Theories and Thoughts

The lack of news regarding the Western version of PSO2 is understandably making some people restless and uneasy. It also seems to be prompting some speculation and ridiculous rumors about why Sega is not saying anything.

One of the more popular theories seems to be that Sega isn't saying anything about US/EU PSO2 because it has been canceled. Here's the bottom line: Sega has announced that the game is coming stateside, and even showed off a demo of the partially-translated game. Until Sega says anything to the contrary, this rumor is completely false. (Sega recently changed the official Phantasy Star Universe site to display the PSO2 site, so they obviously haven't changed their minds about the game lately.)

Some folks have also tried to attribute the lack of news to the recently publicized fiasco between Sega and Gearbox over the widely panned Aliens: Colonial Marines. Somehow, PSO2 isn't being released quickly enough in the West because Gearbox spent too much time working on Borderlands instead of Aliens, prompting Sega to spend too much time and money dealing with the delays. I'm pretty sure most businesses—even video game companies—don't plan projects this way. I highly doubt this is why PSO2 is taking so long.

I imagine that the real cause of the "delay" is that Sega is trying to determine how to best implement the Arks Cash system for a Western audience that may not embrace it the way the Japanese have. Either that, or localization is taking longer than expected – who knows. In any case, it's pretty clear that Sega will not have anything to say until the game is ready for prime time. That's a risky bet to make, in my opinion, but we'll see how it goes.

Now for my Thought of the Day: I think it would be hilarious if Sega of Japan put an IP block on the Japanese PSO2 servers. The volume of posts on the PSO-World forums from players rage-quitting the game forever (then claiming that the US version sucks and that they will never, ever, ever play it, not in a million years even if it was the last game on Earth) would likely knock the site off the Internet!

Sometimes I think this community is terrible

So I was browsing the internet and came across this PSO2 topic about a rumor of the English version of the game that wasn't actually a rumor. That isn't the terrible part though; this post is.

Ok let me see if I get this right. You waste Sega support staff's time with a question that would obviously not be answered and actually expected and answer back. Sega hasn't released any information about the game to anyone and you thought they would make an exception for you and tell you? And you are unsatisfied when they didn't? Please give me a break. You should be happy you got a reply at all, because that email should have been sent strait to the trash.

Then of course you have PSO-world forums agreeing how terrible Sega of America is and it's not just that topic; you can see other topics where people recommend not even bothering with the English version. While I'm not saying Sega of America is innocent or anything I do feel that Sega of Japan is also partly to blame. For those of us who played PSU I'm sure you guys can remember how the GMs announced content for the game a few times only to be proven wrong by SoJ when they updated the Japanese PSU Xbox360 website (with less content) or how they took forever to organize that whole 'MAG2' thing which ended up delaying updates even more.

Sure Sega of Japan is great at running the online Phantasy Star games, but only in Japan. They don't really seem to motivated to care for any of the other regions. Truthfully If Sega of America were to handle the English server's updates I can't see them being anywhere as bad as SoJ's handling of PSOBB and PSU. I will admit that the only exceptions were the Dreamcast and Gamecube versions of PSO but that was only because we played on the same servers as the Japanese. Even then they managed to exclude us from content (download quests from the DC PSO and Episode 3, Maximum Attack prizes and that Episode 3 tournament being Japan only come to mind - inb4 Episode 3 sucks).

Don't get me wrong: I want information about the game, but I'm going to have to wait until Sega is ready to give that information. Whining about it like a bunch of babies isn't going to accomplish anything. Anyway I just assume the delay is from Sega of Japan doing the usual when it comes to Phantasy Star outside of Japan aka not caring.

Welcome to Early 2013

The new year is finally upon us. That means it's time for Sega of America to open up and provide some details about the upcoming Western release of Phantasy Star Online 2.

Back in July, Sega announced that PSO2 was coming stateside, but provided only a vague "early 2013" release date. However, in the following months, Sega has been completely silent about the game (except for the appearance of a demo version at PAX).

As "early 2013" crept closer, I thought it would be a good idea for Sega to start talking about the game a little bit, if only to remind players and get them more excited about it. However, nothing happened; Sega's official PSO2 Web site has not been updated since August.

