The Japanese XBox 360 website announced today that the local PC/Playstation 2 and XBox 360 servers will be receiving a large content update on June 29th. Here is an overview of what will be added and removed on that date:

• Operation Firebreak - Operation Firebreak will formally come to an end on June 29th. After this event ends, the reward period will go into effect. The rewards will include reduced prices on clothing and a period of 3 star luck days for all races/genders. The date for the luck period has not been announced yet.
• New Missions - Desert Terror and System Defense will be receiving their S2 difficulty ranks. Also, a new Neudaiz Party mission will be released. These missions will feature several new S-Rank board drops.
• Clothing - Several new sets of clothing will be released for non-cast characters including the eagerly anticipated Nobles and Braves sets.

Credit goes to A2k for bringing us this news. You can discuss this upcoming content update in our Phantasy Star Universe forum!

Earlier today, the fourth Famitsu Cup mission was uploaded on the Japanese servers. Named 'Heaven's Luck,' this mission takes place in Guardian Colony and HIVE. After the HIVE area is complete, your party must face Dulk Fakis. The goal of the mission is to eliminate all of the enemies and retrieve three keys as quickly as possible. One unique aspect of the mission is that the enemies and key locations change with each run. There may even be times where you warp straight from HIVE to the 2nd form of Dulk Fakis, even on C-Rank. Also, Hal, Dallgun, or Nav have a chance of joining your party at the start HIVE. Depending on how well you did in the previous missions, you have a chance to earn a Famitsu Magazine wand, Rappy costume, and thirty Rappy Feathers upon completing this mission. These Rappy Feathers can be used to exchange for special prizes.

As reported on the official PSU web site, a special event will be held on June 23rd in celebration of Sonic the Hedgehog's 16th birthday. Participants will receive a Sonic room decoration after the event has come to a close. Exactly what do you have to do to participate? Simple! Just shout out the phrase "Happy Birthday Sonic!" exactly as it is typed there (minus the quotation marks) at select times, and you'll receive your gift following the end of the festivities. Here are the times set aside for wishing Sonic a happy 16th:

(All times are PST, June 23rd.)
10am-12pm
2pm-4pm
6pm-8pm
10pm-12am

Please note that you can only receive one Sonic decoration per account. Even if you have four characters who all participate, you will only get one decoration. Also, your birthday wish must be typed out exactly as it is above (without the quotes, of course). And no matter where you are in Gurhal, as long as you wish Sonic a happy birthday during any of the specified times, you will receive the special gift. Concerning the times listed, if you need help converting them from PST to your time zone, please see The World Clock Time Zone Converter. (Select any of the "U.S.A. - California" options for PST.)

Operation Firebreak hit 50 million this morning! The technical issues with the Secret File not loading have been resolved, and it has been revealed that users will be receiving the Frying Pan after the Operation Firebreak event has ended on June 29 if the user meets the following conditions:

1) The player must complete all of the Operation Firebreak quests on all three planets, including the two added on Parum in the last update.
2) They player must get the ticket from Bruce by going to the Guardians Branch on the colony and selecting the mission "Firebreak Trade". After the quest loads, the player must confirm the Frying Pan ticket. If the player meets the requirements, the user will be rewarded with a 'ticket' to recieve the item after the event. If not, Bruce will tell you which missions the player must do to to be complete.

Also, the item will be placed in the Shared Box, and only one frying pan will be given to each user regardless how many of the user's characters have completed the requirements.

Congratulations to the PSU Community! Now let's get out there and finish purifying Parum and Moatoob!

The NA/EU/360 Phantasy Star Universe servers will be treated to a content update this Friday. Thanks to the official Japanese PSU site and A2K at the forums, we have a preview of what to expect when the servers come back up Friday morning.

• Two new missions taking place in Parum's seabed plant will be added for Operation Firebreak.
• An event commemorating the coexistence of CASTs and humans will be held in Holtes City.
• Clyez City will be decorated with statues of Sonic and crew honoring the blue hedgehog's 16th birthday, coming up on June 23. (Also, be on the lookout for a special creature while out on missions!)
• A little information on how to obtain the Frying Pan at the end of Operation Firebreak was released. Simply put, you must have completed all seven Firebreak missions before the close of the event in order to be eligible to receive the special weapon.

