Ryno writes, "A new manga panel has been released on the Japanese Blue Burst website. It features Momoka pretending to be a Magical Piece-wielding magical girl. Additional manga panels can be found here."

Ryno writes, "The manga portion of the Japanese Blue Burst was updated a couple of days ago. You can see the latest strip featuring Cecil the Fomarl here. Previous stories can be found on this page."

A new quest called "Match Race" has been uploaded. In this 4-player quest, you will be split into two teams of two players. You will race against the other team to reach the finish. Teams will have to kill enemies, collect passwords, and try to delay the other team. The team that reaches the goal first will have the chance to win the "Izmaela".

In addition, the release schedule for the next two months has been released:

Late October:

• New Prizes for Danger Deal with Black Paper 2
• Maximum Attack 1 can now be played at any time

November:

• Login: Match Race Contest
• Item Exchange Quest
• Maximum Attack 2 can now be played at any time

December:

• Party Quest called "Double Six" will be released.

Credit goes to Saffran for bringing us this news.

Sonic Team has announced the winners of the Second Illustration Contest for the Japanese versions of Blue Burst. The entries were broken up over several categories with the overall winners being displayed at the top of the page. Be sure to check them out The quality of the illustrations is very impressive. Credit goes to Saffran for bringing us this news.

RubyEclipse writes, "A number of teams have banded together to bring over 15 new player-run events to the PSO:BB Community in the coming month. These events include Battle Rule 1 and 6 Tournaments, PSO Video and Poster creating contests, a couples dance-off competition, TTF Time Attack challenges, C-mode events, a 3v3 Go Go ball tournament and more. Prizes range from piles of photon drops to tons of medium and high end rares, and even include Custom made Episode I and II S-rank weapons.

English PSO:BB may never see MA3 or 4 before PSU releases, but US and UK players can certainly be assured that this next month will be anything but boring.

Full details and info on the events can be found here. "

Several new items were released today on the Japanese version of Blue Burst. as part of a new drop chart set. These items include the following: Galatine, Zero Divide, Rianov 303 SNR, H&K 38 Combat, Photon Maser, Laconium Axe, DF Shield, De Rol Le Shield, and Epsiguard. Also, the Genpei Shield is being released. It is a Maximum Attack 4 reward shield that has 158 DFP, 237 EVP, and features the Section ID of your character. Finally, several existing Episode 4 armors can now be found with variable DFP and EVP. Credit goes to Saffran for bringing us this news. Be sure to click on the first link to see pictures of the new items.

Starting on Friday, the Japanese version of Blue Burst will be receiving new drop charts and items. These items will include the following: Garatine(Saber), Zero Divide(Dagger), Astron Belt(Partisan), Burning Phoenix Fang(Claw), DF's Shield(Shield), De Rol Le Shield(Shield), and Epsi Gaurd(Shield). Players who took the 2nd Anniversary survey will receive the Angel Ring. Also, a new quest called "Beyond the Scorched Land" will be released. It is an Episode 4 solo quest. Credit goes to Saffran and halohalo for bringing us this news.

Clumsyorchid announced today on the psobb.com forums that a patch is being issued that should resolve the Cat/Bunny Ears glitch in a Dangerous Deal. This patch will be larger than usual, so keep that in mind if you are on a dial-up connection. Also, users will receive one Photon Crystal on the character that logs into the server first. If your inventory is full, you will receive it the next time you login - assuming that your character has enough space.

Starting on September 1st, Japanese Blue Burst players will receive 10x droprates as a reward for gaining 200 million points in Maximum Attack 4. The increased droprate period is set to run until September 4th. If you ever wanted go to hunting for a super-rare like the Yasha, Sealed J-Sword, or Real Nei's Claw, now is the time. Credit goes to Nites for spotting this news.