Explain This to Me, Please

Yesterday, PSU GM Edward officially announced that Guardians Cash would not be coming to the US/EU supplemental update. He also mentioned that the PSU team was working with Sonic Team to bring Guardians Cash content to the US/EU game without requiring players to pay extra for it.

I thought this was the best possible decision Sega could make regarding the whole Guardians Cash issue. It keeps the playing field level and allows everyone to earn the content without having to spend lots of extra money.

That didn't stop the idiots from posting complaints on the official forums. The author of this thread whined that Guardians Cash would be a good idea for the US/EU community and that Sega is stupid for dropping it. I've taken the liberty of cleaning up the spelling and grammar of the post so that readers can actually understand it.

I want [GC]. My reasoning is:

1) [It's] optional;
2) [Sega] will make more $$$;
3) [Not everyone] is lucky enough [to] get high % [weapons] and armor and [weapons]/armors that [you] find can only go so high.;
4) [People] want to grind their [weapons] and change their elements and many have already invested in [GC].;
5) [Other] reasons which escape me [at the moment].

Maybe I read this post wrong, but this guy seems to be implying that the game would be better if we could all just buy great weapons and/or armor. I can say with certainty that this person is wrong. The ability to buy weapons and armor with real money would just make everybody look and play like everybody else. If you want to find good weapons and armor, play the game. If the weapon or armor you like doesn't have element percents suitable for you, play the game some more until you find what you want. I thought this was common sense.

Also, nobody has invested in Guardians Cash. I'm not quite sure how this is even possible since Sega has not made Guardians Cash available for purchase in the US or EU. Maybe some players bought low % weapons in anticipation of being able to upgrade them with Guardians Cash, but I wouldn't consider that an investment. (At this point, I would consider that stupid.) By the way, did you read the post that says Guardians Cash isn't coming in the supplemental update?

Sega has already stated that Guardians Cash content would come to the game in other ways, such as in mission rewards. Players that ask for it now are just lazy and don't want to work for the content. You can't have good weapons or armor without playing the game (and getting a little lucky). You can't have a good grinded weapon without taking the risk to grind it. In my opinion, that's how it should be -- even though the system is flawed and probably should be overhauled a little bit. Since Guardians Cash was announced I've always thought that it was a stupid way to cater to the lazy players. Fortunately, Sega has decided against adding it to our game.

It's Official: No Guardians Cash

When the supplemental update was announced for the Japanese PC/PS2 servers way back in January of 2009, one of the most controversial aspects of the update quickly became Guardians Cash and the addition of a cash shop to PSU. For many months, debate raged among US/EU players as to whether or not Guardians Cash would be implemented when the supplemental update made its way to the West.

Today, Sega of America confirmed that Guardians Cash is dead on arrival to the US/EU game. It will not be part of the supplemental update coming later this summer.

On the official forums, PSU GM Edward announced the decision not to implement Guardians Cash, stating that the combination of Xbox Live complications and player feedback drove the change:

From a community standpoint, charging microtransactions for features that affect the game, on top of a monthly subscription, seemed unfair & unwise for our region. I think the community here expressed that, and this was the overall feeling of our team as well.

Also, there were actually a lot of technical challenges involved in the way Microsoft Points and/or Xbox Live functionality worked for small user transactions, particularly for the sorts of things GUARDIANS Cash worked for. This, combined with the overall negative sentiment towards having microtransactions for our version of the game plus the monthly subscription cost, made it a losing proposition to try to bring here. I'm happy with this decision, and I hope the community will be as well -- I think it benefits us in the long run.

Despite this, Edward also announced that Sega of America will be working with Sonic Team to try to bring all of the Guardians Cash content to the US/EU version of PSU:

We have spoken already at length with Sonic Team about this, and the decision has been made to bring content attached to GUARDIANS Cash to our servers. For example, specific GUARDIANS Cash items may be added in as future mission rewards or Casino items. This is just an example of what has been discussed; we have not decided all issues yet.

In other supplemental update news, Edward announced that Community Course, the feature that allows Japanese PSU players to play a restricted version of the game for free, will not be coming to the US/EU game. If the PC/PS2 servers were still active, I would have considered this to be surprising. I imagine that Xbox Live was the main factor in deciding to keep Community Course out of the game.

