The official Japanese Phantasy Star Online 2 Web site announced today that the game will be delayed until 2012 in order to make improvements.
In addition, a second alpha test was announced. The test is scheduled to take place in early 2012, and translations of the announcement indicate that there will be "no restrictions" on who can apply for that test. I assume that this means "no restrictions within the Japanese community" but you never know.
Of course, this means that Sega's timeline leading up to a late 2011 release is out the window. The beta tests that had been planned will likely not take place while the developers fix bugs and make improvements.
A list of suggestions made by the Japanese PSO2 community have been posted on the official Web site, along with responses from the developers. It seems like there were a lot of legitimate concerns shared by the Japanese players and international community in general, so it's good to see that Sega is willing to push back the game's release to deal with them.
Unfortunately, "get rid of GameGuard" and "international servers plz" were not on the list of suggestions. Of course, it's probably not an exhaustive list, so who knows what else Sega has in store (though I have a feeling removing GameGuard is not a change Sega is willing to make).
The newly announced delay could make the last few months of 2011 a little quiet on the PSO2 news front, but Sega says that an official blog is coming. A little more insight into the game's development would be nice so that potential players wouldn't have to resort to other methods of getting information.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
PSO2 Devs Comment On Data Mining Effort
Several weeks ago during the Phantasy Star Online 2 alpha test, the client software was leaked to the general public. It didn't take long for the community to begin extracting information about the game from that software.
Apparently the developers have caught wind of the datamining effort and have commented on it on Twitter. The general thought seems to be that the developers are surprised that the client software is already being taken apart "overseas".
I can't read Japanese, so I'd rather not try to infer the tone of the post based on translations posted on the Internet. However, I still can't believe that the PSO2 developers actually had the audacity to post something like this.
First of all, don't forget that the client was leaked, most likely by a Japanese participant of the Japan-only alpha test. Maybe Sega of Japan should look around in its own country for whoever leaked the client in the first place before complaining about the users of the leaked client "overseas". Besides, we can't play the game, so what else would we do with it?
Second — Sega of Japan is pretty naïve if they think the Japanese participants of the alpha test aren't doing something similar with the client as we speak. They can't play the game right now, either, so what else would they do with it? Maybe the Japanese do a better job of hiding their "evil" doings. Still, it's unfair to single out the US/EU community for doing it.
Lastly — curiosity is a part of human nature. People are datamining PSO2 because they're interested in seeing what the game might be like. Writing software is my full-time job, and like most professional software engineers, I'm well aware that there are people out there who like to decompile or reverse engineer computer programs to find out more about them. Unfortunately, some people do it to try and discover exploits in the code — thankfully, nobody seems to be doing that with PSO2. The bottom line is that Sega put free software out on the Internet for people to download; they should have known that it was only a matter of time before somebody started mining it. I'm not sure why they're so surprised.
Obviously Sega of Japan has the right to express their displeasure over the datamining of their game. However, it's unfair and a little disappointing to see them single out the US/EU community like this.
Apparently the developers have caught wind of the datamining effort and have commented on it on Twitter. The general thought seems to be that the developers are surprised that the client software is already being taken apart "overseas".
I can't read Japanese, so I'd rather not try to infer the tone of the post based on translations posted on the Internet. However, I still can't believe that the PSO2 developers actually had the audacity to post something like this.
First of all, don't forget that the client was leaked, most likely by a Japanese participant of the Japan-only alpha test. Maybe Sega of Japan should look around in its own country for whoever leaked the client in the first place before complaining about the users of the leaked client "overseas". Besides, we can't play the game, so what else would we do with it?
Second — Sega of Japan is pretty naïve if they think the Japanese participants of the alpha test aren't doing something similar with the client as we speak. They can't play the game right now, either, so what else would they do with it? Maybe the Japanese do a better job of hiding their "evil" doings. Still, it's unfair to single out the US/EU community for doing it.
Lastly — curiosity is a part of human nature. People are datamining PSO2 because they're interested in seeing what the game might be like. Writing software is my full-time job, and like most professional software engineers, I'm well aware that there are people out there who like to decompile or reverse engineer computer programs to find out more about them. Unfortunately, some people do it to try and discover exploits in the code — thankfully, nobody seems to be doing that with PSO2. The bottom line is that Sega put free software out on the Internet for people to download; they should have known that it was only a matter of time before somebody started mining it. I'm not sure why they're so surprised.
