A new video has appeared from the depths of Sonic Team HQ concerning Phantasy Star Universe no less!

This latest teaser trailer is pretty much 100% in-game footage from what i can see, and guessing from watching the footage, it's straight from the PlayStation2 version. The video profiles just about all the characters you'll be making friends with (In a manner of speaking!) across your universal journey, with some interesting choices of Japanese voice overs, which i wouldn't get too comfortable with because they'll most definately get different types of voices through localisation (Thank god!). We're hosting the video especially for all you ragolers out there who have either slower or faster connections:

Click Here to Download [Approx. 25Mb - .wmv file]

or

Click Here to Download/Stream [Approx. 5Mb - .wmv file]

To be honest, i can't say i'm impressed with the graphics of the footage... maybe they should have waited a while? One thing is for sure though, as always, SEGA won't be disappointing with the soundtrack element to the game! Enjoy!

There's a special GM event taking place on the Japanese Blue Burst servers this christmas, as Sonic Team attempt to fill the lobby air with love!

In an event entitled 'Love Checker 5 vs 5', 5 men, and 5 women get together into one lobby and complete a set of simple activities and answer questions set by the chairman of the lobby (GM) in a kind of Blind Date layout, except that everyone can see one another! From the questions asked, you may be forced to reveal your deepest confessions and secrets, and as a result, should eventually get matched together with your perfect partner to exchange Guild Cards with!

Registration to sign-up for this event is being held between 24th November & 6th December 2005 through the official Japanese Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst website. The actual event takes place on the following dates & times:

• 14th December 2005 between the times of 19:00 & 20:00 (JST)
• 16th December 2005 between the times of 19:00 & 20:00 (JST)

To apply, click here, and click the appropriate links (Theres a big yellow button to click! - English). You'll be asked for your Character name, Guild I.D., and Sex, aswell as a little about yourself! After it's all over, the king and queen of the whole event will walk away with His & Hers MAGs!*

With the event coinciding with the 5th Anniversary of Phantasy Star Online, highlights of the entire event will also be shown on a feature entitled 'PSO Live Channel' - A new kind of Internet T.V. Channel to be made especially for Phantasy Star Online, which will soon be added to the official 5th Anniversary website, http://pso5.jp!

Of course the competition is only open to those who can play the Japanese version of PSO: Blue Burst, but who knows, we could soon see it within the English version! Hehe... ;)

*100% untrue!

Sonic Team of Japan have today announced details we've been waiting for... well, sort of... maybe more so if we were Japanese!

• Release Date: 16th Febuary 2006
• Release Platforms: PlayStation2 & Windows PC
• RRP: 7,140 Yen
• Min. Operating System: Windows XP/Windows 2000 (Service Pack 4)

Note this is the Japanese release date, which means it's been pushed back from it's before believed but unofficial release date of the end of December 2005. Who knows if this means it's effected the release date of the American & European release dates, but since we didn't know a release date before, it doesn't really matter does it!

Sonic Team have announced the winners of the recent Hallowe'en Symbol Chat Competition! The 3 big winners are (Presented in their characters name):

• Shonky

• Moontears)

• Ayane

All the winners and even more great entries can be seen on the official webpage here on the official Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst website! Did you enter? Well then why not share your Symbol Chats with us here on our community forums! Click the 'Comments...' link underneath the header of this news post and reply away with your images in our forums!

There will be server maintenance on the English PC Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst servers during November 22nd 2005 from 18:00 for a short period of time.

During this time please do not attempt to connect to the servers as if maintenance is happening on your corresponding servers at that time then you will be automatically disconnected after connecting. If you happen to be playing during these times please disconnect otherwise at the time when maintenance starts you will be disconnected from your game no matter what! You are given 10 minutes warning via. constant on-screen messages counting down until the time the upgrades start.

Please reconnect after these times where service continues as normal. Being added is the Episode IV team quest, 'Point of Disaster', which can be purchased by Team Masters through the 'Master Priviledges Menu' for the price of 3,000 Team Points. Once purchased any member of the team can play through the quest.

Also of note comes the mention that any chance of finding a Hallo Rappy or a Jack-o-Lantern after November 26th will be impossible as they both take a trip back to their secret hiding place for another year. However, as the snowy part of the year comes bellowing out, Santa Rappies and the like will be around instead to help you get your christmas off to a kicking start! You'll be able to find them online between 26th November and 28th December.

Just a small mention for those unaware that our very own Kefka (Known by many PSO veterans undoubtedly!) has recently become a forum moderator for the English boards of Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst! However this isn't to say he's leaving us in the dark, but regardless, congratulations and keep up the great work from all at Ragol.co.uk! ^_^

Another fortnight has passed... CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! Well, whether it's a yeigh, or a neigh, believe it, the next issue of Ragol.co.uk's finest fortnightly, the Hunters Gazette is here!

Finishing off the theme of Import Madness, bringing you all the best things... from Japanese days of PSOness, we delve into the depths of the playable and interactive Phantasy Star Online that you don't need to use a machine for.

 Hunters Gazette - What do you do when the servers go down?

