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A brand new title in the Phantasy Star series was just announced by SEGA.

 

Entitled Phantasy Star ZERO, this will be the series' first outing on the Nintendo DS. ZERO is said to be a completely new game, though it will borrow heavily from the Phantasy Star Online series. This new title will feature a single-player story mode as well as multi-player online through Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and local area networks (both up to four players). Multi modes will allow for communication through visual chat, which allows players to draw their own artwork or write their own text for their teammates to see.

 

Keeping in touch with its apparent predecessor, Phantasy Star ZERO will have the return of many race/job combos from Phantasy Star Online. This includes ones such as RAcast, FOmarl, HUmar and HUcaseal, but a few newcomers have also been revealed like the HUnewm and HUmarl. Furthermore, this new title will feature many new areas and lobbies to explore. Three such areas include the Glacea Ravine, Riou Snowfields and the Ozett Swamp. Information is a bit scarce on this new title, but we can expect to see more details in the coming months, as ZERO is slated for a Japanese release this winter.

 

Stay tuned! We'll be sure to bring you the latest info as it arrives! Special thanks goes out to Toadthroat over at the forum for bringing us this information! Feel free to join in the discussion!

 

Update: Famitsu scans

Update #2: The official Japanese PS0 website has been launched! A few important notes from what the site offers include the confirmation of character creation and that there will be a total of three races (human, newman, android) and 14 race/job combos in the game. Also, the main stage will be the Earth and its moon.

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The very first footage of Phantasy Star Zero has been released!

Aside from this, images from the latest issue of Famitsu surfaced, revealing new bits of information on the upcoming DS title. I took a moment to translate what I could make out, though some details are a bit sketchy due to the blurriness of the picture. I'll be sure to update this post as I am able to clarify any of this.

• Two story characters have been revealed: Salisa (newman) and Kai (human). Salisa is described as "a young girl from a forgotten race" while Kai is called "a veteran Hunter."
• Photon arts are confirmed for the game, explaining the presence of a PP gauge in previous screens as opposed to a TP gauge. When PP is used with a weapon, a "charge attack" is performed, otherwise known as a photon art. The style of attack varies depending on weapons.
• One new technique was revealed: Alresta. This heals all party members within a certain radius of the caster as opposed to Resta which heals only the caster. It turns out that Alresta is simply a "charged" version of Resta.
• Newmans were born on the moon, and are a good-natured race that had been long forgotten.
• As with Phantasy Star Online, the background music in Zero will change when enemies are encountered.
• The story mode focuses on a group known collectively as "The Hunters." They discovered weaponry based around photon energy from an ancient civilization and now are using those weapons to fight back against a presently unnamed enemy.

Thanks to Evila for posting the magazine article and trailer! Also, feel free to jump into our discussion of this new info at the newly-opened Phantasy Star Zero forum!

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A number of reports have been flowing in from Xbox 360 players concerning various forms of misplaced data which had been preceded by apparent trouble with the Player Room server. Considering the number of reports and the trustworthiness of several of them, it would be advised to take this into account if you plan on continuing to play for the time being. Once more is known about the situation, we'll be sure to update this posting.

A thread has been started about this in the forum.

Update at 3:00 pm EST: Clumsyorchid has asked that anyone having these kinds of issues respond with their details in this thread.

Update at 5:15 pm EST: The Xbox 360 servers have been taken offline for emergency maintenance.

Update at 6:20 pm EST: The Xbox 360 servers are back online and player data has been rolled back to this morning's save state.

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The official Japanese Xbox 360 site was update this morning with details on this Friday's content update to the local servers. Here's what all we can expect after the servers come back up from maintenance this Friday.

• Three new GUARDIANS types are being released: Fighmaster, Gunmaster and Masterforce.
• With the new types, certain photon arts will be able to reach LV50!
• Wartechers, Fortetechers and Acrotechers will each receive a ten level boost to their current support TECHNIC cap. Guntechers' attack TECHNIC cap will increase from LV20 to LV30.
• The sixth chapter of Episode 3 will make its debut.
• Christmas makes its return, bringing with it the rare Rappy Noel!
• NPC Hyuga Ryght will have some adjustments made to his AI.

Special thanks to Marshall Banana for the news tip. You can join in the discussion of this exciting update over at the forum!

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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.
• New S2 variations - Scarred Planet, Lightning Beasts, and Electronic Brain will be receiving S2 variations.
• 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.

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According to gaming news site 1Up.com, SEGA have confirmed that Phantasy Star Portable is scheduled to be released in the United States in March of 2009! An exact date within the month has not been revealed, but stay tuned as we'll be sure to report any information on that as it surfaces.

 

Special thanks to Sydz for the news tip!

 

Update: In an interview with director Satoshi Sakai, conducted by 1Up.com, it was confirmed that the localized release of Phantasy Star Portable will not support the character upload feature that the Japanese version has. To clarify, this only means that you will not be able to transfer the likeness of your character (with some items, Meseta and a small jump on leveling) from AOTI to PSP.

 

Update: The official press release has been posted here. The initial batch of screens have been posted here.

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Some changes will be coming to the way you see individual universes when you log in to Phantasy Star Universe and view the universe transporter this Friday. Both PC/PS2 and Xbox 360 servers will receive not only a reduction in the total number of universes, but also a complete naming overhaul. Now, instead of seeing "01 Universe," "02 Universe," etc., players will have a list of named universes to choose from, based on various constellations.

The PC/PS2 servers will be reduced from 18 to 10 universes, while the Xbox 360 servers will go from 30 to 20 universes. The new universe names are as follows:

Replacing 01-10 Universe on both servers:

• 01: Leo (Guide)
• 02: Caelum
• 03: Delphinus
• 04: Gemini
• 05: Libra
• 06: Orion
• 07: Phoenix
• 08: Scorpius
• 09: Chamaeleon
• 10: Draco

Replacing 11-20 Universe on the Xbox 360 server:

• 11: Auriga
• 12: Centaurus
• 13: Eridanus
• 14: Hydra
• 15: Lyra
• 16: Perseus
• 17: Crux
• 18: Tucana
• 19: Pyxis
• 20: Aquila

The official announcement of this change can be found here. Feel free to join in the discussion of these changes at the forums!

Update: Maintenance is complete and the servers are back up. However, a few small changes were made to the universe renaming. First, identifying numbers were added back. So now instead just seeing "Caelum" or "Perseus," you'll see "02: Caelum" or "16: Perseus." Second, the guide server has been renamed "Leo (Guide)" to fix a text-limits issue. Third, the universe known originally as "Lupus" has been renamed "Lyra" based on user feedback. And finally, the server list currently is centered in-game. This is only temporary and is planned to be moved to left-alignment. For full details on these changes, see the official announcement here.

Update: Reports have been coming in that the intended box fix for Bladed Legacy may not have occurred as players still are receiving only recovery items and -ium metals from the mission's clear boxes. We're awaiting official word on this for confirmation, and will update this post once we hear something.

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First details on the future expansion of PSU: Ambition of the Illuminus have been revealed! Thanks to Japanese fan site Shougai PSO and magazine Dengeki PlayStation, we are pleased to share the following bits of information on this developing story.

• It has not been confirmed yet if this "addition" will be considered a true expansion or not.
• The method of release has not been confirmed yet. Further details will be revealed in a future issue of Dengeki PlayStation.
• There will be some gameplay modifications made to help make the game more enjoyable. The battle system has been confirmed as one recipient of such changes.
• Many new weapons are planned for the addition, including some from Phantasy Star Portable.

We expect further details to be released in the coming months. In the meantime, join in our discussion of this news over at the message board!

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