Good news everybody, the Japanese Xbox360 site (translated) has been updated with this weeks update.
And now for the bad news: It's only a lobby change to the winter lobby with the snowman room decoration on sale. Yes that's it. And how long will this lobby be up you ask? Why to February 13th of course!
I think I feel another update drought on the way...
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Windows 7 and PSU
Earlier this evening, I decided to take the brand new Windows 7 Beta for a test drive. Just for the hell of it, I thought it would be interesting to see how well PSU ran in the new version of Windows.
After installing the game and messing around with options for a half hour or so, I came to a conclusion: PSU doesn't run at all.
The problem doesn't seem to be the game itself, though. Instead (and this probably shouldn't be a shock to anyone), it's GameGuard that's causing the issue. Immediately after starting the game up, the following error message appears:
And there doesn't seem to be any way to fix the problem. No combination of compatibility mode or privilege changes kills the error. I guess the only thing to do is to wait until INCA decides to make GameGuard compatible with Windows 7.
After installing the game and messing around with options for a half hour or so, I came to a conclusion: PSU doesn't run at all.
The problem doesn't seem to be the game itself, though. Instead (and this probably shouldn't be a shock to anyone), it's GameGuard that's causing the issue. Immediately after starting the game up, the following error message appears:
And there doesn't seem to be any way to fix the problem. No combination of compatibility mode or privilege changes kills the error. I guess the only thing to do is to wait until INCA decides to make GameGuard compatible with Windows 7.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
The S+10 Super-Fail
Oh, those crazy Xbox 360 PSU players.
A group of people on the 360 servers is attempting to make a quick buck off of the S+10 grinder glitch that occurred back in early 2008. Yesterday, the apparent "leader" of this group outlined his "super-plan" in a thread on a popular PSU fansite's forums.
Turns out it's not a very complicated (or very smart) plan. According to the thread, members of the group will buy up as many S+10 grinders as possible. They then plan to resell them for ten million meseta apiece.
They claim that the purpose of this massive grinder purchase is to artificially increase the rarity of S+10 grinders. However, it seems pretty clear to me that this is just a poor attempt to make as much money as possible -- as quickly as possible.
Think about it: they want to resell the grinders, not delete them. Players with lots of money can continue to buy and resell grinders at obscenely high prices. Therefore, arbitrarily raising prices won't decrease demand. In fact, demand will probably remain about the same, and these guys could stand to make some money by ratcheting up prices once they've bought the grinders.
If these guys really want to increase the rarity of S+10 grinders, they should buy them all up and sell them at an NPC shop. Or, they could drop the grinders in a mission and quit, deleting the grinders forever. They apparently want to do neither.
And it looks like the PSU community may not be fooled by this attempt, either. In this thread on the official PSU forums, the group's "leader" claims that the players are now attempting to destroy the Xbox 360 economy using the S+10 grinders they buy. My guess is that nobody bought into their "plan", and now they're going to try to make some money using the exact method I just described in the paragraph above.
My guess is also that they will fail miserably. But the forum threads do make for interesting drama!
A group of people on the 360 servers is attempting to make a quick buck off of the S+10 grinder glitch that occurred back in early 2008. Yesterday, the apparent "leader" of this group outlined his "super-plan" in a thread on a popular PSU fansite's forums.
Turns out it's not a very complicated (or very smart) plan. According to the thread, members of the group will buy up as many S+10 grinders as possible. They then plan to resell them for ten million meseta apiece.
They claim that the purpose of this massive grinder purchase is to artificially increase the rarity of S+10 grinders. However, it seems pretty clear to me that this is just a poor attempt to make as much money as possible -- as quickly as possible.
Think about it: they want to resell the grinders, not delete them. Players with lots of money can continue to buy and resell grinders at obscenely high prices. Therefore, arbitrarily raising prices won't decrease demand. In fact, demand will probably remain about the same, and these guys could stand to make some money by ratcheting up prices once they've bought the grinders.
If these guys really want to increase the rarity of S+10 grinders, they should buy them all up and sell them at an NPC shop. Or, they could drop the grinders in a mission and quit, deleting the grinders forever. They apparently want to do neither.
And it looks like the PSU community may not be fooled by this attempt, either. In this thread on the official PSU forums, the group's "leader" claims that the players are now attempting to destroy the Xbox 360 economy using the S+10 grinders they buy. My guess is that nobody bought into their "plan", and now they're going to try to make some money using the exact method I just described in the paragraph above.
My guess is also that they will fail miserably. But the forum threads do make for interesting drama!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
2008 Photon Fortune: By the Numbers
As 2008 comes to an end this week, I thought it would be interesting to do a small statistical summary of the year's Photon Fortune (more popularly known as 'Luck').
I did not compile this information by hand, as that would be far too time-consuming. Earlier this year, I wrote a small application that downloads Photon Fortune information from the Internet daily. It does all the work for me!
