Square Enix has announced that Kingdom Hearts II will be released on the PlayStation 2 in PAL territories in the third quarter of 2006. The game has been available in North America since the end of March and in Japan since last December, but European gamers have yet to sample the action role-playing game, which has already sold millions of copies.
The game features new character designs from Tetsuya Nomura, including Roxas, members of Organization XIII, and the Nobodies. Nomura has worked on both the Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy series, and this new game will feature a cast of more than 100 Disney characters.
Kingdom Hearts II features new worlds based on Disney properties Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Mulan, Pirates of the Caribbean, Steamboat Willie, and Tron, as well as new characters such as Chicken Little. The game continues the story from Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and stars Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy on their quest across worlds old and new.