d5t

.hack//SIGN DVD GIVEAWAY FEB 24th! Hey dothackers! A heads up, we're giving away a few copies of .hack//SIGN on Feb 24th. The catch is you have to like Japan Yay, our sister site, to be eligible. More details to come! http://www.facebook.com/japanyay

Looks like someone at RPGamer.com just got around to reviewing .hack//G.U. Vol. 1: Rebirth!

Thank Aura! The complete series of .hack//SIGN is just a few short months away from being re-released! FUNimation currently has //SIGN on pre-order for $29.99, $10 off the sale price. The bonus episode entitled Intermezzo, which is set 2 years before .hack//SIGN and starring Mimiru, will be included with the DVD set. The next .hack re-release will be .hack//Legend of the Twilight, hitting streets on April 7th, 2015. Check out the rest of the .hack re-release schedule.

.hack fans snap out of your coma! Back in July of last year FUNimation announced the licensing of all (well, close enough) .hack anime from the now defunct Bandai Entertainment. Up until last week they've been very quiet on the timing of the releases. At New York Comic Con on Saturday FUNi broke its' silence and announced street dates for .hack//SIGN, //Legend of The Twilight, //Roots, and //Trilogy on DVD! This is a sigh of relief if you've wanted to own .hack//SIGN on DVD especially; it is fetching $100+ dollars on Amazon for used copies since it has been out of production for a while! All of .hack//SIGN's 25 episodes also began streaming on Hulu with subtitles starting on September 5th (through 12/19) if you can't wait for the DVD release. //SIGN, //Legend of the Twilight and //Roots will be re-distributed with its original dub in place courtesy of Bandai Entertainment. The original release of //Trilogy had subtitles only with Japanese voice overs and will not be dubbed by FUNimation. .hack//LIMINALITY, a 4-part OVA series which was bundled with the original PS2 games, has not enjoyed a standalone release and will likely be stuck in limbo. There has been no word on FUNimation licensing .hack//The Movie, which had a limited theatrical run in Japan on January 21st, 2012 and a DVD/Blu-ray release afterwards. .hack//Quantum, the latest .hack anime series, was released by FUNimation on March 25th, 2011 in the U.S. .hack//SIGN (February 25th, 2015 release) 25 episodes Set in the year 2007, .hack//SIGN takes place entirely in an MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game) called "The World." The anime is based around a player named Tsukasa and his inability to mentally log out of the game. In the real world Tuskasa's body goes into a comatose state. .hack//Legend of the Twilight (April 7th, 2015 release) 12 episodes .hack//Legend of the Twilight takes place after the events of //SIGN and the 4 original PS2 .hack video games. The main characters Rena and Shugo, mysteriously win a contest to use illegal character modifications of the infamous .hackers, Kite and Blackrose (the main characters from the games.) .hack//Roots (May 19th, 2015 release) 26 episodes Set in the year 2017, "The World" is now infested with many PKers (Player Killers). As a result of this, "The World R:2" has become unstable and segregated into many opposing guilds. Roots introduces Haseo, a newbie in The World, and The Twilight Brigade guild. .hack//G.U. Trilogy (June 30th, 2015 release) CG Movie Directed partly by CC2 president Hiroshi "Piros" Matsuyama himself (this name should be familiar if you've played the .hack games), Trilogy retells the story of the //G.U. games, with a new level of cinematic detail beyond what can be done in a PS2 game. FUNimation

.hack fans rejoice! One of the few things we can get excited about nowadays is the mobile game Guilty Dragon, which borrows heavily from the .hack lore. While there was a English localization supposedly in the works, fans got snubbed again by CyberConnect 2. Thankfully a hardcore .hack fan came translated most of the menu. Lots of other items are still untranslated, but this makes the game a bit more user-friend to us who can't read a lick of Japanese. Note: Guilty Dragon is not available on the Google Play store or iTunes App store outside of Japan. A manual install is necessary to get past region locking. The app also asks for phone permissions, which is normal for this type of game (in-app purchases). Download for Android (39 MB) dothackers.net

.hack fans waiting for the price of the movie/game hybrid pack to go down, now is your time to import! If you're holding out for a localization, don't hold your breath. Play Asia has .hack//The Movie + Versus Hybrid Pack listed for sale @ $19.99, $50 off the original price. The PS3 will play both the movie and game with no issues, as it is region free. If you're also worried about not being able to understand how to play game, use my strategy: button mash! It usually works well...most of the time. Released back in 2012, //The Movie enjoyed a limited run inside Japanese theaters before hitting store shelves packed with the first (and probably only) ever .hack fighting game. If you have some spare cash and are a fan of .hack, pick it up before the stock runs out. I ran across a copy while visiting Akihabara back in May of 2013 and had to dish out $50 + exchange rate fees and lug it back in my suitcase. Be smarter than me, although my fanboy-ness took over when I spotted it at a random video store and would have probably paid twice as much...

