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Details of the ".hack//G.U. Project" was announced and the Project has officially begun February 6th. To represent all the companies involved in this major .hack Project (8 companies to be exact), ".hack//Conglomerate" was formed for this purpose.

In this new Project, the story continues 7 years after the last events of the previous project, in 2017. The MMORPG "The World" is updated and is renamed to "The World: R2". The release dates for the 3 Playstation2 games "Saiten", "Kimi Omou Koe", "Aruku Youna Hayasa de" are planned for this year May, September and December respectively in Japan. The voice actors announced so far are Sakurai Takahiro (Tomonari Kasumi in .hack//Liminality) as Haseo, Kawasumi Ayako (Hotaru in .hack//Tasogare no Udewa Densetsu) as Atori, and Miki Shinichirou (Crim in .hack//SIGN) as Kuhn.

The other major announcement is the 26-episode ".hack//G.U." anime titled ".hack//Roots" which will once again be animated by Bee Train and will be aired on TV Tokyo starting April 5th this year. The staff of the series have all worked with the .hack series in the past: character designs will be drawn by Sadamoto Yoshiyuki (.hack series character designer), the series composition will be done by Kawasaki Miu (.hack//Another Birth novels author), and supervised by Mashimo Kouichi (the same as .hack//SIGN). The opening theme song "Silly-Go-Round" will be performed by FictionJunction YUUKA and the ending song "Boukoku Kakusei Catharsis" will be done by ALI PROJECT. The voice actors and characters known so far include Sakurai Takahiro who will voice Haseo (the same as the game), Nazuka Kaori (Subaru of .hack//SIGN) as Shino, and Touchi Hiroki (Abel Nightroad of Trinity Blood, etc) as Ovan.

Including the comic book serialization (".hack//G.U.+ and .hack//GnU") and magazine which started in November of last year, there are also plans for mobile phone content in development (Japan Only), a radio program in April (Japan Only) hosted by the protagonist of the ".hack//G.U." series, Sakurai Takahiro, and of course, merchandising starting around June. There will also be a ".hack//G.U." card game, similiar to the previous .hack card game to be released June.

According to their press release, their plans for expanding the .hack Project are shown in the screenshow below (the items boxed in orange are new). During the 2010 period storyline, there is another comic book series (".hack//XXXX"), a PS2 format CD that will be included with the first ".hack//G.U." Vol.1 video game that will help better understand the transition between the 2010 storyline with the 2017 storyline "Game Vol.1 (Terminal Disc) .hack//G.U. THE END OF "The World", a 4koma (4-panel) comic book series, and the online game .hack//fragment that has already been released. In the 2017 storyline as most things are already mentioned there will be the radio program, a novel ".hack//CELL", the 3 PS2 games, the TV Animation ".hack//Roots", two comic book series (".hack//G.U.+ and .hack//GnU") and [probably] as bonus with the .hack//G.U. games ".hack//G.U. Online Jack" that will focus on the real world events (just as with .hack//Liminality).

Source: AV Watch

".hack//G.U. The World" Vol.2 released January 26th continuing the serialization of the novel ".hack//CELL", the comic ".hack//GnU" (dot-hack gu-nyuu~), and ".hack//4koma". This issue includes a new comic series ".hack//XXXX" (dot-hack ex-fours).

The Official CC2 .hack//G.U. homepage has also undergone a facelift.

Sources:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/
http://www.cyberconnect2.jp/gu/
http://www.famitsu.com/
http://plusd.itmedia.co.jp/games/
http://www.dengekionline.com/

† New .hack Manga || News - @ 10:56 PM

A new .hack manga, under the name ".hack//G.U.", has been announced and the first chapter will be featured in the upcoming magazine of ".hack//G.U.: The World Vol.1". The first chapter will be a special 68 pages long. The storyline is once again done by Hamazaki Tatsuya and the artwork will be drawn by Morita Yuzuka (Dance! Dance! Dance!, MACBETH Prototype featured artist, Seiryuuden, etc). The magazine will cover more in-depth information on the upcoming game .hack//G.U. including the cast of 8 new characters and interviews as well. The magazine is to be released on November 26th, 2005 at ¥680, published by Kadokawa Shoten.

Source: http://www.hack.channel.or.jp/topi/1021_topi.html

† .hack//G.U. PS2 RPG Info || News - @ 09:40 PM

The upcoming .hack PS2 game, .hack//G.U., will follow the previous .hack PS2 games by splitting into 3 games set to release in 2006. The protagonist is Haseo, a player killer (PK), who player kills for fun until he encounters the PK killer who wants to take him down. The three games are as follows:

.hack//G.U. Volume 1: Saitan (resurrection)
.hack//G.U. Volume 2: Kimi Omou Koe (the voice you think you know)
.hack//G.U. Volume 3: Aruku Youna Hayasa de (the speed as if walking)

Official .hack//G.U. Website:
http://www.hack.channel.or.jp/gu/main.html

Source:
http://www.the-magicbox.com

In-depth report & news on .hack//G.U. from E3:
E3: .hack//G.U. by RPGfan

† .hack//fragment - Online || News - @ 08:05 PM

Finally, a REAL Online Role Playing Game is to be released by the same crew who brought the .hack// PS2 series to life, Bandai and CyberConnect2. .hack//fragment is a PS2 exclusive game where the player is able to play both offline and online. The characters from the games, the anime, and the comics will make appearances in the game.

The online mode is similiar to the PS2 games, where you'd have 3 players in your party at a time. There is also a interesting feature where you can create your own "Area Server" after downloading and using the program provided by Bandai and have it hosted on your own computer. You can do things like create the login keywords to your liking, set the weather, choose your level of difficulty and more. Just like the PS2 games, there will be a real-time BBS server that is connected to Bandai's actual servers where you can actively communicate with fellow users. There will also be no fee for playing (except buying the game, of course).

In the offline mode, you follow the story while journeying through "The World", encountering many characters from the original games, anime and comics. When you start the game, you first meet up with Bear and BT from .hack//SIGN.

You may use your created character both offline and online.

The game is to be released November 23rd in Japan for ¥6800.

Source:
http://www.hack.channel.or.jp/fragment/