"Tales of Vesperia" sure has been getting some serious attention. It's one of the few games that managed to actually make the 360 sell out in Japan, and seriously drive the sales of the system with the RPG crowd. Well, Bandai-Namco certainly has taken notice to this and is offering something special to the fans.

Bandai-Namco announced a limited edition of "Tales of Vesperia" today. The special edition will come bundled with several goodies including a soundtrack, which features 25 tracks spanning across the Tales series, an artbook, and a special tin case. Preorders are now being taken for both the standard and limited edition of the game. The standard version will be $59.99 and the limited edition will be $69.99. Make sure to reserve yours soon, the game releases August 26th.
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Namco Bandai isn't shy about adding downloadable content to their Xbox 360 games. In the case of Idolm@ster it's excessive, but the publisher is giving Tales fans a break. Four packs of Tales of Vesperia downloadable content are sitting on the Japan's Xbox Live Marketplace which instantly gives players a set of restorative gummies, ingredients for item synthesis, and skills for the two main characters.
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First Day sales in Japan 8/7

Fire Emblem: New Shadow Dragons and the Blade of Light NDS = 80k
Tales of Vesperia 360 = 70k
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Destructoid writes:

"Take a good, long, lasting look at the above image folks, because it's not something you see every day, and it could be something you'll never see again. That is a bunch of Japanese people lining up for an Xbox 360 game -- just when you think you'd witnessed it all.

This is of course for Tales of Vesperia, with customers patiently waiting at the Akihabara Yodobashi Camera to get their hands on this exclusive new JRPG. Certainly not the biggest launch in the world, but for a 360 game, it's is as stellar as anybody could imagine.

This morning's launch was accompanied by on-stage antics that included producers Yoshito Higuchi and Tsutomu Gouda, the latter of which quipped: "Even though the Olympics are starting, everyone please enjoy playing Tales of Versperia." Pro wrestler Wataru Sakora was also present for the event.

Although hype for Vesperia isn't as mad as it would be had the game come out for the PS3 or Wii, a "steady stream" of 360 consoles are reportedly being sold. And all it took was a Japanese game in a Japanese genre made by Japanese people to do it..."

More pictures above N4G headline and at Famitsu.com
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Xbox360
Tales of Vesperia |9-9-9-8(35/40)
NBA 2K8 |5-7-5-7(24/40)

Wii
Fatal Frame IV |9-9-8-8(34/40)
Lost in Blue Wii |7-7-6-5(25/40)

NDS
Fire Emblem: Dark Dragon and Sword of Light |9-8-8-9(34/40)
Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 |8-8-8-8(32/40)
Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch R2 - Banjou no Geass Gekijou |6-6-6-7(25/40)
Summon Night 2 |8-8-8-6(30/40)
Wantame variety channel |6-6-6-6(24/40)
DS Pico Series: Sanrio no Party e Ikou! Oryouri - Oshare - Okaimono |6-5-6-5(22/40)
Ron-Q! Highland in DS |7-7-7-6(27/40)
San Goku Shi Taisen Ten |8-8-8-8(32/40)
Mite wa Ikenai |6-6-6-5(23/40)
Monster Farm DS 2: Yomigaeru! Master Breeder Densetsu |6-7-8-8(29/40)

PS3
NBA 2K8 |5-7-5-7(24/40)
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On the websites of retailers such as Walmart, the finalized boxart for Tales of Vesperia seems to have been leaked (back before Tales of the Abyss's release, the boxart was leaked on GameFly's website).

There are some small issues some people have claimed to have noticed, so it's not 100% certain that Walmart didn't take a high-quality fake from another website. We'll have to wait a few weeks to see if this leak was true or not.
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Soul Calibur IV (Xbox 360, Bandai Namco): 9 / 9 / 8 / 8 - (34/40)
Mobile Suit Gundam: Operation: Troy (Xbox 360, Bandai Namco): 7 / 7 / 6 / 7 - (27/40)
Tales of Vesperia (Xbox 360, Bandai Namco): 9 / 9 / 8 / 8 - (34/40)
NBA 2K8 (Xbox 360, 2K Sports): 7 / 7 / 8 / 7 - (29/40)
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Kombo Reports: "Microsoft is bringing home the goods of E3 with all kinds of goodies on Xbox Live. Aside from Too Human, Microsoft has also posted a demo of Tales of Vesperia on Live Marketplace. This is the first next-gen installment of the Tales franchise and looks to redefine the series.

The file is a minor 278MB. Get downloading. "
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Namco-Bandai announced on the Tales of Vesperia Japanese Developer's Blog that a special pre-order DVD, entitled "Tales Channel DVD", will be given out in tandem with Tales of Vesperia's release.

According to a rough translation, it will include a gallery, as well as some sort of a small chat drama like past DVD pre-order gifts the company has released in the past for the Tales series.
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"One Namco Bandai fighter shines, another flops."

1UP delivers their report on Soul Calibur IV, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm and Tales of Vesperia from Namco Bandai's booth at the Anime Expo.
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