t1z4l

Several key staff from Bandai Namco shared their aspirations for 2025 with 4Gamer. Some of them revealed that they are preparing for the respective 30th anniversaries of the Tales Of and Ace Combat series in the same year. [Thanks, 4Gamer!]

Most of the company's staff who sent their messages, including Tekken 8's Katsuhiro Harada and the Gundam Breaker 4 producer Masanori Tanaka, only stated their intentions to continue updating their respective games. Meanwhile, Yosuke Futami is preparing to release the PvPvE mech shooting game Synduality: Echo of Ada physically on January 16, 2025, and digitally on January 23, 2025.

However, the key staff behind Tales Of and Ace Combat left the most notable comments. Yusuke Tomizawa made the following comment as the Tales Of series producer:

The Tales Of series will reach its complete 30th anniversary in 2025. We have been planning numerous anniversary projects since the end of last year, so we want to celebrate it with everyone who have ed the series until now, and I would also like to add more to the series' future.

One of them will be past title remaster project which has also launched; the release of Tales of Graces f Remastered is also coming soon on January 16. As this game is one of the series' top masterpieces, those who haven't played it yet should also definitely [get this]!

Yusuke Tomizawa

Meanwhile, the Ace Combat series producer Kazutoki Kono chimed in about the franchise's next new game, which has been under development since as early as 2021:

. . .Right now, we are developing a new game in the Ace Combat series, and as we pile up issues almost daily, we are also living with utmost efforts towards the days where we can start seeing results. It will still take a bit more time until the new game is announced, but since 2025 is also the 30th anniversary series of the Ace Combat series, I want to properly hype it up together with all the fans.

Kazutoki Kono

Both the Ace Combat and Tales Of series debuted in 1995. Namco released the first Ace Combat for PlayStation in Japan on June 30, 1995, and in North America as Air Combat on September 9, 1995. It later released the RPG title Tales of Phantasia for Super Famicom (SNES) in Japan on December 15, 1995.

The latest mainline entries for both franchises are Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown in 2019 and Tales of Arise in 2021. Both titles are readily available on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Tales of Arise also has native PS5 and Xbox Series X releases, while Ace Combat 7 is playable on the newer consoles via backward compatibility. Bandai Namco has also released a Nintendo Switch port of Ace Combat 7 in 2024, but it has still yet to announce a Tales of Arise port to a Nintendo console as of the end of 2024.

Tales of Graces f Remastered will appear as a part of Bandai Namco's project to remaster prior Tales Of entries for the series' 30th anniversary in 2025. It will be available for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Switch, and PC on January 17, 2025.

The post Bandai Namco Prepares Tales Of and Ace Combat 2025 Birthdays appeared first on Siliconera.

Bandai Namco and Project Aces revealed more new merchandise related to the Ace Combat series at Tokyo Game Show 2022. Project Aces' Twitter revealed new smartphone cases for select iPhone and Samsung Galaxy models that are available via Amazon Merch on Demand.

The merchandise post shows five different phone case designs. The lineup consists of the Erusea Air Force, the International Space Elevator, Ace Combat Zero's Galm Squadron, Ace Combat 04's Independent State Allied Forces, and the X-02S Strike Wyvern.

All of them are available separately with the same price tag of $24.99. Project Aces also provided links to its pages on the U.S. and Japanese Amazon websites. However, Amazon restricted access exclusively to the two respective countries.

Bandai Namco also aired a special program dedicated to the series during Tokyo Game Show 2022. It revealed more items available exclusively in Japan's Asobistore.

• Patch Set (Yellow, Razgriz, and Sol Squadrons) - 5,000 yen
• Backpack used in-universe by the Osean Sea Goblin team - 15,000 yen
• CFA-44 Nosferatu plamodel (regular version with Ilya Pasternak's custom color) - 5,940 yen
• CFA-44 Nosferatu For Modelers Edition (plain colored version) - 4,840 yen
• X-49 Night Raven plamodel - 6,600 yen

The latest Ace Combat title to date is Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, available worldwide on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Bandai Namco is currently working on a new series project with ILCA. The companies also set up a new studio named Bandai Namco Aces in July 2022. In the TGS 2022 stream, Kazutoki Kono stated that his team will prepare projects to celebrate the series' 30th anniversary, which falls in 2025.