Obviously Sega of Japan has the right to express their displeasure over the datamining of their game. However, it's unfair and a little disappointing to see them single out the US/EU community like this.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Another Post on PSO2 International Servers
It's nice that the developers of Phantasy Star Online 2 are looking for feedback from the community. They even went so far as to create a Facebook page to gauge the community's interest in the upcoming game.
Of course, by doing this they've left themselves wide open to comments and other input from the international community at large, and now said community has officially taken the topic of international servers to Sega of Japan.
A sort of community petition has gone up on the official PSO2 Facebook page to try and get more information out of Sega regarding their thoughts on international servers and the vague "global support" phrase that was thrown around when the game was first announced. The posts can be viewed here. Not surprisingly, there are already a lot of comments (in English) regarding this topic.
We've brought up the topic of international servers several times on this blog, too:
Revisiting PSO2 Global Support Yet Again
Debating PSO2 "Global Support"
PSO2 Console Versions Possible? Let's Hope Not
The general idea is that the international community wants to enjoy all of the content the Japanese players do without being treated like second-class citizens. The general sentiment throughout the community seems to be that if we don't get international servers, one of two things will happen:
Source: Phantasy Star Online 2 on Facebook
Of course, by doing this they've left themselves wide open to comments and other input from the international community at large, and now said community has officially taken the topic of international servers to Sega of Japan.
A sort of community petition has gone up on the official PSO2 Facebook page to try and get more information out of Sega regarding their thoughts on international servers and the vague "global support" phrase that was thrown around when the game was first announced. The posts can be viewed here. Not surprisingly, there are already a lot of comments (in English) regarding this topic.
We've brought up the topic of international servers several times on this blog, too:
Revisiting PSO2 Global Support Yet Again
Debating PSO2 "Global Support"
PSO2 Console Versions Possible? Let's Hope Not
The general idea is that the international community wants to enjoy all of the content the Japanese players do without being treated like second-class citizens. The general sentiment throughout the community seems to be that if we don't get international servers, one of two things will happen:
- PSO2 will fail in the US/EU regions because nobody will play it there, or
- The US/EU players will play on the Japanese servers instead, possibly resulting in (1)
Source: Phantasy Star Online 2 on Facebook
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Xbox Live on Windows 8
Microsoft announced today that the next iteration of Windows, currently dubbed "Windows 8", will feature Xbox Live support on the PC:
Of course, there isn't a whole lot of information about this feature right now, so nobody knows what Microsoft is really planning for Windows 8. This could just be a re-branding of the failed Games for Windows Live service, but at this point it's hard to tell.
So why do I bring this up here? Last year, Phantasy Star Universe was made available for purchase digitally on Microsoft's Games on Demand service for Xbox Live. You could buy that, download the Ambition of the Illuminus expansion and the "Guardians Advanced Content" expansion, and then play the game.
If Microsoft is intending to bring the entire Xbox Live experience to Windows 8 including Games on Demand, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that PC players would have an opportunity to get back into PSU on Xbox Live. You'd have to start over from scratch (assuming you don't already play the Xbox 360 version), but the option would be there. The Xbox 360 version of PSU should be playable on a PC thanks to DirectX (that's where the X in Xbox came from, after all).
On the other hand, it remains to be seen whether or not Phantasy Star Universe will survive until Windows 8 is officially released, probably no less than one year from now. Nevertheless, it's an interesting scenario to consider. How would the Xbox 360 PSU community (and the Xbox Live community in general) change if PC gamers were added into the mix?
Xbox LIVE brings your games, music, movies, and TV shows to your favorite Microsoft and Windows devices. Bringing Xbox LIVE to Windows 8 is part of our vision to bring you all the entertainment you want, shared with the people you care about, made easy.
Of course, there isn't a whole lot of information about this feature right now, so nobody knows what Microsoft is really planning for Windows 8. This could just be a re-branding of the failed Games for Windows Live service, but at this point it's hard to tell.
