The upcoming Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix + will be Tetsuya Nomura's last PlayStation 2 project. The newly added event scenes will not feature English voice acting. Fans who had hoped to get a glimpse of Kingdom Hearts III at the Square Enix Party 2007 will be disappointed to hear that no announcement related to the project is planned for the event in May. Nomura had previously said that the newest Kingdom Hearts installment would be announced later this year.

Meanwhile, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII for PlayStation Portable has been confirmed to feature materia and limit breaks (one screenshot shows Zack hitting a group of enemies with Meteor Rain, Cloud's Level 3 limit break in Final Fantasy VII). Depending on which materia the player has equipped, the commands available in battle (with the exception of the standard "attack" and "item") will change. Dengeki PSP describes Crisis Core's battle system as a fusion of action and ATB elements. The mysterious gauge located in the upper left-hand corner of the screen is called Digital Mind Web (DMW). The DMW will allow you to recover HP or unleash limit breaks and summons. It is also connected to the bars showing the player's stats. Since the DMW spins and stops automatically, players don't have to control it.

Joining Zack, Aeris, Cloud, Sephiroth, Reno, and Rude are three new faces: Lazard, who oversees the Turks' operations, Angeal Hewley and Genesis. Angeal and Genesis are both ranked Soldier 1st, like Sephiroth. While Genesis is an old friend of Sephiroth and Angeal, a screenshot shows the three men facing off against each other. Crisis Core's development is currently 70% complete.

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII will be available in Japan sometime later this year.

• Anime, Geemu Nandemo Jouhou Yoseatsume