Namco announces Tales of Zestiria for the PlayStation 3

Namco's Tales head honcho Hideo Baba has announced Tales of Zestiria, the latest title in the long-running and much beloved RPG series, at an event in Japan.

After a fair bit of hype-building and fan-teasing over the past couple of weeks, Namco this morning revealed the future of the Tales series in the form of a new PlayStation 3 entry in the series, eschewing next-generation hardware for this iteration. The title of the game is intended to refer to "Zest", a word that can also mean passion.

The game's logo features a dragon looming over it, which Baba revealed will be a significant story point in this latest entry in the series. Baba told the gathered crowd and those watching via Japanese streaming site NicoNico that dragons are greatly representative of fantasy, and fantasy is a major theme in the development of this new title.

The game is led by two newcomers to the series - plucky-looking hero Slay and a girl called Alicia who appears to use a polearm-style weapon in briefly-shown artwork. It takes place on the continent called Greenwood, and features a war between two great world powers, the Highland Kingdom and the Lawrence Empire. 

Baba also revealed that the battle system of the game was designed through evaluating fan feedback and through surveys. While he wouldn't be drawn on further details, he did promise fans that it'd be something they could look forward to. Check out the first trailer for the game - in a low quality for now - below. When a better quality version is released, we'll be sure to let you know.

A localized version has also been announced, making this the first new Tales of title to be simultaneously announced in Japan and throughout the world.