Phantasy Star Online 2 To Be Free-To-Play, Heads To SmartphonesPlus: closed beta details, character creation demo and lots of screens.03.26.12 - 6:04 PM
As promised, SEGA made several announcements earlier today regarding its upcoming MMORPG
Phantasy Star Online 2. Perhaps the biggest announcement was that it would be a free-to-play title. It will be free to download, but of course there will be an item transaction system.
In addition to the PlayStation Vita version, it looks like Phantasy Star Online 2 has found yet another platform: smartphones. The iOS and Android versions, of course, won't be exactly the same as the PC/Vita version, although you will be able to share data with those versions. The smartphone version, due out in winter of this year, will have simpler character creation, controls, and social game elements all for a simpler and more 'personal' experience. The first screens of this version are below:
You can see screens of the Vita version here. This version will be out in Japan in spring of next year.
As for the PC version, there's lots of screens from the closed beta and character creation demo, so we've added 63 of them to our gallery below. The closed beta is planned for late next month, and players will experience some of the story in the beta, too. Up to 100,000 testers will be invited. Meanwhile, the character creation demo will be released on April 5th. You can use your character from this in the beta test, actually, and test out how well your PC runs the game. SEGA also plans to hold a character creation contest soon.
The PC version of Phantasy Star Online 2 will launch first - this summer in Japan.
