PSU Times

Japan: More PSU Teased

2008-10-15T23:55:00.000-07:00

(Information started on October 10th)

There has been much information out of the recent Tokyo Game Show about recent Phantasy Star titles, but one small bit sure stands out for PSU fans.

Director Satoshi Sakai tells fans to be on the lookout for an additional update. Obviously there are already various updates and additions made to the game over time, so it's probable that they will soon be giving details on a new expansion of some sort. If not, maybe it will at least be a major functionality patch (such as one seen around the release of AOTI). It's been often speculated that there will be a followup to introduce some of the new items and such seen in Phantasy Star Portable. It was mentioned in an interview once that they wanted to look into new ways of linking PSP with PSU, however that now seems unlikely based on recent announcements. I'll have more on this in one of my next few posts.

PSOW News Article

PSOW Thread

PSUPf Thread

General: Sega Server Trouble

2008-10-15T23:47:00.000-07:00

(Information started on October 8th)

Attributed to hardware issues, there were some problems connecting to the PSU servers last Wednesday. From then until Monday, the official homepage for PSU was down.

Both problems appear to be resolved for the most part now. As far as their services go, it seems they've been having various issues crop up since they moved offices. Hopefully they'll get past it soon.

PSOW News Article

JP 360 Notice

ClumsyOrchid's Thread

General: Hal's Radio Broadcast

2008-10-15T23:32:00.000-07:00

(Information started on October 7th)

A couple times in Japan, the GMs took messages from players to broadcast using the orange/black banner to the entire server. The idea finally gets a chance to fly here as a local edition of Hal's Radio Broadcast. The deadline for submissions has unfortunately already ended by the time of this post (it was October 12th), however they'll be displayed this coming Friday (October 17th).

The times are:

Morning Broadcast - 10:00 AM PDT
Afternoon Broadcast - 3:00 PM PDT
Evening Broadcast - 8:00 PM PDT

They should run for half an hour or less each time.

Official Announcement

Official Forum Thread
PSOW News Article
PSUPf Thread

General: Update for October 10th

2008-10-15T02:41:00.000-07:00

(Information started on October 6th)

First of note is that Japan asked users to send in information regarding the recent lag that many players on our side have noticed since Sega moved offices.

As for the update:

- More items at The Collector (Located on Parum in West Holtes City)
* This includes everything listed at PSUP from PSU Disc 48 to Transfer: Neudaiz
* GH490 is also one of the big additions here
- Casino rotation
- New weapons

It appears there were a couple unmentioned updates. The recent update to White Beast seems to have made it in as well as some drops to be used in future exchange missions. I'll make an update when these are sorted out.

Here's an odd note: JP retroactively put this post up dated for the 4th even though it appeared after the English page was updated.

Update: Maintenance ended and no additional changes were listed.

JP 360 Latency Report
EN Update Page
JP 360 Update Page
The Collector at PSUP
PSOW News Article
PSOW Thread
PSUPf Thread
JP 360 Maintenance End

Japan: PS2/PC Update for October 9th

2008-10-15T01:39:00.000-07:00

(Information started on October 3rd)

To quote EspioKaos:

Seasonal event
Halloween returns! From October 9 through November 6, decorations will be up and the Rappy Latans will be out! [PSUv1]

GBR: Moatoob Boost Road 2nd
Starting October 9 and running through November 20, the following missions will be part of the latest GBR.
* Desert Stronghold (new mission)
* Desert Terror
* Desert Goliath
* Rogues' Shortcut
* Stolen Weapon
Since the new mission is AOTI exclusive, PSUv1 players will not be able to increase their boost rate in the current GBR. (sth note)

New mission
Desert Stronghold C-S2 - W. Kugu Base Camp to Galenigare Mine area
A new RELICS site that not even the rogues knew about has been discovered in the far reaches of the West Kugu Desert. Destroy the Rygutasses who protect the RELICS and investigate the site.

New mission difficulties
The following missions will receive S3 difficulties.
* Desert Terror
* Desert Goliath
* Rogues' Shortcut
* Stolen Weapon
S3 is exclusive to AOTI players, so you must have the expansion to access this difficulty, even in PSU missions.

Mission adjustments
White Beast is being adjusted to further combat AFK leveling.

New items
Many new weapons, line shields, and room goods are being added.

Reform ticket (sth note)
The Halloween room decoration ticket will be available from October 9th to November 6th [PSUv1]

System updates
* Adjustments will be made to the Photon Fortune for all races and sexes. [PSUv1]
* Item drops for some enemies in AOTI missions will be changed.

So it would seem they are finally pushing out a new difficulty for various missions (S3). There are still actually a handful of 'normal' missions that don't have S2 ranks yet. I'm guessing they'll show up in future GBRs.

It would seem the GBRs are getting longer. This one happens to be six weeks. I don't think that it's really necessary to give that much time for one myself (four might be long enough), but I suppose as long as content still arrives along the way it's fine.

Update: Maintenance ended and the client is still the same version. Deljabans no longer use Megid when silenced. This was a bug reported in an earlier posting. Like a few others, I think the mention of this bug was not actually a mention that it was fixed. From time to time, they will acknowledge that they are aware of certain issues and intend to fix them in the future. They also mention that the copy of the terms of service that is viewed prior to entering the game has been updated.

Update: The change to the terms of service was mentioned in a posting.

JP Update Page
PSOW Thread
PSUPf Thread

JP End Maintenance

ToS Change

Podcast: PSU Community Podcast Season 2 Episode III

2008-10-13T19:29:00.000-07:00

(Information started on October 5th)

The interviewee this time around just happens to be Edward. This is the guy that handles much of the billing support for Sega. If you've sent in a support ticket for the PS2/PC version of PSU, you've probably already had some communication with him.

In other news, it seems that Iceman is moving again and they'll need a temporary co-host to step in for a bit. Send a message to PSU_Castor if you're interested.

Awhile ago I switched all the podcast related posts over to a new tag (Podcast instead of Community). The links haven't changed, so no need to update any if you have them. I meant to do this earlier on, but better late than never.

Season 2 Thread
Season 1 Archive Thread

Community: Fan Site Links on Official Homepage

2008-10-13T19:04:00.001-07:00

(Information started on October 2nd)

chillaura has posted notice of a future community links page for the official PSU homepage. A similar section had been started on Japan's PSU homepage awhile back and it's something that seems obvious enough to have. For the full details (including where and what to submit), please check out the thread linked below. Later in the thread it is mentioned that non-English sites will be accepted too.

I haven't submitted this site's details yet, but probably will sometime soon. I never got around to getting together a site logo, so I may want to do something about that before making up a smaller version.

Update: The first version of the page is now out. They'll be continuing to take submissions as time goes on, so make sure to submit your own if you have one.

Announcement Thread

Official Announcement

JP Fan Site Page

EN Community Links Page

General: No Maintenance for October 3rd

2008-10-13T04:01:00.000-07:00

(Information started on October 1st)

There was no maintenance for either set of servers this week.

JP 360 No Maintenance

Japan: No Maintenance for October 2nd

2008-10-13T03:53:00.001-07:00

(Information started on September 29th)

To start, there was a maintenance early in the week (September 29th) that took down the option to buy a GUARDIANS License using WebMoney for about an hour.

The normal maintenance period was skipped for October 2nd.

There was also a notice that a Phantasy Star Zero trailer was added into rotation on the PSU Live! homepage.

WebMoney Maintenance

JP No Maintenance

PSU Live! Homepage

General: Downtime for October 11th and 12th

2008-10-13T03:27:00.001-07:00

(Information started on September 30th)

SoA had planned maintenance of their electrical systems for this past weekend. It was said to need about 15 hours and was scheduled to start at 9 PM Pacific on the 11th. However, it has not begun as of yet. I'll be sure to give an update when they manage to have the maintenance rescheduled.

This appears to mark my 100th General article (Japan is getting up there too). I may look into how I can best split the posts up.

Announcement Thread

PSOW News Article

PSUPf Thread

General: Mission Spotlight for September 30th through October 9th

2008-10-13T03:13:00.000-07:00

(Information started on September 30th)

The most recent spotlight was featured at the Il Cabo Base lobby for the newest mission (Bladed Legacy). Starting with this round, additional prizes (Casino Voloyal coins and rare items) were said to be available. Universes 1 and 2 on Xbox 360 and Universe 2 on PS2/PC were focused on for the random giveaways.

Also mentioned was the intent of listing winners on the mission spotlight page. In the future, community groups can also find themselves listed by getting involved with the event. After a bit of organization with the GMs, they can chose to distribute prizes of their own. More information can be found at the links below. Contact RubyEclipse if you are interested in getting your group involved.

Mission Spotlight Page

Announcement Thread

PSOW News Article

General: PSU Calendar Wallpaper for October

2008-10-13T00:16:00.001-07:00

(Information started on October 2nd)

This month's English version of the calendar has been posted. The normal changes (logo and credits addition) appear, however no changes were made to the highlighted holidays. This means that while Columbus Day is marked, Halloween surprisingly isn't.

Wallpaper Page

Japan: PSU Calendar Wallpaper for October

2008-10-13T00:06:00.000-07:00

(Information started on September 26th)

October's calendar is now posted. Linked below you'll find it in various resolutions. The marked holiday is in celebration of health and sports in Japan.

PSU Calendar

General: Grinder Glitch Bannings Update

2008-10-12T23:52:00.001-07:00

(Information started on September 27th)

The GMs have decided that under no circumstances will any more players be able to make a case against their banning during the grinder glitch incident from several months back.

As an additional note: If you are positive you know of someone that used the glitch to their advantage (and is not currently banned), you can send that information along and they'll look into it.

Announcement Thread

Discussion Thread

Japan: PSU Live!

2008-10-12T22:53:00.000-07:00

(Information started on September 25th)

September 25th is the day that game keys were first able to be purchased online for Japan for PSUv1. They could also of course download the client from Sega. It seems that the team is getting behind it in full and doing some interesting events. Possibly related is the start of a two week relaunch of last year's First Anniversary event missions. Both of these were mentioned in prior postings.

Announced on this day were live Hal broadcasts from Gurhal. Up until October 14th, they'll be streaming various in-game footage online. The specific program is UtagoeLive100. Many players (at least outside Japan) use a similar site (Ustream) to stream their own playtime that others can watch. I wonder if we inspired them (even in the slightest). There are commericals shown as well on the homepage (these appear in-between sessions). These aren't only for Phantasy Star games, but also shown is a commercial for Internet Adventure (an online app).

Available by a link on the homepage is a PSU inspired flash minigame. Use the Up arrow to jump, Right arrow to speed up, Left arrow to speed down, and Space bar to slash. At the end of the game, there are a couple options. The top one starts over, the middle one goes back to the title screen, and the bottom one opens the JP PSU homepage.

Also announced was a GM event starring the 'Welcome Girls'. This ran from September 25th up through October 9th. If you left a welcome message in your shop description, the GMs were supposed to come by and drop you a gift in an open room decoration spot. A Sonic figure is pictured, although other gifts may have been given as well. The GMs were even said to stay and chat a bit if you were available.

