on Sony's console.
3. Nomura REALLY LOVES THE PS3!

Now, with all due respect, will everyone please READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE, because it seems that no one is really doing that.

[power of Green]

Who in the fuc said this game would be on non Sony platforms?. Sounds like a moron's rant talking BS to have an excuse to talk fanatical sh*t about the 360(bash).

I just came in here because the header made it sound like the devs can't decide, I don't even know What this series is about

[Splenda14]

it does matter what Nomura says because he and the kingdom hearts are the reason why Versus is still exclusive if he was directing FF13 that would of stayed a PS3 exclusive but since his doing versus that is staying exclusive to the PS3

[nice_cuppa]

i would assume on both.
or on wii.
same with the next dragon quest.

[ceedubya9]

If the game is coming, its still a long ways off I'm sure. By the time it would come out, its possible that the new Xbox and Wii will be out. By then, the 360's low points won't matter anymore. The only thing that would matter is Nomura being a fanboy. If that be the case, and he has say, then that puts an end to that.

by the way handhelds are doing in Japan, I wouldn't be surprised if KH3 is just made for one of those (PSP probably), and just pass up on this gen's home console's for the game.

In this day and age, a multiplatform KH3 makes the most sense. But things that make sense don't always come to light in this industry.

[sonyfanonly]

WHO CARES ITS PROBABLY JUST ANOTHER MEDIOCRE RPG LIKE THE 2ND PART AFTER FINAL FANTASY 7 SQUARE ENIX HAS REALLY LET ME DOWN WITH RPGS BESIDES FINAL FANTASY 10 AND 10-2 -

[GamerMan]

Just Kidding, I would prefer it to be on the PS3 but I will gladly rent whatever system I don't own to play KH3 especially after the ending of KH2.

Hopefully the voice acting of the Final Fantasy Characters will be better than in KH2. They were kind of pathetic versus the voice acting of the disney characters.

[Dissidia]

The most realistic thing in my mind is that it would come out for both the PS3 and Xbox360, and then the Wii would have its own KH game.

Though I want the main KH story to remain a PlayStation exlusive!

[DFresh]

I'm gonna say PS3 because those same directors worked on FFXIII Versus and that's directed by Nomura and he's a big Sony fan boy so it's pretty much guaranteed it's gonna be PS3 Exclusive.

[cellfluid]

I lost faith n these guys I strongly feel u guys shouldn't put 2 much faith n the either.. Its no more loyalty............

[sodeaf]

Though one can only hope. I DO believe in loyalty myself so that's one of many reasons why I haven't sided with Microsoft. Plus I love my PS3 and I don't want to be inconvenienced by having to ship out my console every other month for repairs, F* that sh!t.

[The_Devil_Hunter]

although Square does love the smell of money, I kinda doubt it'll go to the 360. Because NOmura loves Playstation 3. I mean he is the one that says "hey i want it to go to the 360 or not". But then again it is square enix! and you know wat that means

[DMasta718]

I just hope KH3 is not a Wii exclusive.

[_Q_]

Disney has close ties with both APPLE and Sony (pixar and blu ray consortium) Disney also owns a decent chunk of the KH franchise so MS maybe SOL

[Kingshadowhigh]

The PS3 has a long life ahead, so I think it's coming PS3.

[PS3ALLDAY122]

Kingdom Hearts 3
Platform: PlayStation 3
Possible Release Dates:
- Japan // Late 2010?
- North America // Early 2011?
- Europe // Late 2011?

Based on the current success and ongoing developments in the Kingdom Hearts franchise, it is largely speculated that a third installment in the KH Series will appear in the future. Please note all information on this page is speculation.

Current Development Status:
With the development team of Kingdom Hearts 2 currently working on Final Fantasy Versus XIII, it is expected that if an announcement of a Kingdom Hearts 3 is to take place, it will likely be after the release of that game. Therefore, we speculate that the first concrete news on this title will appear at either TGS 2008 (October 9th - 12th) or TGS 2009.

What would the Storyline possibly be?
In an interview with Tesuya Nomura (Series Creator), when asked if he had thought of a plotline for Kingdom Hearts 3, he stated "Hmm... I have an idea but it can't be helped because my team are planning to work on our next different title. So we're not working on KHIII now and we're not planning to work on it for some time, too. I have a plot in my head but I'm not sure if it'll be released to the world or just stay in there" (Source: KH2 Ultimania)

After the release of Kingdom Hearts 2: Final Mix+, Nomura gave another insight into the possible future of the series: "My own feelings are that I would like to give Sora a break from large adventures for a little while. In the ending of Kingdom Hearts II, there was a scene where Sora received a letter from the King; for Sora, I would like you to consider this as a new beginning." (View Ending Video)

Look for further updates to this section when Kingdom Hearts 3 is officially announced!

[QuizPyro]

Even thou SE are filled with money whores it doesnt matter because with the revenue Sony is making they will eventually buy exclusivity rights

[zethos56]

No offense but where would the game take place in? They used all the good Disney movies in 1 and the 2nd one had some of the old ones mixed in with some crap levels.

[TheXgamerLive]

There's absolutely no advantages for the ps3 over the Xbox 360 other than Blu Ray storage, that is obvious so his only argument is like the rest of us, he's merely a fanboy.

I love Xbox, you Love ps. He's not thinking about how much money he can make on the 360, he's simply being a fanboy until Square E tells him otherwise.

[Solid_Snake666]

really because you sound fanboyish on every other comment you wrote...a very big difference there is between the PS3 and Xbox is that xbox has a 33% failure rate

[noname108]

Nomura actually has made other games on nintendo consoles like the world ends with you. Not just KH games. Plus I dont really care wat system its at and i dont hav all of them. If u want it on ps3 but it ends up being on some other console, well buy that then cuz if u bought a ps3 it wouldnt hurt to buy some machine thats cheaper. plus i only know a few people that actually hav a ps3, the rest hav 360 or wii except for the rich people with ps3. Most people that I know that really liked KH dont have a ps3. Im not hatin on sony its just that i dont see why it HAS to be an exclusive

[TheAveragePs3User]

is trues!

[DARKTRINITYxxx]

Im a PS3 owner whos not even wasting thier time wandering wich console itll go to or even both. As im sure once MS have waved thier wallets again under SE nose itll go to MS.

[KBDuB]

Neither. It's going to the Wii. =D

Nah, but I think it will appear on both systems. Don't no why, but I have a feeling that it will..