News

lollipoplolita writes, "

ST announced today that Mop Up 3 & 4 and Endless Nightmare 3 & 4 will soon be released on PSOX EU and US this month. The 4 quests are online extermination quests playable for up to 4 people. Exact dates remain unknown at this time, but we will post further news once they become available.

ST also announced that while the Reach for the Dream quest is up and available on PSOX JP, the PSOX JP release of the Seat of the Heart quest shall be delayed until further notice due to technical difficulties. Does this mean a delay for a PSOX US and EU release?

Also, quick congrats to PSOW member Malkavian for having his pics and story up on the English Minhiro website!

For you guys that haven't been to the website, be sure to check it out. It has also been recently updated with 10 new illustration pieces. And might I say, some are mighty impressive!

Artist: Nami
Console: Gamecube JP
Comment: 21 years after Episode I & II... So, I dared to have arranged clothes, too... .

"

TerribleDeliMeat writes, "Ebgames.com is offering the Microsoft xbox Live! kits with Phantasy Star Online. Both are included for $49.99. I'm not sure if this is a select exclusive ebgames bundle. "

PSOW is proud to announce the opening of our Team Center!

Our Team Center, complete Events Calendar available for viewing all events occurring on a given month by all the teams around. Now PSO players everywhere can keep up to date with the many happenings on the PSO World and participate.

There will be many uses for the Team Center and we hope our community will embrace and use these tools to help yourself enjoy PSO more and worry about finding an audience for your events less.

So we really hope you enjoy this new idea we've had in the to-do list for over a year now (Yes you can blame little ol' me for not getting around to finishing it up heh). Please report any bugs in the forum at our Site Updates thread. You can also use PSOW Team Center image buttons/banners to link from your individual homepages, these buttons can be found in our Recommend & Link section.

lollipoplolita writes, "ST has announced that PSO Ep 3 will be released in Japan on November 27, 2003 for a selling price of 6,980 yen.

PSO Ep 3 features two storylines, one that will advance with the Heroside viewpoint and one that will advance with the Darkside viewpoint.


Episode 3 will slowly focus on the storyline character per character and will have some events in it such as illustrated in the following picture:


The mystery of what happened to Ragol and Pioneer 2 will be soon be revealed on November 27th! Join the ongoing discussion in our forums."

Linkooseven writes, "Yup, you read that right. On November 27th, in Japan, PSO Episode I&II Plus will be sold. What is PSO EpI&II Plus you ask? It's just a minor change to PSO EpI&II, bringing some of your favorite online quest, like The Tower Quest, to the offline mode. It is not certain if this allows quest in the offline multiplayer mode, but this is interesting news.

Along with PSO EpI&II Plus, PSO EpIII will be released. Yeah, you read that right, November 27th is the release date for Phantasy Star Online Episode III in Japan! Importers, start your modded Gamecubes!"

ST released information noting that PSO Plus will be available on November 27, 2003 for 3,980 yen.

According to the new ST PSO PLUS Webpage, PSO Ep. I & II Plus will feature:

• Character and item data is completely transferable data from Ep 1 and 2 similar to how Ver 1 data could be transferred to Ver 2 DCPSO.
• Game will run on the same Ep 1&2 servers, meaning you can still say hi and play with friends who are on the regular Ep 1 and 2 version.
• The currently online only quests such as Seat of the Heart, East Tower and West Tower and will therefore be available for offline play.
• A completely new never seen before Ep 2 Challenge Mode. Stages 1 - 5 that will span across VR Temple, VR Spacechip and Gal Da Val island to be availble offline only in PSO Plus (Ep2 C-Mode will be available online soon on Ep 1 and 2).
• GBA online only minigame downloads that are already available in the EP 1 & 2 version such as Chao Garden, Nights Score Attack and Puyo Pop and will therefore be available for offline play.
• Other non disclosed offline content.

This is so that PSO Ep 1 & 2 players will still get great new content while those who choose to get Ep 3 can enjoy a new gameplay. Sega would also like to note that they are proud to have the largest online network console game with 600,000 registered members. The storyline will still be expanded with Episode 1 quests adveturing in Ragol and Episode 2 quests adventuring in Gal Da Val islands. There are no exact news on new additional items other than the new items that will be dropped by the new Control Tower enemies. Join the ongoing discussion on this news in our forums.

lollipoplolita writes, "This is a reminder for everyone that is interested in C-Mode. Our C-Mode Wednesdays and Fridays are still on and active both at 6pm PST/9pm EST on Deneb 4. We'd like everyone to come join us, and not just PSOW members, but everyone else from any other sites or communities. Anyone who enjoys C-Mode should come and meet up with fellow C-Mode enthusiasts.We invite everyone to come join C-Mode Night, both people who are new to C-Mode and C-Mode veterans. Come online and meet fellow C-Mode players. Exchange tips and try to improve your time. Or be kind and teach someone new the ropes! Join our ongoing C-Mode nights discussion in the forums.

Check out our Challenge Mode guide section for C-Mode info and maps. We also have printable maps!

So come and join us on both Wednesday night and Friday night!

"

Deltina_Wildfire writes, "Sonic Team has finished with the updates to PSOX on time today. PSOX now features:

Endless Nightmare 1 & 2
Mop-Up 1 & 2
Challenge Modes 1-9

Looks like they finally took notice to us over in Xbox Land."

Jack writes, "News from Sega.com!

Beginning October 1, 2003 the online services for Phantasy Star Online Dreamcast version 1 & 2 will be discontinued. The PSO US Dreamcast server (11:US/Oberon) will continue to operate and will be maintained until 9/30/03. However, starting September 30, 2003 at 11:59pm (Japan Time), 7:59am(US Pacific Time), the server will be disconnected and no players will be able to log into the game server.

The message boards have always been an integral part of the PSO community and they will continue to operate until 10/1/03.

If you have a valid Hunters License as of October 1, 2003 and after, you will receive credit for the charge against the credit card you used at the time of renewal. This credit will be issued around November 1, 2003.

Although this has been a difficult business decision, we know it is necessary to allow our valuable production resources to work on new games. On behalf of Sonic Team here at Sega, we would like to thank you for making PSO an unforgettable experience. You have brought us much joy and many wonderful memories. We invite you to try PSO on GameCube and Xbox and share your knowledge and skills with other PSO gamers so your legacy will continue to live on. "

Goodbye PSODC =(

lollipoplolita writes, "The new Resting at the Beach quest was active and added on to the servers last night. We now have a guide for it that includes all the secret words to say that will cause an event or action to happen in the quest. An ongoing discussion is also taking place in our forums, and we will add more secret keywords as we discover them. You can also see screenshots of the words in action."