Entertainment Electronics Blog

While we’re short on information about the newly revealed Kingdom Hearts 3DS, it would seem it is not a port but a new game. However, it is not “Kingdom Hearts 3.”

In an interview earlier today, we asked Nomura about the state of 3, and whether it would even be on a console, given the Kingdom Hearts series’ recent stint on handhelds.

Nomura replied, “If there will be a Kingdom Hearts 3 in the future, it will probably be on a console platform, but the thing is that there is the idea and desire to create Kingdom Hearts 3, but the opportunity has not come yet.”

“I’m under pressure from fans, from Disney, and from the internal Square Enix team as well, because they’re all awaiting Kingdom Hearts 3. So I’m aware of it, and I don’t hide my desire for one day creating a Kingdom Hearts 3 in the future.”

As for the reason why the timing for developing Kingdom Hearts 3 has not come together, Nomura explains: “The problem is that the major staff that had contributed to the Kingdom Hearts development is very busy right now developing Final Fantasy Versus. And the new development team who was in charge of creating Birth By Sleep is also busy creating Kingdom Hearts 3DS. So, the timing is not here yet, but when the time has come, for sure we will try to elaborate the concept.”

There’s more downloadable adventures on the way for Dragon Age: Origins. Bioware has announced “Leliana’s Song,” the next DLC for the fantasy role-playing game.

For $7 (560 Microsoft points), this prequel of sorts allows fans to take direct control of the bard Leliana and explore her mysterious past. Successfully completing this DLC unlocks unique rewards for use in the main game and its expansion, Awakening.

Keep an eye out for “Leliana’s Song” starting July 6.

Burger King is planning a triumphant return to video games later this year, in partnership with Microsoft and the new Kinect device. Kotaku reports that Mike Kappit, chief marketing officer for the fast food chain, commented on the company’s plans. “Our first endeavor with Xbox 360 took the gaming world by storm, so we couldn’t pass up the chance to come together on another cutting-edge program,” he said. He promises this year’s promotion will “stimulate the imaginations of gamers and entertainment-lovers of all shapes and sizes.”

The games offered by the King years ago were actually a success, selling fast thanks to low prices. Big Bumpin, Pocket Bike Racer, and Sneak King may not have been critical smashes, but as XBLA-style mini-games complete with Achievements, they inspired more than a few burger-loving gamers to pick them up.

No word yet on what kinds of games Burger King would develop this time, but we’re hoping for a proper sequel to Sneak King. For too long, the burger-stalking genre has gone without innovation or reform, and the time to correct that is now.

Crackdown 2 is just a few weeks away from release, but you’ll be able to try it out much sooner than that. A demo of Crackdown 2 will be released on the Xbox Live Marketplace this Monday, June 21. Major Nelson has posted a list with details on upcoming releases on the Live Marketplace.

Besides the Crackdown demo, next week looks like an especially busy one. Monday will also see the release of Mirror’s Edge and Bee Movie Game on Games on Demand. On Tuesday, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will get Onslaught Mode as DLC for 800 Microsoft Points ($10) and the free ‘Outlaws to the End’ DLC will come out for Red Dead Redemption. And next Wednesday, Jenga, Pictureka!, and Connect 4×4 will be released for Hasbro Family Game Night, along with two new 800-point Xbox Live Arcade games: Risk Factions and Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project.

Here’s some potential bad news for Heavy Rain fans still eager to learn more about the game’s abundant cast of characters. Speaking to Game Informer at E3 earlier this week (via VG247), Quantic Dream co-founder Guillame de Fondaumière said that future DLC for the game has been put on “indefinite hold,” as Sony instead encouraged the developer to focus on implementing Move controls in the game.

Those Move controls will come as both a free patch for those who already purchased Heavy Rain, and a re-release of the game with the Move controls on-disc. But it looks like additional Heavy Rain DLC may be a casualty of the added controls, as de Fondaumière also said to Game Informer that while they may go back to producing more DLC afterward, it’s more likely they’ll just move on to their next project instead.

Quantic Dream’s original plan was to release a number of “episodes” for Heavy Rain — calling the whole thing the Heavy Rain Chronicles — with each episode focusing on one of the characters in the game. But it looks like The Taxidermist, released back in April, may end up being the only episode to see release after all.

Nintendo had a ton of new games and demos to demonstrate the 3DS at E3 this week, but one particularly curious demo reel showed off not just a lot of older games, but really older games — all from the NES and SNES era.

As Kotaku reports, this reel included Mega Man 2, Castlevania, Urban Champion, Kid Icarus, Yoshi’s Island, Smash Ping Pong, Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros., Tennis, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, and Mystery of Murasame Castle. They all were shown with 3D effects that gave them a “pop-up book feel,” and when asked whether they were all actually planned for eventual release on the 3DS, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime said that yes, yes they were.

He also said not to think of them as full-blown “remakes,” but that they might be “potentially getting more than just ported over.” Other than that, there weren’t any other details on this gaggle of planned old-school rereleases, so there’s no telling when or how they’ll be coming (this is pure conjecture, but perhaps they’ll be released as downloadable games, like the Wii’s Virtual Console?).

Meanwhile, you can read our impressions of all of Nintendo’s other 3DS games and demos shown at E3 this week right here. No official price or release date for the 3DS has been announced yet.

E3 attendees don’t always have all the fun. Before the booths in LA could even be fully taken down, Sony gave PlayStation Move its public debut this weekend at Japan’s World Hobby Fair, a bi-annual event that features the latest games, manga, and anime. We were on hand to check out public reaction as well as the two featured games, EyePet and Kung Fu Rider.

The World Hobby Fair is free to the public and the games on display usually cater to a younger demographic. Judging by the length of the lines at Sony’s booth, interest in the device isn’t particularly high. ModNation Racers attracted twice the attention of Sony’s motion controller. Meanwhile, Mario Galaxy 2, a game that’s been out in Japan for nearly a month, had the longest lines of the show. Those that did try Move walked away looking impressed, and the reason for the relative apathy towards the device remains unclear.

We stood in line for about an hour (one of the shorter lines at the show) in order to get our chance to play Kung Fu Rider. The game is played with a single Move controller. You control a bespectacled man in suspenders sliding down the road in an office chair. In his way stand everything from milk crates and road signs to yakuza and old ladies. The goal of the game is to avoid the organized criminals and roadblocks and reach the end of the course. You steer your character by moving the controller from side to side. Gently whipping the controller will speed him up. Pressing the T trigger on the back of the Move controller will make the character on screen duck back in the chair like he’s in a limbo competition. Throwing the controller up will make him jump, and pressing the Move button on the front of the device will unleash an attack on an unsuspecting gangster or strolling granny.

Kung Fu Rider is a simple game that doesn’t make use of the fidelity the Move controller is capable of. There was nothing in the demo we played that couldn’t or hasn’t been done on the Wii. The demo that Sony displayed at the World Hobby Fair played and looked more like a $15 PSN game, not a $39.99 retail product ready for release this September.