Sonic Team of Japan have revealed what's to come in the near future for the Japanese version of Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst. There's lots to look forward too, with the September 9th quest looking like a great way to get some power levelling done! Aswell as that, there's the arrival of Autumn in the lobbies, and mainly just a load more Story Quests for Episode IV.

• Dangerous Transaction of the Black Paper - Episode IV
• September 9th

This 1 Player Story Mode 'Item' Quest see's you go back down to Ragol in Episode IV where the main aim is to transfer the 'Photon Crystal', however many many enemies stand in your way!

As you start the quest, it isnt long before you're warped into a circle where many many enemies lay. You've got a time limit, take them all out as soon as you can!

The quicker it's done, and dependant on the difficulty of play, once completed, trophies will be awarded to yourself! 'Whether or not it transacts with the black paper', it's your duty!

• Late September
• Dream Messenger - Episode II
• 1 Player Story Mode Quest 2 - Episode IV
• September 20th
• Autumn Lobby Decoration
• During/After October
• 1 Player Story Mode 'Item' Quest 2 - Episode IV
• 1 Player Story Mode 'Sweeping' Quest 1 - Episode IV
• 1 Player Story Mode 'Sweeping' Quest 2 - Episode IV

The 2nd Ragol.co.uk Episode III Battle League is now all over and we're proud to add more champions to our Ragol.co.uk Hall of Fame!

Last years 3rd placer Mr Shoe this time around took the lead in an amazing winning streak of his - Proving that he really did have what it took to be a C.A.R.D Champion!

• Final Results:
• Winner: mr_shoe_uk
• 2nd: Lee-yoshi
• 3rd: Redhead, Ivan, GoodCharlotte92, & dnd (All tied!)

Full Results inc. pictures: League Table

Many thanks to all who took part in this years competition. ^_^

Nintendo of America didn't do it all that long ago, and now Nintendo of Europe are asking for as many people as possible to help setup their new online games system that will be used for the Nintendo DS (And Nintendo Revolution) when they take the two screened handheld online at the end of the year.

To help them out, click on over to this webpage and download the small .zip file and they do the rest, gathering a few details on how you get your internet and the such, however not saving any personal details should you be concerned over your privacy!

By helping them out, you also get a free small Animal Crossing styled desktop clock (What nice guys!). Who knows, maybe you could make an effort towards bringing Phantasy Star Online to DS by completing such a small task!

Another Friday, another Hunters Gazette! Come on, you should have guessed!

Sonic Team have been working at it again bringing us this time information regarding the less heroic side of Phantasy Star Universe, aswell as new info regarding the weapons combo system and special attacks! New Characters, new screenshots, new controls, ITS ALL HERE BABY!

For all of this brand spanking new amazing Universe information, you'll need to go to the 25th Ragol.co.uk Hunters Gazette!

 Hunters Gazette - Super Evil in the Universe!

Click Here to go the the Hunters Gazette

Celebrating the 25th birthday, you'll also find a brand new look for our fortnightly feature ^_^

Let us know what you think to the new look aswell as the feature itself, in this Ragol.co.uk Forum Thread! Enjoy!

Good news to all hunters who have so far taken part in the Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst Yahoo! Cup in Maximum Attack (Stage 2) as we've surpassed the 10,000,000 kills mark! This means everyone who contributes gets at least one special prize, which has now been revealed as...

...a Yahoo! Cup MAG to show how you supported one another during this amazing challenge! Look at the silly MAG, haha! Everyone who particpiated in getting the grand total upto what it is now will be getting one of these bad boys in their inventory after the competition ends on September 19th. The current kill count as i type this up is 12,267,715. Keep going peep's! We gotta get upto that magic 60 Million!

It's been a fair while since SEGA of Europe's site went under a redesign, and with that redesign came a new feature for all European SEGA-maniacs that went under the name of SEGA City. However, since that time, nothings been done about the new feature.

Well today it's finally opened up, with interviews, downloadables (Movies, Wallpapers, Icons, ) and competitions, etc. There will also be a forum in the very near future for you to discuss your SEGA-side that you just can't keep to yourself!

For it all, you'll need to head over to SEGA of Europe's website, at www.SEGA-Europe.com.

There's some great new updates coming to the Japanese version of Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst during August 23rd that we can only hope to look forward to here in England ^_^

• Good Luck! - Episode I

There's a Casino in the forest! Aparently it's been there all along... don't ask me, i haven't seen a casino there before!

