9w ago - Tales Franchise Producer Hideo Baba announced today that Tales of Graces F hits PSN on 3/26 with Tales of Xillia coming to PS3 this Summer!

Below are the details, to quote: This is Hideo Baba, producer of the Tales of franchise. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of our fans in North America and Europe.

It's been an absolute pleasure attending various overseas events and interacting with so many of you. I really feel like we've been able to sustain our franchise for 15 years because of such a loyal fanbase. I cannot thank you enough.

Starting March 26th, we'll be digitally distributing Tales of Graces f on PlayStation Network. I strongly urge anyone unfamiliar to the series to give it a shot. An epic adventure of unimaginable proportions awaits you!

We will have two versions of the game available next week; the Standard Edition ($34.99) and Knight Edition ($54.99). The Tales of Graces f: Knight Edition will come bundled with more than 10 DLC items to help new adventurers on their quest including increased stats, health and currency.

In addition, the western release of Tales of Xillia on PS3 is right around the corner - it'll be out this summer!

For the first time in the franchise, you'll be able to select between two main characters...

28w ago - Tales of Xillia North American Producer Ted Tsung has a shared voice recording update today for Tales of Xillia on the PlayStation 3 entertainment system.

Below are the details, to quote: Hello everyone, my name is Ted Tsung and I am the North American Producer for Tales of Xillia for Namco Bandai Games America.

I'm happy to announce that we recently completed our voice recording session for the game, an extremely important part of the localization process. It's a huge milestone for us to pass and it means that Tales of Xillia is that much closer to its 2013 release.

Eight hours of voice recording across an eight week span, filled with late nights catching up on emails, proofing, and preparation for the following day. It's a grueling process that's both physically and mentally taxing.

Despite this, it was a fantastic experience, thanks to the support from Cup of Tea, 8-4, and the voice actors. I might be looking through rose-tinted glasses, but you won't find a better group of people.

It's always impressive to see how well voice actors can improvise on the spot. They have very little interaction with each other. The most exposure they'll get with one another is hearing a voice that may be played back for reference....

33w ago - Sony Blog Manager Fred Dutton has shared an interview today with Namco Bandai on their upcoming Tales of Xillia RPG series video game below.

To quote: Good news for anyone who's been enjoying Namco Bandai's enormous JRPG Tales of Graces F since its launch back in August: its immediate successor, Tales of Xillia, is on its way exclusively to PlayStation 3 in 2013.

We've struggled our way through an hour or so of the original Japanese version, which launched overseas back in 2011, and the 13th entry in the long-running series brings with it a number of significant new innovations for the much-loved franchise.

Duly, we took the time to check in with producer Hideo Baba while in Tokyo last month to find out exactly what fans should expect.

PlayStation Blog: What are the key new additions to the Tales formula since Tales of Graces?

Hideo Baba, Producer: There are many unique features in Xillia but I'd like to emphasise that the battle system is very unique and much improved over the previous title. Also, the portrayal of the game world and its atmosphere has also changed a lot too.

In the previous games the characters were very deformed - they were much shorter - but with Xillia the team has tried to show the characters in realistic proportions...

44w ago - Sony Senior Social Media Manager Jeff Rubenstein has confirmed today that Tales of Xillia is coming to PS3, and has interviewed Hideo Baba of Namco Bandai who addresses many questions on the PlayStation 3 title below.

To quote: This PS3-exclusive RPG is a celebration of sorts for the Tales series of RPGs, which had been around for 15 years at the time of the game's release in Japan.

But rather than just rehash classic elements, the Tales team took some chances, crafting a new battle system and a more grown-up visual style. The result, according to Famitsu, is the best Tales game yet.

Last week, I had a chance to pose some questions (including some of your Twitter queries) to Tales series producer Hideo Baba. Here are his answers:

Jeff Rubenstein, PlayStation Blog: Tales of Graces f came to PS3, but Vesperia didn't hit PS3 in North America. Now Tales of Xillia has been announced for North America. How do you determine which titles in the series get a an English-language conversion?

Hideo Baba, NAMCO BANDAI Studios Inc.: Given the current resources assigned to the Tales of series team, I am always trying to find ways to assign staff members to work on a Western localized...