It's no secret to those in the Phantasy Star community that Sega is planning a special announcement for the tenth anniversary of the release of Phantasy Star Online. However, nobody really knows what the announcement will be.
Last week, the rumor mill was set churning again after somebody noticed that the domain name registration for pso2.jp had been recently renewed by Sega. This news from Japanese fansite Shougai PSO and reported on PSO World cites the whois page for the pso2.jp domain, which was first registered last year.
A true sequel to Phantasy Star Online does not seem all that unlikely. Details of Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity announced recently seem to indicate that the PSP series is leaning further and further back towards the Phantasy Star Online style of gameplay. Phantasy Star Zero, released for the Nintendo DS last year in the United States, also plays similarly to PSO. The series appears to be returning to its online roots, which is a good thing.
Don't forget the fact that Sega's big announcement just happens to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the release of PSO. Phantasy Star Universe is celebrating its fourth anniversary today in Japan, and will have most likely reached its fifth by the time a new Phantasy Star console game is released. Sega was already planning Phantasy Star Universe at this stage in PSO's life, so it would be surprising if a successor to PSU is not in the works now.
At any rate, it would be nice to see a true sequel to Phantasy Star Online. It would be the perfect opportunity to combine the best gameplay elements of PSO and PSU into a modern, current-generation game that reinvigorates the series. Between the various incarnations of Phantasy Star Online, Phantasy Star Universe, and related games, hopefully Sega learned valuable lessons on how to effectively run a pay-to-play game (as well as how not to run one). Regardless of whether or not the big announcement is in fact Phantasy Star Online 2, this is Sega's chance to bring players back to the Phantasy Star online gaming community. Let's just hope they don't screw it up.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Phantasy Star Portable 2 stuff
Old news: Last week the PSPo2 demo was released on the Playstation Store. It's pretty nice, and you can transfer your character from the first game and get a few bonuses. Although there are a few things translated that are inconsistent with the previous games like: Partner Machinery is now "MySynth" and Line Shields are now "Shield Weaves." It even has an online mode; although I didn't try it yet since I was distracted from the demo by Ys Seven (also an awesome game you guys should check it out).
In other PSPo2 related news it seems Japan is getting an expansion called "Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity." Looks like it will add a new story line, a new race called "dumans", bring back a few old PSO monsters (seems to be Garanz, Dark Bringer and Olga Flow so far), and the ability to take screenshots along with other changes. It sounds interesting, hopefully PSPo2 does well enough here so this gets an English release.
According to this topic we should be angry about this announcement because even though the Japanese version was out for a year already we haven't even played the game yet and will know that it is horribly outdated and therefore it sucks. While I normally enjoy complaining about things I'd have to disagree with this. Just from playing the demo I can tell PSPo2 is a huge upgrade over PSU/PSPo1. Yeah the new stuff for the expansion sounds great but I can easily wait for it while playing PSPo2.
In other PSPo2 related news it seems Japan is getting an expansion called "Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity." Looks like it will add a new story line, a new race called "dumans", bring back a few old PSO monsters (seems to be Garanz, Dark Bringer and Olga Flow so far), and the ability to take screenshots along with other changes. It sounds interesting, hopefully PSPo2 does well enough here so this gets an English release.
According to this topic we should be angry about this announcement because even though the Japanese version was out for a year already we haven't even played the game yet and will know that it is horribly outdated and therefore it sucks. While I normally enjoy complaining about things I'd have to disagree with this. Just from playing the demo I can tell PSPo2 is a huge upgrade over PSU/PSPo1. Yeah the new stuff for the expansion sounds great but I can easily wait for it while playing PSPo2.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Slowdown? Impossible
Recently, a topic popped up on the official PSU forums asking players what they would like to see Sega fix in the game.
Not surprisingly, it seems that many players are hoping that Sega might address the slowdown that plagues the Xbox 360 version of the game. Unfortunately for these players, Sega will probably never fix the graphical slowdown problem, and this is one of the many reasons I lamented the shutdown of the PC/PS2 servers back in April.
As everyone knows, the Xbox 360 version of PSU is the only one you can play online in English (for now). Ever since the game's release, the Xbox 360 version suffered from a serious slowdown problem that affected many graphical areas of the game, the most infamous of which was the "robot lag" slowdown. The PS2 version also suffered from many of the same problems, though some PS3 owners have reported that PSU runs very well on that console with few of the slowdown problems that the game has on PS2. (I've never tried this so I can't confirm it.)
The Xbox 360 version of PSU seems to be the most poorly optimized of all three versions of the game. Fixing the game's graphical problems at this stage would likely require a lot of additional debugging and coding, followed by a large patch to release the changes. With the game coming up on its fourth anniversary in a few months, I personally don't think Sega will want to bother making any large-scale changes to the game such as this. That means that Xbox 360 players will most likely have to deal with the slowdown for the remainder of the game's lifetime. Nevertheless, debate in the forum has gone on for almost 100 posts, with the majority asking Sega to examine the issue and come up with a fix.
