phantasy-star-portable posts (Subscribe to this feed)

Phantasy Star Portable gets new release date: March 3rd

by Andrew Yoon { Feb 3rd 2009 at 9:45AM }

PSP fans looking to join in on Sega's latest addition to the famed RPG series won't have to wait much longer. The US release is just one month away -- March 3rd.

Phantasy Star Portable expands the world featured in Xbox 360's Phantasy Star Universe. The RPG is heavily rooted in ad-hoc multiplayer, with up to four players doing missions in tandem. The game will retail for $39.99.

Gallery: Phantasy Star Portable

Sega releases new Phantasy Star Portable trailer

by Andrew Yoon { Jan 27th 2009 at 4:30PM }

What would one expect from a game called Phantasy Star Portable? Well, dear reader, if you answered "a portable Phantasy Star game," you win. Sega's bringing the upcoming PSP-exclusive Phantasy Star Portable to America and Europe. This follow-up to Phantasy Star Universe features a brand new story and tons of missions. But, there's one problem. Where's the Infrastructure support?

Phantasy Star Portable arrives in the US this March.

Gallery: Phantasy Star Portable

Metal Gear Solid 4, Crisis Core receive Gold PlayStation Awards

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Dec 3rd 2008 at 2:30PM }

Those would be "Gold" awards in Sony Computer Entertainment Japan's annual PlayStation Awards, not actual gold PlayStations. No, we think excellent sales are reward enough to render the composition of a congratulatory gong irrelevant -- the Gold award only goes to those games that sold over 500,000 copies in Japan over the last year.

This year's PlayStation recipients: Senior citizen stealth sim Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots; pointy-haired sword swinger Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII; and Sega's Phantasy Star Portable, which we failed to include in the headline. Similarly snubbed but given a fancy "Platinum" award was Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G, which sold over two million copies and completely messed up our Japanese hardware sales charts.

Source -- PSP awards
Source -- PS3 award (singular)

Phantasy Star Portable coming stateside in March

by Jason Dobson { Oct 16th 2008 at 10:30PM }

Sega announced that it will bring Phantasy Star Portable, the on-the-go flavor of its popular Phantasy Star Universe, to North America in March 2009, finally giving us a reason to cash in those meseta savings bonds grandma left behind before taking off for Palma to retire.

Serving as a kind of prequel to its console cousin, the game will bring a new character to the series, alongside 150 new weapons and items and support for wireless co-op play. Phantasy Star Portable's release in Japan earlier this year was met with rabid sales, and it will be interesting to see if players over here will be just as eager to level up to Sega's latest role-playing offering.

TGS 08: Phantasy Star Portable coming to US fo' sho'

by Andrew Yoon { Oct 15th 2008 at 10:50PM }

Sega of America quietly told reporters at TGS that their "secret PSP game" was in fact, a localized version of Phantasy Star Portable -- a fact made not-so-secret when Kotaku ran their story today. It's true: PSP is coming to the PSP. Phantasy Star features the same addictive Ad-Hoc multiplayer that made Monster Hunter such a hit amongst Japanese gamers -- and it looks pretty, to boot.

Hopefully, this early announcement will appease the American masses that are currently experiencing a PSP games drought. You see? Games are coming. We swear.

[Thanks, Ben!]

Phantasy Star Portable ships 500K in the first week

by Alan Tsang { Aug 11th 2008 at 10:45AM }

Having sold 217,000 copies on the very first day, the new Japanese chart-topper Phantasy Star Portable went on to ship 500,000 copies in the first week. Though it won't beat out reigning champion Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G's figures of 880,000, it did beat out another very popular PSP game with a larger fanbase: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. The Square Enix game managed to ship 480,000 copies in its debut week.

We are unofficially in Bizarro World territory when a Sega game outperforms a Square Enix game. The bigger question is, when is the rest of the world going to get a taste of this?

[Via PSPHyper]

Gallery: Phantasy Star Portable

Phantasy Star Portable sells like a Monster in Japan

by Jason Dobson { Aug 6th 2008 at 3:58PM }

It's true that Phantasy Star of today is hardly recognizable to those who grew up playing with talking cats, but that probably doesn't keep Sega awake at night, especially given reports that its PSP RPG Phantasy Star Portable has been difficult to keep in stock since it was released in Japan last week.

The pint-sized version of Phantasy Star Universe has shown Monster Hunter-like momentum, apparently flying off Japanese store shelves, with both Wired and AkibaBlog reporting that 90% of the original shipment went out the door on July 31, the first day it went on sale. There remains no word as to when or if Sega will bring Phantasy Star Portable to PSP owners outside of Japan, but we'll continue to save our meseta 'til it happens.

Phantasy Star Portable sells 200K on first day

by Majed Athab { Aug 1st 2008 at 2:15PM }

It looks like Japan has another hit PSP game. Phantasy Star Portable went on sale yesterday in Japan with 400,000 units shipped and managed to get over 217,000 copies into the hands of anxious gamers. Interestingly enough, PSP sold more copies on day one than other huge titles like Soulcalibur IV which sold ~~147,000~~ 91,000 (combined PS3/360 sales).