Now the lack of PSO2 news seems to be making the rest of the community a little jittery. Threads have popped up on the PSO-World forums and even at Sega's own official PSO2 forum, each questioning the lack of information on the game. Not surprisingly, Sega representatives have been silent.

And now it's 2013. When is Sega of America going to start talking about this game? When are we going to get a firm release date? I don't expect the servers to go live tomorrow, but any shred of news would be nice just for reassurance. An update to the Web site or even a post on the forums would go a long way in letting players know that Sega is actually doing something.

Xbox 360 PSU Done

As promised, Sega has shut down the Xbox 360 Phantasy Star Universe servers for good.

The servers went down at approximately 2 AM EDT this morning. Some players were apparently not able to enjoy the final hours due to some sort of miscommunication between Sega and Microsoft (the entire PSU experience in a nutshell, I guess).

Now it's on to Phantasy Star Online 2, which launches in the West sometime in early 2013.

Players hoping to jump ship to the Japanese PC version of Phantasy Star Universe are out of luck: that game is going dark at the end of September. Time to start playing PSO2!

It's the end of the world!

First we had hacking (with some cool drama on the side) and now confirmation of the PSO2 servers being separate.

Clearly it is then end of Phantasy Star outside of Japan. I mean just look at a few of the topics popping up over at Sega's forums. First we have this one with the terrible servers aren't global news where someone suggests to not support the game at all. I for one think this is a great idea. I mean Sega gave some pretty bad support for PSU and clearly we all know they can't change so we shouldn't even give them a chance. Plus this is the perfect way for us to say to Sega: "please don't bother bringing these types of games outside of Japan." Who likes playing games in a language they can understand? Nobody that's who! This is a brilliant plan with no way it could ever backfire.

Also you already have other posts where people have already decided to stay with the Japanese version of PSO2. We all know we can't trust Sega of America right guys?! (or maybe they already bought a crap load of Ark's Cash).

Now to be positive for a moment:
On the other hand... what if Sega can really pull it off? With the servers separated maybe we'll see AC prices adjusted. Sure with the Japanese version we have to take in account of the poor exchange rate but the pricing is pretty bad; you want $16 for a month of the premium set? Nope. Plus if the servers were global Sega would probably be lazy and just make 1 USD / 1 Pound / 1 Euro, etc = 100 AC which would make it slightly cheaper but still not be all that great. Now if Sega can get the premium set price under $10 (5 would be ideal) and lower the pricing for that AC lottery deal we could have a real winner here.

Then maybe we could see PSO2 on Steam and maybe even take advantage of Steam trading (Sega already has a free to play game that uses it too). It would help the game get some much needed publicity.

Sure it may not be perfect but you know what? I don't want to jump through all these hoops to play and pay for a game in language I can't read (in addition to the the whole price/exchange rate thing I said earlier). As long as I get some entertainment out of the English version of PSO2 I won't be too disappointed. Probably.

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).

Revisiting PSO2 Global Support Yet Again

With the official PSU forums out of commission for awhile, PSU GMs have taken to various fansite forums to connect with the Xbox 360 PSU community. It seems that the purpose of this exercise is to reassure fans that official support for the game hasn't gone away.

However, PSU GM Edward posted a slightly disturbing comment on PSO-World's forums, one that we blogged about and that could cause many members of the community to think twice about how they choose to play PSO2. You can click on the link above to get the full text; I'll post just a small snippet here:

Officially, the XB360 version [of PSU] is a different version of the game. It is not meant as a duplicate of the JP version. You can disagree with that but that is the official stance, and so whatever communication you're going to hear from me or us, that's the ultimate message.

This comment should raise some eyebrows among potential US/EU players of PSO2. If the game doesn't get international servers, what stops Sega from taking this stance again? Does that mean that the Western version of PSO2 will get delayed or different content, and/or different levels of support?

Applied in the context of PSO2, Edward's comment shows exactly why the game absolutely must have international servers. If it doesn't, players will be taking an enormous risk in choosing to play on the US/EU servers. I personally took that risk once already with PSU. I will not make the same mistake again.

The release date for PSO2 hasn't even been announced yet, but if you want to enjoy the game for a long time after it's released, you really have only two options: Play on the international servers or play on the Japanese servers. Hopefully Sega provides the right option.

PSU version disparities

So I saw this interesting post over at PSO-World from Edward@Sega in response to complaints over the new PSPo2 weapons having generic models and the new melee weapons dropping only neutral.