So why do I bring this up here? Last year, Phantasy Star Universe was made available for purchase digitally on Microsoft's Games on Demand service for Xbox Live. You could buy that, download the Ambition of the Illuminus expansion and the "Guardians Advanced Content" expansion, and then play the game.
If Microsoft is intending to bring the entire Xbox Live experience to Windows 8 including Games on Demand, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that PC players would have an opportunity to get back into PSU on Xbox Live. You'd have to start over from scratch (assuming you don't already play the Xbox 360 version), but the option would be there. The Xbox 360 version of PSU should be playable on a PC thanks to DirectX (that's where the X in Xbox came from, after all).
On the other hand, it remains to be seen whether or not Phantasy Star Universe will survive until Windows 8 is officially released, probably no less than one year from now. Nevertheless, it's an interesting scenario to consider. How would the Xbox 360 PSU community (and the Xbox Live community in general) change if PC gamers were added into the mix?
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Oh hey it's that PSU/PSPo2 crossover event
...that doesn't include PSPo2 anymore. While I'm not surprised seeing how Sega has given up on the game. And even if PSPo2 did have events like the Japanese version I'm sure this event would have been separate from the Xbox version due to Xbox Live.
Still thought I should complain about it even though there is no point to it. I'm pretty sure that Sega should have focused on events to promote the game over the plan to slowly release in-game passwords. Even if that didn't work at least it would have been more entertaining than waiting for passwords to be released.
As Clumsyorchid said back then:
I disagree. Having an event where you kill stuff and get items seems way more appealing. But that may be just me. If anything the passwords were just a neat bonus.
Anyway too late for that. So lets see how this Maximum Attack X thing turns out. Will the rewards or other aspects of the event change due the the Xbox360 server being a different version of the game? Who knows. But at least I can say that no one will be surprised after seeing what happened with the last event.
Still thought I should complain about it even though there is no point to it. I'm pretty sure that Sega should have focused on events to promote the game over the plan to slowly release in-game passwords. Even if that didn't work at least it would have been more entertaining than waiting for passwords to be released.
As Clumsyorchid said back then:
Having these unlockables allowed us a unique opportunity to take the Phantasy Star Series and open it up to a potentially larger audience of Sega fans through our blogs, facebook updates, twitter releases, and fansite promotions.
I disagree. Having an event where you kill stuff and get items seems way more appealing. But that may be just me. If anything the passwords were just a neat bonus.
Anyway too late for that. So lets see how this Maximum Attack X thing turns out. Will the rewards or other aspects of the event change due the the Xbox360 server being a different version of the game? Who knows. But at least I can say that no one will be surprised after seeing what happened with the last event.
Next PSU Event Begins Friday
The constant stream of Phantasy Star Online 2 news that's been provided this summer has been a nice diversion from the lack of substantive content updates in Phantasy Star Universe.
It's been very quiet on the PSU news front, actually -- before now, there hasn't been a posting about PSU updates since the beginning of June. With a new event coming, I think it's time to break that streak, if only temporarily.
PSU GM Edward announced on the official PSU forums that the new event, Maximum Attack X, will begin on the regional servers after Friday morning's maintenance. The event is scheduled to run for six weeks, ending with maintenance on the morning of Friday, October 21.
Edward also mentioned that a new lobby will also be added to the game with this maintenance. No additional details were provided, so it's anyone's guess as to whether this is a new permanent lobby or just a seasonal addition.
So that's it. I guess for the hardcore players this is a good reason to jump back into the game for two months, anyway.
It's been very quiet on the PSU news front, actually -- before now, there hasn't been a posting about PSU updates since the beginning of June. With a new event coming, I think it's time to break that streak, if only temporarily.
PSU GM Edward announced on the official PSU forums that the new event, Maximum Attack X, will begin on the regional servers after Friday morning's maintenance. The event is scheduled to run for six weeks, ending with maintenance on the morning of Friday, October 21.
Edward also mentioned that a new lobby will also be added to the game with this maintenance. No additional details were provided, so it's anyone's guess as to whether this is a new permanent lobby or just a seasonal addition.
So that's it. I guess for the hardcore players this is a good reason to jump back into the game for two months, anyway.
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