Just a few updates from Sonic Team

-There will be a short suspension period of support and business period from August 9th 17:00 to August 17th 10:00 (Japanese time)

-From today until August 25th, XBox players can enjoy the Resting on the beach quest, the gamecube players already have. Until further notice, gamecube players will only have this quest until August 3rd.

That is all!

In Japan, the land where technology advances quicker then you can say "How does this work?" Sony has taken Credit Cards to new heights with the eLIO program. It would appear that you can connect your eLIO Card to your computer via. a USB Cable!

Seen pictured right, you place your card into the card holder, and then when connected to your computer it sends your cards details to anywhere in the world. I expect it's most popularly used when purchasing goods online. That is all to my understanding anyways.

What does this have to do with Phantasy Star Online you ask? Well SEGA of Japan are to release a Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst Credit Card in association with Sony eLIO!

Japanese fans can expect to get their hands on this new card in September 2004. As pictured it displays both the eLIO logo and VISA logo as it can be used as both. No doubt this will be something popular for those that have the will to spend in Japan, and it's not the first time SEGA have done such a thing! Phantasy Star Online Credit Cards have been available before aswell as Sonic the Hedgehog VISA Cards across Japan (Known as the SEGA Passport Scheme), so they obviously prove popular, not to mention a nice bit of advertising for good ol' SEGA!

More Information can be found via. the Official Blue Burst website by clicking here (English), or by clicking here for the Sony eLIO website (English).

Prepare yourselves, Hunter's Gazette is now available & free of charge!

The Hunter's Gazette is a publication rounding up news, events, and other PS & PSO related material into one Article for all to enjoy on a fortnightly basis! Issue 1 is available now. Read up about Phantasy Star Universe, Phantasy Star DS, and the future...

Click Here for Issue #1 or visit the Articles section of Ragol.co.uk!

There will be Server Maintenance of the SEGA Dreamcast Phantasy Star Online servers on July 28th between the times of 14:00 & 17:00 (Japanese Time).

During this time please do not connect to the online game servers as if server maintenance is being conducted at the time in which you connect or are connected, you will be automatically disconnected. Please make sure you quit the game manually before this time.

It is unclear what Sonic Team is doing with the game, but after this maintenance, some players may have trouble connecting depending on the Internet Service Providers you are using.

There will be server maintenance on the Nintendo Gamecube Phantasy Star Online servers during July 27th 2004 between the times of 14:00 & 17:00 (Japanese 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. This affects all players of the following Nintendo Gamecube games:

• Phantasy Star Online, Episodes I & II
• Phantasy Star Online, Episodes I & II Plus
• Phantasy Star Online, Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution

Please reconnect after these times where service continues as normal.

For those who played online last year, you may remember a limited time quest entitled 'Rest at the Beach'. Because it was so popular, Sonic Team are uploading a sequel to it! The quest 'Festival Modal of the Beach' (Japanese Title) sees you return to the Beach (Seaside from Episode II) at night and view the glorius scenes of fireworks, and relaxation, letting you travel to places you're not usually able to go in an Adventure game.

Also 'Kana' can be found, but how many?

Take some time out from battling monsters and relax either with others or on your own. Maybe your honeymoon trip for two after your wedding earlier on in the year? Or maybe for those just romantics to take your friend too, this quest will surely allow all to relax as the summer draws to a close.

The quest is available from the time Server Maintenance on July 27th ends until August 31st (Server Maintenance TBA). The quest is playable for 1 - 4 Human Characters. Also the Episode II quest 'The Respective Tommorrow' is having an English language edition added to the European Online Servers at this time. There is no change to Episode III.

Yes, according to a new update, the DS version of Phantasy Star is expected to be online!

Phantasy Star Online DS (tentative title), is said to include both wireless and/or WiFi play, voice command options with the built in microphone and of course touch screen options.

We'll keep you posted on this unbelievable news as always! Also on a side note, PSO: Blue Burst is to be released in North America on August 28. We'll let you know if the date changes!

Popular as always with Phantasy Star related material, Electronic Gaming Magazine (EGM) have stated what they believe to be new information on the upcoming game Phantasy Star Universe.

Rumour has it that the game will be online and that more then 4 people can play in a team game at once... in fact several thousand more can play in the same game and explore the universe at the sametime!!! This is no doubtedly a scheme to back up the games more MMORPG style it's taking then previous PSO titles. They go on to say the game will also feature many new planets and races.

Finally the game is due to be released in Japan before the end of 2005! Nothing else is breaking the barrier of SEGA offices at the moment, but when it does, it's gonna get reported here on Ragol.co.uk!

Some very cool DS rumours for those interested!