This is the best part here:

2) Officially, the XB360 version is a different version of the game. It is not meant as a duplicate of the JP version. You can disagree with that but that is the official stance, and so whatever communication you're going to hear from me or us, that's the ultimate message. That means that saying "it was like X there but it's like Y here and therefore it is broken" isn't something we can respond to, officially. They are different versions for a reason, and supplying new artwork to the XB360 is not the same as providing new artwork to the PC version. I know there's a fuzzy line there, some things, yes, it's worth raising the issue for sure. I said this on our forums before they went down and if you are unsure of what is "okay" to bring up ... you can always ask!

Err.. what? Wasn't the game supposed to receive the same updates as the Japanese version but with only a few months difference based on the release of the games? To me it sounds like an Xbox360 problem with having to go through getting content/patches certified. Probably doesn't help that they chose a poor method to distribute the "Guardian's Advanced Content" update either. I wonder how things would have been explained if the PC version was never shut down?

I'll be fair: OK we knew that there would be differences in the game from the Japanese version especially after things like the second MAG, the long update drought that followed the second MAG, and the absence of Guardian's Cash. But still that doesn't excuse cutting small details from the game. At least save excuse for something big like explaining why an event or other highly anticipated content won't make it over. It would sound a lot better then, trust me! Although I still wouldn't buy it.

I certainly hope PSO2 can avoid content problem like these. Well at least I do feel a little better knowing that Sega has full control over content since they don't need to go through a third party like Xbox Live.

Today's Lesson: Be Careful What You Wish For

Guardians Cash was a point of contention among many members of the community when the supplemental update was implemented on the Xbox 360 servers. Sega of America announced at the time that the Guardians Cash system would not be coming to the regional servers, and many players worried that the content would never be seen outside of Japan. However, they were reassured by Sega that the content would make its way into the game in some form.

Recently, PSU GM Edward made the announcement that Guardians Cash content would be worked into an upcoming event, though he didn't provide further details. The upcoming event turned out to be The Great Arms Race, which started today. Players apparently forgot about the Guardians Cash comment when the event announcement was made earlier this week.

Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a shock when the event Web site showed that the manufacturer weapons being distributed were actually completely different than those handed out during the Japanese event. Oddly enough, the three reward weapons for the US/EU version aren't even produced by the participating manufacturers -- they're Kubara weapons!

How could Sega have overlooked this fact? How could they have replaced the weapons everyone was looking forward to with three Kubara weapons?

Oh, right -- the substituted weapons are Guardians Cash weapons in Japan. This is just an example of Sega doing what everyone wanted... right?

No. In fact, this is exactly what the community didn't want. The community wanted the event to be exactly the same as the Japanese one. It expected a certain type of content (namely, the three reward weapons), and it didn't get it. Sega is doing the right thing by trying to get the Guardians Cash content to the Western servers, but this was clearly not the time or place to do it. As a result, three functional reward weapons were replaced with what are essentially novelty items. Perhaps Sega should have asked the community if this was something it wanted. If they had, they might have been able to avoid the shitstorm that is now brewing on the official PSU forums.

On the flip side, the US/EU PSU community has learned a valuable lesson: be careful what you wish for, because Sega might give it to you when you want it the least.

Rewards as Content, Part II

Three weeks ago, I dashed off a post about the arrival of the first set of rewards from Absolute Zero.

At the time, some Xbox 360 players were apparently a little irritated that they weren't getting all of the event rewards in that update. I had said then that I thought it was a good idea to split the rewards up, if only so that players wouldn't feel rushed trying to take advantage of all the bonuses at once. I also hoped that the next content update would be more than just the second half of the rewards.

Here we are, three weeks later. The update for this week has been announced. Lo and behold, the remaining rewards are pretty much the only things the regional servers get this week, which is exactly what GM Edward said would not happen.

To be fair, obviously Edward does not get to decide what goes into the next content update; he only reports what Sega of Japan has told him. Things can (and probably often do) change, and as PSU GM and community liaison, Edward unfortunately has to take the brunt of the players' criticism when that happens. However, Sega of Japan shouldn't be putting Edward in the position to be the bearer of bad news. What it has done here is insulting to players and merely underscores why things continue to go downhill on the US/EU servers.

