When Square and Disney first announced that they had joined forces and were working on a joint project back at the PlayStation Festival in February of 2000, it was met with a lot of excitement. Even though many scoffed at the idea Square doing an RPG based on Disney characters, others saw the upside, which was the fact that there is a whole lot of creative talent at both of these companies.

While the venture made a lot of news at the time, nothing else was really said about it since. Square referred to it on occasion, but the details about the game and its title all remained private. Well, that's all in the past now as today at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, California, Square Electronic Arts announced the first official details about the joint venture between Square and Disney.

Titled Kingdom Hearts, this new PlayStation 2 role-playing game puts classic Disney characters in original 3D worlds created with the classic Square style. What's more, new Disney characters will be introduced that have been developed by the legendary Tetsuya Nomura.

Kingdom Hearts has already been in production for two years by a massive team of more than 100 individuals at both Square and Disney. And the end result is a game that should please both fans of Square's RPGs and Disney's characters.

The game's story follows the exploits of a boy named Sora who goes out on an adventure with Donald Duck and Goofy that takes them through some fantastic worlds, as they try to rescue their friends, Riku and Kairi. Along the way, they'll do battle against classic Disney villains, as well as the newly created rogues, who are called the Heartless. These creatures are from an unknown dimension and have the ability to change their forms by stealing the souls and hearts of others.

In addition to Sora, Kairi, Riku, and the Heartless, all of which are brand new Square-created Disney characters, Kingdom Hearts will contain many classic characters from the world of Disney. As mentioned earlier, Goofy and Donald will make a starring role and they will change their appearances by morphing into different versions of themselves in each world they visit.

There are a total of nine worlds in the game and each of them are based on real Disney themes, including Aladdin, Tarzan, Pinocchio and The Little Mermaid. Square Electronic Arts currently plans to release Kingdom Hearts on PlayStation 2 in the fall of 2002 in North America and Europe.

source PS2 IGN