Sonic Team of Japan have given us more to wonder across whilst they add more to the ever growing and ever delayed Phantasy Star Universe, this time making us go "hmmm..." on the enemy that is S.E.E.D.!

As the images all around this page show, the S.E.E.D. seem to be a range of very immobile creatures once they've planted themselves into the ground, transforming into quite a race indeed! Below to the bottom right are weapons that Sonic Team themselves have picked out... maybe better against defeating the S.E.E.D. then other weapons?

[UPDATE] Ragol.co.uk Forumer Tycho has posted up a rough translation of exactly what Sonic Team of Japan have been mumbling on about on their official website alongside these image updates:

"SEED Corrosion

The methods by which the SEED cause corrosion
When the seeds of SEED fall onto the ground, they rapidly augment root-like treestumps , and settle on the ground, covering it. Furthermore, they make flower-like things bloom, and then, like a virus, emit corrosion cells like pollen (although the SEED virus have no effect on human bodies). The SEED core that sticks onto the ground develops a special barrier called Blume (= flower).

Exterminating SEEDs

Regular arms have no effect on Blume whatsoever. In order to be able to destroy them with just power, nothing but overwhelming firepower at the level of the allied armies' would be feasible. Accordingly, the Guardians developed specials tools called the 'Photon Eraser' and the 'Photon Reflector'. While even carrying these tools they cannot directly attack the Blume, by exposing the stems that play the role of the Blume's roots to these weapons, they have been able to make the Blume wither and launch a special attack on the real form of the SEED core. Again, using goggles to discover things like the stems and Photon Spots invisible to the naked eye is crucial.

The enigmatic life-form 'SEED' suddenly started flying into the Graal solar system. The SEED spread out on the outskirts of the site they had settled on, made flowers bloom from the tree stumps they had made sprout, and scattered corrosion-causing pollens. It is understandable that the calamity caused by SEED not only caused harm to the soil of the outskirts, but also caused a phenomenon turning the primitive life-forms ferocious."

Everyone loves White Day, and it seems that even though us lot over here on the Western side of the world don't really celebrate it, we're getting it before the Japanese! As mentioned yesterday, White Day makes it's way onto the Japanese version of Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst on 28th February, however just announced for today's Server Maintenance on the English edition of PSO:BB is the addition of White Day celebrations, including the quests 'The Gift of the Governor-General' and 'The White Day Event' (More Info).

With these two quests making their way to Blue Burst, of course it does mean that the Valentines Quests are to be removed. Both of the White Day celebration quests will be available from later today until 14th March 2006.

If you're wondering just exactly what the hell White Day is, why not click over to this edition of Ragol.co.uk's Hunters Gazette which runs over the whole meaning of the Japanese celebration, or if you're not online with Phantasy Star Online at the moment, why not click here and download this small video to view what you're missing! Happy White Day folks!

Continuing on from yesterdays news of what's coming towards Japanese Blue Bursters from 28th February onwards, it appears that Sonic Team of Japan have also announced the full release of a new rare weapon that is up for grabs through the Episode IV Expansion Pack 1-Player Story Mode quest 'The Dangerous Transaction of the Black Paper' (Below).

Pictured to the right is what's translated as the 'Solferino' (ソルフェリーノ), a circular wand that boasts two powerful photon blades at either end. Sonic Team will be making the appropriate adjustments so that the weapon becomes more available as an item drop throughout this quest for a temporary amount of time after Server Maintenance. Happy Hunting Japanese Blue Bursters!

Sonic Team of Japan have recently announced what's instore for those lucky lucky Japanese players of Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst. Coming 28th February:

• White Day!
• Episode I

Yes, White Day is already here it seems, and players can celebrate it through this quest, constructively titled... White Day - The Event! As the women got to make you chocolate for Valentines, now you get to return the gesture by giving her some precious flowers found exclusively through this quest... it's not quite as simple for the men though as to go through a couple of guild counters mind! Enter the Caves and go find them yourselves!

• The Gift of the Governor-General
• Episode I

After having given your loved one some flowers, it's only appropriate that you ask her to go on a vicious slaughter-fest in 'The Gift of the Governor-General'! Take on this Co-Operative Team styled quest and battle your way through to the very end - However, the only way to get to the end is to co-operate sensibly! This quest is playable for 2 players only.

• The Dangerous Transaction of the Black Paper
• Episode IV

In this brand spanking new quest that's playable as part of the Episode IV Expansion Pack 1-Player Side Story, attempt to make your way through the underground deserts in search of Photon Crystals having made a transaction with the Black Paper to enter such a dangerous mission.

• White Day Lobby Decorations

Yes, with White Day quests, comes White Day decorations! Hurrah! Enjoy the oversized novelty white lobby hearts in a variety of different lobbies!

All the above quests and lobby decorations (Excluding 'The Dangerous Transaction of the Black Paper') are available from 28th February - 14th March 2006 on the Japanese version of Blue Burst.

Following the Japanese delay of Phantasy Star Universe, it's anyones guess as to when we'll see the dam game! So, it's a bit of a shame to see IGN.com now listing Universe under an Autumn '06 release following their most recent revision of their huge release date listings.

While it seems like we won't be seeing it until christmas at this rate, it's not alone suffering the delay treatment, as the Official Soundtrack to Universe entitled 'Symphony Sessions' has also been delayed by a few weeks, should you have previously been interested in purchasing that. Life's a b*tch eh?

We bring you ever joyous news concerning the upcoming brilliance of Phantasy Star Universe, as Ragol.co.uk Forumer Jonathan_F has spotted a small mid-week update from Sonic Team of Japan over at the official PSU website!