Note that the numbers here are averages, and may have been subject to slight rounding error.
To view the complete breakdown of 2008 Photon Fortune by race and gender, click here.
Overall, Photon Fortune for 2008 averaged 1.11* across all races. Female Newmans had the highest average Photon Fortune for the year, at 1.13*. Female Beasts had the lowest Photon Fortune average this year, at 1.09*.
Across all races, zero-Photon Fortune days averaged out to about 154, or approximately 42% of the year. Male Newmans had the fewest zero-PF days (151) while female Beasts had the most (159).
"Megaholy" (3*) Photon Fortune occurred on an average of 76 days, or approximately 21% of the year. Female Newmans had the most "Megaholy" PF days (79). Male CASTs and female Humans tied for the fewest (74 days each).
Sonic Team has said in the past that they try to keep Photon Fortune approximately equal for everyone, and judging by the numbers here, it looks like they did that pretty well in 2008. Looking ahead to 2009, everyone has 3* Photon Fortune for the first two weeks, so we'll all be starting on even footing!
I did not compile this information by hand, as that would be far too time-consuming. Earlier this year, I wrote a small application that downloads Photon Fortune information from the Internet daily. It does all the work for me!
Note that the numbers here are averages, and may have been subject to slight rounding error.
To view the complete breakdown of 2008 Photon Fortune by race and gender, click here.
Overall, Photon Fortune for 2008 averaged 1.11* across all races. Female Newmans had the highest average Photon Fortune for the year, at 1.13*. Female Beasts had the lowest Photon Fortune average this year, at 1.09*.
Across all races, zero-Photon Fortune days averaged out to about 154, or approximately 42% of the year. Male Newmans had the fewest zero-PF days (151) while female Beasts had the most (159).
"Megaholy" (3*) Photon Fortune occurred on an average of 76 days, or approximately 21% of the year. Female Newmans had the most "Megaholy" PF days (79). Male CASTs and female Humans tied for the fewest (74 days each).
Sonic Team has said in the past that they try to keep Photon Fortune approximately equal for everyone, and judging by the numbers here, it looks like they did that pretty well in 2008. Looking ahead to 2009, everyone has 3* Photon Fortune for the first two weeks, so we'll all be starting on even footing!
Slightly Off Topic: Stupid Patents
Who knew that online multi-user interaction could be patented?
In fact, there is one company that does own such a patent, and now they're taking legal action to enforce it. Worlds.com, a virtual worlds developer, has filed a civil lawsuit against South Korean MMOG developer NCsoft. They argue that NCsoft has infringed upon U.S. Patent #7,181,690, which lays claim to an online avatar-based method of user interaction in a virtual world. The suit cites several of NCsoft's online games, including Lineage and Lineage II, Guild Wars, and City of Heroes and City of Villains, just to name a few.
This case reeks of a financially struggling company looking for a last ditch effort to save itself from bankruptcy. When your stock is trading at 15 cents a share, I suppose you have to do something to turn things around.
In any case, this lawsuit could have an interesting impact on online gaming. How many online games have you played that don't use avatars for interaction? Just about every MMOG under the sun, from Aion: Tower of Eternity (another NCsoft RPG, interestingly enough) to World of Warcraft, uses avatars. And what about the New Xbox Experience? What about Playstation Home? What about Phantasy Star Online and Phantasy Star Universe (this is a PS-themed blog, after all)?
It also strikes me as strange that the patent was just issued last year, long after MMO games had made their way into ubiquity. Several avatar-based MMOGs also predate the patent's filing date of August 2000 (for example, Lineage) so I doubt Worlds.com was the first company to come up with the idea. Makes you wonder why the patent was issued at all?
Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see what happens as this case makes its way through the legal system. A copy of the civil complaint is available for viewing here.
Original story: Worlds.com Files Suit Against NCsoft for Patent Infringement
In fact, there is one company that does own such a patent, and now they're taking legal action to enforce it. Worlds.com, a virtual worlds developer, has filed a civil lawsuit against South Korean MMOG developer NCsoft. They argue that NCsoft has infringed upon U.S. Patent #7,181,690, which lays claim to an online avatar-based method of user interaction in a virtual world. The suit cites several of NCsoft's online games, including Lineage and Lineage II, Guild Wars, and City of Heroes and City of Villains, just to name a few.
This case reeks of a financially struggling company looking for a last ditch effort to save itself from bankruptcy. When your stock is trading at 15 cents a share, I suppose you have to do something to turn things around.
In any case, this lawsuit could have an interesting impact on online gaming. How many online games have you played that don't use avatars for interaction? Just about every MMOG under the sun, from Aion: Tower of Eternity (another NCsoft RPG, interestingly enough) to World of Warcraft, uses avatars. And what about the New Xbox Experience? What about Playstation Home? What about Phantasy Star Online and Phantasy Star Universe (this is a PS-themed blog, after all)?