Ever since the games launch in July 2004, players have secretly been earning 'special tickets', and now they get to redeem them at this Casino in the hope of gambling them away for a special prize! The prize however can range from a new Rare weapon to a 'Why the #!$? did i spend all my earnings on this #!$?!!' item, just like real life! This quest is playable for 1 human player - Only one person at a time, no pushing in... This is also a limited time quest, available until September 20th. Ok, now we can rush 'em!

• Polar Vision #5 - Episode IV

Pretty much the Japanese version of the Mop-Up quests, it's your job to take to the various stages of Episode IV and annihilate everything and everyone that stands in your way! In the last chapter of this series of quests, i think it's time to make your mark on Episode IV!

The great german hunters of PSO-World.de once again bring you news regarding Phantasy Star Universe, this time coming straight from the land of the rising sun as they've got scans from pages of Famitsu concerning recent news of the game including the characters Mirei Mikuna and Lou, aswell as including some shots of the weapons we havent seen before, just on their own. Of course all the text is in Japanese, so for the meanwhile, treat it as if you were reading a porno mag, and just look at all the pretty pictures! :D

• PSU Famitsu Scan (Page 262)
• PSU Famitsu Scan (Page 263)

The current German Games Conference is fast becoming the E3 for Europe, as with every passing day, something new comes about. What have we got for you today? Well with the recent blowing's about the Xbox 360, we thought we'd give you some info about the Nintendo Revolution. We already know it backwards compatable (So you can still enjoy the Gamecube Episodes I, II & III!), will have a lot of online gaming aspects including the back catalogue download service, etc etc. Aparently we'll know a lot more about the Revolution very soon indeed, hopefully regarding a little more info on technical aspects, and that controller everyone keeps talking about, which will 'make or break' the Revolution it would seem!

Everyones talking about it, and nintendo-revolution.blogspot.com recently grabbed a quick word with that guy we all know and love from SEGA's side, Yuji Naka, in Germany about what he thought to the Nintendo Revolutions controller.

"I am under a strict NDA, so I can´t really say much. But I have seen the Revolution and I think everyone will be very pleasantly surprised, when Nintendo reveal everything."

While proving that he and more of SEGA have seen this new 'revolutionary' controller, it's a shame he can't say more really, but of course, it's nice to see that SEGA themselves, including the likes of Sonic Team's Yuji Naka seems to be taking a liking to the 'new way to play'. nintendo-revolution.blogspot.com will be posting more about the mini-interview so to speak in the coming days so we'll bring some more to you then. That's not all the news we've got though...

What's that picture of? Well they've been revealed by french gaming website JeuxVideo.com, and all bear the logo's of graphics chip producer ATI and Metroid Prime developers Retro Studio's. As you can tell by the shots, they've all been pre-rendered so to speak, but is this showing off the possibilities of the Nintendo Revolution? The graphics chip of which these effects come from is the 'ATI R520' so its been named on these images. Interesting since the Xbox 360 is believed to be made with 'ATI R500' graphics chips. I won't say anything until it's confirmed however, which again should be soon if we believe Ninty's word!

For more news and images (There's four or five of them) on this issue, click over to Jeux Video's forums, or view the english translations again on nintendo-revolution.blogspot.com.

This week there's a big games conference in Germany, and Microsoft wanted to steal some of everyone else's thunder by making an big announcement concerning their next generation console, the Xbox 360. The details they revealed? The price! A date however has still not be narrowed down from 'Christmas Time-ish'.

The machine will be available this christmas in two forms. You can either go out and buy yourselves a 'basic' Xbox 360, or a, well, much better Xbox 360! See what i mean below:

• 'Basic' Xbox 360 Package
  • Xbox 360 Console (With Chill/White Console Faceplates)
  • Xbox 360 Controller
    • Price Point: £209.99 (299.99 Euro's)
      
• 2nd Xbox 360 Package
  • Xbox 360 Console (With Metallic & Chill/White Console Faceplates)
  • Xbox 360 Wireless Controller
  • 20Gb HDD
  • Xbox Live Headset
  • Xbox Live Silver Membership
  • HDTV Cable
  • Ethernet Cable
  • Playback Remote Control
    • Price Point: £279.99 (399.99 Euro's)

As far as we know, the 'Basic' Xbox 360 package comes with no hdd - So i'm guessing that to save games, you'll need to go out and buy yourselves some memory cards. As you can see though, for an extra £70, you get a lot more for your money. The packages will also be the same in other parts of the world including Australia and America when the console gets it's simultaneous worldwide release.

We'll give you a date, and more info on anything we hear thats Next-Gen or Phantasy Star Online related as it comes from the event. Also chat about this new news, in the Xbox 360 Forum Thread, right here!

The Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst, Maximum Attack - Stage 2 - Yahoo! Cup kicks off very soon indeed, and to get the ball rolling, Sonic Team have already prep'd the Blue Burst website telling you more specifically whats at stake for everyone who takes part!

This exact webpage gives you the current kill count of all monsters slayed during Maximum Attack (Stage 2) quest completions so far (Correct to the nearest 30 minutes). What is this used for? Well, it's for determining what prizes you'll be recieving for helping contribute to the kill total so far! There's special prizes should the kill count total exceed:

• 10,000,000
• 20,000,000
• 30,000,000
• 40,000,000
• 50,000,000
• 60,000,000

For every 10 million kills, everyone who made a contribution to the total gets a prize! The prizes have yet to be revealed until September 19th when the quest ends though. Oh well, with the quest kicking off tommorrow... Happy Hunting!

Sonic Team of Japan have just had a recent Blue Burst competition where the hundreds and thousands of fans had the chance to submit their own work of PSO: Blue Burst nature directly to Sonic Team themselves. This was done in the form of both a artwork competition, and a music competition! Artists out there could either produce a masterpiece in visible form or in musical form!

The results? Well the best submissions are now available for all to see on the Japanese Blue Burst website at psobb.jp, with the top 5 music entries here (English) and top 92 artwork entries here (English).

My personal favourites were images 31 & 11 , and the tune 'PINNACLE' (Performed by Rynn). Why not let us know which ones you found the best in our forums? ^_^

If you play the Japanese version of PSO: Blue Burst, you'll be able to find all the same images in the game for a limited time, with the musical finalists possibly being worked into the game in the near future! Here's to hoping we get the same kinda competition!

BenOire of PSO-World.de has once again gotten in contact with us here at Ragol.co.uk to bring you even more great news concerning gameplay in the upcoming Phantasy Star Universe from GameFront Germany Magazine. This time its about the weapon side of gameplay.

For starters, all the weapons will be organised into 3 categories:

• The Hit System
  • Mainly Swords, such as Sabers, Partisans, etc.
• The Shoot System
  • Mainly Guns, such as Handguns, Rifles, etc.
• The Hou System
  • Mainly Wands, such as Rods, Canes, etc.

The new part to this is that you can use two different weapons at the sametime (Dependant on character type and weapons)! This exciting new feature comes with the options to give you ease of play so you dont have to keep switching through menu's to do exactly what you want to do. However saying this, it will only work in certain combinations.

For starters, you have to use two different weapons from two different categories outlined above. Also, one of these has to be from the 'Shoot System'. This is because of the way the characters hold the weapons. The only type of weapon you can hold in your left hand is a 'Shoot System' weapon. The weapon in the right hand has to be either a weapon from the 'Hit System' or 'Hou System'. Got that? Lets try some examples:

• You Can't Equip...
  • Left Hand: Saber
  • Right Hand: Handgun
• You Can Equip...
  • Left Hand: Handgun
  • Right Hand: Saber
• You Can't Equip...
  • Left Hand: Cane
  • Right Hand: Rifle
• You Can Equip...
  • Left Hand: Handgun
  • Right Hand: Saber

If you don't have a gun on you, your left hand simply isnt used when you're in fighting mode. Now we've got that sorted out, lets move on!

If you wish to use techniques, you really need to have a 'HOU' weapon on you, otherwise it's pretty pointless! All techniques are defined by the 'HOU' weapon you have equipped.

Pulling off a combo with two weapons is different yet again. For this you have a 'CounterAttack' action system. When you want to pull off a combination attack, whether it's with technique ability or just weapons, you use this system to pull do it right! However, because this is all done through a menu, Sonic Team realise you dont always want to have to fanny around with a menu to pull off a nice combo, so you can save your favourite attacks into a shortcut of joypad button combinations. To then pull off a combo, you start the 'LinkCombo' attack by holding down one of the shoulder buttons (At a guess!) and then start to press a sequence of buttons to pull of your combo correctly. I think this maybe a good time for another example:

• Combo 1
  • LinkCombo Cross, Triangle, Square
  • LinkCombo Triangle, Circle, Cross

You can also link up your combo's for super combo's! However, pay attention to how this works...

