The voting period for the Event Illustration and Stick Figure Assault contests has ended! The results have been tallied and PSO-World.com is pleased to announce the contest winners:

Event Illustration Contest
Grand Prize Winner:

Operation Firebreak by Carma

2nd Place: Eternal Struggle by Yueri
3rd Place: Relaxing at Denes Lake by Tsukuyo
4th Place: Encounter by Elwain

Stick Figure Assault Contest
Grand Prize Winner:

GOTY by Rust

2nd Place: When Rares Aint Rare by W0LB0T
3rd Place: The Trouble With Sorting Orders by Imatron_
4th Place: Story of my (PSU) Life by gum_on_shoe

The grand prize winners will receive a Phantasy Star Universe art book autographed by Takao Miyoshi! The second through fourth place winners in each contest will receive a rare Phantasy Star Universe figure.

A big thanks goes to everyone that participated and Sega of Europe for providing the prizes. You can share your thoughts in this forum thread.

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Details were announced earlier today on July 3's content update! Here's what to expect this Friday.

• "The Protectors γ," a new temporary event mission will be released along with "Supervisor's Edict," an accompanying briefing mission.
• The remaining "Shred the Darkness" rewards will begin and last for three weeks. These include megaholy light for all races, boosted PA EXP payout, 10x Vol Coins, boosted synthesis rates and more.
• Sonic's birthday lobbies will go up in Clyez City. Look out for Jaggo Sonichis in missions where you'd see normal Jaggos!
• "Desert Arms Shop," the exchange mission located at Gawik's Pub will be updated with some new weapons.
• Certain enemies, including De Rol Le and Dark Falz, will receive some new drop items.

Thanks goes out to Gryffin for the news tip on this update. Check out his thread at the forum to join in the discussion!

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The voting galleries for the Event Illustration and Stick Figure Assault contests are now open. Stop by each voting gallery and vote for the submission that you like the best. The winner of each contest will receive an art book autographed by Takao Miyoshi! The second, third, and fourth place winners in each contest will receive a rare Phantasy Star Universe figure. Be sure to choose carefully since you will only receive one vote in each gallery. The voting period will end on June 28, 2009. Good luck to all of the participants!

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Recently, there have been a few changes in the lead positions of Sega's worldwide operations. As detailed by the official press release:

• Simon Jeffery is no longer the President and COO of Sega of America.  He will be leaving the company for a management position at ngmocos.
• Mike Hayes is President and COO of Sega Europe.  He will be assuming the role of President and COO of Sega of America as well.
• Mr. Naoya Tsurumi is the CEO of Sega of America and Sega Europe.  He will now also be overseeing operations in Japan.

These changes are being touted as a move to not only further unite the new 'Sega West', but also to further tie leadership between Sega's eastern and western divisions.

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nProtect GameGuard recently added support for Windows 7.  As a result, Phantasy Star Universe on PC received a number of updates to the program last night.  Users are now reporting that it can be played on Windows 7 RC2 (Build 7201) without the issues seen before.  With this update, both 32-bit and 64-bit versions are supported.

Microsoft plans to release the full retail version of Windows 7 on October 22, 2009.

More on the GameGuard/Windows 7 support timeline can be found at this official forum thread.

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Xbox Live will be unavailable due to a maintenance period planned for Tuesday, June 16th. It is scheduled to start at 12:01 AM PST (3:01 AM EST, 7:01 AM UTC) and last for up to 24 hours.

This downtime is said to be in preparation for recently announced feature additions to the service, however none will be available directly after the maintenance period.

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The official English Phantasy Star Universe webpage announced a big update that is slated to be released on June 12. Here are the details:

• The Shred the Darkness reward period will begin. If you are eligible to receive a Sonic Disc, G. Colony Collectible and Preta/D, be sure to leave some open space in your common box.
• Maximum level cap will be increased to 160.
• Innocent Girl, a side Story Mission, will be released. You'll be tasked with helping to train Vivienne, a new CAST model. If you complete the mission on the highest difficulty with the best rank, you will be eligible to receive an "extra bonus."
• The "Clothes 'n Parts" exchange mission on Guardian Colony will be updated with new items.

