This is a reminder that www2.sega.co.jp which hosts the BBS's listed below will be going down for server maintenance and change of DNS on 02/19 from 10am til 6pm JP time.

Comprehensive free BBS
Comprehensive secret BBS
Windows version free BBS
Windows version secret BBS

The Gamecube JP Hunter's License webpage will also be affected. It might be a few days before the DNS change will be updated. You can read more of the news here.

The JP Xbox HL Webpage was also down for server maintenance yesterday from 4pm until 11:30pm.

We got a call from Sega Tech Support and Sega Tech Support has finally confirmed that the Double Save FSOD bug is now completely fixed. No word on the other C-Mode bugs although Sega Corporate is aware of the escalated situation.

Also, we got an email from Tim Street, Editor of Nintendo Official Magazine (UK), stating this:

"Just to let you know, Nintendo's Press Office in London stated in a press release today that PSO will be released in the UK and Europe on 7 March.

All the best,

Tim"

This news is also reflected on Nintendo Europe's website. Infogrames also has this date reflected in their website here.

An older Gamespy article about PSO XBox can be found here. It has a little blurb about XBox Quests:

"Downloadable content will be made available whenever Sonic Team completes it, with the same frequency and simultaneously with the GameCube version."

For a limited time, PSO PC will be sold bundled with WebMoney. This limited bundle will go on sale in Japan on Friday, February 21st to Monday March 31st at selected stores. The purchase price will be at 1900 Yen for 2000 WebMoney units or points. The WebMoney will be restricted to PSO PC use only. The bundle will also include an appendix DVD for PC's.

According to Sonic Team's Comprehensive BBS, they were immediately notified of the bug in the quest in which you cannot hurt the boss. To rectify this matter, Sonic Team has taken down the quets momentarily to fix it. The quest will be online and available again as soon as it is fixed. They apologize for the incovenience and hope players will understand. Wow, pretty fast of ST!

1. Technique drops also affects other classes other than Forces and also technique levels lower than 30 but higher than 15. Verified techniques level drops are: Shifta, Deband, Gizonde and Razonde.
2. Materials used might be lost one at a time, or all at once.
3. Extra materials might be consumed.

To get around this problem, we recommend playing a new Lvl 1 character, or play a character with under Lvl 15 techniques. Join the discussion in our forums. We have notified ST of these bugs, let's hope they do something soon.

Also there seems to be a possible trading bug. Some items are disappearing of the trade window. Read the discussion here.

ST released the Yujin Gashapon Figures Series 2 recently and those figures are now on sale in Japan. You can see their pictures here.

This is a recap of the C-Mode Bugs:

1. S-Ranks, B-Ranks and A-Rank items are illegal items and you will be banned for having it in your inventory when signing online on a US ship. Keep those items in the bank.
2. Force's Techniques falls from Lvl 30-Lvl15 gets cleared after C-Mode completion. Verified for Shifta, Deband and Gizonde.
3. Materials used for one stat gets cleared and stats reset after C-Mode completion.

These are known current bugs. JP players also experiencing them and posting them on ST's BB. You can read more here. If you are experiencing problems, please contact ST by using this form or call them at (716)650-6701.

TerribleDeliMeat writes, "According to EBgames.com, the shipping date of Feb 25th has been pushed back till March 4th for PSOX. However, the US cover art seems to have been posted now.

There has been no comment from Microsoft and other retailers have not changed the date, so there's still hope for the Feb 25th shipping date.

EB's PSO XBox page is here."

You guys can check out the cover art here.

PSOW is working on the current known database problems. No PSOW didn't get hacked, we're just trying to sort out the problems. And yes, the site still works for some and not for others. We're currently working to solve this situation.

rbf2000 and PSOSaladWood called the (716)650-6701 Sega Tech Support Hotline separately to report the S-Rank banning status and basically to ask them what the hell is up with all this?

The tech support person they spoke to said that the problem has just been reported and is being escalated. The Tech Support is reporting the problem over to Sega Corporate. They apologize profusely but cannot do anything about the problem herself. There is also no way for players to follow up on the problem.

When asked about a getting a free HL for one month, one rep's response was that she doesn't have control over it but will recommend it to whomever receives her info. Basically, their response is what we expected, but keep in mind these are just Sega's tech reps. Both tech reps have no word on when the problem will be fixed.

We urge you to report the problem and contact Sega either by calling them up at the above stated number or using this form.

Barubary6 had this to say about the banning:

"S-rank weapons are banned only on American servers. In Japan the items are allowed. However, if a Japanese user brings an S-rank item onto an American ship, they get disconnected with no error message. When they come back online, they get the "Unable to play online game for 24 more hours" message immediately rather than the long message, because the Japanese logon server considers those items legal. The American server asked the Japanese logon server to ban them."