Square Enix preps new portable Kingdom Hearts, Parasite Eve

When the Electronic Entertainment Expo kicks off in Los Angeles next week, Square Enix will be showing off two new portable installments in a pair of its familiar franchises. The publisher today revealed its lineup of games for the show, in the process announcing Kingdom Hearts Re:coded for the DS and a domestic release for the Parasite Eve PSP spin-off The 3rd Birthday.

An action role-playing game set after the events of Kingdom Hearts II, Re:coded revolves around a second Sora found inside the journal Jiminy Cricket kept of their previous adventures. The game is being developed with the help of h.a.n.d. Inc., the studio behind last year's well-regarded DS entry in the series, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. The game does not have a release window as of yet.

The 3rd Birthday was originally announced at the 2007 Tokyo Game Show, but Square Enix has previously given little indication that the action RPG would be released overseas. The game stars Parasite Eve protagonist Aya Brea, who plays a key role in staving off an invasion of monsters that strikes Manhattan.

Both games have ties to Square Enix's mobile phone efforts. The 3rd Birthday was originally planned to launch on phones, as well as on the PSP, but was later made an exclusive for Sony's handheld. And while the publisher hasn't offered much in the way of details on Re:coded, it at least shares the primary plot of the 2008 mobile phone game Kingdom Hearts: Coded. Square Enix used the same renaming convention once before, with Kingdom Hears Re: Chain of Memories for the PlayStation 2, a complete 3D redesign of the Chain of Memories Game Boy Advance title.