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Well, it seems as though the one interview we had before has now been updated on Famitsu's website. Although it's not much it does expand the information on the topic of Coded however and features a much clearer shot of Coded being played on the mobile phone.



- Coded is in good development stages right now. However Nomura is wondering on how to keep the Feel, atmosphere and over all mood of Kingdom Hearts, including the gameplay. There is a test version under development, but he says that the phone model the test version is using will be different from the final version.

That's pretty much all that there was, the extra detail emerged from Coded, besides that the interview is the exact same as the one we reported on earlier Here

On the bright side though, you can now clearly see the Coded game being played on the Mobile Phone (Not the actual model that will be carrying the game) but it's better then nothing right?



Source: 2ch

Well, I decided to try it out, expecting it to be the same as the PS3 and 360 version, holy hell was I wrong.


Graphics
Considering I decided to try everything on the highest settings I was worried my computer wouldn't take it. Well I was wrong, in my surprise not only were the graphics crisp and smooth. It brought something nether Xbox 360's HD or PS3's HDMI input could bring. I was in awe just by looking at that. More in awe that the smoothness of the gameplay far exceeds 60FPS. Both cutscenes and gameplay were crisp smooth. I could notice so many details I could never notice on HDMI, and HD this is something capcom's definitely decided to revamp. There's nothing else I can say about the graphics for now, since this is only a demo, however I must say I'm excited for the game just from that.

Turbo Mode
Turbo Mode is just the same as the Turbo Mode featured in DMC3:SE, nothing really much to say about it, however it does get you thinking on your feet better, and after playing the game on Turbo Mode I saw huge enhancements in my gameplay through the normal mode once again.


Afraid your computer can't handle it? Don't worry
Despite how scary the requirements look just tone down the game a bit and you won't notice too much of a difference, the game isn't as crisp and the shadow resolution might be low but it won't look as bad as a near PS3 game. To deliver such high quality at low aspects surprised me.


Difficulty?
Well unfortunately I wasn't able to try out the Legendary Dark Knight difficulty *Sighs at Capcom for not even making the new difficulty mode optional in the demo* it's pretty much easy mode by how the game treats it, though Berial proved a bit more of a challenge then normally. I suppose the only control problem you'll have is using the keyboard, then again you can just hook up a 360 controller or a Joypad and enjoy your game from that.

Is this Demo a must have?
Sadly no but at the same time yes, despite how much I praised the demo, the demo is pretty much just showing off the new visual appeal, frame-rate and the new Turbo Mode. Besides that, just expect it to be the same as the PS3, and 360 Demo. With no Legendary Dark Knight mode added in the demo it makes you want to sigh and wonder why it wasn't thrown in. After all, all we know about the Legendary Dark Knight mode is that it spams your screens with monsters. It would have been interesting seeing how Berial would fight. Though the demo is free, so pick it up if you finally want to show your friends DMC4 without having to boot up your PS3 or 360, hell you can now take it to school with you.

Overall
Well just the little peak into the game the demo gave, I must say this gets a 6/10 out of me in terms of a first impact to the audience. Showing a wonderful choice of system performance allowing you to test the system performance so you don't feel screwed over by jumping into the game. Showing a side of DMC4 that the PS3 and 360 couldn't give makes this game more physically appealing then the original. The new turbo mode adds a more fast pace, and quicker thinking style to the game. However it's not showing the new difficulty just small options that wouldn't make the game a must have. After all no one picked up DMC3:SE for the sake of having turbo mode, and if it gave a higher graphics no one would pick it up for that either. It was for playing as Vergil and the new Jester battles. Well the game is around a month or so till release, so hopefully the actual game makes up for it....I just fear the Legendary Dark Knight Mode will require all the difficulties to be beaten. *Sigh*

Well after Dynasty warrior's 6 release what was there to expect? Well a special version of Dynasty Warriors 6 however is it for the PS3? No, it's for the PS2 a last gen console so of course expect a downgrade of graphics. Or will we? The scans seem to show the graphics are nearly on par with the PS3 however clearer screenshots will be needed. Now some people will probably go, "Sweet now I can play this game." or "I already have the game on the PS3 so it'd be a downgrade to get it for the PS2 too." And others saying "It's just a mashing button game like the other ones."

Well those playing the PS2 can now play the game yes, and I guess it still falls under the mashing button killing 1000 soldiers but it does good at that genre. However the downgrade part is not happening. The PS2 Dynasty Warriors 6 will be featuring more content then the PS3 version. Who knows if the PS3 version will be recieving download able content to update to those parts or not.

