March 9^th, 2004 (12:00am) - Namco officially announced today that Tales of Symphonia, the latest installment in the enormously popular Tales franchise, will ship exclusively for the Nintendo GameCube in Summer of 2004.

Using characters designed by renowned Japanese artist Kosuke Fujishima, Tales of Symphonia unfolds with beautiful anime-style cel-shaded graphics that make the expansive 3D worlds feel like a 2D comic book. The storyline is an emotionally charged, epic adventure that redefines the role-playing genre.

In Tales of Symphonia, players will command real-time battles in a unique 3D battle system that gives them full control over the characters. Execute and combine hundreds of special attacks and magic spells. With more than a dozen mini-games and side quests at the player’s disposal, Tales of Symphonia offers over 80 game play hours and brings an exciting new storyline to the Tales series.

The Tales series dates back to 1995, when Tales of Destiny was first released on the SNES. Fans of the series consider Tales of Symphonia one of the most promising RPG’s on current generation consoles. While it follows a traditional RPG format, the series is set apart by its slick presentation and art, real time interactive battle system, and the clever level designs and puzzles.