General: Update for September 26th

2008-10-08T21:00:00.000-07:00

(Information started on September 23rd)

Here's a summary of the updates for September 26th:

- Maximum Attack G extension reward delivery (more notes below)

* 10% Grinding Boost [PSUv1]

* Sange

* Bronze, Silver, and Gold Medals

* Spread Needle/G

- Bladed Legacy C-S2 (Il Cabo Base towards Granigs Mine)

- Clothes 'n' Parts (in a room accessed in the back of GUARDIANS HQ, split into male and female)

- New weapons, armor, etc.

- New synthesis boards [PSUv1]

- New clothes and parts

The fireworks lobby has been taken down and the seasonal traps are no longer available. Neudaiz GBR has ended as well.

Update: The JP page confirms that the grinding boost is available from September 26th to October 10th. It also mentions that Rappy Tip and Treasure Chest would be distributed again to extension participants, however it was not mentioned why. You can obtain them by logging in any time before October 31st. A board was added to convert Vestaline to Vulcaline. Also, all ore boards were updated to a production capacity of 20. All of these are available at the synthesis shop at the GUARDIANS Colony.

Update: There was a Casino Voloyal rotation that was not mentioned on either update page. The Modern set has been replaced by the Sweet/Berry set. PSU Disc 37 has not returned yet.

Update: There was a maintenance extension notice (they estimated up to around 8 hours, but it ended at almost 9). There was also an end notice. Neither mentioned any additional changes.

Bladed Legacy on PSUP

Clothes 'n' Parts on PSUP

JP 360 Maintenance Extension

JP 360 Maintenance End

Xbox 360: Live Downtime for September 29th

2008-10-08T19:28:00.001-07:00

(Information started on September 23rd)

Starting just after midnight the morning of September 29th, there was a maintenance specifically for Xbox Live that took about 26 hours or so. This was in preparation (but in no way a distribution) of the coming features for this fall. None of Live was available and thus PSU wasn't either.

Major Nelson's Announcement

Reminder

Complete

General: Server Outage

2008-10-08T18:58:00.000-07:00

(Information started on September 23rd)

There were a few hours of downtime for the PSU servers as well as Sega's sites in general on September 23rd. The cause was said to be hardware failure on the end of Sega's internet service provider. It was said that there may have needed to be more downtime so that hardware could be replaced, although it was also said that that could occur during the maintenance later that week.

There was no maintenance later that day, however the normal maintenance later in the week was longer than usual. It's probable that it happened then, however no further mention was made of it.

Japan: PS2/PC Update for September 25th

2008-10-08T17:34:00.000-07:00

(Information started on September 19th)

Quoting EspioKaos:

New temporary missions
Holupe is at it again! Now he's fine-tuned his original training programs and re-released them for the GUARDIANS to test out. These missions will be available only from September 25 through October 9.

The Protectors α＋ C-S2
I've made a few adjustments to the training simulator I'd developed for new Guardians. Show me what you've got!

The Protectors β＋ C-S2
Just like with ver.α, I've made some adjustments to this version of the program, too. Help me collect some new data from the simulator!

Training Lecture
I've made some adjustments to my original Guardians training program. Come here for an explanation of what to expect.

As these are based on missions from the Winter Event, they will be available to players who only have PSU. The S2 difficulties, however, will be available only to AOTI players.

Mission update
New items will be added to The Arms Dealer.

New items
Numerous new weapons and line shields will be added to the game. Also, NPC shops will have some new items available for purchase.

Interesting to see modified versions of the First Anniversary/Winter Event missions return, especially only for a limited time. Many of the current modified versions of old event missions are permanent. These however have two bosses a piece, so that may have been a factor. It appears some event boosts appear in the GUI on the screenshots they are using, but I haven't heard anything about multipliers being in this time around.

Update: There was another trial weekend following this update. Link added.

Update: Maintenance is over and there was no client patch. A mention was made of a correction that happened during the August 7th maintenance. It appears to have been with the female clothing version of the Rappy Suit.

Community: Video Guides

2008-10-08T17:07:00.000-07:00

(Information started on September 19th)

GM RubyEclipse is looking for people to help out in the creation of what appear to be video guides for PSU. It seems he's looking for help on a variety of tasks needed for getting them together. Visit the link below for more information and to get in contact with him.

RubyEclipse's Thread

Japan: Takao Miyoshi at CEDEC 2008

2008-10-04T02:15:00.000-07:00

(Information started on September 10th)

Takao Miyoshi: PSU Producer

CEDEC: CESA Developers Conference

CESA: Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association

Awhile back, I saw a very interesting article on PSO and PSU. EspioKaos translated a good deal of it and posted it on a couple sites which are linked below. The skipped information is mostly just side notes about PSO's critical successes and a few stories from fans. I highly suggest a read.

The meat of the article lies in what the developers believed contributed to the falling numbers of PSO players and what changes they made to curb the same sort of drop in the number of PSU players. The article is accompanied by some very interesting graphs. One shows the userbase over two years of PSO versions 1 and 2 and another shows the PSU userbase split by server set since launch (also two years).

Much can be inferred from this last graph. First, I should note that below the last graph it mentions that the developers found it surprising that the Xbox 360 version maintained its userbase so well. I actually find there are a number of reasons why it would remain so stable, but regardless it has been pretty solid for something like 20 months. The English PC/PS2 version had a fairly steady drop, but is also now somewhat stable. The Japanese PC/PS2 version almost looks like a rollercoaster, but just as well has become stable in the past several months. Regardless of the exact values (which weren't released), it isn't the doom and gloom that some players seem to assume. If we continue along the path we're going, I think we'll be generally fine. Obviously we'd want a few things here and there to try and spur some growth (or at least keep stability), but the situation isn't that horrible looking at all from what I see.

Famitsu Article

PSOW Article

PSUPf Thread

General: GM Live Support Time Changes

2008-10-04T01:41:00.000-07:00

(Information started on September 11th)

The following is a current list of times for the GM Live Support sessions:

Tuesday:

3:00 PM - 6:00 PM Pacific

Thursday:

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Pacific
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM Pacific

I've been keeping these in a rather condensed form on the side bar.

Announcement Thread

General: No Maintenance for September 12th and 19th

2008-10-04T01:22:00.001-07:00

(Information started on September 10th)

There was no maintenance for the remainder of Neudaiz GBR.

As an aside, it seems they did confirm the rare mission update was made available on June 6th. More information can be found on PSUP at the link below.

Announcement Thread

JP 360 No Maintenance for 12th

Rare Mission Update Added

Rare Free Missions at PSUP

JP 360 No Maintenance for 19th

Japan: No Maintenance for September 11th and 18th

2008-10-04T01:11:00.000-07:00

(Information started on September 5th)

First, I thought I would throw in the article about a PSU Mobile maintenance that happened this same week. For a couple of hours on the 8th, the Casino Voloyal poker game was affected.

The normal maintenance periods were skipped for the 11th and 18th. The next maintenance would end the second anniversary event, so there wasn't anything else added as a part of it.

PSU Mobile Maintenance

JP No Maintenance for 11th

JP No Maintenance for 18th

Xbox 360: Worldwide Price Drops

2008-10-04T00:33:00.000-07:00

(Information started on September 5th)

Pretty much all regions (at least the major ones) have received price drops on all models of the Xbox 360.

America (September 5th):

Arcade: $280 -> $200

60 GB: $350 -> $300

Elite: $450 -> $400

The 120 GB harddrive also price dropped from $180 to $150.

Europe (September 19th):

Arcade: £159 / €199 -> £129 / €179
60 GB: £199 / €269 -> £169 / €239
Elite: £259 / €369 -> £229 / €299

Japan (September 11th):

Arcade: 27,800 yen -> 19,800 yen

60 GB: 29,800 yen (introduced)

Elite: 47,800 yen -> 39,800 yen

These pricing adjustments puts many of the models in many of the regions on par with each other. I believe the Arcade model in many regions is now cheaper than the Wii by a fairly significant margin.

The sales increases seen in each have been very high. This is true even for Japan (where Microsoft is known not to have very good following). In that case, it seems to be a combination of the increased value along with the current wave of RPGs (which have also been selling well).

Other: Gates and Seinfeld

2008-10-03T15:24:00.000-07:00

(Information started on September 5th)

For anyone that hasn't seen them yet, Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld are starring in a series of commercials produced for Microsoft. There are two out so far and I think both are pretty hilarious. I suppose it depends on the viewer though.

Microsoft Page

Xbox 360: New Xbox Experience at PAX

2008-10-02T23:53:00.000-07:00

(Information started on August 31st)

I was lucky enough to attend the Penny Arcade Expo again this year (might comment more on this later). Major Nelson/Larry Hryb was there showing off more of the NXE that had been shown at this year's E3. It's still work in progress, but it's said to be coming in November.

This is a video that was taken (not by me) during one of the few showings that happened that weekend. Can't necessarily say I was watching the same one, but the dialogue seems very close to it (even more so than your normal rehearsed/improv speech). More videos have come out since, but they've mostly been to show off the new Avatar system and themes.

Interesting note: There were a couple 'No Filming' signs around the MS booth. Major even held one up before presenting the NXE. Then he said that there would probably be a video on youtube 10 minutes after anyway. Well there you go. While I'm normally very respective of NDAs and things like that, I can't expect that MS seriously believed it would be possible to keep everything they had on display on the showfloor under watch. Nothing was 'behind closed doors' as it were. They didn't seem to care at all though past the actual presence of those notices. I'm sure they're well aware after attending these past years of who PAX is for and what goes on. Anyway, I'm being much too serious here. I'm sure they really wanted as much to get out there as possible (aside from the occasional software bug).

I also noticed Shane Kim in the audience (admittedly small, only a few rows of a couple chairs with some people standing near the wall MS's booth was next to). It's too bad that Peter Moore isn't still around. I don't believe he came for EA/in general, but I definately would be disappointed if I missed seeing him.

General: Maintenance for September 5th

2008-10-02T23:31:00.000-07:00

(Information started on September 4th)

There was a maintenance for both sets of servers. It seems that during the maintenance, the female parts were split up, but only at the Guardians Colony shop. CV parts are on the left and normal parts are on the right. PSO, swimwear, and yukata parts appear on both sides. All other part shops are unaffected. Jenkel Arms CV finally manages to return to the Xbox 360 shops. This may have been a measure to take care of that.

PSU Disc 37 has not returned to Casino Voloyal as of yet.

JP 360 Maintenance End

Missing Jenkel Arms CV

Parts Split

MAG: More Leaderboard Disqualifications

2008-10-02T23:06:00.000-07:00

(Information started on September 3rd)

As done in the original run of MAG and once before for the second run, cheaters have been taken down from the leaderboards in the time attack and killcount categories. One of the biggest winners here had two characters pulled up into the top 500 (thus earning two Spread Needle/Gs in addition to one from the first run of the event).

Official Forum Thread

Official Announcement Thread

General: Network Performance Feedback

2008-10-02T23:02:00.000-07:00

(Information started on September 3rd)

After Sega moved the local PSU servers to their new offices, it seemed many players noticed a drop in the quality of their connections. It's requested that players experiencing these issues send as detailed a report as they can to the Sega Support site.

