SPOnG.com has been found to report on the possibility of games, including Phantasy Star Universe being released on Microsoft's Xbox360 console.

"Microsoft's Xbox wing in Japan today invited many media outlets, including SPOnG, to a major briefing dated for April 6th next week, with those close to proceedings hinting that some major announcements are planned. Indeed, those close to planning have openly mooted Phantasy Star Universe from Sega and a new Tales of title from Namco will headline the event."

Also aparently rumoured are a new exclusive title from Square-Enix & SEGA conversions of Virtua Fighter & Afterburner (SEGA Arcade). I guess we'll have to keep our eyes on the event during 6th April next week to see if what SPOnG are babbling on about are infact true or not!

This news comes from Ragol.co.uk Forumer Starman who has posted the news through this Ragol.co.uk Forum Thread.

Today, the Foremost Phantasy Star Online Resource that is otherwise known as Ragol.co.uk turns 3 years old! To celebrate we've got a couple of fun competitions that everyone can enter:

• PSO Movie Quiz: If you've got a keen eye and love a challenge, then why not take a browse at this competition! Download this specially made compilation and answer the questions thereforth - Simple! ;)
• T.V. Theme Tune Quiz: However if you haven't got that kind of attention span required for the first competition, then why not have a bash at this classic TV Theme Tunes competition ranging from the T.V. shows of today, and many days before! How many can you correctly identify?

The success of Ragol.co.uk for all three years is all because of you loyal browsers out there, so on behalf of the entire team here at Ragol.co.uk, thanks for spending your time with us, and we look forward to assisting your Phantasy Star fetish for many years to come!

Sonic Team of America has posted that updates for next week's Server Maintenance on the English Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst servers come in the form of Episode IV shufflings. Here's what you can expect after Server Maintenance on 30th March 2006:

• All Schools of Magic will be adjusted against Episode IV monsters so Forces stand a better chance within Ultimate difficulty with more efficient and effective spells!
• Item Drop rates will be adjusted so players have a greater chance of finding the items they need when getting dropped from Episode IV monsters.
• Rare Item find rates will be adjusted through Episode IV so that they are set to a correct level to compensate for other changes being made.
• Item Drop Tables will be adjusted so they are more efficient with the other changes being made.

By now it surely seems as if i constantly make posts every week about a game that no-ones ever going to see - Hopefully Sonic Team will prove you wrong later on in the year, while I in the meantime continue to show you some more snaps, this time revolving around the more NPC styled characters:

• Mirei Mikuna

• Lumia Waber

• Karam/Norphe

• Dr. Dorson

• Kou Taragi

If you weren't already aware of it, the Games Developers Conference is currently in place at San Jose, USA. Today's unveilings came from Nintendo, with head honcho Iwata-San at the helm breaking some AMAZING news for us SEGA fans.

Since hearing of the Nintendo Revolution's back catalogue announcement last year, we've all wondered if the back catalogue of downloadable games was just going to be restricted to classic Nintendo titles from the likes of NES, Super NES and Nintendo64, etc. - But it appears not, as Nintendo announces that they've also partnered up for the download system with both Hudson and... SEGA!

"SEGA's support for Revolution and its download service Virtual Console will make more players to enjoy and try the classic Mega Drive-games and make old brands reach abroader audience." - Naoya Tsurumi, VD, SEGA of America, Inc. and SEGA of Europe, Ltd.

Although a list of planned downloadable games hasn't been released by SEGA, just think of the many many games you could be enjoying with Nintendo's Revolution console now, should you not still have any of those old SEGA consoles? There's over 1,000 different titles for possible release! According to sources though, only SEGA MegaDrive titles are being planned for Revolution, although surely if the service becomes popular, it'll only be a matter of time before other SEGA consoles games will be made available. Fear not though, for with games like Sonic the Hedgehog, Streets of Rage, and Phantasy Star probabily on the agenda (We hope!), there's more then enough entertainment being offered!

On the other side, Bomberman developer Hudson also committed themselves to the service, with Turbografx/PC Engine titles also being planned for download through the Nintendo Revolution's Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Service. Nintendo are planning on making this service the equivilent of apple's hugely popular music download store iTunes, so hopefully there's a lot more to come - We'll just have to wait until E3 to hear about it though! Hmmm, i know i know, it's coming...

