PSP Go owners living in Europe who've been anticipating the launch of Phantasy Star Portable2 will have to stick tight for a little bit longer -- Sega has announced the game's digital version won't launch in Europe until October 6. We'll save some rare drops for you guys!
Though North America's still a few weeks away from getting its collective hands on Phantasy Star Portable 2, Sega's Satoshi Sakai announced to Famitsu that a fancy, extended version of the game will be released in Japan this year. Subtitled Infinity, the expansion will feature new visual lobbies in online multiplayer modes (similar to the original Phantasy Star Online), a respeccing tool for lower-level characters, a new playable race for advanced players, and a completely new campaign storyline which takes place after the events of the original PSP2.
The new edition is slated to arrive in Japan some time this winter. The non-Infinity version of Phantasy Star Portable 2 is set to drop in North America on September 14. For more info on Infinity's super esoteric changes and improvements, check out 1UP's overview of the Famitsu reveal.
Here's the best news for PSP owners who love futuristic co-op dungeon crawling since, well, Phantasy Star Portable: Sega has announced that it's localizing Phantasy Star Portable 2, with a fall release planned in both North America and Europe.
Taking place after the events of Phantasy Star Universe, Portable 2 features the people of Gurhal facing a new, less easily defeated threat: scarcity of resources. We'll have to play the game's story mode and some online quests (that's right, unlike the first Phantasy Star Portable, this one's playable online) before we discover how that issue is resolved, though we do know how Sega of Japan acquired the resources it used to produce the game: advertising tie-ins! We really hope the Pizza Hut box item makes it into the Western version.
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Sega's blogs are buzzing with the news that Phantasy Star Portable 2 is heading to North America this fall, with twice the content of the previous games giving players plenty to poke at on their PlayStation Portables. More »
As we reported back in September, Sega struck a deal with soft drink maker Coca-Cola to feature the latter's Fanta soda in the just-released (in Japan) Phantasy Star Portable 2. (Phanta-sy, Fanta, geddit?) Well, it turns out that the deal has resulted in more than just giant Fanta cans littering the game's lobbies. The first round of DLC, launched alongside the game, includes a mission featuring a quiz focused on -- you got it -- Fanta soda.
In "Fanta Quiz Battle!," four players compete to answer questions correctly before embarking on a proper adventure. As noted by Andriasang, the second DLC mission, Sasurai no Seikan Gyoushounin, appears to have no such deep-rooted product placement. We can't argue with the fact that the DLC is free (likely because of the sponsorship) but any sort of in-game advertising tends to give us a sour stomach. Probably nothing a nice, fizzy Fanta won't help, though.
Oh, come on. Come on. The incorporation of Fanta products into Phantasy Star Portable 2 was bad enough; though we could almost excuse it for its appropriately futuristic-sounding name. There's little we can do to reconcile the addition of Pizza Hut branding into the title, though -- especially when said addition includes a pizza box shield and pizza peel sword (seen above; no photoshopping necessary). Other in-game products include literal pizza huts, dolls of the company's Japanese mascot, Mr. Cheese, and an epic boss encounter against the Noid, who attempts to ruin delicious pizza pies regardless of their corporate affiliation.Okay, so we made up that part about the boss fight -- sorta -- but the rest is totally for real!
When was the last time you picked up a can of Fanta? We can't remember either. Coca-Cola isn't giving up on the fruity beverage, though. They're partnering up with Sega to create virtual Fanta items in the upcoming Phantasy Star Portable 2. We can only assume the reasoning behind this campaign is to let bloggers take advantage of a ridiculously easy pun for use in a headline. Thanks, Coca-Cola for making our jobs a little bit easier.Fanta will be present at Tokyo Game Show next week, handing out various goodies for trying out the PSP2 demo at the show floor. It would be really smart for them to give away free drinks -- being trapped in a convention center filled with sweaty otaku is bound to make many dehydrated.