Official Announcement

Official Forum Thread

General: PSU Calendar Wallpaper for September

2008-10-02T21:33:00.001-07:00

(Information started on September 2nd)

This month's English version of the calendar has been posted. Labor Day is marked this time around.

Wallpaper Page

Japan: PSU Calendar Wallpaper for September

2008-10-02T21:29:00.000-07:00

(Information started on August 29th)

September's calendar is now posted. Linked below you'll find it in various resolutions.

PSU Calendar

Japan: Second Anniversary Fan Art Contest Results

2008-10-02T21:17:00.000-07:00

(Information started on August 29th)

As mentioned earlier, Sonic Team chose a variety of pieces of fan art to be displayed in the lobbies during the second part of the Second Anniversary event. The top winner is shown above. You can find the other lobby displayed entries (as well as many other entries) at the links below. Quite a few were either high quality or entertaining (some even both), so I'd encourage a browse through them.

Winners Page

Other Entries

Japan: PC/PS2 Update for September 4th

2008-10-02T20:55:00.000-07:00

(Information started on August 29th)

Japan's Second Anniversary event continues. Update info care of EspioKaos:

Illustration contest winners exhibition
* Winning works from the 2nd Anniversary Thanks Festa illustration contest will be announced on this day and placed on display in various lobbies from September 4 through October 9.
* 1st place (one winner) work will be displayed in Clyez City.
* 2nd place (three winners) work will be displayed in the respective cities of each planet.
* 3rd place (three winners) work will be displayed in the field lobbies of each planet.
* Boys & Girls prize (one winner) work will be displayed in the field lobbies of the GUARDIANS Colony.
* Honorable mention (four winners) work will be displayed in the field lobbies of the three planets and Colony.

Event missions
* The second event mission, The Protectors δ, will be released and remain available until the close of the event on September 25.
* The prologue mission, Government Directive, will be updated to include information on the new event mission.

New items
* Many new weapons, line shields, etc. will drop from the new mission.

It appears this was it for the remainder of the event. The fan art contest winners will be mentioned in a later post.

Update: There was a posting in the form of a letter from the team to the players in light of PSU's second anniversary. They of course thank the users for their continued support and bring up the releases of AOTI and recently successful PSP as well as the franchise's 20th Anniversary. They also mention the upcoming digital purchase of PSUv1. The team will continue to work on future content for the game and they ask in the standard fashion for continued support as they expand the game.

Update: There is a post about a scheduled maintenance for billing on September 2nd for around a half hour. Gameplay is still possible, but there may be issues purchasing a subscription with a credit card.

Update: The maintenance for the content update ended. No changes were made.

JP Update Page

Event Site
PSOW Thread
PSUPf Thread

Event Page at PSUP

JP Letter from Sonic Team

JP Billing Maintenance

JP End Maintenance

Japan: PSU Client on Digital Distribution

2008-10-02T20:33:00.000-07:00

(Information started on August 28th)

A long time ago, the PSU client was posted online for players that had a valid game key (in Japan PSU uses download keys in a similar fashion to how PSO used to). Now that download is being opened up to everyone.

After downloading (site features both direct and P2P), a player can buy a game key online for 1000 yen. This enables them to play Episode 1 (Story Mode) and gets them a 10 day trial of Network Mode. The offer starts on September 25th. It seems to coincide with the close of the Second Anniversary event. It appears they are also offering a bonus Amy statue to people that take advantage of the offer.

It isn't known whether the expansion will eventually be offered similarly or if either of the English versions will receive the same treatment.

Update: The release time was moved back two hours.

Update: The offer has opened (link to download site below).

JP Announcement

JP PSUv1 Download Site (game manual also available)

Other: Fortunately 400th Post

2008-09-30T00:04:00.000-07:00

Well, I'd say it's time for a bit of explanation.

First off, I should mention I finally signed into PSUP and started making some contributions. A couple months ago, I began adding a few numbers here and there. I got accustomed to making edits pretty fast and was soon looking into ways of cleaning up misplaced data here and there. I'll save my whole bit on this for a separate post. I was considering making a post about each site at some point anyway and I'd like to encourage more people to put in an edit here and there. There's actually a good deal of simple tasks that can be done to help the site out. Even though I've been linking to them, I don't believe I mentioned that PSUP got a new set of forums. Coincidentally, it happened about when I decided to start making edits. Anyway, I've linked them directly below. I've been referring to them in links as 'PSUPf' (the abbreviation they use).

The other big thing is that I was contacted (also a few months ago) about contributing news articles to PSOW. I decided to wait until they implemented their new news system. The major addition was RSS (and a primary reason for me signing on). You can read about more additions in a link below. I've also linked my introductory post there. There will be more features coming (hopefully soon) that should be pretty cool and helpful once implemented. PSOW in general has been going through quite a few changes and I'm glad I can be a part of it. A post about PSOW will probably be coming sometime too.

Other random tidbits:

- I'm going to give the podcasts their own section. I've been meaning to do this awhile and it'll clear up some space in the Community category (which I've had some plans for). To make sure it fits in, I'll probably finally convert all the 'PC/PS2' articles to 'PS2/PC'. This is generally how it's referred to officially and I've wanted to just switch them all over (but never did obviously).

- Like I mentioned a few times, I'm going to extend just a bit community wise. Perhaps I'll get around to those moderator backgrounds and fan site articles. I might try to add some more commentary too. The events following the one article I wrote were quite...eventful to say the least.

- I'm a month behind now. I'll be caught up soon. I don't really have much of an explanation, but it's rather unnatural for me to leave something hanging like this without at least a notice. The important thing is that the articles are complete and generally fit in with the rest.

- Quite awhile ago, there started to be some heavy concerns about where we were in comparison to Japan. I came up with a list breaking down the updates from Japan and which parts we hadn't received yet. This actually helps a bit with the articles as I make sure to mention which parts of our updates came from which parts of Japan's (although I still have to update the last couple months with this info). I always planned on cleaning it up and putting it as a permanent link on the side as a running list. As of now, there is actually a similar list over at PSUP. There is a difference though as it just contains a straight up list of content and the larger system updates. It's probably more useful as it links to all the relevant articles on the site (so people can read all about future events and missions).

- Yes, I'm aware of both Phantasy Star Portable and now Phantasy Star 0/Zero. I've made a number of posts about PSP over at PSOW as it did quite well in sales over in Japan. I'll get around to talking more about these later. I probably won't put a ton of focus into them here. Who knows what the future will hold though.

- I meant this post as a tie-in to this site's first anniversary (August 15th, another milestone), but it obviously got delayed. At the very least, I hit my not-exactly-official goal range as far as posting goes. Aside from that, things are about where they should be (outside of being behind). I can't say I'm displeased with how stuff turned out.

That's enough for now I guess. I might mention more once I'm finished updating with the September posts.

My PSUP User Page

PSUP Forums

New News System at PSOW

Me on PSOW News

My PSOW Profile

Longterm Schedule at PSUP

General: Maintenance for August 29th

2008-09-29T23:49:00.000-07:00

(Information started on August 28th)

There was a maintenance held to make a bugfix in line with the one made on JP's PC/PS2 server just a day earlier. They started an hour earlier than usual. Howzer was upped to level 160 in rank A of Episode 5 Chapter 3 so that he could drop Vijeri / Resist.

chillaura's Thread
JP 360 Maintenance
JP 360 Maintenance End
PSOW Article

Japan: Maintenance for August 28th

2008-09-29T22:47:00.000-07:00

(Information started on August 28th)

There was a maintenance to fix some bugs. Howzer's level on A rank in Episode 3 Chapter 5 was upped again to 160. He drops Vijeri / Resist once more. The Protectors γ also had a fix to chip collection.

JP Maintenance End

Podcast: PSU Community Podcast Season 2 Episode II

2008-09-22T18:20:00.000-07:00

(Information started on August 22nd)

This episode has all the usual contents and goes over the most current updates (subtraction of MAG and addition of Neudaiz GBR). Enjoy!

Season 2 Thread
Season 1 Archive Thread

MAG: Extension Run Closed

2008-09-22T18:06:00.000-07:00

(Information started on August 22nd)

Maximum Attack G has finally come to a close (for good this time).

The final tally is 270,624,674 creatures eliminated. Those users that played in this second run of the event can expect the final two milestone prizes to reach the servers soon. There has even been talk of an additional run of 3 star photon fortune, but that is yet to be seen.

Thanks to everyone that participated in either or both runs of the event!

EN MAG 2 Homepage

General: Update for August 22nd

2008-09-22T16:18:00.000-07:00

(Information started on August 21st)

Here is a breakdown of the update for August 22nd:

- Fireworks lobbies (August 22nd to September 26th) [PSUv1]
* De Ragan's Breath and Fireworks available from NPC shops [former is PSUv1]
- Episode 3 Chapter 5
- Flowery Pursuit C-S2 (Saguraki C.D. towards Ohtoku City)
- Phantom Fissure C-S (Rare mission accessed at random from various Neudaiz mission counters)
- New S2 difficulty for Sakura Blast, Sacred Stream, White Beast, Hill of Spores, and Dancing Birds
- Neudaiz GUARDIANS Boost Road (August 22nd to September 26th)
* Contains Hill of Spores, Dancing Birds, Flowery Pursuit, Sacred Stream, and White Beast
- Maximum Attack G second run ends
* Maximum Attack G' C-A (permanent version of MAG that has been reworked)
* Program DF' C-A (same as above)
* Gifts from Beyond is still available for Weapons Badge redemption
* Hit the Counter! is still available for players who didn't pick up their milestone rewards
- More weapons and boards made available to NPC shops
- PSU Disc 76 made available at Casino Voloyal
- Lots more items will become available from the new missions and mission difficulties

Definately a big update. However, there are no other big content additions for the time that this GBR is going on.

Update: A notice was posted that maintenance would take longer than planned.

Update: Maintenance has ended with no system changes.

Update: There was a Casino rotation with these additions.

chillaura Preview Posts
EN Update Page
JP 360 Update Page
PSOW Article
PSUPf Thread
GBR Page on PSUP

JP 360 Maintenance Extension

JP 360 Maintenance End

Japan: PC/PS2 Update for August 21st

2008-09-22T14:23:00.000-07:00

(Information started on August 19th)

Here are the updates for this week:

- 2nd Anniversary Event lobbies (August 21st to September 4th) [PSUv1]

- Fireworks lobbies (August 21st to September 25th) [PSUv1]

- 2nd Anniversary Thanks Festa Event Start (Missions available from GUARDIANS HQ)

* The Protectors γ C-S2 (August 21st to September 25th)

* Government Directive (August 21st to September 25th)

- More items at "The Arms Dealer"

- New weapons, armor, etc.

- De Ragan's Breath and Fireworks added to NPC shops (August 21st to September 25th) [PSUv1]

- Level cap raised to 160

- Adjustments made to enemy drops in AOTI missions

- Rare mission update (notes below)

- Organization of parties at mission counters (notes below)

- My Room shop pricing adjustment (notes below)

This rare mission update changes a few things. Any member that has been in the party for 80+ percent of the time has a chance at an allowance of a rare mission (as opposed to just the leader). Larger parties will no longer have increased chances, however players with a chance at a rare mission will not lose it if the party's current leader uses their's. You cannot collect chances, you only get one active at a time. This update will be easy to spot as you can actually see if you obtained a go at a rare mission or not.

