The first round of closed Beta acceptance letters were sent out today by Sega of Japan. Anyone that received an email is now eligible to participate in the closed Beta that will begin on April 20th. Several additional rounds of acceptance letters will be sent out in the coming days.

If you are chosen to be in the beta test, your email will contain a username and password. You will be directed to go to this webpage to download an installer program. The installer program will then prompt you for the username and password. After that, it will begin downloading the Phantasy Star Universe setup file. It is 555 MB. Install the program just like you would with any other Windows program. Once the install is complete, you will be prompted to start the program. Since the servers will not be up until the 20th, there is not much you can do yet. Also, it is likely that you will have to install an older version of the DirectX 9.0 runtime in order to start the program.

According to this news entry on the Beta page, the beta will go from April 20th to May 10th. The servers will only be up during specific time periods. Since the game is still in the beta stages, the servers may go down without notice. A "Play Guide" and special BBS will be made available in the near future.

You can discuss this update in our Phantasy Star Universe forum.

Details for two new quests were announced today for the Japanese version of Blue Burst. They are called "Toys Grown Old" and "Gallon's Plan." Toys Grown Old is an Episode 4 team quest, while Gallon's Plan is a special Episode 1 NetCafe quest. To read more about each quest, scroll down.

Clumsyorchid announced on the psobb.com forums today that two new Episode 4 quests, War of Limits #1 and #2, are being released for the US/EU version of Blue Burst. These are Annihilation quests, very similar to the Endless Night quests from Episode 1. Since these quests typically feature large numbers of enemies, they should offer excellent opportunities for finding rare items and leveling up. You can discuss these new quests in our Quests forum.

ADDITION: The release calendar was also updated today. According to it, the second group of War of Limits quests will be released on April 27th. The final War of Limits quest will come out on May 11. This will coincide with the start of a special week-long event.

The content calendar for JP Blue Burst was updated today with material for the April through June period. New content will include several new quests, a surprise character appearance, June marriage lobby, and reduction of drop odds on items. This will certainly tide JP Blue Burst players over until Phantasy Star Universe is released! You can scroll down to read more about the upcoming content updates.

• Mid-April: New Episode 4 Team Quest
• Late April: 2x Drop Rates for all Episodes (Runs April 25th to May 9th) and special Internet Cafe Quest
• Early May: A Surprise Character Visits Pioneer 2
• Late May: New Episode 1 Quest entitled "The Lost Thunder Pallasch" (this title may change)
• June 6th to 27th: Lobby 10 will become the Wedding Lobby
• Late June: Solo Mode Episode 4 Quest

Credit goes to Saffran for bringing us this news. You can discuss this update in our forums.

The official Phantasy Star Universe webpage announced details for a closed beta that will take place for the Japanese PC version of the game. Starting today, you will be able to submit your application to participate in this beta. The beta registration period will run through April 17th. After the registration period ends, 10,000 people will be selected to participate. If a large number of people apply, a lottery system will be used to determine the testers. The point of this beta is to stress test the servers and discover any lingering bugs. As such, the servers will be subject to going down without notice. Also, there will be an exclusive BB to report bugs. To register for the beta, you must meet the following requirements:

1. You must be a "positive participant"
2. Have a Windows PC that fulfills the hardware requirements (listed below)
3. Acceptance of the Participating Agreement
4. Must pay the connection costs for playing the game (essentially, your ISP bill)
5. Have a Sega Link Account
6. You must live in Japan

Here are the PC hardware requirements:

• Operating System: Windows 2000 (with SP4) or Windows XP (with SP2)
• Processor: Pentium 1.6 GHz or better
• RAM: 256 MB or better
• Graphics Cards: NVIDIA GeForce4 or better, ATI RADEON 8500 or better
• Hard Drive Space: 3.0 GB
• Communications: Broadband
• Playing Peripherals: You can use a keyboard in addition to a gamepad.

If you can fulfill those requirements, you can apply by clicking the yellow button on this page. Once you register, you will receive an email indicating that your application was received. If you need help setting up a Sega Link account, you can use this guide.

Credit goes to Stormspear for spotting this update and EspioKaos for translating it. You can discuss this news in our Phantasy Star Universe forum.

Over the last three days, Takao Miyoshi (director for PSU development) has made several comments on his blog about the imminent announcement of a beta for Phantasy Star Universe. Based on his comments, it seems that the announcement will take place in the near future. No other details have been made available at this time. Credit goes to ecchichuu for bringing us this story. You can discuss this development in our Phantasy Star Universe forum.

Sonic Team has released a new Episode 1 quest on March 28th for Japanese Blue Burst called "Fragments of Memories." This one to four player quest is set in Ruins and features several hundred enemies. The objective is to collect a special capsule left by the Pioneer 1 crew. It sounds like this will be a great quest for item hunting and gaining experience. Also, the Easter theme has been uploaded for the Japanese servers. Credit goes to Saffran for bringing us this news.

Clumsyorchid announced on the psobb.com forums today that the US/EU Blue Burst servers are going down to upload several new revisions for Episode 4. These revisions will include new drop charts, drop rates, and the lowering of enemy technique resistances. This means that players will have better luck at finding items. Some of the items that will be made available have never been seen on the US/EU servers before. It is currently unknown how long the server maintenance will last.

EDIT: The servers are back up. Happy item hunting!