RubyEclipse writes, "The XBox 360 Demo page was updated with full details regarding earning a Tails statue. According to the page, new subscribers and current players will both be able to recieve it. The site reads:

"Are you an offline Phantasy Star Universe Fan? Are you still undecided about the PSU Online Community? Well, now we have a great way for you to try the PSU Online experience, and get a great start in the community.

On Saturday, April 7th, starting at midnight PST, we will have our Tails Demo Weekend! Play the demo all weekend, join the PSU Xbox Live community, and you will receive a limited edition Tails Statue room item with your account! New users must play the PSU Demo throughout April 7th-8th and purchase a GUARDIANS License for the PSU XBOX LIVE community by April 13th to be eligible.

If you already have a GUARDIANS License and are playing on the full version servers, you can also participate. Simply play all weekend and you’ll be awarded the Tails item on the delivery day along with everyone else. It’s that easy!

Only one Tails Statue will be awarded per Gamertag and GUARDIANS license."

Players can check out the official page, as well as see a picture of the statue here."

On March 23rd, the XBox 360 and regional PC/Playstation 2 servers were updated with two new Co-op missions and an Easter holiday theme! While the Easter theme is in effect, Rappies will be replaced with the Rappy Paska. These egg-headed enemies can drop items such as the Easter Egg and Serafi Feather.

The two new Co-op missions include Forest Infiltration and Crimson Beast. Forest Infiltration can be accessed by using the Temple door located in the Agata Islands lobby. The boss for it is Adahna Degahna. De Ragan is the boss for Crimson Beast. That mission can be accessed from the Raffon Lakeshore lobby. Both missions features a large variety of monsters and excellent rewards.

You can discuss this update in our Phantasy Star Universe forum.

Yet another big update has been made to Phantasy Star Universe, bringing players some much-anticipated goodies. Today's update redecorates the Gurhal system in White Day decorations, which includes the new WD Lovers room decoration, dropped by the "Jaggo Amure" (a White Day version of the Jaggo). The update also introduces a new level cap of 80, raised from the previous level cap of 70.

In addition, the 6th online story mission has been unlocked and it is available at the Guardians HQ in Clyez City. Players will now also find that S2 difficulty has been unlocked for three of the free missions, including: Unsafe Passage, Fight For Food, and Lab Recovery.

Possibly the most significant update to PSU today is the addition of 15 PM Evolution Devices, which can be used to evolve partner machines into new models (or back into their previous ones). There are now two additional PM evolution variations available for each of the five original final evolutions. The new devices are available in the Variety Shop on the Guardians Colony. Grinder Base A can now be found in shops as well, although there is still no availability of the Grinder A synthesis board.

Lastly, all bosses over level 20 were rebalanced, although we don't know yet what effect these changes will have.

Head on over to the Phantasy Star Universe Message Board to discuss all of today's updates! Thanks to Rizen and the Contributor Team for helping with today's update news and clarifications.

Sega has launched a new web site for Phantasy Star Universe: Ambitions of Illuminus, the recently revealed sequel to PSU. At the moment, the site contains some information about a network trial that is going to be held in Japan, although there is no information yet on how to sign up for it. In addition, there are eight screenshots of the game which showcase some of the new features and items that will come along with it. PSO-World has mirrored the new screenshots, so take a look!

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Thanks goes out to EspioKaos for bringing this news to us first in our Phantasy Star Universe Forums!

The wait is over and Phantasy Star Universe has received yet another large, and highly anticipated update. Topping the list of updates is the addition of Ultimate PAs, which includes a mixture of 22 new Photon Arts (skills, bullets and TECHNICS). In order to aquire these new abilities, players will need to exchange PA fragments (obtained by receiving an S rating on any S-Rank difficulty mission) at the vendors now available at any of the GUARDIANS branches. To access these new vendors, you need to visit the nearest GUARDIANS branch and select one of the "License" missions at the counter, which are divided into TECHNIC, Bullet, and Skill categories. You will then be taken to a room where you can meet the vendor and exchange PA fragments for Photon Arts.