According to 'GC Advance' SEGA is set to take the Nintendo DS to the top by releasing a Puzzle flavoured Puyo Puyo DS game... and also a Phantasy Star DS RPG, aswell as the already confirmed 'Project Rub' & Sonic DS titles and possible talk of a Super Monkey Ball DS game. This is at the moment a rumour but GC Advance have stated that this news is from a very reliable source. (Source: Cubed-3.co.uk)

In other DS news, the president of MuuMuu (Japanese Devloper) Yukihito Morikawa, DS games would be retailed at a price of approx. 3800 Yen (Eqv. £18). He believe's this might be because the system limits developers talents when creating games. (Source: Nintendo Official Magazine Online)

UK websites also state that the system will be released in Japan on November 4th and the week after in the US at a price around £100. (Source: Cubed-3.co.uk)

Stay tuned for more Nintendo DS news when it happens...

The voting for the Phantasy Star Online Illustration Olympics are now over... and now it's just getting started! Lobbies within Phantasy Star Online, Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution have changed already with winning pictures being displayed in a similar styles to the pictures below.

The winners of the votes have also been announced, and there are some dam fine piccies! These pictures will be seen at various dates between July 15th 2004 & August 28th 2004, with different pictures being displayed in the lobbies at different dates.

For all the winning pictures and the schedule of which pictures will be shown in the lobbies at what dates, Click below:

• Japanese
• English Translation

According to Nintendo.com, Phantasy Star Online, Episodes I & II Plus will see at least a U.S. Release in Autumn of this year! The game has also appeared on the SEGA of America website.

For those who are unclear what the differences between Phantasy Star Online, Episodes I & II, and Episodes I & II Plus are, it's simply an updated version of the original creating more of the online aspects of the game available in offline play of the game for those who are maybe unable to play with the rest of the world.

According to webpage, the game will feature the following:

• Quests and Mini-games from PSO I & II that were previously only available online.
• Three Episode II Quests: 'Seat of the Heart', 'The East Tower', and 'The West Tower'.
• Five multiplayer Challenge Mode stages.
• and Two Downloadable Mini-games: NiGHTS - Score Attack and Puyo Pop.

It is unclear what else will appear on this version of Episodes I & II Plus but from the looks of things, it's a simple translated version of the Japanese release. 

This news was spotted by Ragol.co.uk Forum Member Omar in this forum thread.

There will be server maintenance on the Nintendo Gamecube Phantasy Star Online servers during July 13th 2004 between the times of 14:00 & 17:00 (Japanese 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. This affects all players of the following Nintendo Gamecube games:

• Phantasy Star Online, Episodes I & II
• Phantasy Star Online, Episodes I & II Plus
• Phantasy Star Online, Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution

Please reconnect after these times where service continues as normal. After this time, a new quest is being added to Episode II and Episode III (Europe Only).

The quest 'Blue Star Memories' (Known as 'Memory of the Star' in Japan) is finally arriving after 3 long months on the E.U. servers for Episode II players to enjoy. Regulars to Ragol.co.uk may remember the Article & Guide i have added to the website about the quest. By completing this quest, you get access to a special Downloadable Episode III quest that has yet to of appeared in Europe. This is also going to be available from the server maintenance time (Known as 'Future Bullet' or 'Future Expectations' in Japan). The 2 quests together follow one another to tell the story of how Episode II truely ends and how Episode III begins...

The quest will also be available to all European Servers in all supported European Languages (French, German, Spanish, and Italian).

Handy Links:

• Article: 'Blue Star Memories - The End of Episode II'
• Guide: 'Blue Star Memories' (Episode II)
• Ragol.co.uk Forum Comments Thread: Click Here More Pictures & Your Feedback

Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst has landed in Japanese stores, as the formal service starts today, the 8th of July 2004, one week before the game was planned for release!

The Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst website (English) has had yet another make-over for the new release after Beta testing finished on July 5th.

For those able to get a copy, the servers are now up and running (From 15:00 Japanese Time today) so you can start enjoying straight away! Here's some of the features you can look forward to initially:

• Normal, Hard, and Very Hard modes.
• 15 Govenor-general based Quests (Episode I).
• 11 cases of Guild Quests (Episode I).
• 26 One-Player Quests (Episode I).
• 18 Labratory based Quests (Episode II).

All the features that were available during the BETA testing of Blue Burst are also available (You can find them in the Article 'PSO: BB - All the BETA'). Also in that article you will find details on Hunters License pricing and future aspects of Blue Burst including the new Episode & Monster details which are to arrive online by the end of Autumn 2004! If few are not available, they will be soon! This includes the 'Game Master' aspects and in-game Moderators so you can be sure of having a good time! ^_^

For those with the game also note that Server Maintenance is conducted by Sonic Team of SEGA Japan between the times of 14:00 & 18:00 (Japanese Time) every Tuesday aswell as other various times that you will be notified of via eith the official Blue Burst website (English) or here at Ragol.co.uk!

SEGA remain quiet on American & European launches of the game at this time.

