In early November, Sega announced a 40 game compilation pack called Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection that will include all four original Phantasy Star games and improved graphics. After the announcement was made, some users were left wondering whether the compilation would use the Japanese "Generations" updates or the original versions. It was revealed through screenshots released last week that the original versions will be used. The new screenshots also give a good idea of what to expect from the graphical improvements. Here is one thumbnail example:
You can view the rest of the pictures in our screenshot gallery!
Starting on January 23rd, a new Carnival event will be available on the third floor of Guardian Colony in the area beside the Club. Known as the "Lightning Carnival" in Japan, this event will kick off with the release two new missions! The first mission is known as "Charged Puzzle" (C to S Rank). In it, players must collect plasma balls and use them to complete a picture puzzle. The picture you create will affect the outcome for the mission. In addition, players will be able to collect Zon Fragments and in this mission. These will be used in an upcoming item trade-in mission. The second mission is known as "World of Illusion" Alpha." This is a gauntlet type mission with special rules. Can your party make it to the end to collect the best rare items? Be sure to save up your Zon Fragments and Zonspheres so you can attempt this mission!
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More missions will be released as the event unfolds. You can share your thoughts in this forum thread.
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Update: According to the official Japanese 360 homepage, the Carnival will last for five weeks (ending on February 26th).
GM Edward has posted about a maintenance period for Monday at 11 PM PST. This would be 2 AM EST or 7 AM UTC on January 20th. Currently, it is unknown what the maintenance is for or how long it will last. It has been said that more details will be arriving soon.
Update: Maintenance has been rescheduled for January 20th at 10 PM PST. During this maintenance, a new Title Update will be released for the Xbox 360 and a patch for the PC/Playstation 2 servers. Here are some of the details for the update:
According to the official Japanese 360 site as well as GM Edward, we will be seeing the seasonal Winter Lobbies starting this Friday and lasting until February 12th.* The Snowman room decoration will be available in the Variety Shop during this time.* Parum GBR, the current bonuses, and the current discounts are to be removed during this maintenance period.
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In other news, Sega is said to soon announce compensation for the rollback that took place after the December 19th update on the Xbox 360 servers. It will, however, be available to players on both PS2/PC and Xbox 360 servers.
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Discussion is already going on in our forums.
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Update: The official announcement*and update pages have been posted.
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Update: According to the official JP 360 page, the winter lobbies have been extended for one week (until February 19th).
Thursday, January 22, starting at approximately 8:00p.m. PST (4:00a.m. GMT, Friday), all SEGA websites will be down for a security upgrade. Downtime is expected to last for about two hours. During this period, the Phantasy Star Universe servers will be inaccessible, along with the billing servers and all other SEGA websites. Due to this downtime occurring so close to the time of normal PSU server maintenance, it is possible that the game servers will remain down until normal maintenance is complete.
Update: SEGA changed the security upgrade date from January 15 to January 22. Thanks to Neith for noticing the change!
The February 2009 issue of Nintendo Power has confirmed that Phantasy Star Zero is scheduled to be released in the United States in the fall. This issue also features a special cover and preview of the game. Be sure to check out the latest issue of Nintendo Power for additional details. Credit goes to Shiroyu for bringing us this news. You can share your thoughts in this forum thread.
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Update: Sega has posted press releases for the US and Europe.
GM Edward just announced that the billing and authentication servers for the PC and PS2 versions of Phantasy Star Universe will be down for approximately 30 minutes on January 7 for scheduled maintenance. Maintenance is planned to begin at 12:30a.m. PST and run through 1:00a.m. PST (8:30a.m. - 9:00a.m. GMT). This will have no effect on the Xbox 360 servers.
During this downtime, PC/PS2 players will be unable to login to the servers or create new subscriptions. However, anyone logged in during the maintenance will continue to be able to play without interruption.
NGS killed this franchise
Open world is a trap meme Sega fell for.