We had no doubt that PSP would be successful, especially since it is the perfect game to market to the Monster Hunter crowd -- i.e. they're both games with strong emphasis on co-op gameplay. However, it is shocking to see a portable title outdoing a console game (with, arguably, a larger fanbase) like SC IV. Sega must be very pleased with itself.

[Via PSPHyper]

Gallery: Phantasy Star Portable

DLC fight!!! Monster Hunter and Phantasy Star expand

by Andrew Yoon { Jul 31st 2008 at 5:33PM }

This week, Monster Hunter faces some competition. One of the big selling points of Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G was its free DLC, available weekly for eager fans. Just days after its launch in Japan, Sega is also making free Phantasy Star Portable DLC available. The first thing you're going to kill? A very Monster Hunter-dragon. Do you smell the competition in the air?

While both of these PSP RPGs go head-to-head in Japan with tons of features for fans, we're left here on this side of the Pacific, scratching our heads. Why don't we get this cool stuff too?

[Via PSPHyper]

Ad: PSP's next big game, Phantasy Star Portable

by Andrew Yoon { Jul 23rd 2008 at 8:15PM }

Will Sega's Phantasy Star Portable be able to take on Capcom's Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G? The two games are targeting very similar markets: social RPG games on the PSP. This new ad released in Japan highlights the community aspects of Phantasy Star Portable, but misses what we would've focused on: its acronym. Clearly, PSP is MEANT for the PSP. This is gaming destiny!

We don't think an ad like that would've been too dramatic for Japanese tastes ...

Phantasy Star Portable downloadable demo

by Andrew Yoon { Jul 11th 2008 at 9:45AM }

Yes! You must play this massive 300MB Japanese demo of Phantasy Star Portable. What are you waiting for?! Remember: the O button confirms in this demo. There will be quite a bit of Japanese text, so some knowledge of the language will help greatly. The demo contains character creation, CG cutscenes and is fully voiced. We can only hope that Sega announces an English language version of this game soon.

1. Download the demo zip file.
2. Extract the contents of the zip file.
3. Connect your PSP to your computer using a USB cable.
4. Go to the PSP/GAME folder.
5. Copy ULJM91014 folder into the GAME directory. Make sure there are no sub-directories in this folder.

Check out our demos site:
demos.pspfanboy.com

[Thanks, redbonefish! Via onehitgamer.com]

Phantasy Star Portable demo details, DLC announced

by Alan Tsang { Jul 5th 2008 at 4:00PM }

As reported earlier, the Phantasy Star Portable demo will allow access to the Story Mode and Multi Mode, and even an option to import your saved data from the demo into the final game. Now there is more details concerning what is turning out to be a rather extensive demo; it will be 301 MB in size and can be obtained via the PlayStation Store or distributed through selected game stores. You will also be able to play all of the first chapter and five missions from the Multi Mode. The game's official website also reveals more information this week, with new characters, a TV spot and an announcement that is DLC planned. The demo will arrive on July 14th and the game will arrive on the 31st.

[Note: All dates are for Japan only. No US or European version has been announced at this time.]

Japanese Phantasy Star demo coming later this month

by Majed Athab { Jul 1st 2008 at 1:15PM }

Phantasy Star Portable is a title that will be out in Japan at month's end. Gamers that want to try PSP out earlier than that can probably do so as it looks like a demo is on the way. Said to come two weeks earlier than the July 31 release date, a Japanese demo will allow players to tinker with the Story Mode and co-op ad hoc with Multi Mode. One last interesting bit involves the ability to transfer your character data from the demo to the full game, if you so choose to purchase the full game. There's still no word of a release outside Japan.

[Via PSPHyper]

Check out more Phantasy Star Portable media

by Majed Athab { Jun 13th 2008 at 7:00PM }

Coverage of Phantasy Star Portable is picking up in Japan as the game draws closer to its July 31 release. There's a good collection of screenshots over at Gpara, and Famitsu has a new trailer to watch. The trailer takes some footage we've seen before and mixes that in with some more details highlighting the game's features. The ad hoc multiplayer mode looks like a lot of fun; it's a good time to tout such a feature since all those Monster Hunter fans may want a nice, new alternative co-op game this summer.

The funky fresh intro of Phantasy Star Portable

by Andrew Yoon { May 16th 2008 at 11:15PM }

Wow, it's really coming. Phantasy Star Portable is finally coming, after months of silence. Features like connectivity with previous PSU games is a plus, although the lack of Infrastructure gameplay has us a bit bummed. (Hopefully Sega will add that to the inevitable US release!) Here's the intro movie from the game, which reminds us a lot of Persona. Man, wouldn't it be great if there were a Persona game for PSP? ...