So... any idea how this was released?

[ArmoredSnowman]

This has been one of the notable lost games of the PS3-era, considering it has around 10 owners (based on PSN percentage), was physical-only per it's title-id: BLJS-10183, but has no news relating to it actually being released. I've been looking into this game for close to a decade now, but it's always dead ends. Figure maybe, hopefully, someone out there might have some information on how this was/still could be obtained. 

[HuntingFever]

The last rumour I heard, was that it ended up as a giveaway at some anime convention but I can't say how true this story is.

[AvengedEvil]

Maybe @grifteskymfning is able to help out with his superior konwledge?

[ArmoredSnowman]

40 minutes ago, HuntingFever said:

The last rumour I heard, was that it ended up as a giveaway at some anime convention but I can't say how true this story is.

It's just strange, that after all this time, we haven't gotten more details about the game. The only thing I could ever find is the soundtrack. That said, the one known owner is still pretty active on Twitter, but I don't think he responds much https://mobile.twitter.com/xilonen118

 

Since it's a disc, I've always wondered if he'd be willing to sell it.

Edited January 14, 2023 by ArmoredSnowman

[serrated-banner9]

12 minutes ago, ArmoredSnowman said:

It's just strange, that after all this time, we haven't gotten more details about the game. The only thing I could ever find is the soundtrack. That said, the one known owner is still pretty active on Twitter, but I don't think he responds much https://mobile.twitter.com/xilonen118

 

Since it's a disc, I've always wondered if he'd be willing to sell it.

hmm i wonder too.

 

we really need Nick Robinson to find this game lol 

 

will follow thread for updates

[PlatinumTrophy]

@Shadow_Kisuragi

[grifteskymfning]

On 2023-01-14 at 6:15 PM, HuntingFever said:

The last rumour I heard, was that it ended up as a giveaway at some anime convention but I can't say how true this story is.

 

On 2023-01-14 at 6:42 PM, AvengedEvil said:

Maybe @grifteskymfning is able to help out with his superior konwledge?

 

I heard that it was either supposed to be given away at a convention or a festival/concert thing, but the cargo ship carrying all the copies got caught in a tsunami and sank. This is from a japanese import forum way back when and I haven't found anything to verify other than two somewhat corroborating forum posts.

[Shadow_Kisuragi]

I looked into this idly a while back and found that it was likely playable at a related convention, as the dates lined up. There's definitely a disc or build of it out there somewhere, but any attempts to contact Xilonen haven't gotten a response. I didn't exhaust all options trying to track it down though.

Edited January 24, 2023 by Shadow_Kisuragi

[ArmoredSnowman]

15 hours ago, Shadow_Kisuragi said:

I looked into this idly a while back and found that it was likely playable at a related convention, as the dates lined up. There's definitely a disc or build of it out there somewhere, but any attempts to contact Xilonen haven't gotten a response. I didn't exhaust all options trying to track it down though.

You've contacted him via Steam/Twitter? 

[grifteskymfning]

My most qualified guess is that it was supposed to be released in one of those Macross Hybrid Packs that they have in Japan. A movie or a few episodes on a BluRay that also includes a short game.

 

I have like seven of these, five Macross, one dot/Hack and another one, and they seem to line up pretty well.

[Lord_Bane999]

16 hours ago, Shadow_Kisuragi said:

I looked into this idly a while back and found that it was likely playable at a related convention, as the dates lined up. There's definitely a disc or build of it out there somewhere, but any attempts to contact Xilonen haven't gotten a response. I didn't exhaust all options trying to track it down though.

I was just checking their account a minute ago and they don't seem to have much of any games barely even started. Some games seemed like they might've played a for 20-30 minutes at most. Others maybe a few hours but all very little progress in most. Is it possible this user may be an old account that was used by either a tester or reviewer for a short time?

[ArmoredSnowman]

35 minutes ago, Lord_Bane999 said:

I was just checking their account a minute ago and they don't seem to have much of any games barely even started. Some games seemed like they might've played a for 20-30 minutes at most. Others maybe a few hours but all very little progress in most. Is it possible this user may be an old account that was used by either a tester or reviewer for a short time?

Well, he did get a good chunk through on Monster Hunter and Granblue https://psnprofiles.com/Xilonen118, though I've always wondered why he didn't play Don't Be Late on his second account

[Tothoro]

I have a lead that I think may pan out. A PS3 game was included on the Blu-Ray release of Macross Frontier: The False Songstress called the Hybrid Pack in 2010. The game isn't referred to as the PSN title from what I could find, but "Don't Be Late" is a song in the movie and Sheryl Nome is one of the featured characters. It's Japanese-only but I know enough Japanese to fumble my way around menus. I'll report back when I get it in to see if I can confirm or deny. If this is it, the lack of confirmed players might be from the very small overlap of people who bought the release, actually played the "special feature" game, synced trophies, and got scraped by PSNP.

 

I also found ads for a Macross x PlayStation Home event in 2011, but that didn't line up with the date of the one owner's trophy and it was only available for a few days.Granted hacks/timestamp shenanigans could be a factor, too. Didn't look too deeply here because the other lead was more promising.

 

A good mystery's always fun, glad I caught this topic from the recent posts on the homepage.

[grifteskymfning]

57 minutes ago, Tothoro said:

A PS3 game was included on the Blu-Ray release of Macross Frontier: The False Songstress called the Hybrid Pack in 2010.

 

I own that one. It's this;

https://psnprofiles.com/trophies/968-マクロストライアルフロンティア

Edited January 25, 2023 by grifteskymfning

[Shadow_Kisuragi]

As mentioned, Last Frontier was part of Gekijouban Macross F ~Sayonara no Tsubasa~ Hybrid Pack Blu-Ray and Trial Frontier was part of Gekijouban Macross F ~Itsuwari no Utahime~ Hybrid Pack Blu-Ray. Low numbers, but not that low. ?Already looked through that route and found nothing released.

 

And, I tried asking on PSN and Twitter I believe in the past.

Edited January 25, 2023 by Shadow_Kisuragi

[Tothoro]

Ah, drat. Well, it was worth a shot. I am legitimately surprised there are almost 10k earners for it based on how niche the release is, but I guess that just shows how popular Macross is overseas. The plot thickens!

[ArmoredSnowman]

9 hours ago, Tothoro said:

Ah, drat. Well, it was worth a shot. I am legitimately surprised there are almost 10k earners for it based on how niche the release is, but I guess that just shows how popular Macross is overseas. The plot thickens!

Just strange that there's around 10 owners of this Don't Be Late game, but only one of them is known. It's times like these, where it'd be nice if you could find owners of certain games via some API. 

[Lord_Bane999]

3 hours ago, ArmoredSnowman said:

Just strange that there's around 10 owners of this Don't Be Late game, but only one of them is known. It's times like these, where it'd be nice if you could find owners of certain games via some API. 

Has anyone by chance checked yahoo japan auctions for it to see if any sold maybe even using something like the Wayback machine to pull up old listings or potential owners