Joinable parties will now be placed at the front of the list. They'll be sorted by creation time or the last time the size of the party decreased (that hadn't been by the kicking of a player).

If you wish to edit the price of an item in your shop, the counter will now start out at the current value (as opposed to 0). When adding a duplicate item, the counter will default to the price of the highest priced item listed of the same type.

Update: Event page updates. Various data added to event site based off server tracking from last year of gameplay. GM event details given. Trial weekend information given.

Update: There was apparently an update to their ToS. The changes weren't really specified.

Update: Due to an issue, they are extending the open weekend for another day.

Update: Maintenance is over and the client version is now 2.0009.1. The in-client ToS has been updated. A fix was made to Lumilass. From what I can tell, the prices did not feature the color update that was implimented earlier this year.

Update: The report from the GM Boys has been put out for Ultimate Attack 6 (the prior event).

The Arms Dealer at PSUP

Server Activity Report

Japan: Prepaid Cards at 7-Eleven

2008-09-22T14:09:00.000-07:00

(Information started on August 19th)

As of August 18th, Sega made prepaid cards for PSU available at Japan's 12,000+ 7-Eleven stores. These are joined up with cards for other Sega online services (even PSOBB). 30 and 90 day cards are available.

It's interesting to note that Japan contains a third of the 7-Eleven stores in the world. The United States actually only has around 6,000 or so.

JP Announcement

Xbox 360: DRM Tool

2008-09-22T10:29:00.000-07:00

(Information started on June 26th)

Meant to mention this awhile ago, but I'm sure it's gotten around by now.

Microsoft released a tool that will allow you to transfer licenses on your download content using the internet. After using this, it will once again be possible to use your content offline (as well as allow others to use your content). This is of course the solution for all those people that had to switch Xboxes for one reason or another.

DRM Tool at xbox.com

Major Nelson's Blog

PS2/PC: Official PS3 Wireless Keypad

2008-09-22T10:07:00.000-07:00

(Information started on August 20th)

Sony announced a wireless keypad for Playstation 3 controllers. This is somewhat in the range of the Messenger Kit/Chatpad for the 360, however the keyboard itself is actually above the face of the controller (instead of below it).

Let's hope that this one manages to be compatible with the PS2 version of PSU. The 360's chatpad is still waiting on compatibility for the 360 version of the game.

Kotaku Article

Kotaku Article 2

Official Sony Page

Community: Guide to Using Japanese Voices in AOTI PC

2008-09-22T09:51:00.000-07:00

(Information started on August 20th)

It is a rather well known issue that the English PC and Xbox 360 versions do not have the extra battle voices that were made available to expansion players (whereas the PS2 players do).

While it is unknown when or if this will be resolved officially, a group of players have worked out some functionality in this department by pulling some voices off the Japanese PC version of the expansion and getting them to work with the English PC version. This much progress being made, it makes me wonder if it would be possible to get the English versions themselves by deriving them from the PS2 version.

This is probably worth a link on the side.

Guide Thread at OSGuild Forum

Official Forum Thread

PSUPf Thread

Community: Official Forum Updates

2008-09-22T08:26:00.000-07:00

(Information started on April 21st)

Another round of updates that I've been meaning to get around to mentioning. These pertain to the forums on the official site:

Event Calendar - RubyEclipse created this to help keep track of various fan run events as well as maintenance and live support times. There was a recent time change for GM Live support that isn't reflected here (info post incoming soon), so it may be a bit out of date.

Suggestions and Ideas Forum - Requests for the forums, game, and otherwise should go here (although you can still use http://help.sega.com). I've been a fairly huge proponent of this one and it's something I keep a close eye on. For my sake, please be respectful of the stickies as well as the somewhat closer modding. It's all for the purpose of keeping the board tidy so that ideas can flow efficiently.

PSP and PS0/Z Forums - These were added for discussion of the newest portable Phantasy Star games. They have not yet been dated for release outside of Japan, however there can be pretty much no doubt that they are coming.

More Avatars - By request, new avatars have been added to the forums. These include additions to the Phantasy Star Universe category as well as the addition of the PSU: AOTI category.

Event Calendar

Suggestions and Ideas Forum

Phantasy Star Portable Forum

Phantasy Star Zero Forum

Community: More PSO-World Updates

2008-09-22T08:03:00.000-07:00

(Information started on August 1st)

I mentioned there was an update to the forums awhile back, so I think it's worth it to have another notice of some changes.

First off, the front page was updated to reflect the style of the new forums. There is in fact a certain level of integration here. Various updates have been made to the news system including a better search for the archive and finally an RSS feed. I'll go more into specifics on this later as there are a few other interesting tidbits (including more arriving in the future).

As of recently, all other site pages have been updated to the new style. This of course includes the databases, guides, and everything else. More themes, avatars, and other stuff have been added alongside. Awhile ago, a new database just for pictures was also added to the site.

The site will continue to undergo changes and additions, but at least for this moment in time it once again seems quite solid. Credits go to Ryna for all the work put in to the upgrades.

Xbox 360: Illinois Requires Internet Cancellation for Games

2008-09-22T07:47:00.000-07:00

(Information started on July 29th)

The following linked bill has been essentially passed into law in Illinois. It is said that the base for the law goes back to an incident concerning Final Fantasy XI, however the law seems to apply to Xbox Live as well as PSU on 360 (as it also requires phone cancellation being integrated into Live). I haven't heard much since it was passed, however surely Microsoft has some sort of comeback. There is usually a grace period for violators of recently passed bills, so I'm sure we'll be seeing more out of this as that comes to a close.

Personally, I don't see much of a problem with phone cancellation as far as Microsoft goes. At a certain point in time, I cancelled both Xbox Live and PSU in the same phone call. It took all of four minutes from when I first dialed. It would make perfect sense to have a cancel button integrated into Live, however I think most people blow the cancelling method out of proportion.

Illinois Bill HB4178

Discussion Thread

Community: Useful Sites List Update

2008-09-22T07:12:00.000-07:00

(Information started on July 31st)

Putting back a few links as they came back and also adding a few:

Amesani PSU EN - A good way of browsing stat information and mission data (including drops).
PSYOU - Mission information and drop data.
PSUtopia - PSU based image uploader.
PSUTools - Character stats and damage calculator.

Xbox 360: Game Installation Video

2008-09-22T06:45:00.001-07:00

(Information started on August 10th)

This is a video showing what game installation will look like with the upcoming 360 dashboard update. As stated before, you will still need to put the disc in the tray (to confirm you have the game).

I saw some of this recently at PAX (a gaming convention). I might put up some of my experiences there (and other stuff they premiered for the fall update) later.

Japan: Some Future Event Information

2008-09-22T06:29:00.000-07:00

(Information started on July 27th)

Some tidbits given by EspioKaos from a developer interview:

* Another large event is planned to begin at some point before March 2009. A name has not been decided on it yet.
* The event is planned to have a similar structure to Maximum Attack G.
* The developers want to have events of similar proportions three or four times per year.

This is not from one of the "longterm schedules" that usually go out once every several months. One should be upcoming soon though as the current one runs out at the end of September.

PSOW Thread

Community: RSS Feed for Official Site

2008-09-22T05:46:00.000-07:00

[Apologies on the extended period of posting delay. We'll be on track soon.]

(Information started January 27th)

Before I forget again, there is something else that I've been meaning to post of Toothball's creation. He's managed to create an RSS feed that follows the updates made to the Official EN PSU Homepage. This is something that Sega has unfortunately been lacking.

RSS Feed

Discussion Thread

MAG: Leaderboard and Statistics Tracking Pages

2008-08-16T05:55:00.000-07:00

(Information started on August 12th)

Official forum user Toothball has come up with a few pages on his website to track some data based off the kill ranking leaderboards on the official MAG pages.

The 'Alternative Leaderboards' link contains a couple different setups. One is a full leaderboard with all 500 characters listed at once. Another is a list that combines the totals of users that have multiple characters on the leaderboard. The other is a short summary of the leaderboard to see where kill counts are at divisions of 100.

The 'Leaderboards Statistics' link has all sorts of interesting data. You can see accounts that have multiple characters on the current leaderboards as well as across the new and old leaderboards.

Update: A recently added page allows you to add your own position into the summary leaderboard (as long as you are in the top 500 of course).

Discussion Thread
Alternative Leaderboards
Leaderboards Statistics
Customizable Summary Leaderboard
MAG Extension Page
Original MAG Page

Podcast: PSU Community Podcast Season 2 Episode I

2008-08-16T04:43:00.000-07:00

(Information started on July 31st)

PSU_Castor (now also known as GM RubyEclipse) and Iceman (also known as Lucente) have finally returned in the new season of their podcast.

The special guest this time is player 360NyTeMaRe. Another notable occurance is the premiere of the Sonic Unleashed theme song.

Season 2 Thread
Season 1 Archive Thread

General: Super Holy Light Reward Temporarily Broken

2008-08-15T14:50:00.001-07:00

(Information started on August 7th)

It would seem that right after the time when maintenance would usually start on the 7th, the 3 star photon fortune given out as MAG reward disappeared. It appears that Sonic Team was able to quickly hold an emergency maintenance to fix the problem.

Official Forum Thread
Maintenance Thread
JP 360 Emergency Maintenance
JP 360 Maintenance End

Japan: No Maintenance for August 14th

2008-08-15T14:11:00.000-07:00

(Information started on August 7th)

There was no maintenance for the servers this week. This might have to do with the break, but there was also a small content update last week.

JP No Maintenance

General: No Maintenance for August 8th and 15th

2008-08-15T14:05:00.000-07:00

(Information started on August 7th)

The JP 360 page reported that there would be no maintenance for two weeks. The EN PC/PS2 servers also didn't go down for either maintenance.

JP 360 No Maintenance

Japan: 2nd Anniversary Thanks Festa Page Opens

2008-08-15T13:41:00.001-07:00

(Information started on August 7th)

Sonic Team has posted the homepage for the 2nd anniversary event quite early.

I've linked a page at PSUP below that is being compiled on what is known about the event currently. It will be fairly similar to last year's though (except featuring expansion content). The 1st anniversary event was turned into EN's Winter Event.

They've already been collecting fan art submissions for another contest like last year's.

2nd Anniversary Thanks Festa
PSUP 2nd Thanks Festa Page

Japan: PC/PS2 Update for August 7th

2008-08-15T12:20:00.000-07:00

(Information started on August 1st)

Japan's August 7th update has been posted. Here's some details:

- Ultimate Attack 6 reward delivery (more notes below)
* Super Holy Light [PSUv1]
* Item Synthesis Bonus +20% [PSUv1]
* Free Makeovers at Lumilass [PSUv1]
* Clothes and Parts sold at 50% discount [PSUv1]
* Grinding Bonus +15% [PSUv1]
* SONIC DISC (jukebox disc)
* G. Colony Collectible (room decoration)
- More items at "The Clothier"
- New Casino items
- New clothes (some of these are pictured and are found at "The Clothier")
- Enemy drop changes in missions released after AOTI (nonspecific)

Items will be distributed to your common box if you log in to PSU at some point after this maintenance (but possibly not later than the September 30th maintenance). Players should also make sure to pull out their synthesis items before the rewards period ends (as the calculations for succeeding are done at that point). Also don't forget that you can always clear space in your common box and relogin to obtain items that wouldn't fit the first time.