In additon, players also have access to three new missions in the Gurhal system, including two new cooperative missions and one new free mission. As part of the new free mission, called "Seed Awakened", guardians will encounter the game's final boss, Dulk Fakis. To see Dulk Fakis' second form, players will need to run the mission on S-Rank difficulty. The details for the new missions are as follows:

Seed Awakened Loc: Guardians Colony HIVE Central Ctrl Room Dest: Viewing Plaza

Rouges' Shortcut Loc: Moatoob Garenigare Tunnels Dest: West Kugu Field Base

The Eastern Peril Loc: Neudaiz Agata Islands: Egam Dest: Mizuraki C.D. Kego

Finally, there have been some new items added throughout the game, as well some bug fixes for PM feeding (menu no longer closes after feeding your PM an item) and TECHNIC casting (the shift-cancelling glitch was fixed). Head on over to the Phantasy Star Universe Message Board to join in on the discussion of today's updates!

Based on scans obtained from a recent issue of Famitsu, Ambition of Illuminus has been confirmed as a sequel to Phantasy Star Universe. It will be released on Playstation 2, XBox 360, and PC. This sequel will feature new weapons, enemies, and locations. Here is an overview of the information that was gleaned from the scans:

• Weapons Types - Three new weapon types including a Photon Whip, Slicer, and the Madoog. The Madoog is a left-handed TECHNIC weapon that resembles a Phantasy Star Online Mag. Known Madoogs include the Soniti and Sato.
• Weapons - Several new weapons will be added, including several classic Phantasy Star Online ones. Examples of the PSO-type weapons include the Holy Ray and a Durandal replica.
• SUVs and Photon Arts - The scans show two new SUV attacks that include a very large sword and another with a Heavens Punisher type attack. Also, new Photon Arts will be introduced.
• Stages and Enemies - The scans state that one of the new fields will be based in the remnants of Rozenom City. Also, there will be new enemies, one of which looks like the Grass Assassin, and bosses. Based on the pictures, it looks like one of them is based on Del Rol Le.
• Clothing - PSO-style clothing will be included in this game. On various screens, you can see a character wearing an Ash-type Humar outfit.
• Rappy-Themed Casino - One of the screens features a Rappy-themed casino.

It is currently unknown whether Ambition of Illuminus will have an offline story. Also, there was no apparent mention as to how/whether existing online accounts will transfer over to this game. We will undoubtedly learn more over the coming months.

Credit goes to A2k for finding the scans/providing item translations, EspioKaos for providing additional translations, and Kyori for providing supporting information. You can discuss this news in our Phantasy Star Universe forum.

EDIT: Clearer scans can be found here. Credit goes to Dark_Heal_v2 for finding them.

In August 2006, a teaser for a Phantasy Star Universe expansion pack, Ambition of Illuminus, was released on the Japanese website. Since then, little has been heard about it. However, EspioKaos has been able to dig up some new information based on a couple of recent articles that appeared on Shougai PSO. According to a recent issue of Famitsu Connection! On, development work on the expansion pack is nearly complete and it is expected to go on sale sometime this year. A network trial is planned to work out any lingering issues. While the details on this expansion pack are still vague, new playing modes, PSO-style clothing, and improved user interface functionality were mentioned as possibilities. You can discuss this news in our Phantasy Star Universe forum.

As mentioned earlier this week, there were some security issues scheduled to be dealt with in today's Phantasy Star Universe update. With the regular weekly maintenance came a mass purging of illegal game items and banning of accounts used to exploit the game servers. In addition, the GameGuard software was updated for the PC and PS2 servers, while a downloadable client patch was issued to Xbox 360 players. It was previously stated that changes would be made to catch players who attempt to exploit the servers using 3rd party applications, although no details were given.

The client patch to the Xbox 360 version of Phantasy Star Universe included fixes for a few known bugs. The GH450 partner machine, which was previously fixed on the PC and PS2 servers, was finally fixed on the 360 servers. In addition, glitches involving item sythesis and clothing were fixed and exploits involving those glitches can no longer be performed.

For more information regarding today's update, and future enhancements, be sure to stop by the Phantasy Star Universe Message Board!

In the upcoming February 23rd update, Sega of America will be issuing several security-related patches for Phantasy Star Universe and wiping all illegal items. Any item that currently does not drop in the game will be removed from player inventories. Anyone that has been caught cheating will be banned. Cheaters will be determined based on information collected from in-game actions. Players who possess any illegal items and did not participate in any cheating-related activties will simply have the offending items removed. Credit goes to Para for bringing us this news.