Anoop Gantayat: There was a bit of confusion yesterday from box art released for Phantasy Star Portable's budget version. The package appeared to say that Phantasy Star Portable 2 could inherit the save data from just the budget version of the game.
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All the review scores and the details of the cover feature in EDGE's June 2009 issue.
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Ever since the PS3 integrated Trophy support into its firmware with version 2.40, people have been keeping an eye on Sony's other platform: the PSP. It isn't hard to believe that people have been looking for Trophy support to move onto the PSP - it's proven a great success on the handheld's big daddy, the PS3, and taken plenty of cues from the highly addictive Achievement system created on XBox Live. While everything mentioned here is but speculation, Infinite-Bits believes there is enough evidence to favor the idea of trophies coming to the PSP in the near future.
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Executive Officer of SEGA Japan, Kawagoe Takayuki, has announced that Sega were encouraged by Yakuza 3 sales.
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411mania gives a rundown on this week's game releases. Highlights include Phantasy Star Portable, The King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match, and Sukashishipanman DS: Shokotak Koto Nakagawa Shouko Produce!

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Phantasy Star Portable (PSP)
With Phantasy Star Portable, Sega basically took Phantasy Star Universe, fixed a lot of the problems people had with it, tweaked it to be more single-player friendly, and added more story elements. Some of those who hated PSU are actually saying that they like this version of the game. I find that hard to believe, but it's possible. If anything, this will at least give us something to do while waiting for Phantasy Star Zero.

Here is what you can expect from PSP:

- New story missions that take place between the original Phantasy Star Universe and Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus
In Phantasy Star Portable you will team up with a Cast named Vivienne as she investigates recent terrorist attacks on the colony as well as animal outbreaks on the surface of some of the planets. Space adventure and mayhem follow. I thought that PSU's story was ok; it wasn't groundbreaking or very memorable but it was still decent. So, if Sega was able to craft a story that is at least on par with the first game's, these missions could be worth plaything through at least once.

- Local as well as online play (with the help of a PS3 or your PC)
As expected, you can play with three other friends locally using the PSP's ad hoc mode. Those wishing to play over the Internet have two options - one that requires a PS3 and another that requires a computer. To use your PS3 you have to download the Ad-Hoc Party application from the Japanese PSN store and do a little tinkering. You can find instructions on how to do this at the PSO-World forums here. If you want to use your PC there's XLink Kai. Note that these two options work for the Japanese and English dem...
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There's a nice variety of games to select from in the week ahead. Halo Wars will be the biggest release this week and will open the RTS (real time strategy) genre to more players. With the Halo crossover, probably more gamers will experience a home console RTS game than ever before on the Xbox 360. Baseball fans have MLB '09 on the PS3 and PSP as well as Major League Baseball 2K9 for just about every platform. Tom Clancy's HAWX brings some nice air combat gameplay. Make sure to try the downloadable demo if you haven't yet. The demo is available from Xbox LIVE and the PlayStation Network. Phantasy Star Portable (PSP) debuts on the PlayStation Portable. There's a demo for that too, but Phantasy Star fans will probably be eager to pick up SEGA's RPG anyway. For the Wii, Sonic returns in another one of his storybook games, Sonic and the Black Knight.
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Sega announced today that the release date for Phantasy Star Portable for the PSP has been moved up to March 3rd. As reported on earlier, the game takes place after the story in Phantasy Star Universe, so we can probably expect all the classes and races from PSU.
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PSPHyper: "A new Multiplayer Mode mission was made available for Phantasy Star Portable yesterday. Nazokaimei Mission (literally Mystery Unfolded Mission) requires players to solve the mysterious virus that has infected VR, a training program for the Guardian. I'm definitely getting the US version of this, which will be out March 24, will it gets as many DLCs?"
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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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Story Mode:
Time line will take place between the original PSU and it's sequel "Ambition of the Illuminus".
You play a Rookie Guardian who will investigate different incidents along with your partner Vivian.
There will be multiple endings depending on the the choices you make.

Multi-player:
Up to 4 players via ad-hoc.
You can use the character that you've made in Story Mode for multi-player.
Characters will speak to each other during battle for players to utilize for better team play, like "Cover Me!" or "Behind Me!".

Overall:
Getting items will be a lot easier compared to the Phantasy Star Universe Series.
The system will be revamped and improved over PSU: Ambition of the Illuminus.
No more random failing when powering up.
Various new fighting systems like "Just Attack" will also be added.
New Items, Weapons, and Bosses are added.
New Fighting/Battle Type(s) also added.

You can import the character that you've created on PSU from BOTH the PS2 or the PC version onto PSP.
Things that can be imported: Name, Race, Gender, Looks, Voice Type, Voice Pitch, Level (Up to lvl. 20), Cloth or Parts Type when you are geared up.

Things you can't import: Gear, Items, Meseta(money), Battle Type, Learned Skills, Items in storage or sharing box, Partner Mercenary.

Phantasy Star Portable goes on sale for PSP in Japan on 7/31 for 5040 yen.

Hit Read Full Story for full scan of the original Famitsu article & pics.
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So you think that 2008 is all about consoles? Well check out these upcoming releases exclusive for the Playstation Portable and you'll see why the PSP is here to stay.
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