As mentioned before, "The Clothier" makes available clothing that had only been available during major events. I've linked the relevant PSUP article below.

The drop changes apparently amount to adding some of the items needed to trade in to obtain these articles of clothing.

Update: After maintenance, there was no change to PSU's version. There were a few small updates to "Innocent Girl" concerning the character download feature as well as a bugfix to Vivienne.

Update: Portions of JP's PSU support center will be closed for upwards of two weeks. They will of course respond to messages received during this time when they return.

Update: It was mentioned after a later maintenance that a correction was made during this maintenance to the female clothing version of the Rappy Suit.

JP Update Page
JP End Maintenance Notes
JP Support Center Break
PSOW Thread
PSUPf Thread
The Clothier at PSUP

Female Rappy Suit Clothing Correction

MAG: Twelfth (and Last) Milestone Hit

2008-08-15T10:02:00.000-07:00

(Information started on August 5th)

That wraps up the milestone rewards for this event, but remember to get all the badges you need before the 21st!

EN MAG 2 Page

MAG: Eleventh Milestone Hit

2008-08-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

(Information started on August 2nd)

In just the second day in, we managed to hit the second to last milestone.

EN MAG 2 Page

General: Update for August 1st

2008-08-14T12:41:00.000-07:00

(Information started on July 24th)

Confirmation of the MAG extension came in the form of a bit of a notice from Sonic Team a week ahead of time. Many of the details for MAG's extension came from a GM Support Session that I happened to attend the day after. This included that the already obtained rewards would come with the extension with any others to follow. Also the statues from the Sonic's Birthday event would be given out. A mention was made that the normal Rappies would appear during the extension (unlike Rappy Paskas in the first run) and that Jaggo Actes would appear (also odd since this year they are linked up with the Holy Light Festa lobbies). The update page was actually put out on the 25th (much earlier than usual and far before Japan's).

Here's the breakdown:

- Holy Light Festa lobbies with Jaggo Actes (August 1st to 21st) [PSUv1]
- Maximum Attack G reward delivery (more notes below)
* Rappy Tip
* Treasure Chest
* Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medals
* Spread Needle / G
* Super Holy Light [PSUv1]
* Item Synthesis Bonus +20% [PSUv1]
* Free Makeovers at Lumilass [PSUv1]
* Clothes and Parts sold at 50% discount [PSUv1]
- Knuckles and Amy statues delivery (more notes below) [PSUv1]
- Maximum Attack G C-S (August 1st to 21st)
- Gifts from Beyond
- Hit the Counter
- Holy Light Festa room decoration in Variety Shop (August 1st to 21st) [PSUv1]
- New items in the Casino and a rotation (more notes below)
- Level cap raised to 140 [PSUv1]
- Universe Transporters added to GUARDIANS HQ as well as the Branches [PSUv1]
- Photon Chargers and NPC Vendors added to each GUARDIANS Branch [PSUv1]

The non item rewards and extension were planned to last for two weeks, however Sonic Team is on holiday so they will both last three (from August 1st to the 21st). Items distributed to the common box can be picked up until at least September 30th. All you have to do is log in and you'll get them delivered. I think there was some confusion before about this. Some people thought that the prizes are automatically given to everyone that played in the event and then removed after a certain date. Instead, they are delivered when you log in and remain there (there is no worry that they'll be removed). Only people that played in the original MAG event will qualify for the current set of rewards. I'm pretty sure though that everyone that plays in the extension will qualify for the last two. Given, one of these should apply to everyone (even nonexpansion players as it isn't an item).

Update: While it was mentioned that there would be new Casino stuff (at least one) on both EN and JP sites, there are in fact no 'new' items (however there was a rotation). It's possible that the release is flawed. The Goth series is back and the Goth Night Stand has been renamed Goth Nightstand. PSU Disc 37 (Marriage) is missing on both servers for some reason. Modern Clock (which should have rotated out) is still there. I guess I should also note that Jenkel Arms CV is still missing from the shops on the 360 servers. The Treasure Chest is tradeable (even though it is a Casino purchase in Japan). I actually wonder if we'll see this appear in our Casino and when (it's actually a very high priced one).

Update: It's said that during this extension it will be possible for characters that weren't scratched off the first MAG list for cheating to obtain rewards (instead of them preventing any characters from accounts that got rewards prior to compete). I've linked the thread about it below.

Update: On the English MAG site, there is a notice that mentions you might have had to play in both MAG events to obtain the rewards from the extension. I don't believe it mentions it on the JP site. I'll probably look into it before the extension is over to try and confirm either way. What I assume it means is that players from MAG1 will have to play again in MAG2. I don't think that MAG2 players that didn't play in MAG1 will be excluded, but I can't say for sure.

Update Page
Official Announcement
Note from Sonic Team
Original MAG Site
MAG Extension Site
JP MAG Extension Site
JP 360 Update Page
JP 360 Maintenance End
MAG 2 Official Forum Thread
Kill Count Official Forum Thread
Leaderboard Double Dipping Thread
PSOW Thread
PSUPf Thread

General: PSU Calendar Wallpaper for August

2008-08-14T12:05:00.000-07:00

(Information started on August 4th)

This month's English version of the calendar has been posted. Only changes this time include the normal addition of artist credit as well as the English AOTI logo.

Someone pointed out to me recently that the 'T' in 'The' is capitalized in the logo they use for our versions. I surprisingly hadn't noticed this before...

Wallpaper Page

Japan: PSU Calendar Wallpaper for August

2008-08-14T12:01:00.000-07:00

(Information started on July 25th)

July's calendar is now posted. Linked below you'll find it in various resolutions.

PSU Calendar

General: Mission Spotlight for July 25th through July 31st

2008-08-14T09:56:00.000-07:00

(Information started on July 25th)

This week's Mission Spotlight has Galenigare Lake as the featured lobby. This includes an outstanding four missions (Desert Goliath, Tunnel Recapture, Lonely Laboratory, and Rogues' Shortcut). Players also of course have a chance of running Forest of Illusion.

Update: It would seem that Mission Spotlights won't be run during events. This makes a good deal of sense though. I wouldn't expect another spotlight until after the MAG extension is over.

Mission Spotlight Page
Announcement Thread

Japan: Maintenance for July 29th, None for 31st

2008-08-14T08:05:00.000-07:00

(Information started on July 24nd)

There was something like a 7 hour maintenance period scheduled for July 29th. Perhaps this was in preparation for PSP's launch.

The normal maintenance period for the week (the 31st) was cancelled. Considering this was the release of PSP (and there are integration features), they probably wanted as much uptime as possible.

Update: Maintenance has ended with no changes.

Update: Sonic Team announced that they shipped out the real life prizes for Ultimate Attack 6.

Update: An announcement was made concerning a user that was suspended on July 11th. Seemed to be a light month. Either that or the user did something quite bad.

JP Emergency Maintenance
JP No Maintenance
JP Maintenance End
UA6 Prizes Shipped
Misconduct Report

General: Maintenance for July 23rd, None for 25th

2008-08-14T07:55:00.000-07:00

(Information started on July 22nd)

There was a three hour period at the very beginning of July 23rd (Pacific Time) where Sega's ISP did some maintenance work. According to a few users, the downtime was no more than 10-15 minutes.

The normal maintenance period for the week (the 25th) was cancelled for both sets of servers.

Update: There was a hefty Gameguard update for PC users on the 25th. Being that there was no maintenance, this just was downloaded the next time PSU was logged into.

JP 360 Notice
Chillaura's Post
JP 360 No Maintenance

Japan: PC/PS2 Update for July 24th

2008-08-14T06:16:00.000-07:00

(Information started on July 22nd)

The update for the week of July 24th has been posted. Here's the breakdown:

- Phantasy Star Portable lobbies (July 24th to August 21st) [PSUv1]
- Innocent Girl C-A (EspioKaos's translation)
- notes below
- Event item exchange mission will remain available to allow players to finish redeeming prizes
- "Hit the Counter" mission will remain available for players that didn't collect their prize
- New weapons
- Event items will still be available (probably just as mentioned above)

The new mission is a sort of "side story" mission to tie in PSU with PSP. An interesting note to make is that (like in PSP) weapon badges drop. This basically helps continue the usefulness of MAG's Gifts from Beyond. Using the character transfer option for PSP (started on July 31st), it is possible to obtain Whitill Wings and Vivienne Fluge for your PSU characters.

Ultimate Attack 6 ended after this maintenance. The 200 million milestone was another update to the Magashi event mission. The 225 million milestone appears to be a 15% bonus to weapon grinding. The last listed milestone (250 million) was not unlocked.

Update: There was a patch and the game's version at this point was 2.0008.4. They mentioned that the event was closed. Universes 24-26 had their names changed (to take away their designation as recommending event play there). They don't really seem to mention why the patch was done, but perhaps it has to do with PSP's integration.

JP Update Page
PSOW Thread
PSUPf Thread
PSOW UA6 Thread
PSUP Shred the Darkness Page
UA6 Homepage
Innocent Girl on PSUP
Game Server Update

Other: On Being Behind

2008-08-14T05:21:00.000-07:00

I know I've been quite behind on updating. I can't even really explain why, although it might have something to do with a few factors that a few people might already be aware of. Anyway, I didn't just disappear never to return and I have been intending for awhile to get back in action here. So here's what's going to happen:

I'm going to start posting all of the back information since my last post. Obviously, there is much information that is going to be late. However, this blog's main priority is as a timeline for PSU. Punctuality is also a priority (if only not to end up falling behind), though clearly I haven't met that the past few weeks as it seems I left things in the dust. I'm not going to be creative and write things as if they were just happening, but I might say when things were mentioned. Most everything should be in order and there will probably still be 'updates' (even though I'd know prior to posting if there were any).

So let's get back on track and I'll mention when I'm done catching up (and what's been going on).

General: Mission Spotlight for July 17th to 24th

2008-07-17T22:48:00.000-07:00

This week's mission spotlight will indeed be The Egg Thieves (located at the GUARDIANS Branch on Parum). Also, there has been a schedule change. The spotlights will run from Friday until the Thursday of the following week.

A poll has already gone up for the following week's mission/set of missions. The current numbers are leaning towards Galenigare Lake as the featured lobby. This would (if chosen) include an outstanding four missions (Desert Goliath, Tunnel Recapture, Lonely Laboratory, and Rogues' Shortcut). Given, that could all change in a short time.

Mission Spotlight Page
Announcement Thread
Poll Thread

General: No Maintenance for July 18th

2008-07-17T21:24:00.000-07:00

Japan is saying that the 360 will have no maintenance period for this week. It's probable that there won't be PC/PS2 maintenance either. A large update is expected to arrive next week.

Update: Seems all of the servers are still up, so everyone gets more time this week.

