If you grew up as an RPG fan, it’s highly unlikely you’ve made it this far without hearing or playing through one of Bandai Namco’s Tales games, such as the amazing Tales of Symphonia. This year marks the 15th year the series has been around, and rightfully so, a celebration is being prepared in its honor.

On an announcement page opened today by the publisher, an impressive six of the previous Tales games will reappear on store shelves on August 4th. Four of the six games, including Tales of Phantasia, Tales of Eternia, Tales of Destiny, and Tales of ReBirth, will be released for the PSP, while the remaining two, Tales of Vesperia and Tales of Graces, will be hitting the PlayStation 3.

As a bonus, each of the games will reportedly have a Tales of 15th Anniversary Collection game sleeve and a product code on the back cover to download a custom XMB theme, seen in the image below.

No indication on regions of release for these, but having never made the jump stateside, Bandai Namco may take this opportunity to finally give us a a North American release of Graces.

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© joinsideke for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2011. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us

Fans of the Tales series were angered recently when Namco Europe Junior Community Manager, Charlotte Toci, revealed via Facebook that Tales of Vesperia would not release on the PlayStation 3 in North America because of an exclusive contract with Microsoft.  This appears to be false information as she has retracted her statement and apologized to fans for “sharing false information to fans.”

On her Facebook she has written a lengthy note apologizing for the confusion she has caused.

A few months ago I replied to a fan who asked me why Tales of Vesperia wasn’t localized in Europe on my Facebook page. I replied that it was because of a Microsoft exclusivity, thinking that that was the reason why, even though I didn’t have any official information on that.

I was wrong to do so, and sadly my reply was relayed on many websites, thus sharing a false information to fans around the web.

I would like to send my sincere apologies to all the Tales Series fans I have wrongly informed, and Microsoft & Namco Bandai for any damage that might have been caused with this.

So there you have it people, the fight of Tales of Vesperia on the PS3 out West lives another day.

© Cameron Teague for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2011. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us

Funimation, the distributor of animes such as Fullmetal Alchemist, Darker than Black, and Dragon Ball Z has grabbed the rights to localize the Tales of Vesperia movie, titled The First Strike in North America. This might not be the news some PS3 owners wanted to hear about the game, but at least it’s a start.

The First Strike movie was the first ever Tales game to be adapted into a film when it released in theatres on October 3rd, 2009 in Japan. The movie is a prequel to the game and will run for around two hours.

Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike will be releasing on DVD and Blu-Ray in 2012.

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© Cameron Teague for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2011. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us

Namco Bandai’s Tales franchise has been an a popular, but still niche title in the regions outside of Japan. Because of the lackluster-selling localized releases, don’t hold your breath for a new game soon.

Just to put salt on an already sensitive wound, Namco Bandai has said that the enhanced remakes for Tales of Graces F, originally for the Wii or Tales of Vesperia for the Xbox 360, are not under consideration to be released outside of Japan. Guess those rumors of Vesperia getting a local release were either untrue or canceled. The port of Tales of Graces would have been the more likely title to release, if it were to happen at all, because the original never left Japan at all. Looks like the only way that Westerners will be play Graces F will be to import it from Play Asia for a staggering $94.

If you don’t want to do that, you can still hold out for the confirmed yet little known Tales of PS3 title, hinted at back in July. But don’t get your hopes up. You can just look at all of these beautiful screens of Tales of Graces F while you go cry.

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© Corey Schwanz for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us

Namco Bandai’s ‘Tales Of’ RPG series hasn’t always achieved stellar sales in the US and EU, however that never kept it from developing a decent fan-following. PlayStation 3 fans have been begging NB to localize the Director’s Cut edition of Tales of Vesperia since it was announced last year in Japan, but their words have fallen on deaf ears. With THREE brand new entries in the ‘Tales Of’ series recently being announced (In Japan), the PlayStation brand is receiving plenty of ‘Tales Of’ Love (In Japan). If a comment recently by made Namco Bandai holds any truth though, it seems fans of the series could be in luck.

What made Namco Bandai finally comment on the subject of the lack of recent ‘Tales Of’ games arriving in the US? Because you, the fans, relentlessly hammered them with comments asking about it! Score one for us gamers!! How bad did it get? They actually disabled comments on their sociable media pages! Great job everyone! An official comment was posted on their official Facebook page and went something like this..