Source

Hey everyone, it seems as though today Disney has surprisingly announced a little addition to the i-mode called "Kingdom Hearts Customization." What it is exactly isn't fully known yet, in fact there is little information on it. However what we do know is that Kingdom Hearts Customization allows users to customize their phone with content that was produced and used in the Kingdom Heart series. Also there is a World Map part of this, which is said to be used for events during the season ect. This service is set to be put on the Mobile Phone and Yahoo's EZweb in the middle of July.




Source: FF7AC Reunion

Hey everyone, with DKΣ3713 drawing closer, news is slowly beginning to slide out. With these news there are some exciting things we're finding out, the first one will be from the Famitsu website which gives out the following.

From Famitsu
- Birth by Sleep will have a playable demo.
- 3rd Birthday, Agito and Coded are not halted. Although there was a report about suspending mobile phone games, it is not in full effect right now.
- The Content of 358 days is complete however FF Dissidia is further in development. A discussion if a playable demo of 358 Days should be done or not.
- BBS is not in a complete product yet but a playable demo will be done just to let fans get a taste of the combat. Right now we are upgrading the battle system.


From the Interview
- Nomura believes that the Kingdom Hearts series has "succeeded the blood" of the Final Fantasy series in terms of spirit due to it having the element of an action, RPG and more.
- However he says when comparing KH to FF that the Kingdom Heart series focuses around a person as the FF series changes every game.
- When asked about the Game System for the Kingdom Hearts series, Nomura believes it doesn't matter the hardware, as long as he can give a refreshing feel to the series.
- Nomura says that when he plans a Sequel to the game he wants to make sure he meets the quality the fans would expect from him.





Nice information on both parts, and in the scan though it's all just the interview, look at the image on the upper left side in the scan, you can see someone (Nomura more then likely) playing Coded on the Mobile Phone.

Source: 2ch, Videogamerx

Hey everyone, Square-Enix recently announced on their website that they will be hosting a Private Party called DKΣ3713, at August 2nd - August 3rd as well as a line-up as to what will be at the party which looks really promising. What do we expect at the Private Party? Well it's all in the title.

D - Final Fantasy Dissidia.
K - Kingdom Hearts Series
Σ - Sigma (Σ) Harmonics
3 - The 3rd Birthday
7 - Final Fanasy VII: Advent Children Complete
13 - Final Fantasy XIII


Seems like all the games that Square-Enix have not been releasing much information on will finally get their well deserved love at the Square-Enix Private Party. We'll be sure to keep you updated on this as more information comes up.

On the note of lack of news for these games, the only real recent thing is this new scan of Dissidia featuring Tidus, and Jecht.

Source: Square-Enix DKΣ3713 Event

So far just a trailer of it, I wanted to keep this game in the shadow until I got some development on it done, which I did. This took a lot of scripting to get done right, as you can see there are still some things that need to be worked out, such as the main character who is still in development ect.

Now the thing is, despite the genre of the game, I'm planning to give it as deep as a storyline as I can without it distracting too much from the gameplay, there will be dialog in the game ect to push the story along. The length of the game is still unknown for now, however there will be an option to continue from your last point, and checkpoints. (This way you don't have to start all the way from the first stage after beating, let's say 5 stages or so).

Anyways here's the trailer of the work in Progress, hope you enjoy this short beta preview.

I'll also update things here such as characters, setting, the storyline and more.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=GV0N0-oKOGw

http://videogamerx.gamedonga.co.kr/zbxe/904761#1

Now, seeing that this game will not be following the foot steps that much of the first 3 COD's I think I'll pick it up. Especially with some of the interesting features added such as swimming ect. That and seeing Japanese fight a war with a Katana close up for some reason makes me laugh.

Hey everyone, well it seems a while ago there was finally a first piece of Kingdom Hearts news. Which is great considering it was a trailer. Hopefully more news comes out in the near future, though it's expected that the news will start pouring in form Square-Enix after E3, hopefully anyways.


While we wait for E3 to come though for more news, I've been working hard on the second album of the Original Album series. It actually finished a lot earlier then I thought it would. However there are a few tiny kinks I need to work out, so I can definitely confirm the second Album release will be set for June 10th.

The first album got over 2,000 downloads which is really good and a lot of people e-mailed me about the next album which is kind of awkward since it's just a free fan-album.

Anyways, while the second album is in fixing stage, I thought it would be great to show a short 32 second sample of each of the tracks. Also the tracks will all have separate links to download (Due to my internet acting up strangely lately and randomly cutting off). This will also make it easier for people to download the tracks they might be most willingly to hear after listening to the samples without having to download the whole package.