In addition to receiving the second set of reward updates, players will also be getting the White Day lobbies and an update to the missions Unsafe Passage, Fight for Food, and Moonlight Beast that makes them Ambition of the Illuminus compliant (which I presume is only a drop chart change and maybe a difficulty increase). I don't see any significant updates here at all. For Sega of Japan to say they have "something planned" besides the reward update and then throw out a lobby change and minor mission update is ridiculous.

In any case, it will be interesting to see how the community responds to this announcement. Players didn't take the announcement of the first set of rewards too well, so the next day or so should be fun!

Forum Oddities: PSU GotY Edition

2010 is coming to a close, and the Web site MMORPG.com has opened the voting for its annual MMORPG of the Year award. Instead of limiting voters to a small list of games, the site has provided a huge list of currently active online RPGs to select from.

The list really is quite large, so I guess it shouldn't be that surprising that Phantasy Star Universe is somehow on it. I've never even heard of most of the games on that list. (Ignore the fact that PSU is not technically an MMORPG and therefore shouldn't even be a choice.)

However, I was a little surprised when I came across this thread on the official Sega forums asking PSU players to vote for the game as the best of 2010. Why would anyone want to do this?

The game is over four years old and struggling to maintain its player base, thanks in large part to Sega's day-to-day decision making and management of the servers (and the community in general). In just this past year, the community endured a continuing lack of updates, sporadic network outages, billing issues, and a permanent server shutdown.

Then there's the issue of server population. At any given moment, the number of people playing PSU online is equal to less than one percent of the population of people playing World of Warcraft, Aion, or any of the other large pay-to-play MMOs. That's not even a scientific estimate, but it's probably accurate. PSU is a niche game, and will remain that way forever.

Finally, you could make the argument that Sega is not really releasing new content for PSU anymore (meaning new environments / enemies / etc). Yes, the supplemental update has been released and is providing players with some new equipment, but Sega is not doing anything to expand the PSU world, and that probably won't change now that Phantasy Star Online 2 has been announced.

That said, if you'd like to think you're being clever, or if you want to try and screw with the results a little (good luck -- see the server population discussion), head over to MMORPG.com and cast your vote for Phantasy Star Universe as MMORPG of the Year 2010! (You have to have an account there to vote.)

Keep PSO2 PC-Only, Please

With Phantasy Star Online 2 just recently announced and having no set release date in the United States, the debate on the official Sega forums has turned to whether or not console versions of the game will be developed.

This thread in particular should be held up as the prime example of why there should not be any console versions of PSO2. In that thread, console players of Phantasy Star Universe (primarily those on Xbox 360, where the servers are still active) try to make a case for a console PSO2, arguing that a PS3 or Xbox 360 would be a good fit for the next-generation game. Towards the end it pretty much turns into a fight between the PC PSU players and the Xbox 360 PSU players. Been there, done that.

I strongly believe that Sega should keep PSO2 far, far away from the consoles. A console version of the game would only help to split up the community. The US/EU version of PSU demonstrated that very nicely. Also, no console versions means that Sega has to maintain only the PC version, meaning that it would be easier and quicker to roll out content updates. (And for you Xbox 360 PSU players that would like to claim otherwise, don't forget that Sega of Japan is also handling PC/PS2 content updates in addition to the Xbox 360's updates.)

Of course, a PC-only PSO2 has other advantages. It'll probably look nicer and run better; right now, it appears that PSO2 is actually being developed specifically for PCs, which is good. A PC-only game also keeps the door open for future expansion, since personal computers aren't limited by expensive proprietary storage (see: Xbox 360). The PC can also do voice chat, so it's not like anybody would be losing that functionality without a console.

Advocates for a console PSO2 claim that it would be a safe haven against the evils of PC hacking. I'm a professional software engineer, so I think I can call bullshit on that one; any programmer that's worth a damn should be able to write server code good enough to stop those things from happening in most cases. Not to mention that Sega should care enough about the game to remove those people as quickly as possible.

Finally, I'll single out the Xbox 360 specifically because a version of PSO2 developed for that console would surely result in console-separated servers. And we all saw how well that turned out for the US/EU version of PSU. I personally think that a PC-only PSO2 increases the likelihood of international servers, though it's way too early to tell if that will happen. If we get console versions of the game, I'm not holding my breath.

