KH for the PS Vita?

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Published on June 7, 2011 @ 10:59 am

Written by Raz

Written by Wehrmacht

At the Sony Press Conference a few days ago, Sony's new handheld (known until then as the NGP, Next Generation Portable), the PS Vita, was formally introduced to the world, with hardware specifications and a price tag. In addition to that, a press email has been sent around by Sony containing a list of developers pledging support for the Vita. Of particular interest to us is the fact that Square-Enix is in the list.

Obviously this doesn't mean that a Kingdom Hearts game is in immediate development or even in the conceptual stages at this point, but it certainly is a fun idea to think about. If given some thought, the platform could accommodate the series quite well in a number of areas.

To begin with, the Vita has a very small but also very important piece of hardware that every handheld so far, including its competitor, the Nintendo 3DS, is lacking: a second analog stick. You would be surprised at how much of a difference this makes in designing effective and comfortable controls. In the past the series' director, Tetsuya Nomura, has expressed his concern in replicating the KH experience as accurately as possible in whatever platform his team works with; with its layout closer to a traditional Playstation controller, the Vita would be able to simulate the series' gameplay more accurately than any of its handheld predecessors.

Secondly, the system's technological capabilities would be of great interest to the series. While not a technologically demanding game series by any means, the system's potential would still have plenty to offer a Kingdom Hearts game. For one thing, the fans' complaints of empty overworlds with a scarce population of NPC's could easily be addressed, allowing for much more immersive and detailed environments.

Finally, SE has much experience working with Playstation hardware. This would make developing a game on the Vita a much easier and straightforward process, which would mean that the game would both probably be of relatively good quality and finished expediently.

As things stand now, a Kingdom Hearts on the Vita is merely an idea. But who can say for sure what the future holds? The so called Birth By Sleep V 2.0 may have very well found its home...

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