There hasn't been much in the way of normal updates so far this year. 2009 began with the Winter Mission Carnival, and Shred the Darkness came only a few short weeks after that.
Now, it's on to the third event of the year. Two new missions, "Supervisor's Edict" and "The Protectors Gamma", will kick off what was dubbed the Second Anniversary Thanks Festa on the Japanese version of the game. Additional event missions should appear in the coming weeks.
In addition to the new event, the main Shred the Darkness rewards will finally appear in this week's update! The reward period will run for three weeks, ending on July 24th.
Other miscellaneous changes in this week's maintenance include the (late) return of the Sonic lobbies, a Desert Arms Shop update, a casino rotation, and some drop table changes. Not a bad update overall -- but it will be interesting to see how the recent event-driven nature of the game will affect population levels once this latest event finishes up.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Everything's Back to Normal
Straight from the official forums -
No maintenance this week.
Dear Sega of Japan,
Are you there? It's me, Phantasy Star Universe.
No maintenance this week.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Windows 7 and PSU (RC2 Edition)
In January, I blogged a little about my attempts to run PSU in Windows 7. The game did not run properly with the Windows 7 Beta, mostly due to the fact that GameGuard would not start. Fortunately, that problem was solved by tweaking the GameGuard configuration, but it only worked on x64 (64-bit) versions of Windows 7.
Earlier this week, there was a rumor floating around on the official PSU forums that INCA Internet, the company that manages nProtect GameGuard, had released a patch that added support for Windows 7. Players were reporting that this new patch allowed them to play PSU without problems on Windows 7 Release Candidate 2 build 7201.
To test this rumor, I installed a clean copy of PSU on my copy of Windows 7 RC2. Unlike the players in the forum thread, though, I'm running build 7229 on my system. I managed to get GameGuard and PSU to run on the first attempt. I thought I was in the clear after that, but once GameGuard patched itself to the "Windows 7 supported" version, I was unable to get PSU to run anymore. Instead, this error message appeared:
Reverting to the previous workaround allowed me to run the game normally.
As far as running the game on build 7201 is concerned, I have no idea if that works or not. If you're running a build newer than 7201, beware.
Earlier this week, there was a rumor floating around on the official PSU forums that INCA Internet, the company that manages nProtect GameGuard, had released a patch that added support for Windows 7. Players were reporting that this new patch allowed them to play PSU without problems on Windows 7 Release Candidate 2 build 7201.
To test this rumor, I installed a clean copy of PSU on my copy of Windows 7 RC2. Unlike the players in the forum thread, though, I'm running build 7229 on my system. I managed to get GameGuard and PSU to run on the first attempt. I thought I was in the clear after that, but once GameGuard patched itself to the "Windows 7 supported" version, I was unable to get PSU to run anymore. Instead, this error message appeared:
Reverting to the previous workaround allowed me to run the game normally.
As far as running the game on build 7201 is concerned, I have no idea if that works or not. If you're running a build newer than 7201, beware.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
The JP Site Is Always Right
When PSU GM Edward announced earlier this week that the non-item STD bonuses would be coming this Friday, a number of players (including myself) were skeptical.
That's because the original update announcement on Sega of Japan's Xbox 360 PSU site said that we wouldn't be getting those rewards. As I've probably mentioned before on this blog, when it comes to update announcements, the Sega of Japan site is almost never wrong.
So imagine my lack of surprise when Edward had to post this retraction on the official forums last night. For some reason, that post seemed to annoy a lot of players (all you have to do to see that is read the rest of the thread). I don't understand why, though. Sega of America and Sega of Japan reps were saying two completely different things, and we should all know by now that when this happens, the Sega of Japan information is usually right. It's unfortunate, but that's the way it is.
I don't blame Sega of America or the GMs for this, since this is clearly the work of their idiot Japanese overlords. However, I do think it would be nice if the two sides could agree on the information they provide to players. To release two contradictory statements as they did this week is unprofessional, and only serves to confuse and annoy the hell out of players.
That's because the original update announcement on Sega of Japan's Xbox 360 PSU site said that we wouldn't be getting those rewards. As I've probably mentioned before on this blog, when it comes to update announcements, the Sega of Japan site is almost never wrong.
So imagine my lack of surprise when Edward had to post this retraction on the official forums last night. For some reason, that post seemed to annoy a lot of players (all you have to do to see that is read the rest of the thread). I don't understand why, though. Sega of America and Sega of Japan reps were saying two completely different things, and we should all know by now that when this happens, the Sega of Japan information is usually right. It's unfortunate, but that's the way it is.
I don't blame Sega of America or the GMs for this, since this is clearly the work of their idiot Japanese overlords. However, I do think it would be nice if the two sides could agree on the information they provide to players. To release two contradictory statements as they did this week is unprofessional, and only serves to confuse and annoy the hell out of players.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Update for June 12th
GM Edward@Sega has posted information on next weeks update.
Highlights of the update are:
Not bad, it's been awhile since the game had a decent update.
Update (5/8): The Japanese Xbox360 site (translated) has been updated with information about the June 12th update. And it brings bad news! It seems this update will not have any of the two week rewards (3* luck for all ,half price clothes, free makeovers, 20% synthesis boost, 15% grind boost, 10 silver casino coins and photon arts exp boost).