We still don't know much about PSO2. As I said before, there's still a long way to go before we get to play it. However, everybody is hoping that Sega gets this one right. Let's start by making PSO2 PC-only.

Welcome to Reality

When the PC/PS2 servers closed back in April, PSU GMs offered the suggestion that the closure would actually be better for the game in the long run. With Sega focusing resources on just one version of the game, maybe the US/EU servers could catch up to the Japanese servers. The remaining Xbox 360 players were thrilled.

Almost six months have passed since then, and the Xbox 360 PSU landscape looks very different. Aside from the release of the supplemental update in July, there have been few, if any, glimmers of hope to even suggest that the US/EU servers are catching up. Since the release of the supplemental update, the regional servers have received exactly two new (conditional) missions and a few updates to the GAS feature. There have been no content updates in September.

Now it looks like players are starting to wake up and face reality.

Sega of Japan has announced that there will be no maintenance this week, despite the fact that the Japanese PC/PS2 servers are starting their fourth anniversary event this week. Players do not seem to be taking the news too well, as evidenced in this thread on the official forums.

In the days after the PC/PS2 server shutdown, we blogged a little about the blind faith that some members of the Xbox 360 community had in Sega to deliver on the pledge to catch up to the Japanese servers. It should be mentioned that PSU GMs never actually promised to do such a thing. So I'm not sure why players are expressing anger and frustration now about something that was never going to happen anyway.

The Xbox 360 servers will never catch up to the Japanese servers before closing -- I'm almost certain of that, and if I'm wrong (not likely), then so be it. Before long, the next Phantasy Star console game will be released, and the Xbox 360 PSU servers will vanish into nothing, leaving behind all of the unreleased content. If you don't think that won't happen, consider the fact that Sega of America did it once already with PSO: Blue Burst. It will happen.

That's the new reality of playing Phantasy Star games online in the West. Welcome, Xbox 360 community.

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.

The Supplemental Update is Live

The regional PSU servers are back online after just over 18 hours of maintenance, and the supplemental update is live.

Instructions for downloading the update have been posted on the official web site and forums. Players will need to completely remove the old Ambition of the Illuminus download from their hard drives before downloading and installing the new version of the expansion. Don't forget that Ambition of the Illuminus is now a free download on Xbox Live.

Amazingly, the update seems to be going smoothly. Although many players are reporting slow load times on the update download, Sega does not seem to have made any announcements regarding bugs, glitches, or other unexpected side effects.

Keep in mind that the update has only been live for a little over an hour (as I type this), so glitches may still yet appear.

Now that the supplemental update has arrived, it will be interesting to see how the community reacts in the weeks and months to come. I would expect the player population to increase for at least the first few weeks, but after that it's largely up to Sega (as it always has been) to keep players interested by providing new content.

Let the comparisons to the Japanese PC/PS2 servers resume!

No Supplemental Update This Week, Either

Last week, PSU GM Edward stated in the weekly maintenance thread that the supplemental update was nearly upon us, and that it would be "ready likely within a week's time".

One week later, the Japanese PSU Web site states that the maintenance period will be skipped this week. In addition, the removal of PSU version 1.0 support that was originally planned for June 22 has still not been rescheduled.

That didn't stop some people on the official forums from holding out hope for the supplemental update this week, despite the fact that it's Tuesday and we would have heard about the incoming update days ago.

Meanwhile, the 20x casino coin period continues until maintenance on Friday, July 16. Whether or not Sega does anything else during that maintenance period is still up in the air.

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...

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!

Today's Pointless Thread of the Day

When I read the official forums, I occasionally find a thread that just begs to be posted here.

Today, I offer up this thread for your personal enjoyment as Pointless Thread of the Day. Normally when I decide to post these, I tend to read through the entire thread first -- but this one grabbed my attention from the very first post. I realize that this one post does not summarize the level of intelligence (or lack thereof) of the Xbox 360 community, but still, this was pretty ridiculous.

As if this wasn't bad enough, some of the players that replied thought it would be cool to leave their World of Warcraft macros in the thread for all to read. I swear, for all the bitching Xbox 360 players do about seeing non-Xbox 360 PSU threads in General Discussion, they sure do post a lot of non-Xbox 360 PSU shit in General Discussion.