Yes... that's right! Due to enhancement of the online aspect of the game, Phantasy Star Universe has been delayed from it's previous Japanese release date of 30th March 2006 to 'TBA 2006'. Will we ever see the dam game?! Oh well, more time for Blue Burst eh?

Phantasy Star Universe fans, if there's some interested out there by any chance, may be interested to know that Sonic Team of Japan have just today released a batch of new screenies showing off the 'My Room' feature of the game. Take a peek at more of the P.Machinery, some character creation bits, and more, all below. Click on them screenies below, and they get bigger:

At the current D.I.C.E. Summit 2006, Nintendo have revealed a small list of developers already hard at work creating games for their upcoming console, Nintendo Revolution. Amongst the list are the big names of Square-Enix, Activision, Namco, Electronic Arts, THQ, Ubisoft, and... SEGA!

No actual games have been revealed yet, but it's good to see all these friendly faces hard at work on games for the innovative new console. Expect revealings on just what the companies are upto at this years E3 in May. Though who knows what those genius' at SEGA are upto for the Revolution. Could it be a new Sonic the Hedgehog title? Perhaps it's Super Monkey Ball? Or maybe, just maybe, it's something Phantasy Star. ;)

As expected, Valentines is finally hitting the English Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst servers, as of today!

As Blue Burst hits version 1.23.4, here are some of the upgrades which come hand in hand with the new exciting number:

• Block Crashing after collecting Items with illegal parameters has been corrected.
• Various illegal client termination issues have been corrected.
• Several Quest related issues have been corrected.

As the updates strolls on in, Valentines decorations are being erected in the game lobbies, available until 14th February, while the following events also make their mark on Blue Burst:

• 'The Valentines Event'
• Episode I
• 1 Female Player Quest
• Available until 23rd February
• Gallon's Valentines Shop
• Episode II
• Available until 23rd February
• 'Dream Messenger'
• Episode II
• Available until 23rd February

Happy Valentines everyone, and Happy Hunting!

SEGA Sammy Holdings has just recently released it's financial results for the first nine months of the previous fiscal year (Which ends as industry standard on 31st March - I.e. April '05 through December), and it's not looking too bad at all!

Altogether, revenues of over 420 billion yen (£2.04 billion) have been collected by the company so far, up 5.4% from the previous year. Profit-wise though, the company's up 63.5 billion yen (£308.6 million), and even moreso then last year from 46.2 billion yen (£224.5 million).

SEGA themselves however moved up this year into a profit from a loss, making only 2.2 billion yen (£10.7 million) in the year, with software sales coming in at approx. 11.5 million units. Braking sales down into continental figures:

• Japan & Asia: 3.19 million
• U.S.A: 3.95 million
• Europe: 4.33 million

Looking at these figures, SEGA have actually sold the most in Europe compared to the rest of the world. Surprise! Will this information though have any impact on the future implications of games and game releases in Europe in the near future though? We'll have to wait and see. SEGA attribute the majority of the results down to the release of Shadow the Hedgehog and other Sonic titles that were released over the past christmas period. It's not hard however to miss the fact that the stronger link in SEGA Sammy Holdings though are those pesky Pachinko Machine developers, Sammy.

So, now with all that money floating around, how will the impending release of Phantasy Star Universe make it's impact on next fiscal years results for SEGA? We'll find out in later 2006 when the game releases (With the Japanese release just slipping its way in to shops shelves just before the end of the fiscal year).

[Figures from Gamasutra, Currency conversions from Yahoo!]

It's time for another change of poll. Cheers to all who made their vote clear, and let's have a gander at the results:

• If Universe went Next-Gen, where do you think it would end up?
• Nintendo Revolution
  39% (136 Votes)
• PlayStation3
  14.6% (51 Votes)
• Xbox360
  16.9% (59 Votes)
• Multi-Platform
  24.4% (85 Votes)
• I don't think it will be re-released
  4.8% (17 Votes)
• 348 Total Votes

In total, it seems as if the majority of you fancy seeing Phantasy Star Universe on the upcoming next generation home console from Nintendo, currently named the Nintendo Revolution, hogging just under 40% of your votes all to itself. Afterwards, many seem to think that Universe may re-appear on more then one of the next generation systems. That would of course be nice in an ideal world! PlayStation3 & Xbox360 have gathered just about the same amount of votes together, hovering around the 15% mark, while those remaining seem to think Universe will just stay PlayStation2 & PC. We'll find out in the near future i guess!

This time around, we'd like to hear about whether you're more interested in the offline part of Phantasy Star Universe, or whether you're most excited about the online aspects of the upcoming RPG. Place your votes now!

Ragol.co.uk is today proud to present to you, 10 more, brand new, top notch screenshots of the upcoming Phantasy Star Universe's online play courtesy of Sonic Team of Japan. Click 'em and watch them grow in size! Ooooooh.

With the recent decline in visible updates for the english version of Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst, you would have wondered just what their upto at the SEGA club. Has all that New Years drink finally gone to their head before they could make a resolution for the year?

Regardless, 'Clumsyorchid' of the official english Blue Burst boards has recently posted an announcement that next week will be the earliest possible time for a new quest release. What can we expect if there is an update next week? Expect something along the same lines as the Nintendo Gamecube hunters, with Valentines Fest 2K6! Lobby Decorations, and most likely, 'The Valentine Event' where you huntresses go on a quest to make yourselves some chocolate.

The Japanese version of Blue Burst however has recently seen the addition of the second previous Valentines quest on top of the above, so maybe we'll see the re-incarnation of the  quest too at this point? Chocolate fun is pratically guaranteed though as the big day approaches! Remember though it's not confirmed yet at this point...