Click Here to go the the Hunters Gazette

It's Japanese madness, with all the other elements you'd expect to find in Ragol.co.uk's best fortnightly feature. Enjoy!

There will be server downtime on the Japanese Phantasy Star Online servers during November 22nd 2005 between the times of 10:00 & 21:30 (Japanese Time).

During this time please do not attempt to connect to the servers as if downtime is happening on your corresponding servers at that time then you will be automatically disconnected after connecting. If you happen to be playing during these times please disconnect otherwise at the time when downtime starts you will be disconnected from your game no matter what! You are given 10 minutes warning via. constant on-screen messages counting down until the time the downtime starts. This affects all players of the following games:

• SEGA Dreamcast
• Phantasy Star Online
• Phantasy Star Online, Version 2
• Nintendo Gamecube
• Phantasy Star Online, Episodes I & II
• Phantasy Star Online, Episodes I & II Plus
• Phantasy Star Online, Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution

All Japanese servers and game hosting equipment/facilities are being transferred, so the servers will be offline for the time mentioned above. All other servers SHOULD still be active during this time, you will simply not be able to access the Japanese servers.

Sonic Team of Japan have today announced more details on the latest brand new Japanese PSO Blue Burst: Episode IV Expansion Pack Single Player Story Quest.

• Pioneer Spirits - Episode IV

After recieving the last report of what went down on the craters center, the Governor-General has decided to organise an expedition to clean up the remaining large quantities of monsters which lay around the craters surface. In Mop-Up Quest style, you, and 2 more knowledgable friends from other parts in Episode IV's story, are ordered to take control of the situation and sort the place out before WORKS gets down there and does it for you! This quest is only playable for 1 Human player and is a part of the Side-Story Quests which can be found by selecting the '1-Player' option when making a new game and going to the Hunters Guild.

SEGA of America has recently signed a deal with e-commerce business 'Digital River', to manage all of SEGA's published PC titles for Online Retail. To go alongside SEGA of America's recent rennovation of their Online Shop on SEGA.com, anyone can now go along to www.ShopSEGA.com and buy & download pratically any of SEGA's PC titles.

Currently featured games include Worldwide Soccer Manager 2006 (Football Manager 2006 as it's known in Europe), NHL Eastside Hockey Manager 2005, and the more classic PC titles Vitrua Squad 1 & 2, House of the Dead 1 & 2, and Vitrua Fighter.

SEGA of America recently used the Download method of distributing Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst across all of the English speaking nations instead of sending it out more typically to retail in shops as SEGA of Japan used. Does this mean that all future PC titles from SEGA will be getting the Download treatment instead of making you all go outside and buy them in the shops? Well, with pro's such as instant access and non-localisation, and the more business pro features such as huge time and cost saving, i'd guess so! We'll have to see with Phantasy Star Universe however since it is also due out for PlayStation2 release early next year. Since Europe and America are to recieve the game at the sametime, a Blue Burst release for Universe on the PC seems very likely.

Microsoft have recently said that only a select list of games would make the grade from working with the current Xbox to also working with the new Xbox360 which gets it's release in Europe on 2nd December, that's actually under a month away, can you believe how fast time is going?

Anyways, it's sad to say that the full list of compatable Xbox games on Xbox360 was released today, and not among the 212 compatable games was Phantasy Star Online, Episodes I & II. So, best stick with your old Xbox for a while instead eh? The full list of games can be seen on Computer&VideoGames.com's article handily linked to, here.

We've held back the Ragol.co.uk Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst Battle Tournment now until Christmas as we informed you all about a few weeks ago (Or however long ago it was now!), but we at Ragol.co.uk are conducting more then just 1 little Battle Competition this Christmas... infact we've got quite an Xmas Xtravaganza planned. We're not letting slip about it now though, but we thought we'd tease you about the possibilities this Christmas by producing the following trailer... You think you're ready?

Click Here to View the Teaser Trailer (Right Click and 'Save As...' to Download)

[Approx. 4Mb, 1 Minute, .wmv File]

If you weren't already aware, Sonic Team has added a few new quests and otherwise to the English version of Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst recently in the last 24 hours!

• VR - The East Tower - Episode II
• VR - The West Tower - Episode II

Take on the Tower, this time in Blue Burst... however, getting to the top to clear a route through both East and West may be a little harder then you would first think!

Also if you were made aware that the Episode IV Team Quest was due out yesterday, then bad news on that front as the quest has been pushed back due to technical testing problems, and will now be released on 22nd November 2005 at the price of 3,000 Team Points.

Finally, Sonic Team have also been made aware that there is a text error when trading Photon Drops in-game. However, it is only a text error, after trading, you will have given/received the amount you were supposed too afterall! The bug will not be fixed until the next time Sonic Team update the game.

Today's update for Phantasy Star Universe comes as information combined from both Sonic Team of Japan, and fellow European Phantasy Star Online German website PSO-World.de's benOire, as Universe proves to be much more then just an RPG...

