As the holiday season looms ever closer, RPG fanatics begin to wonder what’s in store for them later on in the year. There’s the long awaited Fable 2 and Bethesda’s next big game, Fallout 3, both scheduled for release this Fall. However, what about role-playing games from the Land of the Rising Sun? To answer this question, Microsoft today hosted an Xbox 360 RPG press conference in Japan where a great deal of information was revealed with regard to the 360’s JRPG lineup. Oh, and Square Enix announced a brand new game for Microsoft’s white console.

Update: New trailers for Star Ocean: The Last Hope and The Last Remnant added, courtesy of Xbox 360 Fanboy

The conference started out with Namco Bandai taking the stage to talk about all things Tales of Vesperia, so far only confirmed for the Xbox 360. Firstly, Microsoft announced that it’s prepping up a special 360 bundle which will include the Premium unit, Tales of Vesperia, and a little something for fans of the series – a booklet and a faceplate. All that for 37,800 yen. After the opening movie of the game was showcased, Namco Bandai told the audience that the next-gen debut of the Tales series will become available in Japan on August 7th, followed by North America in the same month, and Europe in 2009. Before walking off the stage, the publisher revealed that a playable demo is planned for release on the Marketplace sometime this month.

Next, Square Enix took over the stage to show what they have lined up for the 360. Before moving on to Infinite Undiscovery and The Last Remnant, the Japanese publisher unveiled a new role-playing game for the 360. No, Final Fantasy fans, it wasn’t Final Fantasy XIII, but a new installment in the famed Star Ocean series, titled Star Ocean: The Last Hope. How about that! The game has only been confirmed for the 360, with no mention of a Playstation 3 version. A CG trailer was also shown which demonstrated the game’s science fiction setting and revealed that the game is due out in 2009.

When it was Infinite Undiscovery’s turn to shine on the stage, not much was revealed that we haven’t heard before. Square Enix reconfirmed the game’s worldwide simultaneous launch, saying it will release in North America on September 2nd, Europe on the 5th, and finally Japan on the 11th. Though there’s more than a week between the game’s launch in North America and Japan, it’s still a simultaneous release, noted Square Enix, as the NA and EU release dates happen to be shipping dates, and will as such need a bit of time to reach the shops there.

Before wrapping up the conference, Square Enix said a few things about their third and last 360 title, The Last Remnant. Although Square Enix first announced that the game would release simultaneously on the Xbox 360 and PS3, the company today revealed the new intellectual property will debut worldwide on the Xbox 360 this Winter, followed by a PS3 version later on. Take that Sony!

That’s all there was to it dear readers! Now discuss away in the comments below!