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."

The 3rd Famitsu Cup comes to an end. In this news post, ST thanks everyone for their participation. The Famitu Cup counter ended at 151153409, exceeding the goal of 100000000 points, which we could not reach last year. However, we didn't hit 200000000 points, which could have gotten us a new item in Gallon's Shop. ST notes their particular satisfaction with the first Couples Mini-Event. To enjoy the Famitsu Cup ending day event, play the "Singing By the Beach" quest and sing the rappy song in the right order (you will first need to have gotten all parts of the song), you will get the Vol. 6 Disk which has the Nights song on it. Check our guide for the rappy song.

For those of you that did get banned after last night's S-Rank fiasco, it should be safe for you to go back online. Users have reported that their bans have been lifted, you should be unbanned now. However, rbf2000 has this to report: you can take your S-Rank weapons out of the bank; you will not get booted. But, if you go back online with your S-Rank in your inventory, you will get the same illegal item message and you will be rebanned. So keep your S-Rank in your bank or you will get banned when signing back online.

But here's another C-Mode bug for you guys to enjoy. According to our affliate, Cotan, there is a bug with Shifta in C-Mode. Upon completing C-Mode, a Force's Shifta will fall and reset to Lvl 15 if your Shifta tech level is Lvl 30. The change seems to be permanent. To get around this bug, we recommend playing C-Mode with a new character or playing a character with under Lvl 15 techniques. So Forces, be careful. We will post more news when we get it.

Update:
It seems that this bug also affects Gizonde and Deband. Forces please please be careful.

psosaladwood writes, "Gamespy, gave a interesting preview into XBox PSO today. Gamespy seems to feel that it will be the best version of PSO out there. Gamespy also says that the XBox chat features really makes up for the fact that there is no keyboard on the GC.

Funny enough, there is a little mention of the current GC problems:

"One of the areas in which all previous editions of PSO have lagged behind is security; the recent GameCube version implemented changes that made the game less susceptible to cheating, but more susceptible to having your character deleted. Hopefully the closed network nature of Xbox Live (and the hard drive within the unit) will allow Sonic Team to keep the experience much more seamless. A great weakness of the games is that your characters are stored on the client side and not the server, which allows shenanigans aplenty. To surmount this flaw, the Xbox version only allows you to go online when your character is safely on the hard drive; you can copy it off and take it to a pal's for split-screen action, but if you want to go online the temp file must be moved back to the HD."

They also touch on the XBox exclusive quests:

"New quests developed by Sonic Team will arrive on the Xbox simultaneously with the release of the GC versions; previously existing quests won't be up to snuff on the game's release, though -- probably because most PSO quests are based around holidays or special events. For security reasons, and doubtlessly also because of the voice chat, U.S. users will be unable to play with Japanese players."

They also mentioned and confirmed the fact that you'll need an XBox live account to even play offline "due to the fact that the software was the XBL pack-in in Japan -- they didn't want to delay it for reprogramming reasons, which is definitely a serious concern."

Read the full article here. "

When you complete the new Valentine's Event in Gallon's Shop, you will get Puyo Pop as the GBA download. We have a new guide for the event to help you guys out. Check it out. Credit goes to jonny-5 and MissNade.

C-Mode stages 7, 8 and 9 are currently up after the short 1 hour server maintenance tonight. Knock yourselves out and get that S-Rank. Valentine's Quest is also up. So get cooking! New Valentine's decorations are also up in the lobbies. ST's news post can be found here.

S-Rank weapons choices are: saber, sword, blade, partisan, slicer, gun, rifle, mechgun, shot, cane, rod, wand, twin and claw. Unfortunately; we don't know why; but S-Rank weapons are illegal online.

When you try to log online with an S-Rank, you will get this message before the ship select screen and then you will be booted;

"Your items are modified outside the rules of the game. You will not be able to join or create teams while you have the irregular items in your possession. You may only access the online mode after using the offline mode to discard your irregular items. The information of irregular items will be recorded in the servers. Based upon this information your access to the servers may be terminated without further notice."

This has happened to rbf2000 and GandorDurin.

Do not, we repeat, DO NOT attempt to go online on a U.S. ship with your S-Rank in your inventory after going ofline. If you do, you will get this message and be banned:

"Your account for PSO server has been suspended. Unable to play online game for 24 more hour(s)."

Way to go ST! Did ST forget to update their servers all the way? Same bug as X-Box with their S-Ranks? But X-Box users weren't banned for having S-Ranks online. Join the discussion and vent here. Credit goes to rbf2000.

The online scores screen now shows Battle record, Challenge Rank, Challenge Time Record 1 (which has C1-C9) and Challenge Time Record 2.


It was also reported that the Xbox Live service was also down between 3:30 til 5:30 on Feb 9. Everything with X-Box Live should be fine now.

Update:
JP users, you will not be banned for having an S-Rank weapon in your inventory if you stay on a JP ship. Just don't log onto a US ship with the weapon in your inventory. Keep the weapon in the bank and don't remove it.

More news on the GC Valentine's Quest as posted by Sonic Team. You will need two people to play the quest, a male and a female character. Then you will need to find the chocolate items. Start by purchasing a plain chocolate from Gallon. Nol will then appear. Let her use it by using photon cook and she will create the special chocolate. But don't eat it. The last element can be found in the central management area. To get this item, you must kill an enemy. Find it, go back to Nol, talk to her, and she will give you the key for a new GBA minigame download.



The PC Valentine's Quest is now up for everyone to play. Click here for thenews post.

Also, click here for some funny android action!

More Famitsu Cup statistics from Sonic Team.

Mini-Event Stats
The record for buttons Mashed in the 2nd Mini-Event that ran Jan 31st til Feb 1st totaled 15638921 points, way over the 1 million expected goal. 15004 participated in this Mini-Event, which makes it an average of 1042 points per person who participated. The average points per challenge is 83. However, there were high records of over 150 points achieved by some really skilled button mashers! That would make at least 15 hits/second! (Sonic Team's own highest record was 134) Sonic Team also notes that the kill points for Famitsu Max Attack went up sharply after the new Jungle route, "The Forbidden Way," was opened.



Max Attack Stats
Daily Stats:

Date	Kills	Average Points
01/31/2002	115958534	264.2
02/01/2002	119015267	263.4
02/02/2002	122495036	262.4
02/03/2002	125550580	261.1
02/04/2002	129734023	259.1

Kill Points Average Per Class:

Rank	Kills	Average Points
1	FOnewearl	272.5pt
2	FOmarl	265.8pt
3	FOmar	261.2pt
4	RAcaseal	265.0pt
5	FOnewm	258.8pt
6	RAmarl	255.8pt
7	RAcast	254.7pt
8	HUcast	253.1pt
9	HUnewearl	252.6pt
10	HUmar	248.6pt
11	RAmar	248.6pt
12	HUcaseal	240.2pt

A new Valentine's Quest will be up for PSO PC players on Friday, February 7th and will end on Monday, February 17th.

In this quest, you would have to help three sisters running a cake store make handmade chocolate. You will be able to borrow a tool from the sisters to make the chocolate. After it is made, you can have the chocolate and you will be able to deliver it to your chosen person or "partner" on Valentine's Day. This quest will be limited to 1 person and female characters only.

There will be a server maintenance on February 7th from 2pm til 3pm JP time. Please do not connect to the servers at this time. Quest news can be read here.