JP 360 Page

Japan: No Maintenance for July 17th

2008-07-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

The current event continues and there won't be any updates for this week. However, I will mention that it appears JP has unlocked three more milestones. 140 million is a model of the Guardians Colony as a room decoration. 160 million is 300 t-shirts given out at random. 180 million is a 20% boost to weapon and line shield synthesizing.

Update: The FAQ has been updated with more information on SEGA Link IDs.

Update: It seems that there is an issue with synthesizing the Twin Bouquet. Link added.

Update: The photos page for Sonic's Birthday has gone up.

Update: There was billing maintenance for an estimated 15 hours on this date. Link added.

Billing Maintenance
JP No Maintenance
UA6 Homepage
Switch Billing FAQ
Twin Bouquet Bug
Sonic Birthday Event

General: More About the Server Move

2008-07-15T00:15:00.001-07:00

Sega shut down the servers a bit earlier than planned (9 PM Pacific on Sunday).

Now, the PC/PS2 servers are back up as of 9:30 PM Pacific on Monday. It is expected that the Xbox 360 servers will be up after another day of wait.

Update: The Xbox 360 servers are now up as of 1:30 AM Pacific on Wednesday. However, Universes 13 and 14 are still down. It should be fixed soon. I've also linked the news item about it from JP.

Update: Added announcement thread about the successful move.

Server Move Thread
JP 360 Announcement
Announcement Thread

Xbox 360: Game Installs and More

2008-07-14T23:49:00.000-07:00

Monday morning's Microsoft press conference at E3 definately had a number of great announcements. After which, a number of bulletpoints were thrown up on one of Microsoft's blogs. Some of these are very positive for PSU players. Here's a few of the more relevant ones:

- Game installs. You can basically dump your game disc onto your 360's harddrive. All you need is to have the disc in whenever you want to play. This is going to really help a number of things. One I suppose is load times, although from what I've seen they're already trading off here and there with the PC version. The disc won't be spinning, which should alleviate unnecessary noise from some of the louder DVD drives. It should also help extend the life of 360s that are still at risk of RROD (because certain issues relate to the DVD drive itself). The other thing is that the common issue of PSU discs becoming unplayable (whether by wearing out or by freezing at certain points in the game) should not be as much of a problem anymore. This has been more of an issue as time goes on with the worsening availability of the original PSU for 360.

- Dashboard built into new guide. [As long as you have the PSU disc in the tray] You can launch PSU instantly from doing anything else. You could be watching a video or playing an XBLA game and be able to just launch PSU without going back to the normal navigation screen.

- 16x10 resolutions. Over VGA or HDMI, 1440x900 and 1680x1050 will be possible.

A few other interesting points are listed in the post below.

Gamerscore Blog Post

General: No Maintenance for July 11th

2008-07-11T07:12:00.001-07:00

Rather obvious at this point, but there will once again not be maintenance this week. Next week the server move will occur and after which there should hopefully be a fairly hefty update.

JP 360 Page

Japan: PC/PS2 Update for July 10th

2008-07-09T18:55:00.000-07:00

This week's update (translated by EspioKaos):

Shred the Darkness missions (sth note: July 10th to 24th)
The Fourth Seal C-S2
In order to activate the fourth confinement system, a photon generator must be installed on Rykros. A new SEED core species and a Dulk Fakis are all that stand in our way. Purify them and start the system!

Dark Crystal Seeker
New items will be added to this exchange mission.

Shred the Darkness prologue mission
This mission will be updated to give details on The Fourth Seal.

GUARDIANS Boost Road - Gurhal Drop Boost
Running from July 10 through July 24, this GBR will be for the following missions:
Roar of the Fiery Beast
Divine Offensive
The Fourth Seal

New items
Many new weapons, line shields and room decorations will be added.

Rare enemy change (sth note: July 10th to 24th)
Jaggo Actes are being released until the end of the event to coincide
with the Holy Light Festival on Neudaiz.

Having a GBR for an event is definately new. It's all still pretty much stuff for the current event though.

By the way, I've been meaning to post this since it went up, but I've been a bit busy. It shouldn't be too much longer before I'm back in the swing of things.

Update: Almost forgot to mention the current unlocks. Three more have been since the last update. 80 million is 50% off clothes and parts for 2 weeks. After this point a new group of boxes became viewable. 100 million was found to be an update to the Magashi event mission. 120 million is free Lumilass for 2 weeks.

Update: A post was put up about another billing maintenance period. Hopefully they can manage to work out all the issues they've been having over there.

Update: JP put up a page with short profiles of many of their GMs. I suppose it's mostly to familiarize players with the event BOYS and GIRLS.

Update: Link added for post update notes. There have been a few design changes and a bugfix. I might have more details on this later. I've also added a note about billing maintenance for next week. For around 3 hours on Wednesday (Tuesday US time) you will not be able to purchase a subscription. It shouldn't affect gameplay though.

On a separate note, they are opening artist submissions for this year's PSU anniversary event. The contest will work pretty much the same as last year's. July 11th through August 16th are the submission dates. They'll announce and display the results during the event in September.

JP Update Page
PSUPf Thread
PSOW UA6 Thread
Shred the Darkness on PSUP
UA6 Homepage
Billing Maintenance
Event Characters
End Maintenance
Illustration Contest

General: Mission Spotlight for This Week and More Details

2008-07-08T01:14:00.001-07:00

This week the GMs will be appearing in some runs of Bruce's Dungeon. Moatoob's GUARDIANS Branch will of course be the place to be. The applicable universes are 2 for PC/PS2 and 1 through 4 for Xbox 360.

There is now a FAQ that answers some common questions relating to the events. Most notably, it seems that European players participating will have no problems receiving real life prizes.

Update: Added a thread polling users for the next Mission Spotlight selection.

Update: The mission spotlight page has been updated appropriately for Bruce's Dungeon week. It also appears that next week's mission may end up being The Egg Theives from the current poll numbers.

Mission Spotlight Page
FAQ Thread
Mission Spotlight for July 7th to 13th
Poll Thread

General: No Maintenance for July 4th

2008-07-02T19:06:00.000-07:00

JP is reporting that there won't be maintenance this week for the 360 servers. There most likely won't be for PC/PS2 either, but this hasn't been confirmed yet.

Remember that this week will be the end of the current seasonal lobbies. Any last Jaggo Sonichi hunts or Parum Unity Souvenir purchases should be taken care of by then.

Update: EspioKaos made me realize something. Since the servers aren't going down they'd have to leave some stuff in tact, most notably the fact that the Parum Unity Souvenir will still be in the shops until July 18th. The lobbies/Jaggos should have no problem disappearing though.

Update: Seems there was not a maintenance for PC/PS2 either.

Update: Here's the link to JP's update page for June 20th again. They've updated it to mention that the Parum Unity Souvenir would still be sold until July 18th. I didn't make this clear earlier.

JP 360 No Maintenance
JP 360 Update Page for June 20th

Japan: PC/PS2 Update for July 3rd

2008-07-02T18:48:00.000-07:00

Care of EspioKaos, here is this week's update:

Event missions
Shred the Darkness continues as the next event mission is released.

Divine Offensive C-S2 (sth note: Available July 3rd to July 24th)
Reports of a massive outbreak of SEED-Forms have come in from COG Armed Servants at the Neudaiz confinement system. Intercept the monsters as they approach and above all else, protect the photon generator terminal!

The tutorial mission, "Shred the Darkness," has also been updated to add new information on the above-listed mission. (sth note: Available June 26th to July 24th)

New items
Many new weapons and line shields will drop from this new mission.

Also, there have been some milestones hit in the past week. 20 million was 2 weeks of 3 star photon fortune. 40 million was 500 ballpoint pens that will be handed out at random. 60 million was the Sonic jukebox disc. It looks like JP doesn't have much father to go until they hit the last listed milestone (80 million).

A bit earlier this week Sonic Team posted about the continuing billing issues affecting their local playerbase. I've linked this below as well. It's received two updates since and it will probably get more.

Update: Maintenance is over and the notes are out. There are a few notes about fixed and still existing bugs (mostly with the event missions). I'll elaborate more soon.

Update: Thanks to EspioKaos again for the translation of the notes:

Divine Offensive
* In the first three blocks of this mission, if you drop multiple items from your inventory consecutively, the items will not space themselves out as they would in any other mission. Instead, they all pile up on one another, making it difficult to see which items have been dropped, and likewise making it hard to pick up a dropped item.
* The bug will be addressed, but players are being asked to be careful when dropping unwanted items from their inventory.

Gol Dolva drops
* Gol Dolvas in the first event mission, Roar of the Fiery Beast, were affected by a bug which caused them to never drop anything from their specific drop chart. This has been corrected.

Various other fixes
* A bug which caused rare missions to not appear at the Ohtoku City Flyer Base and COG: Pavilion of Air mission counters has been corrected.
* Due to this and the Gol Dolva bug, rare item drop rates (only for items that drop from boxes and breakable environmental objects) have been increased in both Roar of the Fiery Beast and Divine Offensive for the duration of the event.

New bugs
* Upon returning to the lobby after completing Fires of Illusion/Phantom Fissure/Gaping Volcanic Crevasse of Illusion/whatever name you prefer when accepted from either COG: Pavilion of Air or Ohtoku Flyer Base, you will be placed in front of the PPT Spaceport, not the correct mission counter that the mission was initiated from. (Minor inconvenience, but it should be fixed in an upcoming update.)

The event bases issues should be fixed by time we receive this one. Hopefully the rare mission issues will be corrected by time we receive it in Neudaiz GBR.

JP Update Page
PSOW Thread
PSUP Thread
UA6 Homepage
PSOW UA6 Thread
PSUP UA6 Section
Billing Issues
Game Server Update

General: PSU Calendar Wallpaper for July

2008-07-01T19:26:00.000-07:00

This month's English version of the calendar has been posted. Only changes this time include the normal addition of artist credit as well as the English AOTI logo. The holiday highlight was also changed to something a bit more appropriate (4th of July).

Wallpaper Page

General: PSU Weekly Mission Spotlight

2008-07-01T01:49:00.000-07:00

For the past few weeks, GM RubyEclipse has been taking user opinions on various missions that players would be interested to play outside of White Beast (which as of exactly 7 months ago has all but taken over much of the interest in the game). Recently it was announced that these missions will take spotlight in rotation from week to week.

This week (June 30th to July 6th) features the Raffon Field Base. The focus is on the missions Plains Overlord and Sleeping Warriors. Players that run with GMs during this time have the chance of winning some real life PSU merchandise.

Oddly enough there hasn't been a news post yet, but they put the section so close to the message board link that it was hard not to notice it. I've linked that as well as the forum announcement.

Mission Spotlight Page
Announcement Thread

Japan: PSU Calendar Wallpaper for July

2008-06-27T22:49:00.000-07:00

July's calendar is now posted. Linked below you'll find it in various resolutions.

PSU Calendar

Japan: Developer Interview from Dengeki PlayStation

2008-06-25T19:33:00.000-07:00

EspioKaos has posted a thread in a few places about an article recently featured in a gaming mag from Japan (the same host of the recent event there). This breaks down some very interesting tidbits about future events and content.