Firstly, thank you all for your excitement around the series. We also love the series here at Namco of America and are working with our Japan counterparts to determine if we’ll see US releases for these games. Unfortunately, we don’t currently have any plans to bring Tales of Graces to the US. If this changes, we’ll let you know as soon as we can!

So maybe, just maybe..if we all wish and pray enough about it, us RPG fans could be playing Tales of Vesperia the way Namco Bandai intended it to be and not the beta version that the distinguished competition played. As always, stay tuned to PlayStation LifeStyle for all of your RPG gaming news and needs.

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© The Great Thomasio for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us

How about you? Ready for some great Tales games to come your way?

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© Cameron Teague for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us

Although the PlayStation 3 suffered a slow start, a big component to the massive avalanche of great titles pouring onto the system are timed-exclusive contracts for 360 games expiring. As with BioShock and several others, Tales of Vesperia was originally declared an exclusive but later found its way onto the PS3, but unfortunately only in Japanese format. However, it is looking like the title will be making its way across the Pacific in the near future.

While at a Q&A at Sakura Con in Washington, voice actor Troy Baker unintentionally announced that both a European and North American PS3 version of the RPG Tales of Vesperia are in production. Troy Baker was asked the following by a member of the crowd:

“I know you guys re-recorded the voices for Tales of Vesperia PS3. When are you guys going to announce the European release or do you know if it’s coming out in the US?”

To which Troy replied with the following:

“Somebody asked me about that, actually no we didn’t re-record everything. They literally took what we did and just dropped it in and there was a couple of levels that they added. So the new character, what’s her name? Patty. We mentioned in the expo recently actually about the PS3 version.

So now the European release… I don’t know why they haven’t set a street date. It doesn’t make any sense to me, but I don’t know.”

While this isn’t conclusive, the chances of a North American and/or European localization are very high. Tales of Vesperia wasn’t particularly popular on the Xbox 360 but found a spark of sales upon the Japanese PS3 release, so that may be enticing for Namco, the developer.

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© jleack for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us

Even though Namco Bandai is being tight lipped about Tales of Vesperia being released over here in the United States, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t downloadable content still being released over in Japan. Namco Bandai recently announced a new set of costumes being released for the title in Japan. The costumes follow.

The costume pack is titled the “strongest” costumes. They will be released on February 10, 2010 in Japan, and will set gamers back 300 yen for each costume. Of course Namco Bandai has kept quiet about whether they will make it over to the U.S. if the game ever makes it here. So for now, you can just stare at the pictures in jealousy. Hopefully Namco Bandai realizes how much PS3 owners want this game across all regions.

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© Joseph Peterson for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us

For fans who’ve been anxiously awaiting  the US release of the PS3 edition of Tales of Vesperia, you might just want to give up and move on, as Namco Bandai has some bad news for us all.

Tales of Vesperia was originally released ‘exclusively’ on the Xbox 360 in 2008.  PS3 fans of the series felt that Namco Bandai had turned its backs on them. When it was revealed last year that a port of the TOV was hitting the PS3 in Japan last September with new content, characters, and more, fans of the series rejoiced and expected a US translation soon. Namco Bandai has stayed mum on the topic until now. They recently revealed to GamePro.com that they have ‘no plans’ to release it here in the United States:

NBGA have no details regarding this issue at the moment.

At this point, we do not know why. It is possible that Microsoft still has US exclusivity for the title, or with all of the major triple A games hitting this year, Namco Bandai may feel there is no room for Tales of Vesperia to prosper. Hopefully some details will be revealed later in the year.

© The Great Thomasio for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2010. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us

For the first part of this generation’s life cycle there was not a lot for the PS3 in terms of RPG’s. The PS3 now has a few gems with Valkyria Chronicles and Disgaea 3, as well as a former Xbox exclusive in Eternal Sonata. With age the PlayStation 3 seems like more attractive platform for RPG developers and publishers.

Next year marks a great year in terms of Role Playing Games with the big boys Square-Enix finally releasing Final Fantasy XIII, XIII Versus and XIV. While the Final Fantasy series keeps the series die hards happy it is not the only great up and coming RPG. But that is not the only great RPG to hit the PS3 next year and PlayStation LifeStyle will run down the 5 Most Anticipated RPG’s of 2010 that you need to keep an eye out for. These are in no particular order and few of these have yet to receive a US Release Date but we expect them to come in 2010.

