Eternal Sonata not 360-exclusive

By Robert Purchese Published 24 April, 2007

ESRB listing spills beans.

Namco Bandai remained tight-lipped this morning when asked whether Eternal Sonata would be coming to PlayStation 3, sticking to the firm ground of "no comment".

The publisher was speaking in light of a listing on the ESRB website that suggests the game's not as exclusive to Xbox 360 as we thought. While it's far from confirmation, the Ratings Board has historically provided big clues as to what we'll see in the future.

While Eternal Sonata - Trusty Bell to some of you - looked to be adding considerable strength to Microsoft's Japanese RPG portfolio, it was never promoted as a console specific title, leaving many to expect a Sony offering somewhere down the line.

The game is based around the musical influence of Polish pianist Frederic Chopin. It takes place within a dream world that the composer supposedly entered three hours prior to his death. Here he met other people also suffering from incurable diseases (his was tuberculosis) that conjured magical powers from musical themes.

It's cheerful, colourful and beautiful, according to our own Rob Fahey, and looks more and more like a must-buy for JRPG fans with each passing day. You can read our full first impressions of Eternal Sonata elsewhere on the site.

Eternal Sonata is due for release this summer in Japan and the US. Unfortunately we're still waiting for confirmation of the game in Europe.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (36) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Blerk #1 5 years ago

    Good, good.

  • Flabio #2 5 years ago

    Not sure it was ever announced as an exclusive, people just assumed it was. Much like they assumed FF13 was a PS3 exclusive.

  • MrBiggles #3 5 years ago

    Who cares if these games go multiplatform. They're not system sellers. The only exclusive games that matter are FFXIII and MGS4. Once they go 360 it's game over Sony.

  • Blerk #4 5 years ago

    Man, it's like Groundhog Day out here.

  • captainrentboy #5 5 years ago

    Nooooooo, the 360's doomed, it's losing all of it's bestest exclusive titles...
    Pahhh shows how much I know, I've never even heard of this game really :/
    Sounds like it won't really help Microsoft in Japan to lose this title though, then again going by its atrocious sales pretty much everywhere 'm not sure it'll help the PS3 that much by gaining it either.

  • asphaltcowboy #6 5 years ago

    This game looks absolutely amazing, and I'm not even a massive JRPG fan... Still, fairly sure MS would like this all to themselves to bolster Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey...

  • kissthestick #7 5 years ago

    the dev's hinted at a PS3 release apparently.

    Exclusive 3rd Party 360 JRPGS do Publishers no good.

  • Mr_Brown #8 5 years ago

    Meh, its all good. It looks like a fantastic game that both consoles need! I'll be getting the 360 version though.

  • johnboy_johsnon #9 5 years ago

    This game does look amazing alright. I really, really hope that this gets a European release (why it wouldn't is beyond me).

  • Avaloner #10 5 years ago

    A developer said that once a game has been developed for the 360 it is quite hard to port it to the PS3. On the other hand a game developed for the PS3 is very easy to bring over to the 360. This would explain why some developers shied away from bringing their titles from the 360 to the PS3 (Capcom for instance). I guess from now on things will change, with more titles developed for PS3 then ported over to the 360. That means less third party exclusives for the 360. If it is that easy to port from PS3 to 360 then I guess it might mean less third party exclusives for the PS3 as well.

  • ZuluHero #11 5 years ago

    yeah - shame its a current trend to release RPGs over in the US but never release them here. Everyone pretty much can speak english now right? :p

    Maybe Sqenix will buck the trend finally by realeasing the latest Valkyrie games over here?

  • Avaloner #12 5 years ago

    disc: Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey are Microsoft owned and will never see the light of day on the PS3. Also I was talking about the difficulty in porting over from one console to the other, not for developing a game from scratch, although many developers commented that the 360 is much easier to develop on than the PS3.

  • morriss #13 5 years ago

    heh. Bad news for MS as exclusive Eastern support would (maybe) help sales in Japan.

