The News Trickle Continues

Sega of America finished the Phantasy Star series review today with a posting for Phantasy Star Portable 2. A related post on the official forums mentioned that there would be more news next week, so the speculation will continue for another weekend.

Though we still don't know what the secret is, we're learning more about what it is not. On the Phantasy Star Facebook page, Sega has come out to debunk the theory held by some that Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity is the big announcement:

Right now there aren't plans for Infinity in the West. I know there are fans so I hope some day it is something we can do. I don't want to string anyone along with it though, just letting you know. :) Thank you for the support!

The pieces are slowly coming together. In addition to the hints given so far, many people in the community have now noticed that pso2.com, the presumed official site for Phantasy Star Online 2 in the United States and Europe, redirects to the Sega website.

We'll be watching closely for more next week.

PSO2 Announcement Possible This Week

For the last week, Sega of America has been publishing a Phantasy Star series retrospective of sorts on Facebook, Twitter, and the official Phantasy Star Universe forums.

Today, the trip back in time continued with Phantasy Star Portable. Sega's Twitter posting for this game included a not-so-subtle message and another possible hint:

PSP on the PSP! http://bit.ly/Q6c6lh If you're keeping track that's one PS game every day, in order, starting from the first. Hmmm.....

If Sega sticks to the Phantasy Star games released in the US, then there should be only two left in the retrospective: Phantasy Star Zero (tomorrow) and Phantasy Star Portable 2 (on Wednesday). Players with an interest in an English version of Phantasy Star Online 2 should keep an eye on the official forum thread beginning Thursday afternoon.

Of course, even if PSO2 does get an official English release, there are still some details that will affect whether people actually play it. Will the game have international servers? Will it receive regular, consistent content updates? Will it be given the same level of support as the Japanese game? Many players will probably stay away unless these questions are answered (or unless they're answered correctly). Hopefully Sega will provide the answers later this week.

And for those of you that aren't so sure Sega is building up to a PSO2 announcement... do you really think they would go to all this trouble to promote the shutdown of the PSU servers?

Is This Another Hint?

Last week, PSU GM Edward announced that the Xbox 360 Phantasy Star Universe servers would be shutting down in September. It was hinted at the time that despite this news, there was more in store for Phantasy Star in the near future.

Now, a thread has appeared in the official PSU forums chronicling the history of the series and providing links to Sega's Phantasy Star Facebook and Twitter pages.

There seems to be a purpose behind this. Call me crazy, but I think an English Phantasy Star Online 2 announcement is imminent. I don't see any reason why Sega would do anything like this right now unless the end result was an announcement of some kind. And as I mentioned before, PSO2 is probably the only Phantasy Star game that Sega could announce (or even hint at) that players would even care about at this point.

We'll be watching for developments over the next few days (and probably playing some of the PSO2 open beta too, come Thursday).

PSO2 Open Beta Begins Next Week

The countdown to the Japanese release of Phantasy Star Online 2 continues. Sega has announced that the open beta test will begin on Thursday, June 21.

Sega had previously announced that the game would enter open beta fairly quickly if the "pre-open" beta was successful. The announcement of the open beta test came before the "pre-open" test even closed, so I guess Sega was pleased with how things went.

Characters created during the "pre-open" beta test will not transfer to the open beta. However, characters created during the open beta test will be carried over into the release version of the game.

Based on this statement, I expect that a lot of English-speaking players will be calling the Japanese servers home permanently beginning next week. That might not be such great news for a future English version of the game (something that Sega of America likely knows about, but won't mention)...

...And While We're At It... PSO2 News!

Sega has announced that the "pre-open beta" test will be held for two days beginning Friday, June 15. The servers will be open for five hours each day. While this may not seem like much, Sega has also announced that if all goes well during the "pre-open beta" test, the real open beta test will begin shortly after.

The price structure for the "premium" content has also been announced. "Premium" content includes the My Room feature, increased storage space, trading functionality, and other features. Sega is offering 30, 60, and 90 day subscriptions. Users can get a slight discount on the monthly rate by purchasing the 60 or 90 day options. (Prices in USD are based on the exchange rate as of June 9, 2012.)

• 30 days: 1300 AC (¥1300 = $16.36 USD)
• 60 days: 2500 AC (¥2500 = $31.45 USD)
• 90 days: 3600 AC (¥3600 = $45.29 USD)

Obviously, for Americans this price will vary, but $16+/month is a little bit pricey. It is possible to play without making this purchase, though. These features might be nice to have, but not having them shouldn't stop anybody from enjoying the game.

That's it for now. More news as it becomes available.

More on the PSU Server Shutdown

As mentioned earlier today, Phantasy Star Universe will be done for good in the United States and Europe when the Xbox 360 servers shut down on September 7. This move should not come as a surprise to anybody, given the fact that the online game has basically stagnated despite the introduction of the "supplemental update" two summers ago.

For hardcore Xbox 360 players, this announcement might be difficult to take. However, Phantasy Star Online 2 players should be celebrating.

Out of this shutdown announcement came the strongest indication yet that PSO2 is coming stateside. PSU GM Edward had this to say in his post on the official forums:

There is more news yet to come for Phantasy Star, and there will be much to be excited about in the coming weeks and months.

While players in the PSO2 alpha and beta tests have unearthed some hints of an English release, Sega has not said anything one way or the other. Although Edward's post did not mention PSO2 by name, it's hard to believe that Sega of America would be focusing on anything Phantasy Star-related that's not PSO2 at this point. I think they are well aware of how much the US/EU community is clamoring for the game.

The next few months should be exciting, as there is hopefully some big news on the way for PSO2 players in the United States and Europe. Stay tuned!

Stick a fork in it. It's done.

PSU outside of Japan that is. Yes, that's right the Xbox servers are shutting down. I don't think anyone was really surprised after seeing how the game's updates were handled and that it still continued to fall behind the Japanese version of the game. I guess that the closure of the PC/PS2 server wasn't a "huge opportunity" to catch up after all.

Anyway, the servers are closing September 7th this year. Also there will be no free play like the PC/PS2 version had. I assume it has to do with some sort of rule from Microsoft since Xbox silver users can play the game online. I can't see the servers being to populated with this news; if the PC/PS2 servers required its monthly fee in the months before it closed I know I wouldn't have bothered coming back.

But on the bright side there may be a hint of good news. At the end of Edwards post he says:

We look forward to taking our memories and the lessons learned from this game as we prepare to move into the future. There is more news yet to come for Phantasy Star, and there will be much to be excited about in the coming weeks and months. For now, please feel free to share your memories of this game and know we look forward to sharing more adventures with you in the future!

From that statement I guess we can expect some news about PSO2 coming west soon. The sooner it's announced the better (still hoping for global servers).

PSO2 Not Part of Sega's Announced E3 Lineup

Here's a shocker: On Wednesday Sega posted a list of games that they will be showing at E3, and Phantasy Star Online 2 was notably absent.

Over the last few months it has been widely speculated that PSO2 would be getting an English release, and while there have been some subtle hints, there has been no official announcement of such a release by Sega.

So, as you might expect, players took to Sega's blog (where the information was posted) asking about the lack of PSO2 news. No responses from Sega staff have been posted as of yet.

Of course, this doesn't mean an English version of PSO2 is doomed. Sega could be saving it for a surprise announcement at E3, or they may just announce it sometime closer to a US release.

However, if Sega is in fact planning an English release of PSO2, they should announce it soon. The closer we get to a Japanese release without an announcement, the more likely it is that players in the US and Europe will just choose to play the Japanese version.

In any case, we'll see what happens in the coming days. E3 2012 begins Tuesday.