5. Tales of Vesperia

Developer: Namco Tales Studio
Platform: PS3
Release Date: NA/EU – Not Announced, JP – September 17th, 2009

The Tales series is really starting to grow and Tales of Vesperia has added yet another chapter to the book. You play as Yuri Powell in this game as you battle to help out the lower class in the world. Experience a very action packed battle system that has 4 party members moving all at once to defeat enemies on screen.

4. Valkyria Chronicles 2

Developer: Sega
Platform: PSP
Release Date: JP – January 21st, NA/EU – Summer 2010

Following 2 years after the events in Valkyria Chronicles, a real gem for the PS3, Valkyria Chronicles 2 sets up in the middle of a civil war in Gallia. Players take up the fight as 17 year old Avan Hardence as you fight to protect the citizens of Gallia. The game will again feature the unique CANVAS Engine and find a beautiful cross between Strategy and Action in this sure to be amazing game.

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© Cameron Teague for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2009. | Permalink | 14 comments | Add to del.icio.us

3D Dot Game Heroes drops tomorrow in Japan, and we are already seeing some of the characters that can be created with the in-game editor.

In the game, players create a hero from scratch, and it looks like several beloved characters from other games can be crafted. Below are 3D recreations of Cloud, Snake, Patty Fluer from Tales of Vesperia, Evangelion and even Gundam.

3D Dot Game Heroes is being developed by From Software, who also brought us Demon’s Souls. It is set to release tomorrow, the 5th, in Japan. A US release should be coming in the next few months.

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© Cameron Teague for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2009. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us

Since being announced for the PS3, Tales of Vesperia has seen a slew of updates added to the PS3 version.  These have come in the form of new playable characters like Flynn, new quests, items and added dialog.  Well now it looks like two changes have been made to the PS3 version that fix issues found in the 360 version.

The first change is the ability to skip non-animated cutscenes.  For anyone who plays a game more than once, this is a great addition and a feature that should be standard in most games today.  Pressing the Triangle button will now allow you to skip past scenes.

The second change is a bit more minor but still a very useful change.    When you find an object out of a chest you will now be given an extra box on the screen that tells you what the item does.  This saves a user from having to hop into the menu to see what a new item does.

Tales of Vesperia releases in Japan this Thursday the 17th.  No word yet on a Stateside or European release.

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© Cameron Teague for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2009. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us

This week the PSN is ready to pick up steam after a few slow weeks. Coming in the form of mostly PSP content, this week is looking robust. Head on over to the Japanese PS Store and download the Tales of Vesperia demo, if you are a RPG fan. Also don’t forget to download the Disgaea 3 trophy patch.

This week we are trying a new format, where we outline which region will be getting what content. We are also now giving you a preview as to what’s coming in the following weeks on PSN, which will be featured on a second page along with our rumored content.

Tales of Vesperia Demo [JP]

Holy Invasion of Privacy Badman! [US]

Unbound Saga [US]

LittleBigPlanet – Ghostbusters DLC [US, EU]

Rock Band DLC [US, EU]

• Big Dipper Pack
• Judas Priest Pack
• The Dead Weather Pack 01

Guitar Hero World Tour DLC [US, EU]

• Eagles of Death Metal Track Pack

Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires DLC [US]

Next Page: Rumored Content, and Coming Soon…

© Anthony Severino for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2009. | Permalink | 24 comments | Add to del.icio.us

There has been no date given for a US release, but keep your eyes here for more information.

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© Adam Wolfe for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us

Microsoft has launched an anti-PS3 campaign in Japan. The company has released a pamphlet to the Japanese public, taking shots at the PlayStation 3 left and right.

The cover itself says, “Xbox 360 over PS3 if you are picking multi-platform games”. Really? The pamphlet also calls out the [shal]PS3[/shal] on price, saying “XBOX Live Arcade system – cheaper than the PS3″. It also describes Tales of Vesperia superior on the Xbox 360.

Pretty odd considering the PS3 version fixes problems from the 360 version, in addition to including more content. It’s surprising to see how far Microsoft has gone in order to mislead potential customers. Let’s see where they go next.

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© Dan for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2009. | Permalink | 32 comments | Add to del.icio.us