"Slumber" Samples
1 - A Rising Sunset Download
2 - Shards that Glow Download
3 - A Beautiful Battle Download
4 - Tears Download
5 - The Arcade Download
6 - True Warrior Download
7 - Peace Everywhere Download
8 - Truth Download
9 - A Hope that Lights All Download
10 - True Holiness Download
11 - The Pain of a Thousand... Download
12 - Flowers fall upon... Download
13 - A Single Pedal... Download
14 - Creating Unity and Harmony... download

Hope you enjoy the samples!

Also note, the last 4 tracks give a message like the last 3 tracks in the previous album did. That's because these tracks, just like the other 3 tracks take a twist in the album, they are also meant to give a "Boss/Final Boss" feel as well. This time the last 4 tracks take on a classical vs Rock feel instead of a religious final boss feel.

http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/147557

I uploaded it to Newground yesterday, basically it's me and 2 of my friends kind of jamming it out to FF6's Decisive battle.


Xaldin, Jason & Chris - Guitars
Simmon - Rock Organ (Keyboard)
Every other instrument you hear are synths.

Nothing really special but hopefully it's enjoyable haha.

Hey everyone, still no major Kingdom Hearts news yet, but we do have something for now. Music 4 Games has been able to conduct an interview with Yoko Shimomoura about her release of her most recent Album -drammatica-. In the interview she talks about the preperation of the album as well as her experiences with the album.


M4G: drammatica is a collection of your compositions from various games arranged, performed, and recorded by an orchestra. This is a massive, unprecedented project, so please tell us some background information about how it came to be.
Yoko Shimomura: The notion came up of doing a project that put the spotlight on a composer, as the majority of soundtracks are based on game titles, and at that moment, I myself just happened to be wanting to do some kind of commemorative project. So, I received the proposal to do a 20th anniversary best album.

M4G: What went into the song selection process? As a huge fan of your work on Legend of Mana, I was happy to see a quarter of the tracks devoted to it, but what thought went into choosing each song and the proportion devoted to each title?
Yoko Shimomura: Legend of Mana is a title that, I am very pleased to say, continues to receive a lot positive feedback even today, despite being a nearly 10 year old work. With it also having so many songs musically well-suited for orchestration, it received a hefty four tracks. As for the thought process that went into the song selection, I wrote this in the album liner notes:

1. Songs that seem to be, and to which I am extremely honored, popular among game players
2. Songs that are well-suited for orchestration
3. Songs that I, myself, wanted to hear performed by a live orchestra (songs that haven't been performed live before)

I narrowed them down based on these three criteria. Due to various circumstances, there were some titles that unfortunately had be left out of the recording process. Furthermore, because this is a Square-Enix produced album, it only includes music from my Square ~ Square-Enix era.

M4G: Tell us about the recording process. Was this your first time working with an orchestra? How much input did you have both in creating the arrangements and in guiding the orchestra on recording days?
Yoko Shimomura: I've worked with an orchestra a number of times in the past. The Kingdom Hearts Staff Roll, for example, was performed by an orchestra and recorded in a hall similar to this one.

As for the production process, basically, I carried out the arrangement in my own production environment and handed the data over to Kameoka-san, the orchestrator, who I then had create the orchestration, as well as the sheet music. Therefore, the construction of the music and such was left completely as I had arranged it. I was very meticulous with Kameoka-san, saying things like, "You are absolutely forbidden to change this part." I'm a little worried she thought I was a nag. (laughs) I also stood in on the recordings, naturally, and even made some very minute requests during the final mixing stages.

M4G: Having worked extensively with an orchestra on this album, how do you think drammatica has changed you as a composer? Do you perhaps write music with the thought in mind that it may be performed some day? Will you seek out projects in the future that give you the budget to work with an orchestra, or are you still satisfied with the current generation of consoles?
Yoko Shimomura: I have always been a fan of classical music, and I love orchestral music, so I don't think anything has changed for me as a composer with this project. I am, however, extremely honored to have had my music performed by a such a spectacular orchestra. If I think back to when I first started composing music for games, this would seem like a dream. Therefore, and not to take anything for granted, I must humbly admit that I would love to write music that could be performed by an orchestra again some day. (laughs)

Concerning how I write music, I don't believe I compose with any particular consciousness that it might be performed by a live orchestra some day. I want to make music that is genuinely appropriate for its particular place and time, so I wouldn't want to set limitations on myself by thinking, "This could very well be performed by an orchestra..." Being able to work with a live orchestra is something I truly enjoy, but it doesn't mean I plan to seek out projects with a budget for doing so. It's more like, if a project happens to have the budget to work with an orchestra and I am allowed to, then by all means, I'd be honored. There are also times when I'm told, "We'd love to do a live recording of this song!"

