While there hasn't been too many official news releases from developer Square Enix regarding the upcoming 'Kingdom Hearts 3', that hasn't stopped fans from discussing the many rumors that are circulating online.

One of the more interesting rumors pertains to the addition of new characters in the series. In an interview, as reported by Kotaku, game designer Tai Yasue indicated that characters from the Marvel and Star Wars universes could potentially be added to the game. Both of those franchises were, of course, acquired by Disney in separate transactions a few years ago after 'Kingdom Hearts 2' was released.

He was careful to note, however, that they won't add characters just for the sake of adding characters. "We have to come up with a world that has a lot of originality. We want variety in our new 'Kingdom Hearts', so we don't want too many of one sort of world, that would look the same. For each world there has to be some meaning for it, in the plot," he said.

He added that their emphasis, as always, will be on creating fun and engaging gameplay, so the addition of new worlds must come with that added element.

One thing is for sure, if characters from Marvel and Star Wars are indeed added to the game, the developers will make sure that they recapture their iconic look and feel from their original appearances, as they have done in all installments of the 'Kingdom Hearts' franchise.

In other news, speculation regarding a potential multiplayer mode has run rampant following a job posting at Square Enix that required work on constantly online features. Whether this will take the form of an actual multiplayer component such as player-vs-player combat or cooperative mode remains to be seen, but it is interesting to note nonetheless.

Most modern video games have some form of multiplayer content as a means of preserving the life of the game, so perhaps Square Enix is looking into that direction to bring some added depth to 'Kingdom Hearts 3'.

For now, 'Kingdom Hearts 3' is slated for release sometime this year.