The post New Ace Combat Merchandise Includes Plamodels and Phone Cases appeared first on Siliconera.

Bandai Namco and Project Aces have published the third lore explanation video for Ace Combat's Strangereal world history on the series' YouTube channel. This episode focuses on Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War's eponymous conflict that broke out in 1995 in the fictional world.

The series mascot Nugget explained the events leading to the war in more detail. Due to its ailing economy, Belka ceded some of its lands to Osea while seeing its former territories Ustio and Gebet declare independence. But after finding out that the ceded territories had plentiful underground resources, the nation invalidated the independence declarations and launched a war to regain control of its territories.

The Belkan War officially ended with a ceasefire after Belka detonated seven nuclear bombs around its northern territories to stop the Allied Forces' advance. However, a multinational group called A World With No Boundaries staged a massive coup around the end of 1995. Nugget summarized this war as the "What Has the Border Given Us? War."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJc10-QOO6U

At the end of this video, the Nugget revealed that it had wrapped up its plan to publish three episodes of the video series. All three featured titles—Ace Combat 04, 5, and Zero—came out in the 2000s for the PlayStation 2. It is yet to be known whether Project Aces will produce lore videos for other Strangereal titles, such as the Xbox-exclusive Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation and PlayStation Portable's Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception.

Bandai Namco released Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War for PlayStation 2 in 2006. While a port of the previous entry Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War was obtainable temporarily on the PlayStation 4, the company has yet to bring this game to current-generation platforms.

The post Ace Combat Zero Lore Video Explains The Belkan War’s Background appeared first on Siliconera.

A vinyl soundtrack of Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War will appear in late September 2022. Bandai Namco is working with Universal Music Japan to release a double vinyl set containing tracks from the 2006 PlayStation 2 game. The webpage detailing the soundtrack on the Japanese website also has an English segment.

The package will contain two 12-inch black vinyl records and an 8-page full-color booklet. The latter will include commentaries from the game's composers in Japanese and English. Keiki Kobayashi, Tetsukazu Nakanishi, Hiroshi Okubo, and Junichi Nakatsuru comprised the Ace Combat Zero soundtrack team.

A partial track list on the page confirms that the Ace Combat Zero vinyl soundtrack will include "Glacial Skies," "," "The Round Table," "Hresvelgr," and "Zero." The last song, known for its combination of orchestra and flamenco guitar, is played during the game's climactic battle.

Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War originally appeared on the PlayStation 2 in 2006. In early 2020, Bandai Namco released the game's soundtrack on digital platforms, such as Spotify.

The latest title in the series to date is Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Bandai Namco released a DLC pack for the game containing crossover content from Top Gun: Maverick in late May 2022.

The Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War vinyl soundtrack will be available on September 28, 2022. The double vinyl set will cost 6,050 yen (~$46.50) in Japan.

The post Ace Combat Zero Vinyl Soundtrack Will Appear in September 2022 appeared first on Siliconera.

Bandai Namco and Project Aces have confirmed that the online stream for Ace Combat/S The Symphony orchestra concert will be available worldwide. People residing outside Japan can immediately purchase a streaming ticket at Stagecrowd for 3,800 yen (~$34). The stream will go live on October 17, 2021, at 7 PM JST (6 AM ET/10 AM GMT). Ticket sales will continue until the stream archive expires on October 24, 2021.

Bandai Namco previously set up a stream for the concert on its own Asobistage platform. However, the website is heavily geared towards the Japanese audience. The international Stagecrowd platform currently s s from the United States, United Kingdom, , Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, and Korea. People interested in purchasing the ticket should ensure that they can access the Test Video Player on the webpage.