Credit goes to beatrixkiddo for bringing us this news. You can discuss this update in this on-going forum thread.
 
Update: Following updates from the Japanese Xbox 360 PSU site and GM Edward, it has been confirmed that the Shred the Darkness rewards will be split up between two updates. While the items listed above will be distributed in this update, the remaining rewards (synthesis/grind boosts, PA EXP boost, megaholy fortune, etc.) will be distributed in the following update. These rewards will be extended, however, from the original two week period to three weeks. Stay tuned for further details.
 
Update: Casino Voloyal has been updated with a set rotation. Two new room decorations (Tar Tarre, Western Door) and one new remodeling ticket (Western) have been added. According to the JP 360 homepage, the Wedding lobbies will be up for three weeks (ending July 2). Players should also collect their event rewards by the end of July.

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Thursday, June 4 marked the introduction of a brand new in-game currency to the Japanese PC/PS2 servers. Dubbed "GUARDIANS Cash," this optional service allows players to purchase varying quantities of GC to gain access to exclusive missions with various bonuses and rewards. (For details on the cost of GC, please see this post.) Currently, only two GC missions have been released: "Legacy of the Light" and "Entrusted Defense." "Legacy of the Light" offers players a chance of obtaining drops from LV175 enemies, but also a variety of new weapons from boxes within the mission. The include the likes of Soul Eater, Rocket Punchers, Motav Prophecy and more. The second mission, "Entrusted Defense," places players in a VR simulation of an enemy invasion at GUARDIANS HQ. This mission offers players a 350% EXP boost as well as a boost to PA EXP payout.

Along with these two missions came a new exchange mission called "Photon Crystal Exchange." Here players can compress Photon Drops (received from GC missions) into Photon Crystals and trade these crystals for different weapons and even clothes and parts. Of note, replica sets of the GH410 and GH480's clothing are available.

Despite some players enjoying the new missions and items, the introduction of the GUARDIANS Cash system to the Japanese servers has received a lot of flak from both the Japanese and the English communities alike. English GMs have stated that the GC system has not been confirmed for an English version release, but all feedback is welcome as it can help determine what is best for the community as far as this content goes. If you would like to jump in on the discussion and leave your thoughts on the system, please feel free to do so at the forum. But, please remember to keep your posts clean and on-topic!

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Are you feeling bored now that school and Shred the Darkness are over? If so, you may be interested in participating in our TWO new fan artist contests! In the Event Illustration contest, participants are asked to recreate a scene from a past Phantasy Star Universe event. If that does not suit your fancy, you can enter the Stick Figure Assault. Entrants in this contest will be asked to draw a stick figure comic about an in-game experience from either Phantasy Star Universe or Phantasy Star Portable. Submissions for both contests must be received by June 20th. The prizes for these contests include rare PSU figures and PSU artbooks autographed by Takao Miyoshi, one of PSU's creators! Check the corresponding contest threads for details and rules.

These contests are sponsored by the European release of Phantasy Star Portable, now available at most retailers! PSO-World.com would like to thank Sega of Europe for supplying us with a great selection of rare and amazing prizes!

Good luck everyone! We look forward to seeing your entries!

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An announcement for the upcoming May 29 content update has been posted at the official English Phantasy Star Universe website! Aside from the end of Shred the Darkness, here's what else to expect next week.

• Real Hand Gun+ and Moatoob Collectible will be delivered via common box to all eligible participants of March's Phantasy Star Portable launch event. Make sure you have enough room available to receive these items!
• The Parum Unification Commemoration lobby will go up in Holtes City.
• Despite Shred the Darkness ending, the event's exchange mission "Dark Crystal Seeker" will be sticking around for anyone who may have any leftover Megispheres to trade.
• Casino Voloyal's exchange counter will be updated with the usual room decoration rotation.

Feel free to discuss this update in this thread at the forum.

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