Just in time for the holidays, Amazon currently has Phantasy Star Portable 2, for the Sony PSP, on sale for just $19.99 (eligible for free shipping with Prime or orders over $25). It's a great opportunity to pick up this awesome PSP sequel for yourself or someone you know. Better hurry, though, as the last time this game was on sale it didn't last long!

Also, be sure to stayed tuned for Episode 3 of PSO-World's Phantasy Star Podcast, which includes an exclusive interview with Stephanie Komure, the voice of Emilia Percival in the English version of Phantasy Star Portable 2! The episode will be posted here and on iTunes shortly!

Update: The price has gone back up. Congrats to everyone who managed to snag a copy while it was still on sale!

Back by popular demand, we're happy to release Episode 2 of PSO-World's Phantasy Star Podcast, with your hosts Dragwind, HUnewearl_Meira, EspioKaos, and S-T-H! In this episode, we discuss the Japanese PSOBB server closure (including the related PSO2 network trial), Phantasy Star Portable 2: Infinity, Sega's upcoming community event, and our first requested topic; beard maintenance (no, that's not a typo). This podcast weighs in just over a whopping 92 minutes, more than 50% bigger than episode 1, and can be downloaded here, or streamed below using the flash player!

Please use the following feeds to subscribe:

We hope you enjoy! Please keep an eye out for more podcasts in the future, as we already have some great ideas for upcoming episodes! You can share your feedback on the podcast or make requests in this forum thread.

Since the release of PSP2 in the West, there has been much discussion about whether or not the DLC released in Japan would eventually make its way to the US and Europe. The general consensus has been that the chance was likely slim. That is, until now. PSOW member Izuna has posted a very interesting guide in our PSP2 Forum which shows how to play the Japanese-released Phantasy Star Portable 2 DLC with the Western release of the game!

The process is actually quite easy, and simply involves downloading the free DLC from the official Japanese PSP2 site (where a similar guide is posted in Japanese) and storing it on your PSP's memory stick in the designated folders. The catch, as you might have guessed, is that the mission text is all in Japanese. However, it seems that the items you find during these missions will be displayed in English. (Please note: We do not yet know if there are any potential negative side effects from doing this, but none have been reported so far.)

This discovery opens up access to many of the very popular downloadable missions that were released for the Japanese version of the game, such as Gemaga and Maximum Attack Cross. In addition, it raises a very good question: If the Japanese DLC can be used with this method, does that mean that Sega could potentially release localized DLC sometime down the road using a similar method? We'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, head over to the forums and check out the full guide and discussion! Thanks to Izuna for posting the guide and credit also goes to funkyskunk for letting us know about this trick in an earlier thread!

Shortly after Sega's finger lickin' good PSP2i demonstration at the Tokyo Game Show, a new Phantasy Star web site was announced called the Phantasy Star Portal. The Japanese site includes a timeline and brief history of every Phantasy Star game ever made, all the way back to 1987. Also included are links to the official Japanese sites for each of the currently supported Phantasy Star titles.

In addition, Sega has posted a high quality version of the PSO 10th Anniversary & Phantasy Star Online 2 announcement video that was shown in Wednesday's TGS video stream. Click the PSO2 logo to check it out!

Thursday night's live video stream from Sega included a look at Phantasy Star Portable 2: Infinity, showcasing some features and in-game footage from the upcoming title. The live presentation, hosted by producer Satoshi Sakai, was packed full of information about the game. Unfortunately, this was all in Japanese, so we understood about 10 words throughout the entire stream. Keep an eye out for a follow-up story including details from the presentation as we get translations!

Hidden, juicy PSP2i details aside, the highlight of the presentation had to be around 18:32, where a promotional tie-in with fast food chain KFC was revealed. Following the announcement, in-game footage showed Colonel Sanders performing combat moves with his cane, using fire TECHNICs, battling enemies, and just chilling out. Shortly afterward, the PSO: 10th Anniversary video was shown and there was some brief discussion about PSO2 (we'll try to get these details up as well, if there was anything new mentioned).

Colonel Sanders in MY PSP2i? It's more likely than you think!

A full recording of the stream has been made available on UStream for anyone wanting to feel like the French and Spanish lessons they took in school were a complete waste. Go check it out!

