Ask John: How Much .hack Is There?

Question:
How much .hack is there out there? I know the game will come with an anime DVD. Last time I looked it said .hack//LIMINALITY. How is that related to the upcoming .hack//SIGN releases?

Answer:
.Hack is a massive multimedia project to encompasses, so far, console video games, animation, manga, and prose fiction. The entire .Hack story revolves around an advanced massively multiplayer online fantasy role-playing game called “The World.” Due to insidious hacking and malicious code, The World has taken on something of a life of its own and begun to physically influence its players and the outside world.

The .Hack story begins with the prose novel .Hack//AI Buster, which details the early development and origins of The World and its first players. The 26 episode .hack//SIGN anime TV series details the first signs of the trouble within The World, initially instigated by the player-character Tsukasa, who enters the game but cannot log-out. Just following the events of the original TV series is the 4 volumes .Hack RPG series for the Playstation 2. Each of the four .Hack Playstation 2 games is accompanied by an episode of the .hack//LIMINALITY OAV series, which reveals the effects of The World on the real world of Tokyo during the same time the events in the video games take place. The single volume .hack//Tasogare no Udewa Densetsu (.hack//Legend of the Twilight Bracelet) manga series occurs five years after the events of the video game and OAV series. .hack//Tasogare no Udewa Densetsu, frequently referred to by fans as “.hack//DUSK,” is also the basis of the second .Hack anime TV series which premiered in Japan on January 9, 2003.