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Posts Tagged ‘microsoft’

Phantasy Star Online 2’s Western 2020 Content Roadmap Detailed, Aims for Content Parity with Japan by Year’s End, Plans to Bring Game to Other PC Platforms and Regions

Saturday, June 13th, 2020

SEGA has detailed what exactly their plans are for Phantasy Star Online 2’s Western release over the coming months, in a hefty content roadmap.

Currently, only content up to Episode 3 of the game is available for Western players, whereas Japan is currently on Episode 6. That, and the game is technically only available in North America right now; and on the Windows Store, which has rendered the game’s launch a bit of a mess for many, who’ve had to deal with a slew of bizarre installation issues.

Apparently that’s all set to change; SEGA is aiming to get the game “to reach parity with the Japanese servers eventually, with simultaneous releases moving forward to ensure that both services deliver the best experience possible to our players.” As the above visual shows, the aim to have that parity reached before the year is over; which is great, and there’s a lot of excellent features in the later episodes!

There also seems to be some reprieve on the way for those who can’t stand the Microsoft Store, as the blog notes that “more PC platforms” are coming soon. Presumably this means Steam, as it was mentioned in a manual for the game during the beta; but there’s every chance it could also mean the Epic Games Store. The plural has us hopeful, at least.

Crucially, they also state that:

We are also working hard to introduce this legendary online action RPG to a global audience this year. We will have more information about the regions where the game will become available in the near future.

Given the initial furore European fans had in response to the blind-eye turned towards fans beyond America (or perhaps that was just me…), it’s about time we heard more on plans to expand globally; even if there’s pretty much nothing to stop said non-American fans getting the game right now anyway.

All in all, it’s shaping up to be an exciting year for PSO2 fans in the West. Episode 4 is currently planned to release in August 2020, bringing with it great features such as crafting and an increased level cap.

You can check out the full roadmap on the PSO2 blog.

Phantasy Star Online 2 Comes West for PC on May 27th, Will Have Crossplay with Xbox Players

Tuesday, May 19th, 2020

True to their word that it would drop before the end of May, SEGA has announced that Phantasy Star Online 2 is coming to PC next week, on May 27th.

Phantasy Star Online 2 will launch as a Microsoft Store exclusive. Whilst technically only a North American launch, the process of getting the game in the UK and other non-US regions for Xbox One was extremely simple, so hopefully that’ll be the case here too. The PC version will allow players to fight alongside those on the Xbox One version, which isn’t too surprising but is very welcome all the same.

Alongside the announcement, PSO2’s first major Western collab has been announced and kicks off today in the Xbox One version; in a move I can only conclude is specifically trying to get me to make the jump from the Japanese version, it’s with VOCALOID. There’ll be a concert with Hatsune Miku and co, as well as their outfits being up for grabs. If you prefer playing MMOs like RuneScape but want to skip all the time-consuming grinding and get straight to playing with the items you want, you can visit https://farmingless.com/review/probemas/.

This information all comes via Forbes, who also have a comment on the launch from Fred White, Head of PSO2’s western marketing.

Will you be joining up with the ARKS in when Phantasy Star Online 2 drops on PC next week? Let us know!

Phantasy Star Online 2 Officially Available for Xbox One in North America, Comes to PC in ‘Late May’, Exclusively for the Windows Store

Wednesday, April 15th, 2020

After numerous beta tests and events relating to the Xbox One version, Phantasy Star Online 2 is now available for everyone to download in North America, as a free to play title. It would seem that all it takes for those outside North America to download the game is using the store page linked above to download it to their Xbox, bypassing the need to switch the console’s region.

SEGA has also finally confirmed when PC players will be able to get their hands on Phantasy Star Online 2; and it may be sooner than you expected, as it’ll launch in ‘late May’.

This information comes via Forbes, who have learned that it will also launch exclusively for the Microsoft Windows Store, available on Windows 10 PCs. Previously, documentation had suggested a Steam release was on the cards, but for the time being it appears you’ll need to go through Microsoft’s platform for the title. On the upside, the PC version will support crossplay with Xbox One consoles at launch.

Let us know how you get on with the game, particularly those on the UK side!

Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami & Yakuza Kiwami 2 Coming to Xbox One and Xbox Game Pass in 2020

Thursday, November 14th, 2019

In a pleasant surprise for Xbox fans, SEGA’s beloved Yakuza series will finally be making touchdown on the Xbox One for the first time – as Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza Kiwami 2 all hit Microsoft’s console in Early 2020.

If that wasn’t enough, the three games will also be added to Xbox’s Game Pass subscription service. This means if you’re subscribed to Game Pass, you get all three games for as long as you pay for the subscription, along with the frankly pretty staggering number of other games on the service. This also goes for the PC version of Game Pass, which likely means the three games will be coming to the Microsoft Store around the same time as the Xbox versions launch.

The only date given was “Early 2020”. It’s fantastic news that even more people will be able to experience the adventures of Kazuma Kiryu – now how much do we have to bribe SEGA for an oh-so-elusive Nintendo Switch port?

Sonic Generations and Panzer Dragoon Orta Coming to Xbox One Backwards Compatability

Wednesday, April 11th, 2018

As part of their expanding line of backwards compatible titles, Microsoft has announced SEGA’s Sonic Generations and Panzer Dragoon Orta are headed to the Xbox One this month.

Sonic Generations is being made available today, and will include enhancements for Xbox One X users – notably, it now runs at 4K (check that out here). Perhaps more notable though is Orta’s appearance on the console; it’s SEGA’s first contribution to the original Xbox backward compatibility for Xbox One. SEGA supporting the feature relatively early in its life may give some hope to those who’ve been looking out for a possible Jet Set Radio Future re-release – as theoretically, it could be brought to the Xbox One in the same way as Orta.

Panzer Dragoon Orta launches for Xbox One backwards compatibility on April 17th. Also of note, while not technically SEGA related, is that Blinx the Time Sweeper is being added to the service too. Blink was the brainchild of Naoto Ohshima, the creator of Sonic and NiGHTS; it might be worth a look for fans of those series.

[Source: Polygon ]

Microsoft Considered a SEGA Buyout

Friday, February 8th, 2013

Ex Microsoft executive Joachim Kempin has revealed that at one point Microsoft considered buying out SEGA before licensing out Windows CE for use in SEGA’s Dreamcast:

“There was always talk maybe we buy Sega or something like that. That never materialised, but we were actually able to license them what they call Windows CE, the younger brother of Windows, to run on their system and make that their platform.”

Ultimately, Bill Gates pushed to launch a console of his own and the original X-Box was born:

“For Bill this wasn’t enough, he didn’t think that Sega had enough muscle to eventually stop Sony so we did our own Xbox thing. There were some talks but it never materialised because Sega was a very different bird. It was always Sony and Nintendo, right? And Nintendo had some financial trouble at that point in time, so Sony came out with the PlayStation and bang! They took off, and everyone else was left behind.”

[Source: Eurogamer]

Sonic CD Coming to X-Box Live Arcade

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011

Sonic CD is coming to X-Box Live Arcade thanks to Microsoft community bloke Major Nelson (awesome name)!

Nelson let the news slip on his personal blog, revealing that the game will be playable at this year’s Penny Arcade Expo Prime in Seattle.

There is currently no official word from SEGA, but as soon as there is this story will be updated with any further information.

[Source: The Sonic Stadium]

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