Yet ANOTHER Japanese RPG goes XBOX 360 Exclusive in Japan: TALES OF VESPERIA!
http://namco-ch.net/talesofvesperia/index.php
Apparently the confirmation of this was found on the SOURCE CODE of the website. Since the source was found by some forumgoers on http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=220822, the information has recently been removed by Namco. However, some people were astute enough to take screenshots of the source code, which obviously reveals that the game will come out exclusively for the Xbox 360.
The news was also verified by neogaf poster toypop, who simply copy pasted the meta tags from the web page source code to the thread. These were done before Namco removed the meta tags from the source code of the page.
The game's Xbox 360 exclusivity has been discussed on the Japanese forum 2ch well before the game's title was ever announced. Bandai Namco confirmed with IGN that Kousuke Fujishima and Production I.G. were involved in this project, along with Yoshito Higuchi, who is well known for his stellar work on Tales of Symphonia and Tales of Abyss. Higuchi serves as the producer and chief director on the Vesperia Project.
Here's a link to the video over at gametrailers:
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/151196.html
UPDATE: More evidence has surfaced that this game is truly XBOX 360 EXCLUSIVE. Check this page on neogaf:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=9115569&postcount=562
And check this link for the evidence: http://sakuraba.cocoebiz.com/discography/
UPDATE 2: The reference from the site http://sakuraba.cocoebiz.com/discography/ was removed. To see the original page, click here
UPDATE 3: Apparently the XBOX 360 reference is STILL IN THE SOURCE CODE of http://sakuraba.cocoebiz.com/discography/ . Right click the page and view the source code. Search for the string "Tales of Vesperia". This will come out:
Tales of Vesperia<-- (XB360)-->¹
Here's the first ever footage from the game, from youtube:
Tales of Vesperia features beautiful cell-shaded graphics...it looks like Namco is capitalizing on all the experience they've had in developing games for the Xbox 360. They've released Eternal Sonata, Ace Combat 6, Idolmaster/Idolmaster Live for You, Beautiful Katamari and Ridge Racer 6 on the Xbox 360 platform. Despite the sales challenges faced by the Xbox 360 platform in Japan, Namco has continued to support the Xbox 360 because they know that that platform is the most successful the world over, and with the console game market continuing to shrink in Japan, Namco clearly understands that releasing their next few games on the Xbox 360 is the best choice.
It's therefore quite clear that it's the worldwide sales which really counts for these game companies, regardless of their country of origin. With the Xbox 360 getting so many games selling in the millions, it's clearly more profitable for Namco to make more of their games Xbox 360 exclusive.