Hey everyone, Oathy again! Wow, the news just keeps rolling in. We've got huge news from the floor of Jump Festa 2008, once again!

It looks like Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days is set for release in Japan in SUMMER 2008. Developers say they are "aiming for" this timeframe, but a specific season is encouraging!

The staff here at KHinsider.com has taken the opportunity to rack a few brains and analyze some statistics to do some educated predictions of what this news could mean for America. Keep in mind that these are only guesses, but given Squenix's recent history, it could very well be a pattern that they will continue to follow.

Square-Enix has lately been following, somewhat, a Japan!Autumn --> America!Spring schedule in terms of big releases. For instance, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children released in Sep '05 for Japan and Apr '06 for USA. Kingdom Hearts II followed with a Dec '05 for Japan and March '06 for USA. Final Fantasy XII hit Japan in Mar '06 and USA in Oct '06, in keeping with the six-month turnaround for big projects. Also note that Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+ hit Japan in Mar '07, on the exact same day as KHII hit USA the year before.

Given that games on the Nintendo DS require little to no voice acting (typically, only battle grunts/calls, which are often nicked right from KH or KHII) and have notoriously short development periods, we at KHI are making an educated guess that KH: 358/2 Days could possibly hit American shores by the holiday season of 2008. Since PSP games require voice acting and a good bit more development time, we also predict we could possibly see KH: Birth by Sleep release in Japan in late 2008 (very late) or early 2009. If this is the case, we could possibly see a Summer or Fall '09 release of BBS internationally.

KHI has also made one last, very shaky prediction. Seeing as even Final Fantasy VII: Before Crisis (an advanced cell phone game, playable only on phones not even released outside of Japan yet) has yet to head overseas, we can probably safely say that Kingdom Hearts: Coded will most likely not be in the cards for non-Japanese fans. In addition, with Coded pushed to the wayside....considering past interviews and the cliffhanger ending of Kingdom Hearts II....could we possibly see Nomura pull an announcement of Kingdom Hearts III out of his back pocket sometime in the next year and a half? Only time will tell!

Once again, the above predictions are only speculation and guesses made using the trends Square-Enix has followed over the past couple of years. We do not know anything concrete and official about Birth by Sleep, Coded, or the rumors of a Kingdom Hearts III.

It's a lot to think about! Want to discuss this with thousands of other Kingdom Hearts fanatics? Head on over to the link below and get started.

[ Discuss in Forums ]

Until next time, Oathy signing off. Keep an eye on KHI, as we've got our team online round the clock making updates about Jump Festa 2008! Thanks to 2ch for this latest bit of news.Comment below!