Maintenance on the power systems for Sega of America Headquarters is now complete! The PC/Playstation 2 servers are back online. The Xbox 360 servers are currently under maintenance and is expected they will be active again soon.
Update at 8:15 pm EST: The PC/Playstation 2 and Xbox 360 servers have been taken offline due a glitch. Apparently, the rooms, Partner Machinery, and inventories were reset for several players.
Update at 9:00 pm EST: The Xbox 360 servers are now back online. However, several people are receiving error messages when trying to connect to the servers.
Update at 9:15 pm EST: RubyEclipse (Sega GM) is reporting that the glitch problems have been isolated and people are currently working on fixing it. It seems the problem is only affecting the PC/Playstation 2 servers.
Update at 9:30 pm EST: The glitch problem has been resolved and the PC/Playstation 2 servers are back online. A rollback to Saturday's save data was required to fix the side-effects of the glitch.
Update at 10:45 pm EST: The Xbox 360 servers will be taken down shortly for maintenance as issues have been discovered. We're currently awaiting further news. However, the official site is back online with the forums to return soon.
Update at 11:05 pm EST: A notice has been posted by RubyEclipse mentioning that the servers will be down for approximately two hours while they sort out the glitch that they have managed to locate. More information will be arriving closer to the end of this maintenance.
Update at 2:30 am EST: A post by RubyEclipse has been made on the official boards verifying a rollback for Xbox 360. It is unknown whether it will be from Friday's or Saturday's backup, but more information will be coming in about an hour. According to the JP 360 site, they plan to be finished at 3 am EST.
Update at 3:00 am EST: Another post by RubyEclipse has been made on the official boards noting that maintenance will be taking a few more hours. The JP 360 site has been updated to reflect this and now claims that they will be taking up to four more hours.
Update at 5:15 am EST: The Xbox 360 servers are online again. Due to unexpected data corruption though, it was necessary to rollback to a Friday save state. That means that any progress that players may have been made on the Xbox 360 servers since Friday has been nullified.
Update on 12/9: An official statement has been posted in regards to the rollback that took place over the weekend. Compensation has been mentioned again, but it is not confirmed what it will be as of yet. However, it will not affect future content delivery.
Hell has frozen over. A month of Sundays have hit the calendar. The regional Phantasy Star Universe servers are receiving a massive content update on December 5th! Here is an overview of what we will be receiving:
Level Cap Increase - The Level Cap is being raised to 150.
New Lobbies - The Autumn Lobby on Guardian Colony and Moatoob Native Lobby will be activated. This will be the first time this particular Moatoob lobby has been released on the regional servers.
SEED Express - SEED Express C to S2 is being released.
Rare Mines Mission - Illusionary Shaft C to S, can be found on Parum.
Parum GBR - A new Parum-based Guardians Boost Road will start. The mission rotation will include Scarred Planet, Lightning Beasts, Electronic Brain, and SEED Express! The GBR will last until January 9th.
New Items - As can be expected from the release of a large number of S2 missions, dozens of new S-Rank weapons, line shields, and boards will be released!
It certainly has been a long time since we received a content update of this size. You can share you reaction in our on-going forum thread.
Update: Autumn Leaves is available from the Variety Shop. There was also a Casino rotation after this maintenance. The seasonal decoration as well as the lobbies will be up until December 18th.
On April 30th at 24:00 PST, the Phantasy Star Online Episode 1&2 Xbox servers will be permanently shutdown. For anyone who may have time remaining on their Hunters License, they will receive a pro-rated refund. Credit goes to Jonathan_F for bringing us this news. You can discuss this unfortunate news further in our Phantasy Star Online forum.
Sega has announced a new 40-game compilation of Genesis titles entitled the Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection. Slated to be released on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, the expansion pack is tentatively planned to cost $30. It will include Phantasy Star II, III, and IV, along with dozens of other games. Also, this compilation will feature unlockable content, achievements, and updated graphics suitable for a 720p display.
EDIT: According to the Sega game page, Phantasy Star I will be included too.
These videos highlight several major aspects of the game including: symbol chat, character Creation, combat and chaining system, special attacks, techniques, Story Mode, and Wi-fi Mode. Kesubei has made a tentative translation of the first video available.
ChillAura, a Phantasy Star Universe GM, has announced that Maximum Attack G is confirmed to return on August 1st and will run for three weeks. No other details have been finalized yet regarding the leaderboards or distribution of prizes. Let's hope the new version of Maximum Attack G doesn't suffer from any of the problems that plagued the first run. Credit goes to Danny_Dark for letting us know about this news.
Update: A reply was made in clarification to the item distribution here. The current assumption is that the first set of MAG rewards will come during the extension, while any other earned rewards will follow it. The participation rewards for Sonic's birthday (Knuckles and Amy statues) are expected as well. An official announcement is said to be coming soon.
Update: The extension has been confirmed for August 1st and a page will be going up soon on the official site. This post will be updated as soon as that happens.  It was reaffirmed that there will be a first wave of rewards during the extension followed by any others after it. It was also noted that normal Rappies will be seen during the extension (not Rappy Paskas like the first time around). Jaggo Actes will be seen in other missions while the extension is available. All of this has been stated by chillaura in a GM support session.
Update: The update announcement has been posted to the official site! Aside from the return of Maximum Attack G and the first wave of rewards, Guardians can look forward to the level cap increasing to LV140, new Casino Voloyal items and Jaggo Actes during the Holy Light Festa on Neudaiz.
The Tokyo Game Show is currently in session and the first gameplay footage has been released by Gamekyo. If you have Flash enabled, you can view the video below.
The video features a player using a FOnewearl to fight against the Rayburn. While the player does not appear to have a firm grasp of game mechanics, we do get to see following new game elements such as item boxes, switching areas, boss portals, and the combat system.
Credit goes to Risingsun for discovering this video. You can join in on the discussion in this forum thread.
Famitsu Review Score for Phantasy Star Zero
Famitsu reviewers have given Phantasy Star Zero a rating of 33 (8/8/9/8) on its 40 point scale. The game was praised for its simple controls, high-tempo combat, and online mode. According to the review, "it really feels like an online game in the palm of your hand." It also goes on to state that players can expect to spend a 'sizable' amount of time leveling and looking for rares. The only major criticism seems to be the perceived softness of the sound.
Here is a recap of Famitsu scores for Phantasy Star games:
Phantasy Star Zero - 33/40
Phantasy Star Portable - 33/40
Phantasy Star Online: Episode 1 and 2 - 35/40
Phantasy Star Universe - 35/40
Credit goes to RisingSun for compiling the Phantasy Star game scores. You can share your opinion of this score and read additional reviews in this forum thread.
Due to technical difficulties on Sega's end, people are currently experiencing severe problems staying connected to the PC/Playstation 2 and XBox 360 Phantasy Star Universe servers. Anyone that is connected is likely to experience severe lag. This problem is currently also affecting the official forums. Sega technical staff is currently working on resolving the problem.
Update: The PC/Playstation 2 and XBox 360 servers are back online.