    Doesn't bother me much. I'll buy whatever the reviews say is 'best'.

  • The-Bodybuilder #14 5 years ago

    Did anyone genuingly think a game like this would be exclusive to the 360?

  • Blerk #15 5 years ago

    Maybe Sqenix will buck the trend finally by realeasing the latest Valkyrie games over here?

    ?

    Both Valkyrie games are already confirmed PAL releases.

  • ZuluHero #16 5 years ago

    "Both Valkyrie games are already confirmed PAL releases. "

    ?

    I know. Square are just notorious for NOT releasing games over here (Chrono-Cross, Threads of Fate, Legend of Mana are but a few that instantly spring to mind). But NOW they are starting to do it then perhaps others will too?

    Meaning that the as of yet unconfirmed UK release of Eternal Sonata, might see the light of day over here yet?
    Edited by 3 at 24/04/07 @ 11:37

  • Blerk #17 5 years ago

    Square and Namco are actually still the most retarded in that respect. There's more RPG stuff from other companies (Atlus, Nippon Ichi, etc.) reaching Europe than ever before. Most of it gets here in the end.

    But Square seem to think we're only allowed choice cuts, and Namco just fucking hate us.

  • Artemis_Matsas #18 5 years ago

    @Blerk +1

  • ZuluHero #19 5 years ago

    yeah i guess you're right. it just seems like the only games i actually want to play never get a release over here :(

    EDIT: On the valkyrie note, You know that Lenneth is out for the psp now right Blerk?

    http://ww w.play.com/Games/PSP/4-/3344101...
    Edited by 1 at 24/04/07 @ 11:43

  • Blerk #20 5 years ago

    Ooh, naughty! It's not supposed to be out 'til Friday! Nice price though. Shame I don't have a PSP. ^_^

  • kissthestick #21 5 years ago

    "Did anyone genuingly think a game like this would be exclusive to the 360? "

    Nearly every 360 magazine,lol

  • miiiguel #22 5 years ago

    PS3 only have to wait for "next year" or the infamous "TBA".

    I don't have the patiente for that shit. I want it first hand, and the best version and sorry to say, so far that's been called 360.
    Sometimes (a few, though) some US friends ask me something about Oblivion that they're playing now on the Holy-grill, and it just seems that it was soooo long ago...
    Edited by 2 at 24/04/07 @ 12:21

  • Steroyd #23 5 years ago

    On the valkyrie note, You know that Lenneth is out for the psp now right Blerk?

    http://ww w.play.com/Games/PSP/4-/3344101...

    Who!? What!? Where!? When!? How!? O_O

    /dazed and confused

  • ZuluHero #24 5 years ago

    My link still works. £17.99 from Play.com for Lenneth.

  • HiddenAway #25 5 years ago

    Lenneth was only supposed to be out on Friday :p. Then again, play have done this before...

  • mustardkid #26 5 years ago

    "yeah - shame its a current trend to release RPGs over in the US but never release them here. Everyone pretty much can speak english now right? :p"

    heh you could get away with launching a US version of any game in the UK with precious little, if any, localisation. But it would be a brave publisher that would risk alienating the rest of their european customers by doing that.

  • TILT #27 5 years ago

    Nice! That really was a game where I was a bit jealous of XB360 owners. Lucky I don't have to buy an XB360 yet. And twice lucky the PS3 plays imports. ^_^

  • penhalion #28 5 years ago

    Hey as mosy have been saying. This gen, the word exclusive can pretty much be limited to in house Sony or Microsoft stuff. For anyone else I would say I'll believe it when I can't play it on whatever console I buy!

