A reminder to everyone that the "Meet the Newman Knights" in-game event is today (January 31st). Be sure to log on and join in on the festivities (please take note of the schedule below). From the official site:

"The citizens of Neudaiz have a noble history rooted in the Gurhal Faith. After the death of Lord Doghi and the Divine Maiden, Lord Rutsu and the Maiden's twin sister Karen Erra took over the leadership of the Communion of Gurhal; restoring peace and faith for the good people of Ohtoku City. All Newmans who serve as GUARDIANS are called to come join their people in a communal celebration of noble history of the Newman race, and continued prosperity for all those living in Ohtoku City.

Karen Erra and Maya Shidow, have been dispatched by the Lord Rutsu as representatives of the Communion to reward all Newman GUARDIANS. In appreciation for their dedication to the universal cause against the SEED, we will be honoring the Newman race on this day at this symbolic gathering throughout Gurhal. In the name of spirit, faith, and nobility; all Newmans will be honored January 31st."

The event times are as follows:

Xbox 360 10:00AM - 10:45AM PDT 1:00PM - 1:45PM PDT 3:15PM - 4:00PM PDT

PC & PS2 11:00AM - 11:45AM PDT 2:00PM - 2:45PM PDT 4:15PM - 5:00PM PDT

Feel free to drop by the Phantasy Star Universe Forum to discuss the event!

The Xbox 360 versions of Phantasy Star Universe and Ambition of the Illuminus will be updated to version 2.0001 during the February 1st maintenance period. This title update will address some issues in the game, such as the Photon Gacha text bug and machine gun glitch.

Sega would like to remind players to log out of their gamertags and restart their Xbox 360 consoles after receiving the update in order for it to function properly.

SEGA just announced a brand new event for the English PC/PS2 and worldwide 360 servers of PSU! The new Winter Event will run from January 11 until February 01 and introduce a few event-exclusive missions accessed from the Clyez City GUARDIANS HQ. Event mission bonuses include a 250% increase to item drops, double the number of boss boxes, increased chances of encountering rare enemies and up to 350% more EXP! And in addition to all of that, everyone will have the benefit of three weeks of Super Holy Light throughout the event. (Just a little gift from SEGA to help make up for December 15's server rollback.)

Thanks to Nanoframe and Indica for reporting this. Feel free to join in our discussion of the event over at the forum!

The fifth chapter of Shadow of the Arkguard, titled "Escape" has been released. The latest installment of this moving comic can be viewed on the official Phantasy Star Universe website, here.

Feel free to drop by the Phantasy Star Universe Forum to post your thoughts on this latest episode and predictions on what the next chapter, "Prelude to Destruction", will uncover!

It's time for another Phantasy Star Universe demo weekend promotion on Xbox 360. This time around, you'll be able to snag a cool, limited edition NiGHTS room decoration. Here's the scoop, from the official site:

"Starting on Saturday, December 8th, to Sunday, December 9th, we will have our NiGHTS Demo Weekend! Play the demo, and join the Phantasy Star Universe Xbox LIVE® community, and you will receive a limited edition NiGHTS room decoration with your account! Users must play the Phantasy Star Universe Demo December 8th-9th and purchase a GUARDIANS License for the Phantasy Star Universe Xbox LIVE® Marketplace by December 14th to be eligible. Only one NiGHTS statue will be awarded per Gamertag and GUARDIANS license.

Already a subscriber and want to participate? Just download the DEMO and play during the weekend on December 8th and 9th alongside the DEMO players and you'll pick up your own NiGHTS statue room decoration! Remember, this is a DEMO promotion, so you must play the DEMO if you want to grab your free item!"

Thanks to RedMussel for sending us the news. Also, feel free to join in on the current discussion of this even on our Phantasy Star Universe message board, here.

The latest issue of Famitsu (summarized at NeoGAF) brings some very interesting revelations about another installment of the Phantasy Star franchise, this time on the PSP handheld system! What is currently being called "Phantasy Star Portable" will be based on Phantasy Star Universe and its latest expansion, Ambition of the Illuminus.



The PSP title is said to include an all-new story mode with added missions and a multi-player mode that supports cooperative play up to four players (appears to be local multiplayer only). Judging from the scans we've seen of the two-page Famitsu preview, it also looks like there will be at least two additional characters introduced: Vivienne, a cast who players will team up with in the story, and Helga Neumann, a villain who is responsible for terrorist attacks in the Gurhal System.

Phantasy Star Portable is slated for a 2008 release in Japan. Stay glued to PSOW as we continue to dig up more information and preview translations on this somewhat unexpected surprise! You may also want to join in on the rapidly growing discussion in our Phantasy Star Universe forums. A big thanks to Helly for relaying this news to us, and beatrixkiddo for providing a preliminary scan of the article.

"Presidential Assassination," the fourth chapter of SEGA's moving comic, Shadow of the Arkguard, has been released. Has Ethan really turned to the bad side in this latest installment? Find out for yourself!

As mentioned on our Ambition of the Illuminus Launch Party page, we're taking the party to the Gurhal system and having a PSO-World meet-up! To end our Launch Party with a bang, the meet-up will be taking place tomorrow. Here are the details:

When:

Saturday, December 1st at 4:00PM EST (1:00PM PST, 2:00PM MST, 3:00PM CST).

Where:

Guardians Headquarters, Guardians Colony, Universe 15.

Who:

All PC/PS2 and Xbox 360 Players (the event takes place on both servers simultaneously).

Special community guests will be present, along with many of your PSO-World staffers! In addition, we'll be giving out some inflatable partner machines and extra Launch Party raffle entries to lucky participants. To qualify, simply send your PSO-World username (once only, please) to designated representatives via in-game Simple Mail while you're at the event. The representatives for PC/PS2 servers are Tomeeboy, Rizen Avery, and psowcam. The representatives for Xbox 360 are psowcam and Rizen Avery.

PSOW photographer Ryuki will be on hand to take plenty of screenshots (PC/PS2) and the PSOW Cam will be live to cover all the festivities. We look forward to seeing you all there and hope everyone has a great time!

Also, don't forget that the Ambition of the Illuminus Launch Party ends at 11:59PM PST Saturday night. At that time, all Rappy Feathers must be redeemed and all Fan Art Contest submissions must be submitted. Good luck everyone!

Accompanying today's Ambition of the Illuminus update was the addition of all the rewards earned during the recent 1UP Platinum Cup Event. These rewards are now live and available for all players:

Super Holy Light Fortune for all Races

Free Makeovers at Salon

50% Discount on all clothes and CAST parts

+15% Synthesis bonus to all weapons and armor

Free [B] Twin Fluor Bulbs for all players. Note: This item will be delivered to your common box. If your box is full, please make space and re-enter your room to get the item. You must do this before 1/31/08.

As mentioned previously, it was stated that the rewards would last for three weeks (instead of the original two), due to the server rollback experienced on the 360 servers recently. It is still unknown if this will apply to the PC/PS2 servers as well.