In the meantime, why not post out loud in celebration through this Ragol.co.uk Forum Thread!

It appears that the future of video gaming is online orientated, as Computer&VideoGames reports that Game Research company DFC Intelligence has recently been looking into the previous year's online gaming figures as far as money goes.

During 2005, over $2 Billion was collected by video gaming companies from online gaming subscriptions. Half of these were to MMO games subscriptions, while a fifth of the total was collected from playing casual games online.

These results come from hundreds of online video gaming publishers such as Blizzard (World of Warcraft most likely the biggest factor in these results), Electronic Arts, SEGA etc. The results are also made up of not only PC online games, but console games (PlayStation2, Xbox, and Nintendo Gamecube) too as well as Next Generation consoles (For this report, only Xbox360 titles were looked at, however Nintendo Revolution & PlayStation3 will also be looked at in future reports). Unfortunately the report is not freely available for download, but it would be interesting to see how the reslts fared between not only consoles, but games too, although i expect the list would be huge beyond belief!

DFC Intelligence also predicted that by 2011, PC online gaming will have reduced significantly in comparison to online console gaming, which will rise and grab just under 30% of the share - So aparently online console gaming is where it's going to be at! Phantasy Star Online played a big part being one of the first online games (First online RPG on the SEGA Dreamcast in winter 2000), so how will the likes of Phantasy Star look and affect these figures for online console gaming in the future?

Computer&VideoGames.com is reporting that the SEGA legend Yuji Naka may be leaving SEGA if unconfirmed reports coming from overseas are to believe!

The head of Sonic Team and creator of the brilliance that is Phantasy Star Online, and of course the icon that is Sonic the Hedgehog, may aparently soon be leaving SEGA to setup his own development studio.

The new studio, although to be setup independantly, may still be linked to SEGA in one way or another, although details on such a move are scarce.

If true, the move will no doubtedly be a shock for many long-time SEGA fans, but remember that if it is true, it's not all bad! Many others have split from their 'homes' to setup their own studio's, such as Hideo Kojima, the man behind the Metal Gear series. A new seperate studio may spark brand new games too, using innovative concepts that we would never have imagined, not being restricted by higher ups who only want the game to sell and make money. However, at the moment, this news comes only as strong rumour.

Sonic Team of Japan as always make friday the day to make sure you check-up on the latest revealings of Phantasy Star Universe, and today makes no exception. Therefore, why not take a browse at some more screenies of the opposition around the Graal System?

• Fullyen Curtz

• Renvolt Magashi

• Alfort Tylor

• Liina Sakaya

• The Vol Brothers

Click Here for more as ever!

It's just about time for a change in poll, but just before we do, let's assess the current results:

• Which part of Universe are you most excited about playing?
  • I wanna show the world who's the bestest - Online
    32.6% (99 Votes)
  • I like to play with myself - Offline
    18.1% (55 Votes)
  • I'll play either mode equally
    30.6% (93 Votes)
  • I'll play some Phantasy Star Online thanks!
    18.4% (56 Votes)
  • • 303 Total Votes

So, of the many different modes to be available in the upcoming Phantasy Star Universe, the majority of you voters out there will be playing the game online, while the close 2nd majority of voters will be playing it both online and offline. It's interesting to see that online mode will be the most popular destination for you Universe hunters out there, but it's not all surprising, especially since we're so used to the online experience now from the many years of Phantasy Star Online-ing. However, it's also interesting that the same amount of people that will prefer to play the offline version of Universe will also not be buying Universe at all, and sticking to good ol' PSO! We'll be finding out how this really fairs in comparison later on in the year when the game is finally released (If that ever happens ;-) ).

This time around, with the recent releasing of more information on the Graal Solar System featured in Phantasy Star Universe by Sonic Team of Japan, we're asking you where you think you'd want to spend most of your time in the game. Perhaps you prefer the modern day (In terms of when the game is set!) feel of Parum? Maybe you enjoy the finer things in life and like the looks of the calm Neudriz? Or perhaps, just perhaps, you're the working man's man and don't enjoy anything better then the sight of smokey caverns and grey skies on Moatoob. Tell us right away - Get your vote on! (See more about the Planets of the Graal Solar System by visiting our huge Universe article - Click here).