Firstly, 6 great new action packed scenes which Sonic Team are using to show off the main types of weapons you'll be using throughout the game, and they are, mmmmmm, mmmmmm (Click to Enlarge):

In the screenshots above, and below, you'll notice the screens also contain new images of the new enemies and maybe mini-bosses? The levels also look very interesting, and a lot different from what we all know and love in PSO! Continuing with the new weapons, it's not just what they do, but it seems it's also, how they do it, as Phantasy Star Universe also comes with a FPS mode! By clicking the R3 Trigger on your PlayStation2 joypad, any type of gun (Or maybe arrow as shown off in the 4th screenshot above!) can be fired in First-Person Shooter Mode, bringing up a crosshair on the screen for those precision shots. These are shown off as below:

Sticking to the Weaponary theme here in this PSU update, continuing from Phantasy Star Online comes the Grinder system. You'll be able to grind pratically any weapon you collect it seems to give your weapons a more customised feel.

It's unclear whether these grinders stay coming in the form of Monogrinders, Digrinders, and Trigrinders however.

Raise the statistics of your favourite sword, gun, or cane, by grinding up your weapons with any grinders you find, in 3 easy steps as Sonic Team show you below:

That does it for the Phantasy Star Universe update, and once again thanks to PSO-World.de for the news concerning the FPS mode which was announced in Famitsu magazine not long ago. However, just to finish off, i thought i'd say that their partners importantgames.com recently went to a South Korean games show, a little like the Tokyo Games Show (Which PSO-World.de also have a few images off taken from the DVD - Click here), but on a much smaller scale, and you can view all of the pictures taken from there, by clicking over to their forums, here.

Finally, all of the information concerning Phantasy Star Universe can of course been seen in our huge and ever growing article, by clicking here. Happy Hunting!

You thought Sonic Team of Japan had thought of it all... well think again, as they announce the newest GM event heading to Japanese Blue Burst this November... A Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament!

Yep, that's right! Using the wonder of Symbol Chat, people will compete in lobbies to become the Ultimate PSO Symbol Chat Rock, Paper, Scissors Champion! Here's how it works:

During the below times, people gather in a special (TBA) lobby which only lets a maximum of only 9 others enter at one time:

• 16th November 2005 (Between the times of 18:30 & 21:30 JST)
• 23rd November 2005 (Between the times of 18:30 & 21:30 JST)
• 30th November 2005 (Between the times of 18:30 & 21:30 JST)

Then all the players in that lobby will be asked to stand in certain areas and then battle in a series of games of Rock, Paper, Scissors using the following Symbol Chats:

The 9 entrants are then organised into groups of 3, and play the game on their own! After a count, all players in that group pop a Symbol Chat of their choice from one of the above up on the screen. If you win, you stay standing. If you lose, then you're made to sit down in your Lobby Photon Chair! The winners from each group then competes in a play-off against all 3 group winners in that lobby!

If you don't know how it works, then shame on you! Put simply, Rock beats Scissors, Scissors beats Paper, and Paper beats Rock.

No doubt a very original GM event once again from the masterminds at Sonic Team of Japan HQ, and Good Luck if you're taking part! ALL winners recieve a 'Beam Plug'.

Another Fortnight... and blimey, another Hunters Gazette! Didn't see that one coming!

This fortnight in the Ragol.co.uk Hunters Gazette, we continue the theme of PSO Merchandise that, well some of it made it this far, but not much! I'm talking about Cuddley Rappies, Machine Washable Photon Blasts, and Letting the wind blow...?

 Hunters Gazette - PSO: A Series Sold Out?

Click Here to go the the Hunters Gazette

Our resident eBay Chao also wishes me to make special note of his mini-feature held deep within the Hunters Gazette. Aparently he's found some goodies you might like to think about adding to your Xmas lists. Chao says there's only 48 days left until the Santa Chao's come down your chimney!

Sonic Team of Japan have today released a few more in-game FMV screenshots starring none other then Maya Shidow, Licaim Nav, and Ohbel Dallgun:

Sonic Team of Japan are going mad over celebrating the 5th anniversary of Phantasy Star Online, and they're totally right to do so! However, this mean sweet F.A. for us since we're not in Japan *Sigh*

Sonic Team of Japan have put up a special website to mark the occasion, with lots of PSO goodness. You'll be able to find the flashy site at http://pso5.jp. For example, Sonic Team have teamed up with Eden Plastics Japan to produce some PSO figurines, such as HUcasts, and many more, which people can buy - Of course like i said, Japan only though!

If you're not in Japan but can read Japanese, there's a little goodness for you too, as they've put up a special PSO Comic Strip which includes a take on Sonic Teams Project Rub too! Click Here to see that!

As far as making a difference on the PSO games go, during November 1st - November 30th, if someone buys a Hunters License for the Japanese version of Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst, they get an extra 15 days of free online play! I.e. 45 Days for the price of 30, or if you're a newcomer to Blue Burst, you can get 60 Days including the free 15 Day trial! That's half pirce blue bursting people!

Finally, Sonic Team of Japan have unvieled the date for Maximum Attack 3 as 13th December 2005 - 10th January 2006. If you're unaware as to what Maximum Attack 3 is, it's an all new Episode IV held competition alike Maximum Attack.

Thanks to Ragol.co.uk Forumer AERO for noticing it so fast!