Square Enix News Tidbits with Some Kingdom Hearts

We're most certainly in the lull this week, as the folks who produce the news (Square Enix Japan, of course) seem to be in full swing trying to get Final Fantasy XIII out the door. So, another short update this week, with some news tidbits for Birth by Sleep and Thirteen.

I don't know about you guys, but I'd kind of forgotten about Birth by Sleep, the next Kingdom Hearts game (now that 358/2 Days is out). If you've forgotten, too, Birth by Sleep is a prequel to the original Kingdom Hearts, and is meant to be released soon after the first of the year in Japan. The tidbits for this week include a new mode within the game, called "Command Mode." This mode appears to be some sort of board-game based take on a license board system, earning buffing items by outplaying an opponent on the game board. The concept, as it's understood for now, seems unique in the Square Enix collection and probably a good fit for the Kingdom Hearts series, I suppose. Also in Birth by Sleep, it's been discovered in Famitsu that one of the characters has a master/trainer by the name of "Master Eraqsu." In English, this is an anigram for "Square," of course, and it seems to be the same in Japan. Given the look of the character, as well, it appears that this character is an homage to the original Master of Square, Mistwalker's Hironobu Sakaguchi.

The lone bit of Final Fantasy XIII news this week is the naming of another new character. Surely you've seen the trailer by now, either the Japanese, the Japanese with fansub, or the English; now you can know that the girl with the sports-bra-and-blue-dress outfit and large, skull-like tattoo is named Oerba Yun Fang, and she can summon forth Bahamut.

Finally, have I mentioned lately CoN's Facebook page? Become a fan now, if you haven't; I try to use it to talk a little more about stuff going on at the site and leave the news posting for bigger announcements about CoN these days.

Source: Kotaku, Kingdom Hearts Insider