The sound quality of current generation game hardware is pretty advanced, so it's ideal if we can utilize streaming. However, in the case of internal sound chips and the Nintendo DS's sound source and such, that of course requires a lot of clever devising and manipulation. This devising and manipulation can be fun at times too.

M4G: Has the release of drammatica made you consider a concert series of your own?
Yoko Shimomura: We have some fantastic sheet music created by the hand of our orchestrator, Kameoka-san, so if the opportunity were to arise, I would love to try doing a concert. The impact of a live performance is quite different, and the reaction from the audience could be felt first hand.

M4G: You have participated on numerous arrangement albums over the years (Street Fighter Tribute Album, Rogue Galaxy Premium Arrange, etc.) that include arrangements by many of your colleagues in the game music industry. Describe your experience working on these albums and the relationships that exist among game composers in Japan. Do you feel that game composers in Japan get more respect than do game composers outside of Japan?
Yoko Shimomura: By going freelance and receiving the opportunity to participate in various jobs, I definitely feel I've been able to make a lot of new acquaintances and that the world has opened up for me. Everyone is so much fun. We get together for drinks and things unrelated to work. But even though the world has opened up, it is a small world after all (laughs), and there are times when you'll unexpectedly meet a person and be like, "What? Hey, let's have a drink sometime." Then once you actually meet again it's like, "Well hey, let's work together sometime."

In response to whether game composers in Japan get more respect than do game composers outside of Japan...that's a bit of a difficult question... I think there exists a lot of excellent game music out there, whether it be in Japan or in other countries.

M4G: In closing, any thoughts on composing music for the PlayStation 3?
Yoko Shimomura: With the PlayStation 2, sound production was mainly based on the internal sound chip, not streaming, so it was a constant battle with memory and limitations, such as the number of sound channels. With the PlayStation 3, I'm expecting to have it sound the way I please, without limitations.

M4G: Ms. Shimomura, thank you very much for your time. We look forward to your future projects.
Yoko Shimomura: It was my pleasure! I'll do my best in the future. Thank you very much.


Source: Music4games

Hey everyone, like I said we had a second update today, and here it is. While Piano Hearts Vol 2 is in progression. Waiting for a few more e-mails from people who want to participate. We would like to announce a second series of Album that's being started. While Piano Hearts will have compilation work from various Kingdom Hearts and Music Fans doing Kingdom Hearts songs. This album will be featuring completely original pieces in the style of Video Game music created by me. Some songs will be full songs with endings, others will fade out as they are meant to be loopable.

Each "Original Album" will be released a month apart from each other. While the Piano Hearts is still unsure of it's releasing times. Since it's still being worked on but may be around a month as well.

Anyways, this album consists of 13 tracks from small piano parts to an Organ to an arrange of over 10 different instruments. I hope you enjoy this album, and also here's hoping to Square-Enix revealing something wonderful at E3 2008

Download (.zip format 21MB)


Track List
1 - Requiem to the Azure Sky (1:41)
2 - Shadow of the Erasing Fantasy (1:11)
3 - Every Day is a Calm Day (1:36)
4 - Mountain Path (4:31)
5 - Blessing to Those with Light (1:40)
6 - Two Time (1:20)
7 - A Comfortable Home (1:16)
8 - Corruption to the Young (3:48)
9 - The Opportunity to Fight (1:53)
10 - A House of Fortunes (1:17)
11 - Only a Corrupt Child can... (1:52)
12 - Obtain the Power of... (2:53)
13 - ...A God (2:49)

Hey everyone, with lack of news lately we've been trying out various things to keep people occupied though not too much since we know everyone have other ways of keeping themselves occupied as well. Today we have two updates going on.


The first one is the Drammatica Album Edit for the song Destati. Kairi Li has made a Drammatica album edit of the song Destati to sound like the more fast paced version of the first Kingdom Hearts trailer. She has also mixed it with the E3 Beta and TGS 2001 trailer of the games so be sure to check it out..

E3 Beta Trailer
TGS 2001 Trailer
MP3 Download


As for the second update, well that will be coming later today. However I'll post this here and also post it with the second update as well in case some people miss this. There are a few people who have sent their Piano arrangements of Kingdom Hearts however there are a few who said they will, and either are working on them or are just too busy to do it. Anyways, we're still accepting Piano Arrangements for Piano Hearts Vol 2. But until then, we'll satisfy the music need with something else I've been working on for a while which will be revealed in the second update.