to Abyss, so it was the first time in the series that Sakuraba used this method, although he had done so for all his other projects at the time. For some tracks, a heavy piano element was used, with Sakuraba playing the instrument. Tamura worked with Sakuraba to create different feelings for the various tracks: character themes were melodic, dungeon themes were given a simple and minimalist mood, while town themes struck a balance between these two approaches. In addition to original tracks, three remixed tracks from other Namco Bandai Games were included. The game's theme song, "Ring a Bell / Kane o Narashite", was sung by Japanese singer-songwriter Bonnie Pink, and was the first theme song to be shared by both the Japanese and western versions of a Tales game with the English version used in the Western release and the Japanese version used in the Japanese release. The song's subject matter, inspired by the game's story and themes, focused on deep friendship between men, and by extension love between men and women. Bonnie Pink was chosen by the producers after a long period of internal consultation. They contacted Warner Music Japan, Bonnie Park's label company, fairly early in the game's production, and discussed the theme song's connection to the story at great length. Bonnie Pink was also chosen as part of the team's plans for an international release, as they wanted to create an English version of the song for the Western release. Bonnie both wrote the original lyrics and translated them into English. Arrangements of "Ring a Bell / Kane o Narashite" are used in some tracks in the main soundtrack, but the song itself is not included on the soundtrack album. Release Vesperia was first announced in December 2007 at that year's Jump Festa for a 2008 release in Japan, although its planned platform was not revealed. The game's characteristic genre name, a recurring feature for the series representative of the game's theme, is . It represents Yuri's feelings and personal goals. It was announced for a 2008 overseas release on Xbox 360 in February 2008. It was later confirmed that it would release for that platform in Japan. In a first for the series, the team wanted to have a simultaneous worldwide release for the title, and so were developing the localized version alongside the original. This process proved exhausting. The team were able to