Resident translator Espiokaos has been kind enough to post a lengthy list of new Phantasy Star Online 2 details, taken from last night's TGS teaser video. While some of the details were obscured in translation, there are some very interesting bits that should keep the speculations and discussions going strong until we get some more concrete details about this long-awaited sequel. Here is the list of translated details (some of the more interesting or significant changes are in bold):

"Action" and "RPG" re-connected

Increased variety of client orders

Map functions changing in real time

User-created story

New interface for environmental interactions

Global support

Thorough racial balances

Full user participation events

Seasonal changes

New chat system

New mail functions

Drastic item synthesis overhaul

Even wider variety of ways to raise your character

New direction of event scenes

Approach from NPCs (possibly a new approach to NPCs?)

Silhouette changes by add-ons (obscured)

New photon arts (obscured)

Community supported content (obscured)

Additional character customization

Category-based weapon training system (obscured)

Implementation of asynchronous communication

New party system

Improved enemy AI / cooperation

Limitless content

New approach to the game client

Implementation of a new "life work" (obscured)

Daily surprises

"Trump card" system

Mutual interaction functionality for new and veteran users

There were also a number of words and phrases used in the trailer which may give some insight about PSO2's story and setting: "Awakening", "Sealed stone monument", "Pure Dark Falz" (obscured), "Apostles of _____" (obscured), "Camp ship", "Arkz", "Why is darkness born?", "Why is the Great Light no longer here?", and "A world in ruin." Talk about one heck of puzzle to put together! The full, original list can be found here.

Feel free to post your predictions or interpretations in our comments section or Phantasy Star Online forum! Thanks again to Espiokaos and Shougai PSO for putting together this great information!

Viewers of Sega's live video stream from the Tokyo Game Show were the first to catch a glimpse of Sega's upcoming Phantasy Star game for 2011, Phantasy Star Online 2! The surprising reveal took place at the end of a montage which showcased every Phantasy Star game from the past 10 years and also included a peak at Phantasy Star Portable 2: Infinity, which was recently revealed as well. While no actual game footage was shown, a logo for Phantasy Star Online 2 did appear at the end of the video, along with some basic information indicating that the game would be released sometime in 2011 (presumably in Japan) for the PC.

It looks like this is indeed PSO's 10th Anniversary surprise that many were hoping for and we'll likely be finding out more once Sega releases an official statement. We're obviously very excited about this news and will post further details about PSO2 as we get them. In the meantime, check out the the full video HERE (Posted at SegaBits) and feel free to drop by the PSO-World Forums where an active discussion is already taking place about this awesome news!

Update: a new, high-quality version of the video is available at Sega's new Phantasy Star Portal web site. Check it out here!

It's Phantasy Star Portable 2 item code giveaway time! Our friends over at Sega were kind enough to pass along this PSOW-exclusive code which, when used, will unlock the Alis Landale poster from their recent PSP2 fan art contest.

The poster, shown below, was one of two entries selected from the contest to appear in the Western release of Phantasty Star Portable 2 and, coincidentally, was also submitted by PSOW member Immovable One (we're so proud).

Alis Landale was the lead character from the first Phantasy Star, have you played it?

To redeem the code and get your poster, simply enter the numbers 4132 5468 into the Visiphone located in-game in your player room. The Visiphone can be accessed via the console beside your MySynth and the code can be entered by choosing the "Password Entry" option.

A big thanks goes out to RubyEclipse and Sega! We hope everyone enjoys their poster! For more PSP2 item codes and tips as they become available, be sure to hit up the PSP2 Forum!

Those of you lucky enough to have already secured your copy of Phantasy Star Portable 2 may have noticed that the online servers are not yet up. RubyEclipse, of the Sega Community Team, was nice enough to drop by the forums to give us an update on the server status.

The team at Sega hope to have the servers online Tuesday night, sometime between 7:00PM and 9:00PM PDT (that's 10:00PM and 12:00AM for those of us on the East coast). If all else fails, there's talk of bribing us with free item codes, so you may want to keep an eye on the PSP2 forum!

In addition, Ruby confirmed in another thread that the PSP2 servers WILL be linked between the US and Europe, allowing players from both regions to team up and enjoy the game together. This is great news and we'll look forward to seeing our European friends online in a few days when the game officially releases there!