'Kingdom Hearts 3' release date update: Game to launch at end of 2015?

"Kingdom Hearts 3" is set to come out on Dec. 31, according to Amazon, which dropped the price of the game to $40.99 (originally $59.99) yesterday for players who pre-order a copy. Buyers who managed to take advantage of the one-day offer should be flashing their biggest smiles right now. However, despite the knowledge about the launch date and a $20 discount, fans are still left wondering what to expect in the game that they have been waiting for 10 years now. 

The upcoming title is known for bringing a variety of Disney characters in adventures and magic as they traverse rich and massive worlds. "Kingdom Hearts 3" is said to be the game where big and popular universes will collide. Square Enix has been ardently working to make the installment worth waiting for and it might do so by adding well-known "Star Wars" character Darth Vader, ice queen Elsa from the cult-favorite animated movie "Frozen" or even Marvel superhero Iron Man. But these claims remain unfounded. 

"It's going to be a mix. Whenever we come up with worlds for Kingdom Hearts, we want to have them be varied. You don't want the same type of world, so we will have different categories. That will make it feel fresh, like you're having an adventure," co-director and game designer Tai Yasue told Game Informer in July last year when asked about iconic worlds apart from the new ones bound to be chipped in. 

Kotaku U.K. brings the topic to "Kingdom Hearts 2.5," which Square Enix worked on alongside "Kingdom Hearts 3."

"For 3, we want to evolve it in a new direction, but at the same time we don't want to change what is fundamental about Kingdom Hearts. We're hiring new people continuously, so they are learning about Kingdom Hearts through making 2.5. It's a good learning experience," Yasue told Kotaku U.K. 

According to Comic Book, "Kingdom Hearts 3" voice actor Bill Farmer has shared through Twitter that voice acting for the game has wrapped up and added that the new title should come out by 2015. However, Square Enix sent out a tweet telling everyone that the game remains unannounced. Amazon's listing of the game, as Comic Book pointed out, is only a move of the online retailer to "get ahead" in the competition. After all, it is set on the very last day of 2015, which is less likely to cause damage or delay during its shipping schemes.

News
Violence and persecution driving global Christian exodus, report warns
Violence and persecution driving global Christian exodus, report warns

Aid to the Church in Need, which produced the report, called the oppression of Christians "a human rights catastrophe the world refuses to acknowledge".

More than 60 killed in attacks on Ethiopian Christians, Orthodox Church says
More than 60 killed in attacks on Ethiopian Christians, Orthodox Church says

Children were reportedly among the dead as families fled violence in Oromia.

Church mentioned in St Jerome's letters may have been discovered
Church mentioned in St Jerome's letters may have been discovered

Archaeologists in northern Italy have identified the likely site of an early Christian church that St. Jerome described in a letter in A.D. 396, along with a nearby building believed to have been the bishop’s palace in the ancient city of Altino.

Jordan carries out retaliatory strikes in Syria after deadly church attack
Jordan carries out retaliatory strikes in Syria after deadly church attack

Patriarch Theophilos III has visited survivors of the attack in hospital.