Rumoured, then officially announced last September, progress on the DS RPG is looking bright indeed.

The game will be developed by H.A.N.D. (Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales and One Piece: Pirates' Carnival) and co-directed by Tomohiro Hasegawa, of Final Fantasy VIII (my personal series favourite) and previous Kingdom Hearts titles fame.

According to director Tetsuya Nomura (Final Fantasy series), the story is said to center around the untold stories behind character Roxas during his tenure with Organization XIII, taking place in the time period in which main character Sora was asleep between the GBA KH title and KH II.

The title is said to include “gorgeous” cut scenes, accompanied by music from composer Yoko Shimomura (Parasite Eve, Kingdom Hearts series), though much of it will have already been heard in some form or another. From what can be seen, it appears up to the quality of the PS2 titles, and that's an accomplishment to be appreciated.

No touch screen support announced as of yet. Multiplayer gameplay will be mission based, including competitive and boss battles, and will feature a chat system akin something to PictoChat. The traditional menu and combat system will be re-featured, while players should enjoy less boundaries in the level of customisation and levelling up afforded.

More screenshots can be found from the source article. No release date has been set.