Two Future North American Tales Series Releases

[Antimind]

Fuck you guys are behind the times 

Wii
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn Of The New World
- massive coverage in the March 08 issue of Nintendo Power
- direct sequel of Tales of Symphonia
- spinoff title - aside from the regular Tales fare there is a Pokemonesque monster capture system in place. Only two new "main" characters will fully be members of your party
- Symphonia characters return - playable
- Lloyd is trying to stop you - bad like Mithos or bad as in Kratos bad?

Xbox 360
Tales of Vesperia
- confirmed for release by Play magazine
- Famitsu was shocked by the Play article and called Namco to confirm. Namco confirmed and the phone transcript is available on Famitsu's site
- Being released in North America first
- no platform has been announced for Japanese release yet

Now no release dates have been confirmed as of yet but... It appears that Vesperia will be released on Sept 30th to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the release of Tales of Destiny in North America. The interview pointed most of us in that direction. Note that Namco released a collector's edition, director's cut of Destiny in Japan for the anniversary. Since we didn't have Destiny at the time, it's only fitting for ToV to arrive on that date. The first Tales series game to come here first - in time for the anniversary. I just wish they'd release Destiny 2 here.

What's that? Destiny 2 was released here? WRONG! Destiny 2 in North America is actually Tales of Eternia! ToD 2 was NEVER released here and is a direct sequel to Destiny 

Release date speculation for ToS 2 so far is that it'll for sure be by the end of 2008 (again with the anniversary). Here's what us Tales experts think:
October 10th: NA Abyss release date, Abyss was JAP anniversary game.
December 15th: The JAP 10th anniversary of Tales, also Abyss release date
December 23rd: Tales of Phantasia SFC JAP Playstation release date - first game in the Tales series.

I think: Dec 15th is the best bet and about 95% accurate. If Vesperia does come out on Sep 30th it's damn near a for-sure thing. Dec 15th is THE Tales anniversary so it's only fitting that the Symphonia sequel arrive then. Especially since it's the only sequel we'll be getting. We got screwed on Destiny 2.

[Cobra]

Of course I'm behind the times, I'm still playing Night Trap and StarCraft

[Tondog]

Night Trap FTW.

[Tan]

Of course I'm behind the times, I'm still playing Night Trap and StarCraft

I've got StarCraft installed on my laptop, I still play the hell out of it too. 

[Shimra]

I made a topic about this as soon as the Symphonia sequel was announced a long long time ago, so I wouldn't exactly say I'm behind.

[Tynstar]

I have never played a Tales game.

[Darth Sidious]

Nice to see that Namco Bandai is still releasing some Tales games in the US from time to time at least, but I still don't get their "no-2D" policies. Ever since the release of Tales of Eternia in the US (I refuse to call it Tales of Destiny 2 ^^), no classic 2D Tales has been released in the west, except for Tales of Phantasia by Nintendo (which is just typical...us western gamers receive the worst version of ToP, while the SFC original, the PSX remake and the PSP Full Voice Edition remain in Japan...). And I tell you, it's quite depressing to witness the sheer awesomeness of Tales of Rebirth or Tales of Destiny Director's Cut (btw, the Premium Box is sweet!), knowing that these games will never make it here...

And I am not too keen on Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, honestly. Having seen some of the screenshots, I am not even sure whether this will turn out to be a main Tales game or an escort title like the Tales of the World games or Tales of the Tempest (i.e. lack of a real world map, only 2 or 3 permanent party members, collecting monsters...sounds kinda...well, gimmicky).
Tales of Vesperia, on the other hand, kinda reminds me of Tales of the Abyss, which is definitely a good thing - after all, TotA is by far my favorite part of the series and my favorite PS2 game next to Xenosaga Episode III. Looks like I'll have to get a Microsoft Xbox 360, after all, seeing how many high quality RPGs are in the works and have already been released...

However, let's hope that Namco or Nintendo will release Tales of Innocence for the DS stateside. THAT game looks more than promising, especially for a DS title (best graphics I've seen on the system so far, tons of voice acting, no slowdowns during battles, fast paced 3D battles combining elements from TotA and Tales of Destiny remake...wow), and I'd gladly take it over Tales of Symphonia 2 any day. So, please, Namco, show western RPGamers some love!