It also strikes me as strange that the patent was just issued last year, long after MMO games had made their way into ubiquity. Several avatar-based MMOGs also predate the patent's filing date of August 2000 (for example, Lineage) so I doubt Worlds.com was the first company to come up with the idea. Makes you wonder why the patent was issued at all?
Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see what happens as this case makes its way through the legal system. A copy of the civil complaint is available for viewing here.
Original story: Worlds.com Files Suit Against NCsoft for Patent Infringement
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Rollback Compensation Arrives Friday
In this thread on the official PSU forums, GM Edward has announced that rollback compensation will appear in Friday morning's maintenance. As mentioned previously, the compensation will be available until January 16. This means that players will see a full three weeks of bonuses.
Content updates for Friday (if you want to call them that) include the arrival of the New Year lobbies and removal of the currently active Christmas lobbies.
Content updates for Friday (if you want to call them that) include the arrival of the New Year lobbies and removal of the currently active Christmas lobbies.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Xbox 360 Servers Rolled Back
Sega has responded to the latest maintenance glitch with a rollback.At about 5:10 PM EST, Sega took down the Xbox 360 servers for emergency maintenance involving the latest room-corrupting glitch. Access to the servers was restored around 6:00 PM EST, and posters in this thread on the official PSU forums are reporting that their character data have been rolled back to last night, right before maintenance began.
PC/PS2 servers were not affected by the glitch and will not be rolled back.
Comments on the rollback from the Sega of America GM team are posted here.
More Maintenance Glitches: Rollback Imminent?
If you haven't logged onto PSU yet after this morning's maintenance, you may want to sit tight.
According to this thread on the official PSU forums, some players on the Xbox 360 servers are currently experiencing room glitches. These include the loss of items and meseta as well as room appearance and bulletin board bugs.
There's no word right now on whether or not the glitch is affecting the PC/PS2 servers. At any rate, it's probably a good idea to avoid playing for the moment until Sega provides more information on the issue.
According to this thread on the official PSU forums, some players on the Xbox 360 servers are currently experiencing room glitches. These include the loss of items and meseta as well as room appearance and bulletin board bugs.
There's no word right now on whether or not the glitch is affecting the PC/PS2 servers. At any rate, it's probably a good idea to avoid playing for the moment until Sega provides more information on the issue.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Event Speculation Time
Something struck me as odd on the second read through the rollback compensation announcement. Specifically, this line --
This seemed unusual because while no specific start date is given for the compensation, we know an exact end date of January 16. The implication seems to be that the compensation will end on the 16th regardless of when Sega actually gets around to rolling it out.
Therefore, I'm starting a rumor right here on this blog. It's just my own personal prediction, and it may or may not come to pass, so take it with a grain of salt:
The next event (probably the Lightning Carnival) will begin on Friday, January 16, 2009.
Think about it -- when was the last time Sega announced a specific end date for a timed event without providing a specific start date as well? Sega has to have big plans for the 16th. Otherwise, they could have given a specific time period for the compensation event. For example, "Once the compensation is implemented, it will run for two weeks."
With the current wording, though, the bonuses could last three weeks, two weeks, or even just one week depending on when they get added to the servers.
In any case, keep your eyes on the official PSU site in early January. It wouldn't surprise me if they announced something big.
[Compensation] will not be part of this week's maintenance, although [it] will likely be implemented by the end of this year. These bonuses will last until January 16th.
This seemed unusual because while no specific start date is given for the compensation, we know an exact end date of January 16. The implication seems to be that the compensation will end on the 16th regardless of when Sega actually gets around to rolling it out.
Therefore, I'm starting a rumor right here on this blog. It's just my own personal prediction, and it may or may not come to pass, so take it with a grain of salt:
The next event (probably the Lightning Carnival) will begin on Friday, January 16, 2009.
Think about it -- when was the last time Sega announced a specific end date for a timed event without providing a specific start date as well? Sega has to have big plans for the 16th. Otherwise, they could have given a specific time period for the compensation event. For example, "Once the compensation is implemented, it will run for two weeks."
With the current wording, though, the bonuses could last three weeks, two weeks, or even just one week depending on when they get added to the servers.
In any case, keep your eyes on the official PSU site in early January. It wouldn't surprise me if they announced something big.
Rollback Compensation Announced
Sega of America's PSU GM team has announced its plans for the rollback compensation promised after the electrical maintenance glitches that occurred on December 7th and 8th.
According to posts on the official PSU site and forums, the compensation package will include the following:
Does this mean we're actually going to have yet another week of meaningful maintenance in December? Hopefully this latest turnaround by Sega isn't temporary!
According to posts on the official PSU site and forums, the compensation package will include the following:
- - 10% grind bonus
- - 10% synthesis bonus
- - 3* luck
- - 50% clothes discount
- - Free makeovers
Does this mean we're actually going to have yet another week of meaningful maintenance in December? Hopefully this latest turnaround by Sega isn't temporary!
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