This is an update of an article posted earlier today about Tales for the Wii and DS.

Tales of Symphonia fans rejoice - the series is confirmed to make its way into the next generation, with titles announced for the Nintendo Wii and DS, namely Namco Bandai's Tales of Symphonia: Knight of Ratatosk for the Wii and Tales of Symphonia: Innocence for the DS.

It seems that Tales of Symphonia: Knights of Ratatosk for the Nintendo Wii is going to be a faithful continuation of the beloved RPG on the GameCube, while Tales of Symphonia: Innocence for the DS is going to be a new game entirely.

While we don't have any information yet as who in the original cast could be making their return in the Wii title, or what new characters will be featured in the DS entry, the highly-relevant scan from NeoGAF to the right of this article might just give us a clue.

In any case, updates about this latest development involving the Tales series as we get them. Enjoy the scan!
http://img.qj.net/uploads/articles_module/98039/ TalesofSymphonia_qjpreviewth.jpg?065929

This news was an update from:
Namco announces new Tales entries for Wii, PSP, and DS

Namco Bandai had a press conference in Japan, and one of the topics covered was the future of the successful video game franchise Tales. According to them, four separate projects are currently in development with three of them being original entries. The last one, on the other hand is a port of a PlayStation 2 Tales title.

DS. Nintendo DS owners will have a new game titled Tales of Innocence and should be available this coming winter.

Wii. Wii owners can look forward to a new game as well. No title has been given but it was mentioned by Namco Bandai that it is basing it on Tales of Symphonia.

PSP. PlayStation Portable owners will also be getting some Tales fun - complete with a Three-Line Linear Motion for its battle system. The developer is planning to port PS2 game Tales of Rebirth which was originally released back in 2004. But critics, be silent! Yes, this is "just" a port, but PSP owners shouldn't sulk because Rebirth was truly a good game.

It was also said that the new Tales of Rebirth will have wide screen support and a new gallery mode. It should be available next year, but no concrete release date was mentioned.

PS2. The last game is for PS2 and is a new game as well that is based from Tales of Destiny.

It's not yet clear if these titles will make it outside of Japan.

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Miyamoto: violence, movies, and more questions from Time

Time magazine interviewed Shigeru Miyamoto, the video game designer who created the Super Mario, Donkey Kong, Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, Nintendogs, and Pikmin series of video games.

And he said some interesting stuff that also got us thinking...

Violence in video games. Miyamoto is one smart cookie:

The obvious objective of video games is to entertain people by surprising them with new experiences. Violence is one means of doing that, [though] I look to make people laugh or smile. But the more we have parents playing video games themselves, the more they will understand the interactive world and how to deal with games that have a tremendous amount of violence.


Wise words indeed from Shigeru Miyamoto. Did you hear that, oh ye lawmakers and anti-gaming lawyers? Video games - like all kinds of art - seek to create an experience. Violence is one way - not necessarily the best way, but it's still one relevant way because adults play video games too.

Remember that Miyamoto is a guy who prefers to entertain us through storytelling, artistic craftsmanship, and humor than through gore and gratuitous violence. And still he's intelligent enough to understand that violence is always part of art.

[If only our lawmakers read Macbeth or A Tale of Two Cities. Heck. If only they learned how to read instead of just relying on the "summaries" that anti-gaming lobbyists send to them!]

Will Legend of Zelda ever be a movie? Miyamoto's answer is a bit disappointing:

I struggle with the Hollywood process.

It's not all bad news. Miyamoto did say that making a Nintendo video game into a movie is an idea that holds a lot of potential. And in the past, Miyamoto has often said that he admires the work of Studio Ghibli (Princess Mononoke, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Howl's Moving Castle). Who knows, maybe the creative drive will eventually force him to make a movie.

Other questions. Time is a mainstream publication, so you can expect the rest of the questions to go over old stuff that you all know by now - how the Wii and DS are trying to change gaming culture, the old "casual gamer" versus "hardcore gamer" debate, and Nintendo's use (and re-use) of old franchises like Mario.

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Official Xbox Magazine says MGS4 will come to Xbox 360 a few months after it debuts on PS3

It's been rumored all too often, but no matter how many times the makers of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots try to hush the buzz, more reports of the game porting to the Microsoft Xbox 360 are surfacing.

GamePro reports that a trailer for the game in Japan hints of a winter release. That should mean anytime between December and February of this year and the next one. The official Xbox Magazine then says that a reliable source told them that the Xbox 360 version would come "a few months" after the Sony PlayStation 3's debut of MGS4.

It can be recalled that Konami top cat Kazumi Kitaue was quoted with a statement that fanned the rumor flames at a high point. "Since Metal Gear Solid was born for the PlayStation, we would like to keep it a PlayStation game. But we might have to take some steps," he said as he pointed to the current install base and sales figures of the PS3.

What do you think? Is it just a matter of time before we see Solid Snake and the rest of the gang on the Xbox 360? Series creator Hideo Kojima described the PS3 as the theatre where he wants the "grand finale" of the MGS series to take place, but will his masterpiece go to the Xbox 360 which he likened to a DVD player? We'll find out in a few months.

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Moore on Nintendo Wii and 360's "damn" complicated controller

Peter Moore is about to leave Microsoft for EA Sports but before he do that, he has still a couple of reminders left both for his company and the Xbox 360 community. His latest interview with online site Gamasutra focused on the need for Microsoft to broaden the appeal of its console.

According to Moore, it is already a given that hardcore gamers will love the Xbox 360 no matter what, given video game titles such as Halo 3 and Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3, 360). He added that Microsoft has been doing a lot of things to reach into the broader market but certain things have to be put into consideration.

For one, he mentioned that the Xbox 360's controller might be too complicated for a non-game. He explained, "Typically, when you pass a controller to someone who's not a gamer, they don't even want to touch it, because look at all those buttons and pads and sticks and triggers. The thing's damn complicated".

Quite interestingly, he added that Nintendo is quite doing the right thing with its innovative yet simple controller that can be used as easy as a TV remote. "I think Nintendo is doing a phenomenal job in providing that fun, unexpected experience, to their credit," Peter Moore added.


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