D_MaMBo writes, "Dear ****(name withheld),

Thank you for e-mailing Sega Sales. We appreciate your input! At this time we expect to have Phantasy Star Online Version 2 US available close to May.
Please feel free to contact us at 1-888-SEGA-SALES if we can further assist you. Order your Unreal Tournament and your mouse and keyboard now! Have a great day.

To get the maximum gaming experience, we strongly recommend only using Sega licensed products, such as controllers.

To get hooked up with one of our online games, or to preorder upcoming releases, visit our online store at

-Matt
Sega of America Technical Support

Does that not say it all?"

::grins::

Kaira writes, "To everyone out there who hasn't heard, I'm hosting a tournament for PSO. The site is up, so goto O.S.U.P.T. for more information on it. I hope to see you all there.

P.S. Help is needed so if you aren't interested in playing but still want to be part of the tournament please goto the "Join Staff" page on the site."

faceless writes, "Weekly Famitsu, a very respected japanese gaming magazine, has a two page spread on PSO v.2. Gab Gab was able to grab the pics, scan them and upload them. These shots will remove any doubt about the previous ones being fake, seeing as these are from Famitsu. Am i the only one drooling over the Genesis mag?

http://gabgab.homestead.com/files/index.html"

ralphwolf writes, "I have set up a specific petition to Sega Europe for the release of Version 2 over here, to compliment the existing US one. I have publicised this as much as possible, and urged everyone to sign the US petition also. As you will be aware, our situation in Europe is pretty grim at the moment.

http://www.petitiononline.com/psoeuro/petition.html
for the Euro specific one

http://www.petitiononline.com/PSOv2/
for the general one.

Thank you for your support."

With both of these petitions going on it seems rather pointless to keep the forum petition up and running, PSO World urges everyone to go sign these petitions and help bring PSO ver.2 to everyone!

Hello,

Love the site. I am the news editor for GameWEEK Magazine and just got the official statement about PSO Version 2 from Sega. Thought you might want this:

"Sega of Japan plans to release "Phantasy Star Online (Version 2)," which will soon be available in the Japanese market. "Phantasy Star Online (Version 2)" will include new gameplay modes and features. Sega of America has not yet determined if "Phantasy Star Online (Version 2)" will be released in the U.S. market."

Bryan

Petition! Petition!

Now I know from what I’m about to say many are going to despise and hate me as it will at one point or another bring back painful memories of online gaming, but there is a confession I must announce! I am a tyrant, one of those players who make’s the honest gamer of PSO afraid to be felled or exchange items. I am one of those (for want of a better term) “Bastards” who lies patiently under the deceitful cover of honesty looking for any potential rarity from a fallen comrade, succumb by the heat of battle.

A reminder: guild cards first, then items.

It’s twisted but in all truthfulness I find this to be one of the most entertaining unintentional aspects of the PSO experience. You'll be surprised just how trusting some people are, people so devoid of human social behaviour they’re unable to fathom the notion of crime in such a perfect and artificial world.

I once easily deceived a Humar of about the same level, doing what most do, going from lobby to lobby from game to game in search of “that” special weapon, hoping to find someone of enough experience and generosity to provide it for them. (Free of course).

I think his name was, "FEAR", as soon as he entered the game he ran right up to me and asked if I had anything to trade and like always I replied, "what you got?" He then preceded to go through a list of pretty boring items that could with very little effort be found on hard or very hard, I told him I wasn’t interested and instead offered a game.

After a barrage of crying bubbles and begging we finally got to the caves, but as soon as we got there I noticed he had equipped a "DOUBLE SABER" (*now that was an item I’ve been after for quite sometime but never managed to get my hands on one. Up until now*!). Innocently I asked what it was, he told me, and i offered a trade' and being the sarcastic bunch most gamers are he replied "what you got?” Making up a bunch of lies I told him a majority of the rare weapons. It ended up with him wanting to trade my supposed frying pan for the De-vine Double Saber. So adhering to his offer I requested he move a little further away from my position while I ensured a good distance (“putting a little space between us just in-case he found out what was in store for him”!). He understood and complied, dropping his Double Saber he asked me to release mine, so I did, and instead I dropped an ordinary Saber (he had no idea what it was! All he could see was an orange box),' I slowly walked towards his and he did the same toward mine, he picked up the Saber, I picked up the Double Saber and I turned round to watch his reaction.