If you haven't had the opportunity to play any of the .hack games or view the multiple anime series, you are missing out on some of the most well composed anime and gaming music to come out of Japan. Do the names Yuki Kajiura and Chikayo Fukuda ring a bell? You should be nodding in agreement right about now if they do, and if they are new to you check out both composers disography! This particular song comes from the first .hack PS2 game, entitled .hack//INFECTION. For your audio delight-ness below is the Audire Soundtrack Choir version and the original in-game soundtrack. "Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground" by Audire Soundtrack Choir "Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground" by Chikayo Fukuda

If you have been a fan of the .hack franchise over the last decade or just stumbled upon it recently, you know we have been craving for something new to come out from CyberConnect2 and their buddies Namco Bandai in Japan. Hints of .hack's decline started off with the lack of an English localization of the .hack//LINK PSP game. Namco Bandai and Bandai Entertainment's corporate restructuring did not help either. .hack simply got left in the dust outside of Japan. Fortunately, .hack//Quantum made it's way to the United States thanks to FUNimation, and that may be the last bit .hack goodness we ever see again. Since dothackers began in 2003 the Internet has changed. A lot. Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and Digg ceased to exist. Think about that for a second - dothackers.net is ancient in Internet terms! I'd like to think I've tried my best to keep up with the new trends, which includes our Facebook community of 5300+ fans. Since there has been a severe lack of news I admittedly have grown restless (see: random Facebook postings that make some people question my sanity). Personally it doesn't make sense for dothackers to sit here and wither away, but to try and introduce fans of the site and .hack franchise to something I believe you guys will be interested in. In the near future dothackers will be redirected to a new site dedicated to Japanese pop-culture, anime, gaming... pretty much anything related Japan! The message board will survive the transition because it is basically a bonafide historical landmark in the .hack franchise with years of news and fan-made content! So to keep this simple: .hack news will transition to the new website, including Facebook/Twitter accounts. The message board will not be touched and remain active at http://www.dothackers.net/forums. Just think of the URL changing and you having access to a lot more Japanese-related content in between the droughts of .hack news. Thanks to all who have contributed to the website in the past and the many, many fans of dothackers! I hope to see you guys over on the next chapter of my Net Slumming (maybe with just a few less year-long comas)! More news to follow! - Dave (d5t)

Finally, after years of anticipation and dreams we're getting what we want! We have been told by credible sources CyberConnect2 is set to announce that they are going to have a launch title ready for Sony's Project Morpheus. The unannounced MMORPG will be based entirely on .hack and will use the VR capabilities to make it fully imersive. Dothackers was also told Oculus Rift was in contention, but the Facebook deal had made them side with Sony's VR headset. CC2 President Hiroshi Matsuyama exclaimed: "Project Morpheus has the capabilities to make .hack fans dreams come true, even potential side affects such as year-long comas may happen." He goes on to explain the features: "Project Morpheus features a head mounted display with 1080p resolution and a 90 degree field of view. Accelerometer and gyroscope sensors built into the head mounted unit as well as PlayStation Camera accurately tracks head orientation and movement, so as your head rotates, the image of the virtual world rotates intuitively in real-time. Project Morpheus also features our new 3D audio technology that re-creates stereoscopic sounds in all directions and changes in real-time depending on your head orientation." Source: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2014/03/18/introducing-project-morpheus/

Leaked screenshots of May's Famitsu cover reveals a cosplay look-a-like Haseo, which could be a teaser for the newly rumored .hack//LOVE THE WORLD live action J-Drama series. Six episodes have been initially created for the series set to debut in September on TV Tokyo. It is unknown if other .hack characters will be re-occurring or the plot of the series. CC2 President Hiroshi Matsuyama did tease us with this: "Ever wanted to know what happened to Tsukasa and Subaru after the end of .hack//SIGN? Atoli and Haseo? Stay tuned...." Pictured below: Famitsu Weekly leaked cover and J-Drama Actor for Haseo (unnamed). More details will be announced on CC2's official website on April 1st. May 2014 Famitsu Weekly Haseo's J-Drama Actor

Praise Aura, we're back at Anime Central 2014! Come join the largest .hack fan gathering in the United States! If you cosplay as your favorite .hack character you are GUARANTEED* to win free .hack swag. *If you dress up as a Grunty you win my car. Welcome to "The World" - All About .hack! Friday, May 16th @ 6:15-7:15 PM in Panel Room 11 (DESCC)

Great news, I've successfully upgraded the sites bandwidth. Sorry for the small downtime. Everything should be back to normal with the site and forums. If you see any parts of the site or BBS acting up, please drop me an email -David

A milestone for the BBS has been reached, 100 members! If you haven't allready registered, what are you waiting for? .hack//info center's BBS is the #1 community regarding .hack. Not only are our members polite, but they come up with great ideas for threads and informative replys to topics (no spam!). If you have a question regarding the anime, .hack games or card game, ect, it will most likely be answered quickly and correctly. If you're sick of talking about .hack, post in the off-topic forum. .hack//info center's BBS has it all. Click here to register and start posting on the BBS today!

Thanks to our friends at http://www.cyberconnect2.jp and OrangeSlice, I have uploaded 499 .hack fan-pics. Please note that all fan-pics are protected by their respected creators. I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE FAN-PICS. By clicking on the link below you understand that if requested to do so, you MUST delete the pics from your hard-drive. Enjoy! .hack fan-pics