These kinds of discussions come up every once in a while on the official forums, and every time I see them I end up asking myself how the Xbox 360 version of PSU became the most popular. The PS2 version performs about on par with (and in some cases, better than) the Xbox 360 version, and the PC version of PSU has none of these issues! So forgive me if I still fail to understand why players chose the technically and graphically inferior Xbox 360 game over the PC/PS2 one.
I suppose I never will figure that out.
Not surprisingly, it seems that many players are hoping that Sega might address the slowdown that plagues the Xbox 360 version of the game. Unfortunately for these players, Sega will probably never fix the graphical slowdown problem, and this is one of the many reasons I lamented the shutdown of the PC/PS2 servers back in April.
As everyone knows, the Xbox 360 version of PSU is the only one you can play online in English (for now). Ever since the game's release, the Xbox 360 version suffered from a serious slowdown problem that affected many graphical areas of the game, the most infamous of which was the "robot lag" slowdown. The PS2 version also suffered from many of the same problems, though some PS3 owners have reported that PSU runs very well on that console with few of the slowdown problems that the game has on PS2. (I've never tried this so I can't confirm it.)
The Xbox 360 version of PSU seems to be the most poorly optimized of all three versions of the game. Fixing the game's graphical problems at this stage would likely require a lot of additional debugging and coding, followed by a large patch to release the changes. With the game coming up on its fourth anniversary in a few months, I personally don't think Sega will want to bother making any large-scale changes to the game such as this. That means that Xbox 360 players will most likely have to deal with the slowdown for the remainder of the game's lifetime. Nevertheless, debate in the forum has gone on for almost 100 posts, with the majority asking Sega to examine the issue and come up with a fix.
These kinds of discussions come up every once in a while on the official forums, and every time I see them I end up asking myself how the Xbox 360 version of PSU became the most popular. The PS2 version performs about on par with (and in some cases, better than) the Xbox 360 version, and the PC version of PSU has none of these issues! So forgive me if I still fail to understand why players chose the technically and graphically inferior Xbox 360 game over the PC/PS2 one.
I suppose I never will figure that out.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Life After the Supplemental Update (Updated)
Mid-July was an exciting time for US/EU PSU players. In a short period of time, Sega of America did a lot to increase the accessibility of the game for current players as well as former players looking to pick the game up again. The release of the supplemental update was followed by the appearance of vanilla PSU on Games on Demand, and the Ambition of the Illuminus expansion pack was made free for all users.
Personally, I thought that Sega's efforts in the last few weeks of July might be able to turn the game around for awhile. Their service in August has made me think otherwise.
Since the supplemental update landed on the US/EU servers one month ago, exactly one new mission has been added. That content update was followed by a week of no maintenance, and Sega of Japan has already announced that there will not be any maintenance this week, either.
I understand that it's the summer and a lot of people might be away on vacation or whatever. However, the frequency of updates post-supplemental update seems about the same as it did before the update appeared. It seems that Sega continues to express no interest in catching up to the JP servers as they pledged they would back when the PC/PS2 servers closed.
Of course, the supplemental update was pretty significant and there's a fair amount of new content to experience, but many players are beginning to run out of things to do and Sega is not doing anything to keep them playing. Let's hope that changes in the next couple of weeks.
UPDATE: Turns out Sega changed their mind and decided to do maintenance this week to fix a bug with the AMP feature. I don't think that really changes the content of this post, though!
Personally, I thought that Sega's efforts in the last few weeks of July might be able to turn the game around for awhile. Their service in August has made me think otherwise.
Since the supplemental update landed on the US/EU servers one month ago, exactly one new mission has been added. That content update was followed by a week of no maintenance, and Sega of Japan has already announced that there will not be any maintenance this week, either.
I understand that it's the summer and a lot of people might be away on vacation or whatever. However, the frequency of updates post-supplemental update seems about the same as it did before the update appeared. It seems that Sega continues to express no interest in catching up to the JP servers as they pledged they would back when the PC/PS2 servers closed.
Of course, the supplemental update was pretty significant and there's a fair amount of new content to experience, but many players are beginning to run out of things to do and Sega is not doing anything to keep them playing. Let's hope that changes in the next couple of weeks.
UPDATE: Turns out Sega changed their mind and decided to do maintenance this week to fix a bug with the AMP feature. I don't think that really changes the content of this post, though!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Overpriced PSU now available on Games on Demand
Well I was worried when this whole thing was announced without the price mentioned but today the Xbox website has confirmed my fear and lists PSU for $20. I'm not surprised it end up like this after all I did predict the price back in April.
It's quite a ridiculous price point considering I was able to pick up a new copy of PSU from Amazon for the same price back in 2006. Seriously the game should have been $10 or less. The game is too old and the whole update situation doesn't really seem to be changing to bother spending $20 on the original client.
Anyway I still can't see the game at this price bringing in many new players. Well enjoy your overpriced download of the worst PSU client. :V
It's quite a ridiculous price point considering I was able to pick up a new copy of PSU from Amazon for the same price back in 2006. Seriously the game should have been $10 or less. The game is too old and the whole update situation doesn't really seem to be changing to bother spending $20 on the original client.
Anyway I still can't see the game at this price bringing in many new players. Well enjoy your overpriced download of the worst PSU client. :V
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