This wouldn't be interesting news by itself, but Sega later announced on Twitter that anyone who signs up for the mailing list will be automatically entered in a drawing to participate in the second PSO2 alpha test beginning in 2012.
You need a Sega ID to sign up for the mailing list. Unfortunately, you can't easily get one without going through a series of screens that are entirely in Japanese. If you want to try anyway, the Sega ID sign-up page is here.
If you get a 500 error when visiting the sign-up page and you're using Firefox, make sure your preferred language options are set up properly by going to the Content tab of the Options window. (Click on the images to view them full-size.)
Click the Choose... button in the Languages frame, and from there, check your language settings:
If you don't see the Japanese [ja] language in the list, pick it from the drop-down menu and click Add. Click OK to close out all of the options windows and you should be good to go.
Even after doing all of this, I would be really surprised if anyone outside of Japan got picked for the second alpha test. I guess you never know until you try, though...