Pretty disappointing but at least we are getting the Innocent Girl side mission right?
Update 2 (5/9): Apparently GM Edward@Sega said he would contact Sonic Team yesterday and today he has posted that the two week rewards will be coming this Friday.
This is good news. I hope all of the STD rewards are there Friday but I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't.
Update 3 (5/11): Well it seems GM Edward@Sega has confirmed that we will not be getting the two week rewards this Friday. But now it seems that when we do get them they will last for three weeks.
Well I'll believe it when I see it now, because all I'm expecting now is more delays and only two weeks of the rewards whenever we get them.
Highlights of the update are:
- STD item rewards
- Side Story Mission: Innocent Girl
- Level cap raised to 160
Not bad, it's been awhile since the game had a decent update.
Update (5/8): The Japanese Xbox360 site (translated) has been updated with information about the June 12th update. And it brings bad news! It seems this update will not have any of the two week rewards (3* luck for all ,half price clothes, free makeovers, 20% synthesis boost, 15% grind boost, 10 silver casino coins and photon arts exp boost).
Pretty disappointing but at least we are getting the Innocent Girl side mission right?
Update 2 (5/9): Apparently GM Edward@Sega said he would contact Sonic Team yesterday and today he has posted that the two week rewards will be coming this Friday.
This is good news. I hope all of the STD rewards are there Friday but I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't.
Update 3 (5/11): Well it seems GM Edward@Sega has confirmed that we will not be getting the two week rewards this Friday. But now it seems that when we do get them they will last for three weeks.
Well I'll believe it when I see it now, because all I'm expecting now is more delays and only two weeks of the rewards whenever we get them.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
JP PSU Cash Shop Debut
We mentioned way back in January that the PSU "expansion" update would introduce some type of additional pay-to-play game features. With this week's JP PSU content update, we now know all the details of the new "Guardians Cash" system.
Sonic Team has posted all the information you need to know about Guardians Cash on the official JP PC/PS2 PSU Web site (untranslated). Of particular interest are the cost and purchase options of Guardians Cash, which have been posted here (untranslated).
Each Guardians Cash (GC) "point" costs exactly one yen, with the exception of the last three options which have some kind of discount applied. Those prices apparently already have the tax included. As for purchase options, there are five. Players can buy as few as 500 GC (500 yen = $5.209USD), or as much as 10500 GC (10000 yen = $104.172USD = holy shit!!!).
Here's the kicker, though. Currently, Guardians Cash can be used on only two missions. These missions are started from a special part of the Guardians' Colony, and feature special bonuses or exclusive items. Players can pay individually for each mission and/or pay for other players to join in the mission as well. Sonic Team has posted the costs for each of the two missions, and they're rather shocking. The cheapest charge is for an individual player to run a C-rank mission with three other players that are also paying. That costs 30 GC (30 yen = $0.313USD) or 40 GC (40 yen = $0.417USD), depending on which of the two missions you run.
The most expensive payment -- for a party leader to cover the costs of all players on an S-rank mission run -- is 200 GC (200 yen = $2.084USD) or 400 GC (400 yen = $4.169USD), depending on the mission. That's downright ridiculous when you consider that we already pay a monthly fee of $10 just to get access to the servers! By just running these pay-to-play missions a few times, you could effectively double your monthly payment! If Sega charged for every mission the way they are for these "bonus" missions, I'd be living in a cardboard box by now (or just not playing PSU).
It will certainly be interesting to see if the Japanese players go for this. If they don't (and I really hope they don't), this little addition won't make it across the Pacific if and when the "expansion" update comes stateside.
Sonic Team has posted all the information you need to know about Guardians Cash on the official JP PC/PS2 PSU Web site (untranslated). Of particular interest are the cost and purchase options of Guardians Cash, which have been posted here (untranslated).
Each Guardians Cash (GC) "point" costs exactly one yen, with the exception of the last three options which have some kind of discount applied. Those prices apparently already have the tax included. As for purchase options, there are five. Players can buy as few as 500 GC (500 yen = $5.209USD), or as much as 10500 GC (10000 yen = $104.172USD = holy shit!!!).
Here's the kicker, though. Currently, Guardians Cash can be used on only two missions. These missions are started from a special part of the Guardians' Colony, and feature special bonuses or exclusive items. Players can pay individually for each mission and/or pay for other players to join in the mission as well. Sonic Team has posted the costs for each of the two missions, and they're rather shocking. The cheapest charge is for an individual player to run a C-rank mission with three other players that are also paying. That costs 30 GC (30 yen = $0.313USD) or 40 GC (40 yen = $0.417USD), depending on which of the two missions you run.
The most expensive payment -- for a party leader to cover the costs of all players on an S-rank mission run -- is 200 GC (200 yen = $2.084USD) or 400 GC (400 yen = $4.169USD), depending on the mission. That's downright ridiculous when you consider that we already pay a monthly fee of $10 just to get access to the servers! By just running these pay-to-play missions a few times, you could effectively double your monthly payment! If Sega charged for every mission the way they are for these "bonus" missions, I'd be living in a cardboard box by now (or just not playing PSU).
It will certainly be interesting to see if the Japanese players go for this. If they don't (and I really hope they don't), this little addition won't make it across the Pacific if and when the "expansion" update comes stateside.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)