The Great Gurhalian Cup Returns

Thanksgiving is fast approaching. You might remember that around this time last year, PSU GMs announced a new time attack competition known as the Great Gurhalian Cup. It was basically a GM-run event in which teams of players raced one another through various missions, in a tournament-bracket format, to be declared "time attack champions" and win some prizes.

If you were wondering whether or not the competition would return in 2009, you were probably the only one. But don't worry! The second annual Gurhalian Cup time attack tournament has been announced on the official PSU forums. The team rules have changed for this year's competition, and they're pretty confusing, so be sure to read the announcement thread if you're interested in entering the contest.

Overall, I think it's nice that Sega of America does things like this to mix up the grind and generate some renewed interest in the game. However, as I've said all along, events like these really don't excuse the lack of content updates.

Last year, PSU GMs said that the Gurhalian Cup would not interrupt regularly scheduled content updates. A lot of people (including myself) were skeptical, but fortunately we were proven wrong. This year's event actually doesn't start until January 2010 -- hopefully the game will see some new content before then. At this point in the game's lifetime, when a lot of players are leaving, it would be devastating to use this event as a method of holding players over until the next update.

Here's hoping that we'll see new content alongside the Gurhalian Cup in 2010!

Little Bit Ridiculous

A point of contention in the PSU community lately has been whether or not to offer digital downloads of the PSU client to potential players/subscribers. I suppose this is because hard copies of the game have become incredibly hard to find, and console players whose discs are failing after long periods of use are losing out.

On the official Sega forums, GM Edward has started a thread in which he asks for suggestions on a digital download feature for PSU. Personally, I think it's a great idea -- it could provide a way to get new players into the game -- but that's not why I decided to write this blog entry.

A post in the thread shows that you can still get hard copies of the original PSU game on Amazon -- for a price. I couldn't believe what they were charging for the Xbox 360 version, so I had to check it out myself.

(Click the image to view it full size)

That's right. Now you too can own the original Phantasy Star Universe for the low, low price of $113.99! Honestly, who would be stupid enough to buy this?