Project Aces also published a special digest movie for the Ace Combat orchestra concert. It held the event physically in Tokyo, Japan, on August 7, 2021. The digest video shows a sneak peek of some of the tracks performed at the concert.

[tnm_video layout="mnmd-post-media"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay4kTRTtDYM[/tnm_video]

The latest game in the series, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, is immediately available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Project Aces still adds DLC aircraft to the 2019 game. The Cutting-Edge Aircraft Series, which adds the F/A-18F Super Hornet Block III, F-2A Super Kai, and MiG-35D Super Fulcrum, will appear in Fall 2021. Bandai Namco is currently working with ILCA to develop a new Ace Combat game with Unreal Engine 5.

The post Ace Combat Orchestra Concert Stream Will Be Available Worldwide appeared first on Siliconera.

Bandai Namco published a digest video of the Ace Combat series' 25th-anniversary show on the franchise's YouTube channel. It revealed many future plans for the long-running flight combat game series. One of them is the confirmation of a new Ace Combat game currently under development with ILCA.

ILCA is a Japanese game and CG development company established in 2010. It is currently known for working on Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. The company also helped develop the Pokemon Home app.

ILCA had previously helped Bandai Namco and Project Aces in developing Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown. The former produced the game's environment and cinematic scenes. This video revealed that ILCA will have a more prominent role in the new game's development.

The video also revealed that Project Aces is still working on adding more content to Ace Combat 7. A free update that adds multiplayer stage music and aircraft skins from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force will arrive on August 31, 2021. Bandai Namco will also release two more paid DLC packs at a later time.

On August 7, 2021, Bandai Namco held Ace Combat The Symphony orchestra concert physically with a limited audience in Tokyo. It has also confirmed plans to hold a paid streaming of the archived concert in the near future.

The latest title in the series, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, is immediately available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

The post Bandai Namco and ILCA Working on a New Ace Combat Game appeared first on Siliconera.

Music from Square Enix series such as Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Monster Hunter, and Sonic the Hedgehog were used during the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. Popular tracks from each of the games were used to introduce various Olympic teams during the opening ceremony. [Thanks, ryokutya2089!]

Additionally, other series' music were featured during the ceremony. Some of the selections includes songs from the Chrono Trigger and Tales of series. Outside of music being used from Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts during the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, songs from Ace Combat and Gradius were also featured.

Several Twitter s posted videos, showcasing the music being used during various parts of the performance. Japanese news outlet Nikkan Sports provided a full track list of the music that has appeared. The list includes "Olympus Colosseum" from Kingdom Hearts, "Proof of Hero" from Monster Hunter, and "Victory Fanfare" from Final Fantasy.

[embed]https://twitter.com/aitaikimochi/status/1418544460800040968[/embed]

On Twitter, there have been reports of the audio feed for the broadcast cutting out due to protests surrounding the Tokyo 2021 Olympics. The event has been heavily protested by Japanese citizens, calling for the event to be cancelled during the COVID-19 pandemic. NPR reported that COVID-19 cases remain at an all time high, with several regions within Japan currently under a state of emergency.

The Tokyo 2021 Summer Olympics will run until August 8, 2021.

The post Tokyo Olympics Used Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, and NieR Music in Opening Ceremony appeared first on Siliconera.

Bandai Namco and Project Aces will hold the Ace Combat/S The Symphony - The 25th Anniversary orchestra concert in Tokyo on Saturday, August 7, 2021. Musicians directly involved with Ace Combat 7's soundtrack production will perform the concert.

Keiki Kobayashi will act as the orchestra concert's conductor. The composer is most known for creating climactic orchestral pieces in the Ace Combat series, such as "Megalith - Agnus Dei," "The Unsung War," and "Daredevil." The concert's setlist will have tracks from various titles in the series, with a focus on Ace Combat 04, Ace Combat 5, and Ace Combat 7.

