Kingdom Hearts Series

It is with great sadness for me to have to write this. Leonard Nimoy, the English voice of Master Xehanort in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, known mostly for his role as Spock in Star Trek, has sadly passed away in his home in Los Angeles after complications with COPD. On behalf of the KHV staff, I would like to extend my deepest condolences to Nimoy's family.

RIP Leonard Nimoy. It's hard to imagine Master Xehanort voiced by anyone other than yourself.

Credit to HeartlessOfLight for letting me know.

Source

Chikao Ohtsuka; The Japanese voice actor for Master Xehanort and Captain Hook, passed away on January 15th 2015 due to ischemic heart failure.

Ohtsuka is well known for his voice work in playing many villains in animes, films and video games. Notable roles of his include Doctor Eggman from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, Professor Moriarty from Sherlock Hound, Gold Roger in One Piece, Wario in various Nintento titles, Doctor Cidolfus Demen Bunansa in Final Fantasy XII, Disney's Captain Hook, and of course, the villainous Master Xehanort from Kingdom Hearts.

Dead at the age of 85, he is survived by his 55 year old son; Akio, whom he has performed with on several occasions. Akio voices Ansem: Seeker of Darkness in the Kingdom Hearts Franchise.

May you find peace in the realm of darkness Ohtsuka.
The world shall miss your villainous ways.

With the popularity of Disney Infinity and it's vast amount of figures based on characters owned by the Walt Disney Company, some wondered whether it would be possible characters from Kingdom Hearts would be included to the growing list of figures. Well, a moderator in the Disney Infinity forums had the following to say in regards to the request for KH characters:

While this isn't a confirmation that it'll happen, at least it's clear that the developers behind Disney Infinity know there's a demand for KH characters.

via Disney Infinity Forums

With the release of the original soundtrack for the Kingdom Hearts remasters in Japan today, the 7-Disc OST (containing up to 180 remastered tracks from the series) was then listed in Square-Enix's European store, set to be released on December 15th with a price of €64.99. While there's still no word on a North American release, hopefully this news means that the OST for the HD ReMixes will be available in other places pretty soon. As for all you Kingdom Hearts fans in Europe, this is definitely something you would want to add to your KH collection.


Via Square-Enix EU Store

UPDATE: And it looks like the OST was added to the North American Square-Enix music store as well, to be released on the same day with a $79.99 price tag.

As part of her 15th anniversary celebration, Utada Hikaru will put out two major releases: a cover collaboration album featuring various artists as well as a collection of singles from her career. Both albums will release in Japan on December 9th, though no official tracklisting has been revealed just yet.

While Utada has contributed two fantastic songs to the Kingdom Hearts series, Hikari/Simple & Clean and Passion/Sanctuary, shortly after the release of Kingdom Hearts II she seemed to have severed her contract with Disney, much to our dismay. Utada Hikaru's upcoming albums, however, will feature art by none other than Tetsuya Nomura! Check out the full image by clicking the thumbnail below, and check the bottom left corner to see a a Kingdom Hearts-style command menu in the water!


Nothing has been officially announced, but this seems like a great way to tease Utada's return to the Kingdom Hearts series. Will we see a new, original song of hers for the upcoming Kingdom Hearts III? Might they use a previously released track of hers that has yet to appear in the game (my bid is on Heart Station)? Or is Nomura just doing a favor for a friend? Let us know what you think!

Sources: FF-Reunion, UtadaHikaru.JP