Well the PSO Olympics have come to a close and with the 152 of you who voted, here are the results:

15.1%(23) Of you said you couldn't wait to submit your piccie! While the 6.5% (10) of you said you were just happy that Sonic Team was going to decorate the lobbies with drawings. 7.8% (12) of you said you would but you're poo at drawing. 9.2% (14) woundered what drawing had to do with the olympics. o.O While shockingly 61.1% (93) didn't even know what the PSO Olympics where!

The new question is "What kind of deck do you use in episode 3?" Get Voting!

Also for anyone who's interested in voting on the illustrations recieved for the PSO Olympics, you have until this friday(7/9) to do so! Visit the PSO Episode 3 Hompage for for details!

Due to popular demand and the success of the previous Episodes I & II Music Download, Ragol.co.uk brings you a feature length sequel! Many tracks from the game Phantasy Star Online, Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution are now available for download by visiting the Downloads/Files page on this very website. However these are large files and you may want to prepare yourself for a long download time if you're using Dial-Up connections or similar.

Two seperate downloads are available at this time in the form of an Offline tracks version, and one current Online tracks version, with a few more to come in the near future if Sonic Team are to add more tunes to the Online Lobby Jukebox as they have previously done!

Before you download you may want to point your browser at This Article which tells you all of the exact tracks available in each of the compilations.

Click here to go to the Article 'Episode III Music Downloads (Track Listings)'.

Click here to go to the Download page on Ragol.co.uk.

All compilations are in the form of .zip files and WinZIP is required to use. Several .mp3 files are held within each .zip file. All recordings are tip-top!

Sonic Team today posted that from July 16th 2004, the below mentioned Japanese Servers are to close:

• 03:JP/Ganymede
• 04:JP/Callisto
• 05:JP/Amalthea
• 06:JP/Himalia
• 07:JP/Elara
• 08:JP/Pasiphae

Server Maintenance will take place on the Japanese SEGA Dreamcast Servers on July 16th between the times of 10:00 - 18:00 to take these ships offline. This will leave the remaining ships online of which i am guessing will be 01 & 02. The status of the European Ship is also under question. Is it still accessable? And if so for how much longer?

The Phantasy Star Online Illustration Olympics are over! Now Sonic Team have added all the entries they recieved (A LOT!) to the Japanese Hunters License website.

Over 120 pictures were added to the website, far too many to show you here, so you better head on over to the Japanese HL website by following the direct links below. Take a gander, there's loads of amazing pictures to be seen. how are they ever gonna pick a winner!

•  Page 1 (1 - 30) (English) (Japanese)
• Page 2 (31 - 60) (English) (Japanese)
• Page 3 (61 - 90) (English) (Japanese)
• Page 4 (91 - 121) (English) (Japanese)

Remember the winning pictures who get the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medals will be added to the Episode III lobbies, most likely during the time of the Olympics. Good Luck to all who entered!

For all those a bit slow and hoping to BETA test before the games release... you're too late. The last date for Game ID Registration was June 30th. However BETA Testers can still enjoy the BETA Test until July 5th 2004 at 10:00 (Japanese Time) where it all ends. The game Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst gets it's full release one week early in Japan. July 8th 2004 see's the official game get it's release and is available to buy in stores, or by downloading the 400Mb file online through the mentioned BitWay corporation site.

BETA Testers will be honoured for their hard working (hehe yer right!) time by recieving a special 'Rare' Chameleon item (Pictured), and Teams will also recieve 2,000 extra Pts!

Also released are pictures of the new level and enemy as it will appear when it's released in Autumn of 2004, with Sonic Team treating this new addition as a whole new Episode.

For all the info head on over to the Official Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst website (English), or view the content in the Article which has been updated once again here at Ragol.co.uk! Click here to go to the Article 'Phantasy Star online: Blue Burst - All the BETA!'.

Oh what troublesome times SEGA are having. The time has come where SEGA must save money to strive and survive in this industry. From July 1st (Today), many of SEGA's famous studio's including the likes of Amusement Vision (Super Monkey Ball), AM2 (Shemue), and so forth will have their websites taken down, and all non-essential web-content of those that stay online taken.

Also today Sonic Team have posted that they are another studio to integrate with SEGA. It is thought that the websites will stay online due to them being more relied upon and based around, especially when it comes to the likes of PSO.

Because of these times, Sonic Team have gone to publishing a commemerative CD with many tracks from the many games they've created over their life including Sonic, Phantasy Star Online, and Billy Hatcher game themes.

Information on the merger between Sonic Team & SEGA, including CD info can be found at www.sonicteam.com/final (English)

With all this it makes you wonder how long SEGA are to stay in the game themselves. The recent merge with Sammy has been a success to a certain extent, but things are not looking good for the future. SEGA have said that they will remain active in-time to see all their current projects and working titles fully released. Many games are still being worked on as far as they go including the likes of Super Monkey Ball 3, F-Zero GX 2, and indeed Phantasy Star Universe, aswell as their new commitments to the next generation Handhelds.

Hopefully by cutting costs they can keep running for as long as possible, but SEGA will not be around forever at this rate, and on that day what will happen to the series we love?