Most of what he wrote to being with I couldn’t read cause he was swearing so much, and the PSO server was editing most of it. But one thing's for sure, he was typing fast very fast, the bubbles were whizzing up one afer another reminisant of the 5th of november. After about 5 minuets he finally clamed down and asked for it back nicely. I said, 'drop my Saber and I’ll give it back' so he did and I picked that up too, so now I have his weapon and all mine, this made him even worse and again he started swearing and this time running rings around my character. After laughing my arse off and having enough entertainment for one night, I left with a new addition to my inventory. A job well done.

Go on say it…. I know your thinking it......

IM A BASTARED.


And I love it.

Phantasm writes, "SpeedofSonic has posted a translation of that Hong Kong web page with the info on the PSO append disk. "

"The popular game -- Phantasy Star Online is going to have an append disc, called:Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2

In this new version, most bugs will be fixed (like duping item, etc...) New features including: Capture the Flag kind of battle mode, so 4 players can compete each other.. Sonic Team is also planning on some kind of soccer game in the lobby too.

Some enhancement of the system, like auto sort of weapons will be included. New enemies, new characters, new costumes, and 2 new areas (Space Ship, and Temple) will be added, there will be even an "ULTIMATE" mode on top of "V-HARD".

MAG type will also add a few: including all the SEGA system, like MasterSystem (shown in the picture) , MEGA Drive, Saturn, and DC.

This append disc could use the privous save and level could be up to 200...

Game will release on May 17 2001, 4800 yen"

This is basically what it says.. no word about the US release date..

You can see his full post here... http://boards.ign.com/message.asp?topic=3507509&replies=30

God writes, "Hot on the heels of the very existence of PSO ver.2 (append disc). We, courtesy of HKDreamcast and RedVento, bring you screenshots from one of the new levels. Click Read More.. for the screens or, you can click here for the translated page and here for the original page."

A Japanese PSO fan site (PSO Maneuver) has posted some news about the rumored PSO append disc (thanks for the heads up nozedive!). Apparently, there is now a scheduled release date in Japan for the disc. The estimated price in Japan is 4800 yen, which is the equivalent to about $40 US. We're not sure if the disc will actually cost this much in the US though. Here are some of the features that were listed (for a complete translated list, click the Read More link):

Current character can be carried over

Max level becomes 200

Fighting mode added (not sure if this means PK mode).

New "Ultimate Mode" difficulty added.

"Temple" and "Spaceship" stages added, along with two new races of monsters.

Ability to play games in the lobby.

From PSO Maneuver (translated by elingo.com):

·Sale day:May 17
·Price:4800 yen
·It is possible to use it by carrying over a present character.
·The level upper bound becomes 200.
·The fighting mode is added. (However, it seems not to be a type to fight directly. )
·It is possible to play only on the appending disk.
·Play by an appending user and a normal user is also possible.
·New difficulty "Ultimate mode" is added.
·Two new stage "Temple" and "Spaceship" are added. ?Might attribute ?? ? of Native50 of the in existence arms become [it]?I wonder whether the attribute will adhere by the mixture attribute w or Holy and Airian (Japanese syllabary) . ?
·[It] comes to be able to do the play of soccer etc. in the visual lobby.
·The rhea item is added. (It seems to be an umbrella. )
·The new kind is added as for the mug. )
·The enjoyment of new adventure(?) There is a form like chase ???? and the trap beginning battle, etc.
·Lost by the communication error is lost. (Become near the US version. )