Project Aces previously held the first-ever Ace Combat orchestra concert in July 2019. The first concert took place at TIAT Sky Hall inside Haneda Airport. The 25th Anniversary concert will take place at Ota City Hall Aplico, located near the airport. The new venue has a much larger hall that seats up to 1,477 at full capacity.

As of this writing, this concert will only be held in person without any word on online live viewing. Tickets for the show will be priced at 9,500 yen (~$87). The organizers will also comply with measures to prevent the coronavirus spread, such as reduced capacity and social distancing.

The latest title in the series is Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, which is immediately available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Project Aces has also released a new DLC pack that adds three American experimental planes — The F-15 S/MTD, F-16XL, and FB-22 Strike Raptor — into the game's roster.

The post Ace Combat 25th Anniversary Orchestra Concert Will Be Held This August appeared first on Siliconera.

Bandai Namco and Project Aces will take down official websites for Ace Combat games that used Flash on December 25, 2020. However, they will also preserve most content from those websites by ing videos on the series' YouTube channel. This announcement was made through the series' Japanese official Twitter .

Flash used to be a popular platform to create websites worldwide, including in Japan. It was utilized for official websites for many Japanese video games released around the mid-to-late 2000s. However, the platform has now been mostly abandoned in favor of HTML5. There will be no more official for Flash starting in 2021.

Here's the list of titles in the series that used Flash for their official websites, and thus will be affected by the terminating:

• Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War, released for PlayStation 2 in 2004
• Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War, released for PlayStation 2 in 2006
• Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation, released for Xbox 360 in 2007
• Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception, released for PlayStation Portable in 2006
• Ace Combat: t Assault, released for PlayStation Portable in 2010

Bandai Namco and Project Aces will take down the official websites for the aforementioned titles on December 25, 2020, at 5pm JST (3 AM ET). able content found at the websites, such as wallpapers, will no longer be available after they are closed. But at the same time, Project Aces will also preserve content from the Flash websites by recording videos and ing them to the series' official channel on YouTube.

Project Aces celebrated the 25th anniversary of the series in 2020. It's first game was released on PlayStation in 1995. The latest title, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, is immediately available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC worldwide. It also recently added popular fictional aircraft from previous titles as DLC.

The post Ace Combat Flash Websites Will Be Preserved With Videos appeared first on Siliconera.

Bandai Namco's Ace Combat arcade flight action series turned 25 years old in 2020. To celebrate, the company opened up a special website celebrating the series, as well as released a wallpaper and producer's message to commemorate the occasion.

The company made an anniversary logo:

Here’s a translation of the message from Kazutoki Kono, the series’ producer:

"The Ace Combat series has reached its 25th anniversary as of 2020. We're beginning the year in a wave of turbulence worldwide. I believe that many people are not in the best state right now, and I pray that everyone will be fine in the future.

Now then, it has been a quarter of a century since the first Ace Combat released as an adaptation of the arcade game Air Combat.

For a series to have continues to gain fans' love for 25 years, I feel that there's a meaning beyond just the ing of time.

For me, I've flown over half of my life alongside Ace Combat. For some of the younger staff, it's even a game that released before they were born. There are also staff who ed to work on the game series they adored.

I bet, among all these people, there may be some who may be nostalgic for the game as their first ever video game, playing it together with their father, and playing the game as a child. There may even be some who have had their lives changed because of Ace Combat.

Through the age of time, the games we create turn from products into phenomena, and slowly turn into things that become part of people's feelings or part of their life.

Games and series are just like a person's life. To get to the point where you're at, there are mountains and there are valleys, there is sadness and happiness, and even this year, we continue to push forward with all our might.

As part of this commemorative 25th anniversary, we aim to challenge ourselves to reach even greater heights than ever before, so that people can think that they are glad to have been an Ace Combat fan. So that we can make our fans emotional. So that we can create new memories.

To everyone who has ed Ace Combat, thank you for all your as usual. I am very grateful."

