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!

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.

A small update has been announced for this week which will prepare the lobbies for their annual change for the new year as well as implement the compensation for the recent rollbacks. For those who may not know, here are the rewards we can expect to see when the servers come back up from maintenance this Friday.

• Megaholy Photon Fortune for all races
• 10% boost to weapon grinding success rates
• 10% boost to weapon and line shield synthesis success rates
• 50% discount on clothes and parts
• Free makeovers at Lumilass

All of these bonuses will be in place until the servers go down for maintenance on January 15, 2009. Please feel free to discuss this update at the forum.

Update: The Japanese 360 site's post-maintenance notes have revealed a few bits of information that have not been released yet by SEGA of America. First, a bug was fixed in which enemies in block 3 of "Scarred Planet" would get stuck behind walls and piles of rubble, making it impossible for them to move. Second, the Parum GBR has been extended by an extra week. Now the event is scheduled to conclude when the servers go down for maintenance on January 15, 2009. Thanks to S-T-H for the tip!

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!

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!

A brand new GM event was announced for the local PSU servers last night. Entitled The Great Gurhalian Cup, this is a time attack event which will pit 32 teams against each other in a race to see who can complete selected missions the fastest. Technically, 64 teams will be competing; 32 from the Xbox 360 servers and 32 from the PC/PS2 side. However, each side will be ranked separately.

Registration for the event currently is underway and will close once 32 teams have signed up for each server. If you are interested in joining, you can sign up your team at the official PSU message board. Before entering, please make sure that you've read and understood the event rules, as there are a few specific requirements that each team must meet. The initial round of the Great Gurhalian Cup is scheduled to begin December 1, with the finals being held on December 17. You can view the event's full schedule for all intermediate round dates at the official site. Best of luck to all entrants, and may the best team win!

It's no secret that content updates for Phantasy Star Universe have been few and far between over the past few months. The lack of regular updates has had a negative effect on the community, putting many people up in arms over the situation. But rest assured that the local game staff are listening and are doing what they can to help out. Clumsyorchid, one of the official PSU message board admins, has begun a thread to compile player feedback to see what content the fans are most interested in seeing next. After enough data is gathered, the plan is to send the information up the chain of command to see what can be done to hopefully improve the situation. We would like to encourage everyone to voice their opinion on this matter by posting your opinions in the linked thread.

The Japanese Xbox 360 PSU site has been updated with details on this Friday's update. Here's what we can expect to see.

• Starting on October 31 and running through November 20, Halloween will be returning to Gurhal! Look out for Rappy Latans!
• Casino Voloyal's exchange counter will be updated. This includes the addition of PSU Disc 42 as well as the rotation of the Goth series to the Modern series of room decorations.

Feel free to join in the discussion of this update at the forum.

Game master Edward has just posted an announcement concerning three instances of scheduled downtime for the PSU billing servers. As an effect of this downtime, PC/PS2 players will not be able to log in to the game or billing site; Xbox 360 players will be unaffected. The schedule for this billing server maintenance is as follows:

• Tuesday, October 28 - 7:00-9:00a.m. GMT (12:00-2:00a.m. Pacific)
• Wednesday, October 29 - 6:00-10:00a.m. GMT (11:00p.m. (Oct. 2-3:00a.m. Pacific)
• Thursday, October 30 - 7:00-9:00a.m. GMT (12:00-2:00a.m. Pacific )

If you need assistance converting these maintenance periods from the listed time zones to yours, please use this converter.

Update: Edward has posted a followup to yesterday's announcement, letting everyone know that while firmware updates will still be happening, they will be done in a way that should not interrupt gameplay. PlaySEGA and the main SEGA website may still be inaccessible during the maintenance, but players should be able to log in to PSU with no problems.