  • Virvel #29 5 years ago

    It doesnt matter wether 360 loses an RPG, it is doomed already in Japan:

    [link url=http://forum.pcvsconsole.com/viewthread.php?tid=8272 &page=28
    ]http://fo rum.pcvsconsole.com/viewthread....[/link]

  • Xerx3s #30 5 years ago

    Like many jrpg's, they look nice but why do they keep fucking it up with such outdated battle systems. :(

  • mike_mgoblue #31 5 years ago

    Eternal Sonata was NEVER announced by Namco as an Xbox 360 Exclusive game, so nothing was "lost."

    Eternal Sonata is still going to be released MUCH earlier on the Xbox 360. Eternal Sonata (Trusty Bell in Japan) may not even be a "Timed Exclusive" game. Eternal Sonata is likely just appearing so much earlier on the Xbox 360 because the Xbox 360 is so much easier to develop game for, which means the games are released much faster. Just look at the way games like Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2, F.E.A.R. Saints Row, and so many others are often released for the Xbox 360 first.

    Kane & Lynch, along with Crossfire, were only listed as exclusives on the websites because the focus was on the Xbox 360 and PC versions. They weren't even official Timed Exclusives; they were just going to be like Saints Row and Enchanted Arms, where the Xbox 360 versions are released so much earlier that they "appear" to be exclusive, even though they aren't. Games like Lost Planet and Dead Rising are "official" Exclusive games.

    The Xbox 360 still has FAR more Exclusive third-party support than the Playstation 3.

    It is also worth remembering that third-party games released on both systems always end up with better graphics and more online features on the Xbox 360; that is why the Xbox 360 versions of the games are rated higher.

  • mike_mgoblue #32 5 years ago

    Here is a good Post I copied from another website:

    The DS and the Wii are what the Japanese are interested in. Period. Those are BY FAR the number one handheld and next-gen console systems in Japan right now.

    Blue Dragon did it's job VERY well in Japan for the Xbox 360! In one day, 90,000 Xbox 360 systems with Blue Dragon were sold! No day in the history of the life of the Playstation 3 EVER saw that many Playstation 3's sold! On the PS3 launch day, only 87,000 systems were sold.

    Look, there ended up being 3,000 Xbox 360 owners during a week, 12,000 PS3 owners, and 78,000 Wii owners during that week's sales period. It is OBVIOUS who the winner is. Sony can say idiotic things like, "We outsold the Xbox 360 by a ratio of 4.5:1 in Japan during that week," but the bottom line is that they only outsold the Xbox 360 by a very small number of systems in Japan--about 8,000 systems, while the Xbox 360 has an EIGHT MILLION sales lead, and the Xbox 360 outsold the PS3 worldwide during that same time period by tens-of-thousands of systems, just like the Wii did! That is what counts!

    It sure was smart of Microsoft to deliberately avoid buying Nintendo, because the Wii is very successful in Japan. The Wii is doing Microsoft's dirty work of beating Sony in Japan for them. That was a smart move by Microsoft, wouldn't you agree!

  • kissthestick #33 5 years ago

    ^^another meltdown

  • Blerk #34 5 years ago

    One day Mike's going to forget to come up for air and suffocate.

    /waits
    /watches

  • Virvel #35 5 years ago

    mike_mgoblue said "Look, there ended up being 3,000 Xbox 360 owners during a week.."


    If it was only that one week :)

    Mike, the 360 is doing that bad every week in Japan, just scroll back in time..

    It is obvious that the 360 is losing big time in Japan.

    The 360 sales in Europe has also started to decline. People are buying Wii, PS2 and PS3 instead (in that order by sales).

    Look Mike, I like the 360 and it is doing nothing but good for Sony, which has to get its act together and create a live-system that matches xbox-live..

    But the lead 360 has of 8 million units over PS3 is totally irrelevant! The PS3 will go pass 360 quite fast, you will see :)

    PS3 is already raping 360 in Japan and pars it in Europe. And it is catching up speed in the US.
    Edited by 1 at 25/04/07 @ 09:46

  • LeD #36 5 years ago

    I don't care, as I'm rich and own a 360 AND a PS3. And a Wii, though that's a bit rubbish.