Those of you who are enthusiastic about shopkeeping or leveling PAs should definately take a look. There is also an interesting tidbit about introducing GM Live Support over there. It would only be once a week in their case, but it's definately cool to see something that started on our side make it over there. If they manage to share some of our concerns, I'm sure that it will only help progress. As far as I know, they don't even have an official forum for PSU to discuss things on (so I imagine it will help their interactions even more).

PSOW Thread
PSUP Thread

Xbox 360: Demo Cleanup

2008-06-25T18:59:00.000-07:00

The Xbox 360 demo for PSU has long been a place filled with tons of spam and other disappointing social aspects. It even got a portion to itself as part of a news segment on one of my local news affiliates. There is some humor to be found in the clip, but generally this type of behavior (serious or not) has been making the decision for some users to upgrade to the real servers difficult. They think that these activities also exist in the actual game (which simply isn't true). Consistantly there are posts asking whether these acts appear in the full version (to which many reply that they do not).

There has been renewed interest as of late in clearing up some of the negativity surrounding the demo. A GM and a few mods entered it recently and started cleaning it up. They have been continuing since on a daily or almost daily basis to lay down bans on users acting far more inappropriately than they should. It happens to be a much nicer place now than it was a few weeks ago.

The other nice thing about it is that to play the demo a Gold subscription is required (unlike the actual game). It is unlikely that many of these users will return under a new gamertag since they would have to basically pay again or switch accounts just to continue playing the demo.

There are a few reasons that I decided to post about this (besides being relevant to the game). One is that those of you reading this that thought Sega didn't support the demo can know that there is some action going on there. This is merely a taste of the greater focus on getting rid of troublemakers on the main servers (where a larger and more complex variety of claims are now investigated). Another reason is that this is a good example of how SoA's community interactions and service have been branching out. A year or two ago there was nowhere near this level of ability to deal with bad users and thus there was a great deal of tolerance for actions that won't be at this point.

Update: Well it seems RubyEclipse is letting some of the numbers out. There have been an impressive 500+ purged over around the past week. I really need an appropriate picture to go along with this statement...

KOMO News Article and Video

General: Looking Ahead to July

2008-06-25T18:40:00.000-07:00

It seems as if July is going to be rough around the edges.

First off, as mentioned before, Sega will be moving offices. The exact times have not been stated yet, but we are looking at a possible 2 day span between July 14th and 16th when the servers will be down. You can find out a bit more in chillaura's responses to the thread linked below. Earlier in the month (July 2nd to the 7th), Sega Support will be unavailable. All open tickets will be held until the 8th. Their databases and the forums will still be available, so you can try finding the help you need there. Linked below is the announcement on Sega's help page.

This next one is what has been causing more than a few people to get upset. The new billing site has recently been posted, however MAG will not be returning this week. It may return next week (July 4th), but it's also likely that they will have to hold off until after they finish moving (July 18th). I believe that one issue is that they don't want to break up the extension during the move. The other unfortunate news is that the next solid content update may also not be until the 18th. I'll of course update if there are any changes, but this is all we know for now.

Update: I forgot to mention that chillaura posted a response later in the thread. That is linked below now.

Update: The announcement has been posted on the main site about the server outage time. It will be from 2 AM Pacific Time on July 14th until an as of yet unnoted time on July 16th. Link added.

Update: JP just posted a page about the extended downtime. They are estimating 6 PM on July 14th to 11 PM on July 16th. This would be in GMT+9 (Tokyo). I'll make the conversions in a bit.

Update: Pacific Time is in Daylight Savings right now, so it would essentially be GMT-7 instead of GMT-8. This would make a 16 hour time difference in Japan's favor. In current Pacific Time, the range would be from 2 AM on July 14th until 7 AM on July 16th. It's still mentioned that it's only an estimation and that the servers could be closing a bit earlier or opening a bit later.

Support Offline
PSU Downtime
Nothing for June 27th
chillaura's Response
PSU Downtime Official Announcement
JP 360 Downtime Announcement

General: Maintenance for June 27th

2008-06-25T16:41:00.000-07:00

It would seem that there will be no maintenance for 360 servers according to Japan.

However, it seems there may still be for PC/PS2 servers. I know that they are reactivating authentication checks this week to once again completely tie together billing and the game servers. Once I know for sure if and when there will be downtime I'll update this post.

There is some unfortunate news about the coming weeks that I will be posting soon, but I wanted to get this out of the way at least.

Update: There is in fact a maintenance for tonight for PC/PS2. They will be restoring billing authentication, so you need to make sure that you have an active account to be able to play again afterwards. Links added.

JP 360 No Maintenance
PC/PS2 Server Maintenance
PlaySega

PS2/PC: New Billing System

2008-06-24T20:41:00.001-07:00

After some recent downtime, the new billing system is up and working. Free play is still active, however the authentication servers will be reactivated next maintenance. You will be unable to play if you don't have an account active after the 26th.

This new system should be free of many of the errors that plagued the old system. It looks very similar to the old one, so there won't be a need to adjust to the new one. If there are any loose problems to be resolved, make sure to contact Sega Support. More details about the new system can be found in chillaura's post below.

Announcement Thread
PlaySega
Sega Support

Japan: PC/PS2 Update for June 26th

2008-06-24T02:45:00.000-07:00

This update is a decent sized one to kick off a new story based event that closes in on the end of Episode 3. Here's the breakdown (I'll be using EspioKaos's translation for the event name):

- Shred the Darkness (June 26th to July 24th)
- Four event missions (June 26th to July 24th, read more at the links below)
- Sonic/Shred the Darkness lobby (June 26th to July 10th) [PSUv1]
- Holy Light Festa lobby (June 26th to July 24th) [PSUv1]
- New weapons and armor
- New room items
- Light Festival Decor in Variety Shop (June 26th to July 24th)
- Small TECHNICs system update

It would seem that the Sonic seasonal event will be continuing for a couple more weeks. I thought one week seemed a bit short on that one. Otherwise it looks like the next month will mostly be taken up by the current major event. As usual, more will be added to the event later on.

The system update is a bit of a graphical one. If you have an attack TECHNIC of level 31 or more, it will be displayed as the equivalent level 21 version to the members of your party. In effect, you will also only see the level 21 effects from your teammates' TECHNICs if they are over this boundry.

Update: Sonic Team is holding another free PSU weekend as part of their PS 20th Anniversary Campaign. Link added.

Update: Seems that maintenance will be started two hours earlier this time around. Link added.

Update: Maintenance is over and the end notes are out. Game version is now 2.0008.3. Universes 24-26 have had their names changed to reflect the event name. The system update to downscale the effects of those viewing TECHNICs as a third party has been applied. There is also mention of another machinegun glitch fix.

Update: UA6 has now started and the homepage has been updated with all the sections made available. They also just mentioned another bug fix on the game update page. This one appears to be a fix to a text input issue with Windows Vista.

Update: In a new separate posting, the team has noted that trying to access the rare mission on Neudaiz (the one that resembles Caves from PSO) from a certain counter is an issue. Note 23758: Let's check eventually on the EN servers to see if there are any problems accessing Forest of Illusion or Phantom Fissure (our possible name for Caves) from any of the counters they should be accessible from.

JP Update Page
Ultimate Attack 6 Homepage
PSOW UA6 Thread
PSUP UA6 Section
Free Weekend
Maintenance Time Change
Game Server Update
UA6 Homepage
Rare Mission Bug

Japan: OST for AOTI and PSP

2008-06-21T17:50:00.000-07:00

EspioKaos brings news that a soundtrack has finally been announced for Ambition of the Illuminus. It will also contain tracks from the upcoming Phantasy Star Portable. The planned release date is July 31st (the same as PSP).

Announcement
PSOW Thread

General: Happy Birthday Sonic! Event

2008-06-19T18:55:00.000-07:00

The GMs are bringing back Sonic's birthday event from last year. On Monday the 23rd, Sonic and Tails will be roaming around the lobbies at various times during the day.

Like last year, they will be handing out statues to those who celebrate by saying "Happy Birthday Sonic!". However, instead of Sonic again, they will be handing out both Amy and Knuckles statues to each participant. These will probably (like last time) be distributed during a later maintenance period to your common box.

Presently Amy and Knuckles statues are only available on the 360 servers (as far as EN ones go anyway). PC/PS2 users that have been waiting for their chance at them now have it.

Update: RubyEclipse has stated that saying the phrase at any time of day (Pacific time) on Monday will net you the statues.

Update: RubyEclipse has posted an entry over on SoA's blog about the event and Sonic's birthday in general. This one is prior to the event, but you can see a little bit of footage from last year's.

Update: Kotaku (probably coincidentally) also makes an appropriately titled thread.

Happy Birthday Sonic!
Discussion Thread
Blog Post
Kotaku's Post

General: Update for June 20th

2008-06-18T23:03:00.000-07:00

A little late on the announcement, but here we go:

- Sonic lobby (June 20th to July 4th) [PSUv1]
- Parum Unification Commemoration lobbies (June 20th to July 4th) [PSUv1]
- Parum Unification Souvenir room decoration in Variety Shop (June 20th to July 4th) [PSUv1]
- Casino rotation

This picks up two of JP's most current lobby designs (May 22nd and June 19th). Instead of having them up for a week a piece, we get both of them simultaneously for two weeks. The JP page also mentions Casino additions, but there is a chance it might just be a rotation. We'll see come Friday for sure.

There are a few bits of possible future update information floating around. The first is that we may see the MAG extension up on the 27th, although it could be held until July 4th. The next level cap update was also mentioned as possible for July 4th.

Looking farther down the road, there are also more bits relating to future events. Neudaiz GBR should be happing soon, followed by our version of Dengeki in August, followed most likely by Parum GBR. Also, Sega of America is moving offices in July. They are looking at upwards of two days of PSU downtime while they move the servers over to the new building. This will be around the middle of the month, although full details will be coming once they verify the dates. I'll post as soon as I know more, but consider the 14th through the 16th for right now.

Update: English update page posted. Doesn't mention the casino stuff, but maybe any additions relate to the events. Since AotI's release, the music for an event will often accompany it with a disc at the Casino.

Update: 360 maintenance end note posted. Also, the Casino did have an actual addition. It's PSU Disc 10 (Parum).

Update: Al Tippies are fixed after this update. Now you can trade, drop, and sell them.

EN Update Page
JP 360 Update Page
Room Decoration at PSOW
PSU Downtime
JP 360 Maintenance End

Japan: PC/PS2 Update for June 19th

2008-06-13T12:06:00.000-07:00

Not quite much, just a seasonal event:

- Sonic lobby (June 19th to 26th)

As with last year, this is to celebrate Sonic's birthday (June 23rd). I'm pretty sure we'll see this EN side this week too.

Update: Link added to a notice about a billing oriented maintenance this week.

Update: Maintenance end note posted.

Update: Notice posted about GM event.

Update: A page has been posted for the upcoming story based event. I'll have more information on this soon.

JP Update Page
Billing Maintenance
Maintenance End
Sonic's Birthday GM Event
Ultimate Attack 6 Homepage

General: Update for June 13th

2008-06-10T10:35:00.000-07:00

It looks like we're going to get another update rather soon. Not too big, but still appreciated:

- New field (Il Cabo Area)
- New midpoint lobby (Il Cabo Base)
- Lonely Laboratory C-S (Underground Lake to Il Cabo Base)
- New room items

This update seems to pick up the stuff we didn't get yet from JP's Feb 14th update.