Check out A2K's original thread for more detailed information on this update.

On June 26, SEGA will be releasing the Phantasy Star Universe Special Edition Texter. (PS2 ver. will retail for $34.95US while the Xbox 360 ver. will go for $39.95US.) This device introduces a new way of typing in-game to get rid of the necessity of the on-screen keyboard. (Of course, if you already have a USB keyboard, then there's no need.) Check out the link above for a short video of how this device works. Basically, it seems you use the analogue sticks on your controller (wired Xbox 360 or PS2 controllers only) to select a bracket of letters displayed by a sticker that you put on the game pad, and then you use the other stick to select one of the letters in the specified bracket.

For those who order, the Texter will come in a special hard metal case with Phantasy Star Universe stickers and a poster. Also to be included is a special code which will get you a PSU shirt for free!

Special thanks to AzureBlaze for pointing this out at the forums.

Operation Firebreak is now underway, and will be running until June 29. Unite with your fellow Guardians to rid Gurhal of the recent fire SEED outbreak! Five purification missions are currently available between the three planets of the Gurhal System. By completing these missions, you will earn points to go toward a cumulative total which will determine a number of special bonuses and prizes awarded to all Guardians at the close of the event. Also, during the event, you will be able to trade in Ban-photons for numerous special items such as the BR Burning Poster and Garment Aura. So, come on; let's get to it! We've got a lot of work to do!

For those interested in SonicTeam's progress with the upcoming PSU expansion, Ambition of the Illuminus, Lyrise has brought us an update. This information comes direct from the official JP PSU site in a report which details a number of suggestions that were made by Illuminus trial players during the beta period. Please note that the following information does not detail everything planned for the expansion. A number of other suggestions have been made by the player base, but these suggestions and their progress have not been made public by SonicTeam. Click the "read more" link for a synopsis of some of the bigger changes and suggestions possibly showing up in the expansion. For the full list and details, see Lyrise's post.

• It was expected anyway, but this makes it official: your current character(s) and items will carry over to the expansion.
• The developers are looking into reworking the battle system as many people find it a little on the monotonous side. A timing system similar to PSO's is being considered, where you could inflict more damage with well-timed attacks as opposed to a series of cursory slashes.
• Monster attack patterns and ranges will be tweaked.
• PA limits will not be raised above 36, however it is being considered that overwriting a PA will not reduce its level to 1 if you relearn it in the future.
• The ability to send simple mail from a Partner Card is being worked on.
• When grinding a weapon, if the grind fails, your weapon will not be destroyed; however the weapon will be reduced to its base stats. That particular weapon will also no longer be able to reach a maximum grind of 10. For each failure, the maximum grind will be reduced by 1.
• NPC incapacitation will no longer affect your mission grade.
• All mission rewards are slated to be rebalanced.
• A "population tracker" is being considered for the official site. Basically, it would allow you to see where the current "hot spots" (missions and lobbies) are located.

Stay tuned for future updates, as we may see occasional additions to this list as progress on the expansion steadily moves forward.

In the coming weeks, the Japanese PC/PS2 servers will see the start of a new event, the Famitsu Cup! A solid date has not been announced just yet, but the event is scheduled to begin around the end of May. Details are a bit sketchy at the moment, but it seems that the Famitsu Cup will work on a points system. By completing missions across Gurhal, players will earn points to go toward a rating (with 10 points totaling a perfect score) which can gain them entry into something known as the Platinum Palace where a "special event" is bound to take place. (Could we finally see the grand opening of the Commune Club in Clyez City?) It should be noted that the missions available in this event will all center around different themes including luck, friendship, perseverance and intuition. Also, a number of special items will become available during the Famitsu Cup. Some can be obtained by completing certain missions while others are gotten through currently unknown methods. These items include:

• Bukra Famitsu - a Kubara-made wand which resembles an issue of the magazine Famitsu
• Rappy Suit - an extremely rare set of clothing
• Rappy Mode - a line shield unit which generates a photon Rappy feather effect
• Song for Death - a rare grenade launcher produced by Kubara

Special thanks to Lyrise for reporting this.