The GHZ -- PSO × 4

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-- PSO × 4 -- As the Pioneer 2 prepares for takeoff with the first batch of immigrants on December 21, the boys at Sonic Team are kicking the hype machine from high gear into overdrive. Here's a pic of the limited edition PSO 4× memory card included with the special edition package. Looks like there's a seperate light for each "page" of data...pretty spiffy. Guess I can chalk this one up with the transparent orange Chu² controller and the blue, logoed Sonic Team VMU on the "list of awesome Sonic Team swag that I'm never going to get." That's right: sucks to be us.

VMUs: Saving Your Game, One Block at a Time

Lord Naka also spoke on a few issues at a recent retailer meeting. In total, there will be 20 servers worldwide set up for the game. They'll be located in the US, Europe (London specifically), Japan (Tokyo specifically), and Asia; and each will be capable of handling 1000 players at once. Put two and two together, and you have horsepower for 20,000 players, although Uncle Yuji doesn't expect more than 3% of PSO owners to be playing online at any given time.

Sega expects PSO to sell 500,000 copies in Japan... a pretty tall order considering that the Squaresoft-smooching Nihonjin, for whatever Earthly reason, seem to consider Dreamcast gaming poison. (But then, what else would you expect from the country responsible for sushi, harakiri, and Pokémon?) Furthermore, they expect to sell 1,000,000 worldwide. Poop that, if Sega of America gets the hype machine running -- like NOW -- I wager they'd rip through 1,000,000 in the US alone.

On the bright side, we here in the states get to play online for just the cost of our ISP. Why? Because we're all cheap by nature and demand freebies. Those cheeky Japs, in addition to having to pay by the minute for their ISPs, will be subjected to some kind of monthly fee to be allowed into the PSO world. Haha! Serves 'em right! Sure hope they have their Meseta saved up...

The Man (how many different ways can I think of to write "Yuji Naka", anyway?) finished off by stating that, if PSO were a normal title, it would be about 90% complete. But the added dimension of cyberspace complicates things, so they won't know for sure until after the end of the 10,000 person beta test next month.

They're sticking to the December 21 release for Japan, with the US release to follow in mid-to-late January and the European release just a couple weeks after that. While it sucks that Naka-san's dream of a worldwide release has been shattered with the spear of reality yet again, a mere one month wait for an RPG is a very sweet deal, and can be attributed to the fact that SoA and SoE have been working on the localizations along with the actual development. Better start packing your things, because the launch of the Pioneer 2 is nigh, and we've all got one-way tickets...

-- Green Gibbon!

Compiled and arranged by Jared "Green Gibbon!" Matte. Hosting provided by Emulation Zone and Emulation World.