As part of the 25th anniversary, a YouTube channel has been created for the series by Bandai Namco. A reading of an Ace Combat 7 Japanese short story was shared there.

Bandai Namco also collaborated with Alpha Industries to create three t-shirts that celebrate the series. You can check them out below:

[gallery columns="6" ids="842109,842110,842111,842112,842113,842114"]

Information on the t-shirts can be found on the official site.

The latest game, Ace Combat 7, is available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam.

The post Ace Combat Series 25th Anniversary Celebrated With a Special Message appeared first on Siliconera.

A new job listing has appeared seeking for someone with a deep understanding of Ace Combat 04, Ace Combat 5, and Ace Combat Zero, suggesting a possible remaster is in the work.

The post Ace Combat 04, 5, Zero Remasters Might Be In Development appeared first on Siliconera.

While the rest of the world’s arcades slowly vanish and languish, Japan’s continue to bring in the crowds. And that’s why Namco Bandai are releasing a new arcade machine game called Mach Storm. It’s pretty much Ace Combat... but gone big in arcades.

With a huge screen and a seat for you to lock yourself in and fly like you mean it. Yeah, you actually get to sit in a plush chair and lock away the rest of the world while flying as if you were seated in a real jet pilot’s cockpit.

Mach Storm will take players on missions from places all over the world including Washington, Tokyo and Dubai. There are two controllers which you’ll be using to control your jet while shooting down bogeys, and it’s possible to rack up combo streaks if you’re a pro. The game itself doesn’t look like it intends to be too hard, though, with an easy lock-on system where getting foes within the huge circle of your front guns will help lock on to them.

There’s also another reason for locking you in—Mach Storm will not only have rumble features on its two joysticks to mimic real combat, but its seat will also vibrate accordingly when you get hit. Ok, fine. The real reason is that the game also blows air blasts at players to let them feel as if they’re going at the same speed as their on-screen characters. Not sure if that would be cool or not having air constantly blown into my face, but clearly, someone said yes to this nonetheless awesome idea.

Namco Bandai are known for making such over-the-top machines, having previously also released Gundam: Bonds of the Battlefield which is as impressive as it looks, being also a fully immersive arcade game where you lock yourself into a freakin’ Gundam pod. That game even had headjacks for you to plug in your own headsets!

Mach Storm is available in Japanese arcades across the country now.

The post Arcade Games Are Dying? Not With A Machine This Big appeared first on Siliconera.

Development producer, Masanori Kato, discusses simplifying the Ace Combat control scheme for t Assault on the PSP.

The post Ace Combat t Assault Producer Talks Revamped Controls appeared first on Siliconera.

PSP owners will another Ace Combat game this month when Ace Combat: t Assault comes out. After that title, the series is returning to consoles with Ace Combat: Assault Horizon.

We first spotted Ace Combat: Assault Horizon as a trademark back in April. Today, the game was announced for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 title. A teaser trailer posted on Gamespot hints that this Ace Combat game will be a rebirth for the franchise.

Details like a release window and gameplay changes were not announced. Whenever Ace Combat: Assault Horizon comes out it will be the first game in the series on the PlayStation 3.

The post Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Landing On PlayStation 3 And Xbox 360 appeared first on Siliconera.

In addition to Ace Combat: t Assault, Namco Bandai has another Ace Combat game in development. The publisher trademarked Ace Combat: Assault Horizon for use with video games, ROM cartridges, and the like in Europe.

This is just a guess, but Assault Horizon seems like a console Ace Combat game. Namco Bandai already made an Ace Combat Xi: Skies of Incursion for the iPhone and Ace Combat: t Assault is for PSP, which was also trademarked before it was announced. The last Ace Combat game for consoles was released in 2007, Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation (pictured).

But wait, if Project Aces is working on Ace Combat: t Assault who is developing Ace Combat: Assault Horizon?

The post Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Soaring To Consoles? appeared first on Siliconera.