Regarding the Special Announcement
- Details
- Published on April 1, 2009 @ 02:38 am
- Written by Audo
As you have most likely surmised by now, the upcoming "special announcement" announced by Nomura was an April Fool's Joke. The joke was a partnership between KHInsider and HeartStation. We realize this probably disappointed you, and we know that through a certain member's vigilance, the joke was spoiled for many of you.
We do want you to realize though, that the April Fool's Joke was never going to be just the announcement of an announcement. We are fully aware of how lame of a joke that would be. No, we were going to do something much bigger. We had actually planned to reveal what the special announcement was, but due to ramifications in our personal lives, we were unable to complete it in time. We apologize.
But I want to share the process, and amount of thought put into the full, real April Fool's Joke. We hope that you can, at the very least, appreciate the amount of thought, and time, we put in and I'd like to show you what we did manage to get finished in time.
I'm sure you can tell by the image at the top of this article, but the "Special Announcement" was going to be the revelation of Kingdom Hearts III. We were going to make a fake logo, "official" character art, screenshots, and a Nomura interview regarding it. Essentially, we were going to make a complete and fully detailed, realistic magazine scan.
But for us to want it to seem believable, we knew that we couldn't simply make the announcement + scan appear out of nowhere on March 31st-April 1st. This was why we added in the additional interview question to the last Nomura interview that was released, so that we could set-up for the joke a good week ahead and therefore make it more believable.
We were then going to release the fake scan on a Japanese Blog called Junon. We then planned on e-mailing major sites such as FF7ACReunion, KHU, KH-Vids, etc. about the scan, in hopes that they would post about it before we did. The next day, HeartStation would release the translations for the Nomura Interview. On April Fools, we planned to then reveal the truth.
We believe this could have been a well executed, and high-quality April Fool's joke, but, life is unexpected, and our personal lives took over. We apologize that we couldn't finish the April Fool's joke for you, and hope that you will enjoy the content that we did have finished for it below.
(Note: Additional content may be added during the day as it become available).
Nomura: I'm very excited in the direction these titles are moving in. Next week, we plan on making a special announcement regarding the Kingdom Hearts series - please look forward to it.
Nomura: [smiles] Yes. I wanted to hold off until the three Kingdom Hearts games were closer to release before we made the announcement. With 358/2 Days releasing May 30th, and Coded to begin releasing new episodic content over the Mobile Portal Site, I thought of this as a good time.
-What can you tell us about the new title? Will Sora be returning as the main character?
Nomura: I can't reveal too much, since it's heavily connected with the three Kingdom Hearts games, but I can tell you that it takes place where Coded will leave off and Sora is the main character.
-The official artwork for KHIII - it appears the three heroes from Birth By Sleep are present!?
Nomura: While I can't go into detail just yet, I will say that they are deeply involved. Kingdom Hearts III continues on Birth By Sleep's theme of "inevitable fate" and the connection of hearts - it is something to look forward to.
-Earlier you spoke of ways that the three Kingdom Hearts titles could tie-in with Kingdom Hearts III. Have these connections been realized?
Nomura: They have, in a number of ways actually. Realizing how the three games are intertwined with Kingdom Hearts III is part of the charm of the game and I believe fans will enjoy that aspect quite a lot [smiles].
-Is it required to play the three hand-held Kingdom Hearts games in order to understand the plot of Kingdom Hearts III?
Nomura: Hmm. I have said that Coded is much like CoM in the sense that it bridges two games. But, as it was with CoM, playing the three games are not required in order to understand Kingdom Hearts III. I believe one could enjoy Kingdom Hearts III even if it was their first experience with the series, but for those fans who play the three games - they will get something more out of Kingdom Hearts III.
-Can we discuss the new logo for a minute? It seems to have taken a much darker look this time?!
Nomura: [laughs] With the three Kingdom Hearts games, we were steering the series into a darker, more serious tone. The logo is meant to reflect that new feeling and direction that we plan on continuing with Kingdom Hearts III.
MULTIMEDIA:
-High-Quality Version of KH3 Logo
-Unfinished "Official" Character Art - Sketch
-Unfinished "Official" Character Art - Sora
-Fake Japanese Blog "Junon"
We have seen how upset you, the fellow members, have gotten over the revelation that the Special Announcement was a joke. And we just want to remind you that April Fool's day is not a day to be taken serious. It's a day of good-natured tom foolery, and we hope that everyone can look at this event with a sense of humour and appreciation.
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