PSPFanboy: The results are in, and the annual 2008 PlayStation Awards out of Japan is now a wrap. The handing out of awards commemorates successful titles over the past year. It highlight the best of the best and honors titles that have sold more than 500,000 units with a Gold Award, and those which sold over a million with a Platinum Award.

Both Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and Phantasy Star Portable have earned for themselves a Gold Award; however, the true star this year is Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G. It has earned for itself a double-Platinum Award for being the only title (not only from PSP, but out of the entire PlayStation family) to sell more than two million copies in Japan this year. Congratulations to all the games that have won recognition.
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SEGA of Europe have announced that Phantasy Star Portable will be coming to Europe exclusively for the PlayStation Portable. Based on a recent chart topping and critically acclaimed Japanese title, gamers can now experience the exhilarating Role-Playing Game adventure of the Phantasy Star Universe series anytime, anywhere.

"The Phantasy Star Universe series...
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Great news for all you Europeans craving a healthy hand-held dose of Phantasy Star, Sega has officially announced that PSP will be jumping the puddle to European shores in Spring 2009. With the US release being March, we can probably expect the game to make it to Europe shortly afterward. More details and the new images after the jump.
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Wired: "Fresh from launching the game in Japan, Sega has announced that Phantasy Star Portable for the PSP is coming to North America in March 2009.

The action RPG title includes a single-player campaign, but the reason for its huge success in Japan is undeniably because of its four-player multiplayer support -- certainly included in order to try and match sales of Capcom's mega-selling Monster Hunter Portable franchise.

Multiplayer is limited to ad-hoc, but that could be circumvented once Sony's "Adhoc Party for PSP" service arrives, giving you the option to play PSP titles online through the PlayStation 3."
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Gemaga writes, "On September 11th, Sega will be releasing more downloadable content for Phantasy Star Portable."
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Gemaga writes: For any PSPortable junkies out there, Sega released new downloadable content today. There are two completely new missions (one in Story Mode and one in Multiplayer-Mode) and updated items at the weapons badge vendor.
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According to this Watch Impress piece, Sega's now shipped more than 500,000 units of PSP title Phantasy Star Portable in Japan. The game is topping the Japanese chart at the moment, becoming the next big PSP success after the waning of Capcom's Monster Hunter
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Japan PSP owners have definitely been lucky this year, they have "exclusive" titles like Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G, Gundam Battle Universe, and Phantasy Star Portable. Japan PSP software and hardware sales have been leading the charts for weeks now. This week Phantasy Star Portable released and right now it's the top-selling Amazon Japan game. We should get early insight on how this will go up against Soul Calibur(currently ranked 10 on Amazon Japan game), and its direct competition, Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G.
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On July 31, gamers based in Japan will be getting Phantasy Star Portable for Sony's PSP. Now any fan of the game knows that waiting for approximately one month can be hell. Thankfully, gamers in the aforementioned region won't have to wait that long.

Apparently, Sega has announced plans of releasing a demo for the game on July 14. According to the reports, the demo will probably be available via the Japan PSP Browser page and will allow players to try out both Story (single player)and Multi Mode (co-op with up to four players) .

So it looks like we're going to have to wait for around two weeks before we can try out the demo. while waiting, why don't you check out some screenshots courtesy of Gpara, by following the full story link.
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You can discover some new screenshots about the weapons, the boss and the use of equipment, and a promotionnal vidéo.
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