This must be good news for the Xbox 360 players who were afraid that Guardians Cash content would be left out of the supplemental update. For once, we're actually getting better treatment than the Japanese players, though it will probably be short-lived. Meanwhile, for many PC/PS2 players, I have a feeling the wounds of the April server shutdown are reopening...

Phantasy Star Portable 2 coming Fall 2010

What a surprise Sega just announced PSP2 for the west today. And I was beginning to think that Sega had forgotten about the game. Also in the blog post by Edward he also confirms the game's online mode.

This is great news; now we just have to hope that the content of the Japanese version wasn't cut like in PSP1. I demand to see all content available including DLC (even though I won't buy crap like clothes) and events like Maximum Attack X.

I look forward to playing this later this year; I think it will be nice replacement for PSU.

Bizarre Surprise from Sega (Updated)

Much to my surprise, Sega has done the unthinkable and managed to string together two consecutive update weeks!

Despite this fact, this week's maintenance won't actually add any new content. Friday's update introduces a Guardians Boost Road period, in which players can run a mission chain to increase drop chances.

The five missions announced for this GBR are System Defense, Desert Terror, Tunnel Recapture, Caves of Ice, and Awoken Serpent. If this sounds familiar, it's because this is a repeat of the US/EU game's very first GBR way back in February 2008. The only real difference this time around is that we have the S3 missions. Exciting.

This maintenance will also add the wedding-themed lobbies and a new casino item rotation.

According to the official JP PSU Web site, all content introduced during this maintenance will remain until Tuesday, June 22, at which time the servers will be taken down to remove PSU V1 support. There's no word right now as to whether or not additional updates will appear during this GBR, or if the first part of the supplemental update will be added in the June 22 maintenance (hint: no).

Speaking of the supplemental update, GM Edward indicated in this thread on the official forums that the first of several articles previewing the update would appear this week. Stay tuned, because I'm sure we'll be posting (and critiquing) that article if it's interesting!

UPDATE: The first of the supplemental update preview articles has been posted at the official Web site. It doesn't detail anything interesting -- just some class and PA balance changes -- so there's not really anything to talk about...

The Slow Trickle Continues

News of this week's update has been posted on the US/EU PSU Web site and official forums.

It seems that Sega will be continuing the theme of the previous two updates by adding a lobby change and one content update. This update brings the Parum Unity lobbies as well as a level cap increase (wait -- I guess that's not really a content update...).

For the folks keeping score at home, it's been over five months since the level cap was last raised. The increase of the cap to level 180 is probably in preparation for the new content coming in July's (prove me wrong!) supplemental update. Other than that, there's no real content to speak of this week. Since this is a seasonal lobby update, I wouldn't expect any additional content for at least the next three weeks, either.

While we're on the subject of level cap increases, I just want to mention how ridiculously stupid PSU's level cap gimmick is. And don't try to use the argument that "all online RPGs do this". Not all online RPGs drip-feed content to their users -- at least not the ones I've played. If Sega would just release all the content, there would be no need for level caps. Then again, if Sega did that at this stage of the game there probably wouldn't be anyone left subscribed after a few months.

Anyway, those are the details, so I'm out. See you in three weeks! (Barring some bizarre surprise from Sega...)

Phishing Scam Targeting Xbox 360 Players

Here's something we haven't really seen in a long while. An announcement has been posted on the official US/EU PSU Web site warning of a phishing scam targeting Xbox 360 players.

In this scam, players are contacted over Xbox Live by a person claiming to be a PSU GM. The player being contacted is threatened with disciplinary action (i.e. suspension or ban). In some cases, players are directed to fake support sites designed to steal account information.

Several players have posted additional information about this scam on the official PSU forums.

This kind of phishing scam is extremely common in MMORPGs, but this is the first time I've seen something like this on a small-scale online game like PSU. I guess that's the risk you run with online communities like Xbox Live, though.

Indications from the official forums are that this little problem won't be resolved until Monday, so for now, just use common sense and don't give out your Xbox Live account name or password to anyone, for any reason! (Of course, you probably shouldn't ever be doing that, anyway!)

Think about it. Real GMs have tools to deal with bad players. Chances are that they can get your PSU account information without your help!