Update: Link to end of maintenance page added.

EN Update Page
JP 360 Update Page
Lonely Laboratory on PSUP
JP Maintenance End

Japan: PC/PS2 Update for June 12th

2008-06-09T10:32:00.001-07:00

The notes for this week are out, so here's the list:

- Item Exchange Mission at Gawik's Pub
- New weapons
- New Casino items
- New items at the Dallgun Viewing Plaza NPC shop (the one that sells boards)

Not a big update, but an interesting one. I was just wondering yesterday when they would make use of the bartender NPC.

Update: There is a maintenance on Tuesday for the billing system.

Update: Maintenance is over and they mentioned a small design change. Hyuga Ryght is said to have had changes to his equipment.

JP Update Page
Billing Maintenance
Maintenance End

PS2/PC: Team Forever Cup Time Attack Event

2008-06-06T05:34:00.000-07:00

I really meant to post this earlier, but my schedule has been a bit weird lately. Anyway, board member Aeryn Z. (also known as Lil' Zael) is hosting a pretty large event later today. Here are some details:

Date: June 6th, 2008
Time: 2 PM PST, 5 PM EST, 10 PM UTC (Check for Daylight Savings mistakes)
Place: Seabed Plant Base (Parum) on Universe 9
Requirements: Level 75+, 4 man teams, and other various restrictions
Prizes: 3 million each for first, 2 million each for second, 1 million each for third, 500k each for fourth, and everyone else gets 100k for entering. There is also a large pool of weapons that will be handed out as prizes to the top competitors.

Apologies on the late notice, but if you can still manage to get a team together in time go for it! Visit the link below to read all the details and register your team.

Discussion Thread

General: Update for June 6th

2008-06-03T12:47:00.000-07:00

The content update page has been posted for this coming maintenance. Here's the short of it:

- Wedding lobbies (June 6th to 20th) [PSUv1]
- Episode 3 Chapter 4
- The Dark God C-S (Rykros midpoint lobby)
- New variety shop items
- Casino rotation
- PA leveling update [PSUv1]

Seems we won't have the Parum Unification event this year. I guess with this current story mission it wouldn't make much sense to. I'm assuming the cake decoration will be returning to the variety shop like before. I'm honestly not very sure on the posted new PA leveling rates. It's true that these estimations have been making the rounds for awhile, but I've heard that they may be off. What should be clear though is they will definately be much faster. We should also be receiving the lobby area that came with Seal of the Dark God in JP, although it isn't listed here.

I've heard they are planning to get out a patch for PC/PS2 this week. We'll probably know more as it arrives, but hopefully it will pick up the missing system updates that the 360 received in it's title update before MAG.

There may be some other minor system changes that weren't mentioned. I'll be sure to look around after maintenance to see if anything's slipped in though.

This update seems to consist mostly of JP's Jan 10th update minus MAG'. It also pulls in what I think is the last big thing from their Jan 31st update (the story mission). There are still minor things from those updates (Mt. Ohtoku box for example) that I'm not sure if we have yet, but if not we'll get them soon enough. The PA update comes from their Feb 28th balance update and is the last major thing from it. The very last thing from the rebalance (Guntecher attack TECHNIC PA cap increase) will probably come with the balance update that includes the master classes.

Update: The JP page has been posted. It's pretty much the same outside of a few bits. They only seem to mention the cake (not a whole new set of items) and again they only specify that bullet PAs will get much more exp (not specific multipliers). I say it again that it is possible that we've already received the miscellaneous items from this update, but if not it's assured that we'll see them sometime in the future. I'll look into it and if we haven't gotten the items yet I'll check after the update happens. As a last note, JP also passed on mentioning the new lobby area (although they did post about it when it first came out on their PC/PS2 servers).

Update: It seems that in the header the JP page mentions some added system changes. It alludes to the rare mission finding update, but that one in particular is not listed in the article itself.

Update: It would seem that the JP page has been corrected. They removed mention of the rare mission finding update from their overview, so I've taken that bit out from this post.

Update: PC users saw a small patch recently (a day before maintenance), but PS2 users did not. All I could notice in the PSU folder was that some gameguard files seemed to have a current modify date. Usually it patches itself before the client opens, though this time it might have just been a file that PSU interfaces with that was changed.

Update: Maintenance is over and the patch for PC/PS2 did in fact go through. It consists of at least the colored meseta update, although some of the other changes from the latest 360 title update may have been included as well. Hopefully there will be some sort of patch notes out soon. The only change in the variety shop is the addition of the seasonal wedding cake decoration. I've noticed the music disc for Marriage is also out in the Casino. The mission to return the photon eraser from firebreak is now listed under the 'Old Event Missions' category.

Update: Episode 3 Chapter 4 is the beginning of some bonuses for replaying story missions. They are being detailed in the link to PSUP below.

Update: I've put up a link to a thread where some of the other minor changes are being discussed. They mostly concern weapon names and tradability so far. Also, there have been many reports that the new PA leveling rates are much different (much greater so far as I've seen) than the speculation and English update page would have someone believe. I've linked to a thread were people can post some of the rates they've been seeing since the update.

Update: Looks like there have been some Lou changes as well. This may be the update that JP received on May 8th to adjust Lou and Karen. Looking back on this update, I believe we received the other system updates too. The GH490's SUV weapon was fixed (it will probably work when it comes out), The Dark God had some fixes and there was a bit of reorganization of missions at the Colony 5th floor. I still have to see if the changes to Tyrant Spadac and some AotI drops are in there, so this part is still just speculation.

Update: There seems to have been a change to at least one of the White Beast maps (at least one fix was made to a situation where a key would drop before the enemies were destroyed). This mission and Dancing Birds were said to have had changes in JP a few weeks ago. In the same update, Deljabans in Dark Satellite no longer would use Megid when silenced. Scarred Planet boxes were given an improved set of items, Grass Assassins had some changes to their drops, and standby missions had some minor changes. These are yet to be confirmed though. Apparently that GH490 fix was actually in this update for JP.

Unless a proper set of notes is released, I may eventually have to list all the system changes that we hadn't received yet and confirm each if it was added or not.

Update: I almost forgot to mention, I believe the PC/PS2 servers may still be in a free state. If you have been charged this past week, please contact Sega Support to attempt to resolve the matter. It would seem that the new billing system has been delayed a bit. It'll probably arrive in the next week or two. I've heard that this new system may provide the team with some more features as well as players with more payment options.

Update: The kubara version of Ryusaikanoh is now correctly known as Ryusaikanoc (instead of Ryusaikanoh). It can be dropped and traded now as well. Unfortunately, you still have to search for Ryusaikanoh in the shops to find it (instead of the corrected spelling). To fix it, you'll have to take it out of your shop or storage and then put it back in if you need to.

Update: I can say with pretty good confidence that all of the stuff from the 360 title update notes apply to PC/PS2 now. A few of the points I wasn't sure on only applied to My Room shops. This was mentioned in the JP notes, but not the EN ones.

Update: Jenkel Arms CV is still missing from the parts shops on the Colony and Parum. It has been missing since MAG ended on the 360. The sun in the new Falz lobby flickers pretty fast on frameskip 0 and 2 (but not on 1 and 3). This was fixed only a week after the lobby came out in JP (along with some other minor system changes), but surprisingly the fix did not come on the release of ours. This applies to PC, 360 (which is on FS0), and even PS2 (which is FS2).

Update: EspioKaos is saying that Deljabans still Megid. The Dark God fixes might actually not be in the update yet. We think they may have to do with the breakability of certain pillars on S difficulty. He's also noted that he thinks there's been a change to drops from pillars and debris since the first few days of the mission being out. It could just be coincidence though.

Update: I've been able to confirm that the Tyrant Spadac grind values have been updated. Generally there have been increases to the PP values for each grind level. Like the Ryusaikanoc, you'll have to refresh the item by taking it out of your shop or storage and then returning it there if need be. This was in the same JP update as a mention of some changed AotI drops. There have been some reports of things like people finding materials in unexpected places as well as some unprecedented elemental stats on certain line shields. It's possible that these fall under that update, so it may have actually gone through. I can't be positive that this is the case, but I don't believe I've seen any other updates mentioned that these types of changes could be listed under on the JP servers.

Update: It looks like the rare mission finding update has made it in after all. Here (once again) are the details:

* The method of getting a rare free mission has changed slightly. With this update, your chances of getting the mission will increase if you have more players in your party. Furthermore, the amount of time it takes to clear a mission will have an effect on your chances of a rare mission appearing. If a mission is cleared in less than five minutes, there is no chance of a rare mission appearing. From five minutes and up, however, the longer a mission takes, the better the chances of a rare mission appearing. Note that anywhere over 30 minutes will not increase the chances of an appearance above the maximum probability.
- Only the party leader will be able to see the rare mission appear. [Added note]
- Also, if players join mid-mission, in order for their play time to go toward increasing the chances of finding a rare mission, they must have been in the mission for at least 80% of the total time spent. [Added note]

It would seem now there is no reason to disband the party to check the counters. I also want to say that the AotI drop changes that happened in the same update as the Tyrant Spadac changes are in as well. This is again not official, but I want to say with pretty good certainty that it is based on some stuff I've seen recently.

Update: Japan has finally confirmed on their Xbox 360 page that the rare mission finding update was made available on June 6th.

Update Page
JP 360 Update Page
JP 360 Maintenance End
Prior 360 Title Update
Story Subplots on PSUP
Update Discussion Thread on PSUP
PA Leveling Speeds on PSUP
Lou Changes Thread

JP 360 Rare Mission Discovery Changes

Japan: PC/PS2 Update for June 5th

2008-06-03T05:29:00.000-07:00

Here's a breakdown of what's coming to the JP servers this week:

- Wedding lobbies (June 5th to 19th) [PSUv1]
- Distribution of prizes from the recent GM casino event
* Prizes will be available in your common box until June 31st
* Pictures of the room decoration prizes can be found at the link to the event page below
- Two competitive Dengeki missions will be redone and rereleased
- Wedding Cake room decoration available in the variety shop (June 5th to 26th) [PSUv1]
- Casino additions

I hope that the rerelease of older event missions is starting to become a trend. I wonder if we'll see missions from even older events released in the future.

Update: In the after maintenance notice, it was mentioned that players have been compensated for items that were lost quite awhile ago. A page has also been posted about the recent casino event and some various statistics relating to it.

Update: Added a link to another notice about the recent technical issues affecting the site and servers.

JP Update Page
GM Casino Event
PSOW Thread
Maintenance End
GM Casino Event Report
Technical Issues Notice

General: PSU Calendar Wallpaper for June

2008-06-02T20:11:00.000-07:00

This month's English version of the calendar has been posted. Pretty much the same this time around, just with the logo replaced and some credits added.

Wallpaper Page

Japan: PSU Calendar Wallpaper for June

2008-05-31T22:08:00.000-07:00

The June calendar went up recently. You can find it in various resolutions at the link below.

PSU Calendar