Huzzah! It's time for another thrilling update from the reason that makes the land that we call Japan shine... yes, it's Sonic Team's Phantasy Star Universe update day! What've we got for you this time? Yep, more screenshots!

Last week they unvieled much more of the planet Parum, and this week brings more of the same from those other two planets that make up the Graal solar system... Neudriz & Moatoob!

• Neudriz

Encompassing a huge futuristic (Modern to them!) shopping district (As seen in the images below), make your way away from the city when you've been prepped and around the planets surface in search of more clues as to just what the hell is going on!

• Moatoob

Surely every engineers temple is Moatoob with it's manmade factory-esque buildings built into mined out mountains of rock encasing the home to Moatoob's small shopping district should you be more of a tourist then a planets workman! When you're done with that, get your ass in gear and go and start making your way through the deserted rocky landscape that is Moatoob's surface. 

If you'd like to see more of the above or just more of Phantasy Star Universe, be sure to check out our stupidly large article containing Everything we know in all the Universe!

If you weren't aware of it, Microsoft is releasing a new operating system sometime later this year, entitled Windows Vista™. What does this mean to us? Well, it means that Vista will soon be the new standard, new PC's will be sold with Vista, and new PC games will have to be made Vista compatable... or will they? What does Vista mean for Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst or Phantasy Star Universe? Will they be compatable with the new O.S.? Ragol.co.uk contacted SEGA of Europe and asked them what Vista meant for new PC games, including Blue Burst & Universe:

"Unfortunately we do not have any information regarding Windows Vista and the compatibilty with any SEGA Europe titles at this time."

With SEGA of Europe not having any information (And most likely to that end, development tools) for Windows Vista, will the unreleased Phantasy Star Universe (Which will most likely launch around the same time) be compatable on the new Operating System?

Computer&VideoGames.com recently reported that Halo 2 was to be produced by Microsoft Games Studio's and released later this year, but would only be compatable with Microsoft's upcoming Operating System, Vista. So does this mean that Vista uses a whole new concept of playing games? Are major updates going to have to be released for current games to be made compatable with Vista? Maybe...

We thought we'd take this time to give you a little more info on Vista should you not know much about it already. Because speaking of games, Vista now organises every single game you install into one big games folder, displaying a games built in logo/image and puts them into one place so you can open it up and easily make your choice over just what game you want to play! Vista also organises your games by ESRB rating (America) and gives your parents control over which games you are allowed to play. Less 'M' rated games like Grand Theft Auto & Manhunt  and more Barbie & Care Bears... so beware!

With a new Operating System also comes the release of a new Internet Explorer, of course named IE.7! So what changes will Vista make to the way you actually view the Foremost Phantasy Star Online Resource? For starters, that URL bar is being moved right to the very top of the screen! Then there's all these new security features, with, as the bottom left screen shows, pop-up's to inform you of what madness is going on with the website/webpage you're trying to get to. Then there's a new feature known as 'Web Tabs'. No it's not the Tab key that you hit to easily get to another link without moving that mouse of yours, or the key that you mix with the Alt key that lets you scroll between programs, but instead a mixture of the two... Yes, with every webpage you're viewing, thumbnails are made, and, alike the games, the thumbnails of all webpages you're looking at in different windows are displayed all on one page so you simply choose which page you want to view without having to wonder about what the title is of the page to get there. Nope, click the thumbnail fool! Instead of the taskbar at the bottom of Windows, there's now the 'Tab Bar' along the top of the webpages and you click there instead to change between pages. Take a peek at the screen on the bottom right to see what the hell i'm mumbling on about.

There's a load more features that Vista brings to the table as well, but to see them, why not take a gander over to Microsoft's website instead, by clicking here.

In the end, Vista has a lot to say, especially when it's trying to compete with Windows XP, which millions of people use every single day of their lives, but in the end... do you care? Do you not care? Will you be getting Windows Vista? Why not let us know by posting here in our Community Forums!

The supernatural Sonic Team of Japan have once again whisked up more glorius screenshots to show you that the delay's have proven worthwhile! Bask in the glory of the many new screenies that show of the Guardian Colony & the planet Parum below. Click to make Big:

• The Guardian Colony

•  Parum