We have some bad news for PS Vita owners now, as SEGA has just confirmed that Phantasy Star Online 2 is being delayed in the US. The game is already out on PC as of last year and is already available in Japanese on the PS Vita. Now though there isn’t even a revised release date for the US release and it means that PS Vita owners have a while longer to wait for one of the expected big guns of 2013.

There was real promise that Phantasy Star Online 2 could go on to be one of the early successes for Sony through the year, providing that Sega released the game in the first quarter of 2013 as initially thought. However, it looks like Sega need further time to localize the game for US and EU markets, so PS Vita owners will have to look elsewhere for their next big RPG fix.

We still don’t have a Final Fantasy game on the system yet, but we’re hopeful that Square-Enix will rectify this with Final Fantasy X HD which lands on the PS Vita before the end of the year. One alternative that we can suggest if you really want to try the Japanese version out, is to download the PC version and install one of the various translation patches that are available.

It will take some digging to do, but we do hear that it works just fine and will allow you to have an excellent preview of the game – it’s probably the best option at the moment since Sega has yet to give any updated release information, which is usually a bad sign.

Along with Final Fantasy X HD, it now looks like Killzone Mercenary, Zone of the Enders HD and Soul Sacrifice are only big name titles left to release this year. Let us know if you were planning to buy PSO2 on the Vita and what you think of Sega’s delay.

Sega has a lot of pressure on their shoulders to deliver a top quality online RPG on the PS Vita. Sony’s handheld is in dire need of some new games to play and Phantasy Star Online 2 is surely going to help fill the gap when it releases later on this year. The game is already out in Japan and to prepare for the upcoming western release on PS Vita, we now have some extended gameplay to show you to get your juices flowing.

If you didn’t already know it, Phantasy Star Online 2 is a free-to-play game. You’ll be able to download and start playing the game for free, but you’ll find that many in-game items are locked out and in need of micro transaction payments in order to have access to the most worthwhile items.

This is a formula that many game developers are now favoring over standard format, with DUST 514 and Marvel Avengers Alliance just two examples that appear to be very successful – Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic is another notable one after first being released as a paid-for game.

Unfortunately, there is still no definite indication on when SEGA plans to release the game in English, for US and UK PS Vita owners. It doesn’t look like it is coming any time soon either as the game is only being prepared for a Japanese PS Vita release this February – as it will obviously take a good deal of time to localize the game in English.

The gameplay itself in the trailer is very good though and should give you a nice conclusion as to whether you think the game is actually worth buying. There’s a detailed look (in Japanese) on how the in-depth character customization features work, while there is also an appearance from Sony mascot Toro as well for those that have seen the cat before in other Sony games.

What are your thoughts on the game going free-to-play? – Are you willing to spend all of your money via micro transactions rather than a one off payment? Enjoy the new gameplay footage below.

If you are feeling starved of any RPG action on the PS Vita, you’ll be very interested to check out some new gameplay clips that Sega has released, in preparation for the release of their epic Phantasy Star Online 2 game. It is due to go on sale in February in Japan and there is a feeling of anxiety in the air on how long Sega plans to take on getting a localized version out.

There’s no doubt that Phantasy Star Online 2 is going to be one of the standout Vita games of 2013. It is already the most anticipated RPG to come out so far on the portable handheld and serves as a lovely alternative in the aftermath of the Monster Hunter disappointment and also the somewhat surprising omission of a Final Fantasy game which has yet to appear on the Vita – with still no sign of progress on the Vita version of Final Fantasy X HD.

That means that Phantasy Star Online 2 takes on the added pressure of having to cater to frustrated RPG fans on the Vita, but the good news is that screenshots and gameplay released so far indicates that the game is going to be well worth waiting for. The graphics look very impressive indeed and the cutscenes in particular are something that Square-Enix would be proud of.

Capcom has released two videos for the game over Christmas, one showing the entire opening cinematic for the game and another showing actual gameplay featuring two bonus characters that you may be familiar with. Sony mascots Toro and Kuro have been popping up in games such as Street Fighter X Tekken and PlayStation All-Stars, but now we can confirm that they’ll appear in Phantasy Star Online 2 as well – you can see them joining the action in the second clip below.

There’s no denying that the game looks good and will be even better we expect when playing the PC version. Phantasy Star Online 2 also has cross platform features, meaning that you can play with PC players at the same time and this alone could be a factor which is taking Sega a long time to get right.

Take a look at the new footage below and let us know if this is the one Vita game that you are looking forward to the most. Are you still a bitter over the lack of Monster Hunter, or will Phantasy Star Online 2 be even better in your opinion?

Just to point out though, the beta will only be available for the PC version of the game, as SEGA recently confirmed that the Vita version of the game won’t be due out until 2013 and that the game is only 10% complete at the moment.

With that out of the way, Producer Satoshi Sakai has revealed that the upcoming closed beta testing will have space for 100,000 entrants and that players who were lucky enough to participate in the alpha test will be receiving priority for the closed beta.

The closed beta will bring significant gameplay additions compared to the alpha test, as Sakai states that they will be adding in story and quest elements, some town fields and even more weapon categories to play around with, as translated by Andria Sang.

If you are interested in getting into the closed beta, you’ll need to be aware that Sega are planning to hold an event at the end of this month, which they are calling the ‘Media Briefing 2nd’ event. In this event, they will announce when the beta will begin and we’re guessing ways in which to enter the beta as well. If you are fluent in Japanese or don’t mind using a translate service, you may want to check out the official PSO2 blog here.

We have added some gameplay footage from the second alpha test below, as we’re guessing a lot of you may not have seen the game in action yet. For an alpha test, it looks really impressive in our opinion and pretty mouthwatering to think that this game is on the way to the PS Vita as well.

If you were a big fan of the franchise that became famous on the SEGA Dreamcast, you will have probably known that the sequel was only thought to be coming to the PC next year. Now though, we have confirmation that the PS Vita will also get a version and we’re hearing that the portable version will also have cross-platform features with the PC version as well.

SEGA has hinted on the possibility of being able to play the same character on both Vita and PC platforms and support for both handheld and PC players to use the same online servers will be available as well. It is a bit disappointing that we have to wait a whole year for this to come out, but according to SEGA it is only 10% complete on Vita at the moment.

On the plus side, SEGA has shown off some initial gameplay from PSO2, which they say has been taken from the PC version. It is all looking rather good, but we will wait until we see some realtime Vita footage before making our minds up on this one. A full online-only game for the Vita is certainly an interesting prospect as well, for those of you that picked up the 3G version. Will players be able to use data to play this away from home, or will SEGA restrict this to just a WiFi connection only?

Ok, it’s not Final Fantasy Type-0 HD like we had all hoped, but it’s a pretty good second best right folks? Check out the gameplay below and let us know your initial reaction to this game. Is this easily a day one buy for you or not?

Phantasy Star Online 2 screens have emerged from the 4gamer website and show you exclusively the first look at the new game in-play. There are 16 new screens to scroll through that give a nice varied selection of images from the game that is set to be released at some point this year.

The previous game was very well received by critics, mainly sighting the impressive graphics and very enjoyable gameplay. The game was marked very highly in various popular gaming sources, IGN giving it 9.3 out of 10 and Eurogamer giving it 9 out of 10. With this in mind we can see that the game has not slipped in graphics quality as they still look very enticing.

You can visit the website and see the full range of pictures by following this link (one of the screens has been embedded below). Tell us what you think of the pictures and how the game looks. Do you think there has been much change from the previous title? Does it look better than you thought it would?