Tales of Japan Loves Their Handhelds

If you get around the internet as much as I do, you probably heard some strange rumors that Namco Bandai was going to announce a new Tales of game in July. If you heard that rumor, you probably also heard the groundless extension of that rumor that it was going to be on PS3.

Well, it's July and, yes, Namco Bandai announced a new Tales of game. In fact, they announced two new Tales of games. But for any of you who believed the (again, may I point out groundless) PS3 rumor, I'm afraid you might be in for some disappointment.

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 has been announced for the PSP. I currently do not have a release date for any region, but the crappy, blurry scan indicates that characters from previous installments Tales of Phantasia, Tales of Symphonia, Tales of Rebirth, Tales of the Abyss, and Tales of Vesperia characters will be available to play in the game.

Tales of Hearts, the newest addition to the Tales of main series (following ToV for the 360), has been announced for the Nintendo DS. Though, again, I have no release date or solid details at the moment, I can tell you that the game is reported to use 2D character sprites on top of 3D environments. I, for one, hope this is true, because I can't stand DS 3D models. They're just so damn ugly.

The game also appears to employ realistic 3D models (assumedly for FMVs) based on Mutsumi Inomata's character designs. Hopefully this will be the first DS Tales of game to make it to North America, but don't hold your breath.

According to the scan, the (presumably) hero's name is Sing (JP=Shingu) (yeah, stupid name is stupid), while the (presumably) heroine's name is Kohaku (JP=Kohaku).

Again, I apologize for the lack of details, but I have included the crappy scans below if you would like to get a glimpse at the games.

We will keep you updated with any new information as it becomes available.