During a presentation event at its headquarters in Tokyo, Bandai Namco Games officially unveiled Tales of Hearts for DS and Tales of the World Radiant Mythology 2 for PlayStation Portable. Apart from those two games and the upcoming Tales of Vesperia for Xbox 360, series producer Yoshidzumi also mentioned a new main series installment was in development for Wii.

Despite being the third Tales games coming to DS, Tales of Hearts will be the first DS-based title actually developed by Tales Studio. Mutsumi Inomata is providing the character designs. In addition to anime sequences produced by Production I.G., the game is also set to feature 3D CG sequences created by Shirogumi (which has been responsible for the opening movie of Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII or the CG sequences seen in the PlayStation 2 version of Tales of Destiny). The game is developed by the Tales of Destiny team. Its visuals will be in 2D. System-wise, fans can expect an updated version of Tales of Destiny's Aerial Linear Motion Battle system, known as Combination Aerial Linear Motion Battle system. The two main characters are Shing Meteoryte, a young man who possesses a strong sense of curiosity, and Kohak Hearts, who for an unknown reason decides to leave her hometown to seek the Soma. Tales of Hearts' main theme titled "Eien no Ashita" will be performed by DEEN.

Like the first game, Tales of the World Radiant Mythology 2 is developed by Alfa System. Whereas the player had 19 Tales series characters at his disposal in the first game, this time this number has been increased to 50. Customization options for the main character have been significantly increased and new jobs added. One new job revealed at the event allows for dual sword wielding (with each sword possessing a different elemental affinity). Characters created by players can be up- and downloaded, and additional equipment will be offered for download. The game's theme song will be performed by five-man rock combo Back-On.

Tales of Hearts will be available during the fourth quarter (of the calendar year) in Japan, with Tales of the World Radiant Mythology 2 set to hit retail store shelves in the Land of the Rising Sun during first quarter of 2009.

• GameWatch