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Square and Disney Team Up for Kingdom Hearts
jaredcat writes "Ever wonder what would happen if the incredibly creative talents of Squaresoft and Disney got together? Well I never did, but that didn't seem to stop them. The first joint production of Square and Disney, Kingdom Hearts, was just released in Japan. Its an RPG with a Square CGI, a Square story, a Disney sense of humor, and Square and Disney charectars. If the opening movie is any indication of what's to come when Kingdom Hearts becomes available in the US, its going to be the best thing to hit the PS2 since, well, Final Fantasy X :)." Very positive review. Gotta admit, I'm intrigued.
Update by J :
Check out
this review too, with a ton of screenshots, from
the GIA:
"By all rights [it] should be an awkward, conflated mess... instead, it's an epic piece of crossover fanfiction."
So, Disney's NOT evil this week?
Remember who owns Fritz Hollings.
I didn't mention this up above, but there is more...
- Many of the side charectars, shop keepers, etc., in Kingdom Hearts are well known Disney charectars or charectars from past Squaresoft games. For instance, Donald Duck is the chief magician to the court. Cid from FFVII runs an items shop. Even Wakka from FFX makes an appearance.
- The Disney voice acting and animation seem to be authentic. i.e. Donald Duck moves and sounds exactly how you would expect him to. Check out one of the movies where he enters the throne room and says good morning (in Japanese), and runs into Pluto. The camera angles and the voices look like they are right out of those old Disney cartoons that we all grew up with.
Last but not least... Make sure to check out the opening movie. Its ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, and 10-times better than any FMV from FFX, which is saying a lot as FFX FMVs look 10-times better than any CGI DVD I've seen.
....not funny at all? Bland 'family' entertainment wih the odd fart joke thrown in?
Yeah, I'm intrigued too, Taco, but it's still Disney. Ever hear the one about Michael Eisner in the Senate hearing saying he couldn't think of a single reason for Michael Dell to sell PCs without hardware copy prevention except to sell to infringers?
/. that you'd still consider giving money to these sleezy bastards.
I can't believe as an EDITOR (the founder, no less) of
I don't care how "great" this game might be. It's Disney, therefore I'm not buying it.
The Free desktop that Just Works
..what would happen if the incredibly creative talents of Senator Hollings and Disney got together?
The CBDTPA!
*sigh*
"Hey! Unless this is a nude love-in, get the hell off my property!!"
If I go to the movie store and see that they split up the store for my convenience into action, drama, comedy and horror, then I know I can usually find the movie I want based on that. Sure some movies will seem at first glance to be cross 'genre' but what is the point of the movie? Would I find superman in the drama section? Would it make sense there? It had drama types of themes sometimes, but perhaps comedy is where it belongs.
The point is that roleplaying game (RPG) is supposed to tell a potential customer 'Hey, I am a game that allows you to immerse yourself into the character and make that character do what you want it to do. I don't force you to fit some predefined role, thus forcing YOU to do what I want you to. I give you freedom, much like you would if you were roleplaying in a small LARP or such in which you 'play the role' by bringing it alive through word and deed." Dragons, magic, elves and the like do _NOT_ make a game an RPG, anymore than a game that is set in modern day or in a science fiction setting is not a RPG simply because of the lack of said dragons and elves. (nanotechnology seems the 'magic of the future' however).
I played many a Final Fantasy game and enjoyed it, however that does not mean it is an RPG simply because it modeled the look and feel of some CRPG's at the time. Recently the trend has grown so that the 'console style RPG' really means a movie. Notice that I didn't even say interactive movie, as that trend is to decrease interaction and control more and more until you basically have a sort of adventure game like the old Dungeon Lair game. Perhaps a 'choose your own adventure' book, but with only 2 to 3 very limited, static and predifined choices available at any time. You might soon notice that you were obviously being steered into the conclusion they want you to be at.
So, please understand this before having a terrets type of reaction, jumping up and saying 'RPG'. That is silly and helps no one. Call it like it is, if you feel like you have to 'sell it' then that is an indication that you are justifying your actions and choices and perhaps should stop being a social slave.
But it's Disney,
which we all know is evil..
Or maybe our attention span is really short.
Hmm...
One day, Slashdot publishes a story about the CBDTPA, saying how horrible it was, and how they hope that Senator Hollings gets voted out.
The next day, Slashdot publishes a story about a collaboration between Square and Disney, with Square everything except a Disney sense of humor and characters from both.
Now, I'm willing to give Taco the benefit of the doubt. Maybe both Disney and Square are in bed with Hollings, so it makes sense that they're working together. However, he then says, "Very positive review. Gotta admit, I'm intrigued." Aside from the fact that any game with a "Disney sense of humor" and Donald Duck as the court's chief magician is bound to suck, Taco is endorsing the very company who bought a senator to make a law to outlaw open-source!
<sarcasm>Maybe the CBDTPA isn't that bad after all. You won't have your PS2 Linux kit, or Linux anywhere for that matter, but you'll have all the Square-Disney collaborations you could ever want!</sarcasm>
Slashdot is "News for nerds, stuff that matters", right? Well, you're faced with a "difficult" decision. Which matters more: Linux or Disney?
I might be wrong with this, but I think they are teaming up with disney because they need the money. You do remember "Final Fantasy" the movie, right? It was a great movie, but it shouldn't have been called final fantasy, but that is a whole different topic.
Okay, Square lost a HUGE amount of money on that movie, so teaming up with Disney might have boosted their money supply a bit, and the game might actually appeal to younger kids and big kids alike.
You never know, this game might be good, but remember, I did say might, so don't hold me to it...
-=J=-
-- Goto Blasto.Net for GOOD, FREE E-Mail, with many names to choose! Really! GO!
I just want to respond to all the posts on this story and others decrying the DMCA and the CBDTPA.
The reason these laws exist or will exist is that many people, including many slashdot readers, have been pirating music, software and movies like hyperactive baboons for quite some time now. The establishment wouldn't care about DRM or anything like that if all people did with mp3's was to rip 'em and listen to them off their hard drives. But abuse of fair-use privileges has provoked this response. Evil corporations have the right to defend their own intellectual property. That's the law, and it makes sense.
There's no use now in whining like spoilt children. Your own (or your peers' own) actions are directly responsible for the current situation. Tough luck.
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