Tales of Xillia Message Board older than one year ago

Andriasang reports that Namco Bandai has raised its earnings forecast (PDF) for the first six months of the year. Sales, previously pegged at ¥178 billion ($2.3 billion), are now expected to reach ¥194 billion ($2.5 billion); meanwhile, operating income (i.e. profit) projections have risen sharply from ¥6.5 billion ($85.6 million) to ¥15.5 billion ($204.3 million).

The projections were raised on the back of high sales of Tales of Xillia and (ahem) AKB1/48 If I Loved an Idol in Guam. Just to be clear, AKB1/48 If I Loved an Idol in Guam is the full title of an actual game. We're not talking about Namco's newfound success in the island territory of Guam.

Tales of Xillia and its Ayumi Hamasaki theme song has only been available in Japan for a few days, but that won't stop Namco Bandai from diverting money attention away from its new release and onto an even newer, less available and yet more mysterious entry in the Tales series by way of countdown website.

Since the website is registered to a .co.jp address, we figure the reveal will most likely be a new entry in the series, rather than a US release for Xillia or other stateside news. Also, the big sparkly glowing "New Tales of" is kind of a dead giveaway.

#talesofxillia To promote the latest Tales role-playing game Tales of Xillia, Namco is rolling out a Tales cafe, first in Tokyo and later in Tokushima. More »

#tellintales On August 31, Ayumi Hamasaki is releasing a new EP called Five. Since Hamasaki is singing the theme for upcoming role-playing game Tales of Xillia, a limited edition version of her new mini-album will come with a redeemable download code. More »

Nope, you still won't get an HDMI cable in the box with new PlayStation 3 hardware that arrives this September in Japan, but you will get a "charcoal black" console with decreased power consumption, a lightened chassis, and a 320GB HDD. Thrillingly named the "CECH-3000B," the new model was announced by Sony of Japan this past weekend, alongside the opening of an official website (once a retailer had outed it).

Apparently a handful of visual changes have been made to the system as well, specifically applying to the power and eject buttons, but the changes aren't obvious in images released thus far.

The console by itself will run ¥34,980 ($435.56), and a 160GB version of the new model will ship with a previously announced Tales of Xillia bundle this September. It should also be noted that the Tales of Xillia model is ¥37,980 ($470) and looks way, way sweeter.

Japanese PS3 buyers have the choice of another special-edition console, should they decide to give their Gran Turismo 5 blue or Final Fantasy XIII white systems a rest. The "Tales of Xillia X Edition" PS3 system is the usual "Charcoal Black" PS3 color, but with metallic red and gold artwork on the top depicting the characters Jude and Milla. The PS3 logo is also red, which does more to make the thing seem "special-edition." Maybe we're just weird.

The 160GB system will be released in Japan on September 8, bundled with a copy of Tales of Xillia for ¥37,980 ($470). While it's no longer completely ridiculous to think a Tales game will be localized, don't expect to see this one in American stores anytime soon. Of course, PS3 games are region-free, so you can totally import one of these and play American games on it!

[Thanks, Morgan]

#ps3 When big PS3 games are released, Sony often launches a limited edition PS3, either with a special design or in a unique color. Role-playing game Tales of Xillia is no different. More »

#culturesmash Selling over 50 million albums in Japan, Ayumi Hamasaki is one of Asia's biggest popstars, posting a number one single every year since she debuted in 1998. Now she's bringing her music to one of Japan's biggest role-playing franchises. More »

The Namco Bandai saga of Tales continues with the unveiling of Tales of Xillia coming to Sony's PlayStation 3 video game console.