You can link up your shortcuts for a triple attack by pressing the same action combo shortcut 3 times in a row:

• Triple Action Combo (Hard Attack)
  • LinkCombo Shortcut Combo, Shortcut Combo, Shortcut Combo

You can also do what i can only call a double, triple attack to pull of a 'Sudden Death' combo. Sounds good eh? But you can only pull this off by putting two different combo's together:

• Enemy 'Sudden Death' Combo
  • Link Combo Shortcut Combo 1, Shortcut Combo 2

Thats enough of confusing combo's i think, but as you can see, it's going to be action packed for sure. I dam well like the fact of there being a 'Sudden Death' Combo! Anyways, we haven't run out of info yet! Oh no!

If you have read this fortnights Ragol.co.uk Hunters Gazette, you'll remember reading about a special ability that Beasts can use to turn into a powerful 'Beast Man'! Well now i can tell you more!

It is true that the 'Beast' class can turn into Beastmen, however, you have to perform a move entitled 'Nano Blast' in order for it to be possible. A Nano Blast is pretty similiar to how a Photon Blast works in Phantasy Star Online. You earn points, and once you've got your points guage full, you can perform the move, alike a Photon Blast in PSO where you have to get 100 Pb to perform a Photon Blast. Once a Nano Blast is performed, you'll become, Beastman! What's so cool about being a Beastman? Well you get extra strength, and are able to perform much better attacks!

CAST characters also have an extra ability which allows them grind certain weapons into 'Sub-Weapons'. This is mainly with guns because, well thats pretty much all they can use anyways. More on this as PSU info develops!

Finally, (Tiny story spoiler!) the newest character recently revealed (Lou) by us is actually of CAST class, although looking incredibly human-esque! She is a machine designed this way and is used as a spy within the Guardian ranks. Sorry if that just spoilt a bit of the storyline for you there!

With all this new Universe information arising recently, we've decided to shove it all into our now HUGE article detailing everything we know about the game so far. You can see it by clicking here!

Thats all the new PSU info we've got for you today, again brought to you via. german translation from benOire at PSO-World.de. Cheers guys! ^_^

Sonic Team have certainly built Phantasy Star Universe with plenty of cast as another 2 characters from the game make their way into your hearts!

As i reported yesterday (See Hunters Gazette post below), Mirei Mikuna has finally made her appearance known on Universe 2 years after we saw her last in the original Phantasy Star Universe teaser at E3! However today she's brought a friend along with her, who goes simply by the name of 'Lou'. We'll let you know more, when we do! Hmm... This is really turning into my kind of game! ^_^;

Another Fortnight... SURPRISE! It's another great edition of Ragol.co.uk's Hunters Gazette! What have we got cooking for all of you in surfer land today?

Well... it's funny you should ask, because we've just found out some amazing new bits about all the races and main characters of upcoming Phantasy Star sensation, Phantasy Star Universe! Come inside and let us educate you on the races - The humans, newmans, beasts, and casts - Aswell as pass on info regarding a new character you may have noticed at first from that E3 trailer 2 years ago and not seen since! That'll be the beautiful Mirei Mikuna (Pictured from the original E3 Trailer right). Come on in, the views great from up here!

 Hunters Gazette - The Races of Phantasy Star Universe

Click Here to go the the Hunters Gazette

August 18th see's another great Blue Burst competition make its mark on English hunters and hunterettes as Sonic Team announce the next big event on PSO!

Why in fact, when you put the words, competition, and PSO together, you know that can only mean one thing... Maximum Attack is returning!

Sponsored by Yahoo! Games, the 'Yahoo! Cup' see's you take on Maximum Attack, Stage 2 from Episode II.

The Principal has approached you with a new challenge, and that is to sweep the levels of Episode II until the point where you have reached over 60 Million Enemies within the set time period of 1 month!!!

When you begin the quest, you'll be taken down to the VR machine of Temple & Spaceship first, but the quest doesnt stop there as you'll also take a trip across the Central Control Area, including the Seaside, Mountain, and Jungle paths. Also the route you take depends on the difficulty of the game. The harder the game, the harder the route to the end you'll take! As if that wasn't enough, you can only do all of this for 30 minutes at a time. :/

When your quest is over, get back to the lab where the principal will give you a rating, and then 'Lucky Tickets' based on your ranking of how far you got in the quest and how many enemies you killed. If you finish the quest you'll recieve a much better ranking. What are those Lucky Tickets for?

• Seaside Festival - Episode II

Known as 'Fun at the Beach' on the Gamecube and Xbox PSO titles, in this quest, you won't get EXP, but in fact get treated to a rest, and a mini casino! Take your lucky tickets you've earned from the Maximum Attack 2 quest (Minimum requirement of 10) along to the rappy in the left hand room standing in the corner and you'll be treated to a fun 'Spin the Wheel' where by different PSO characters stand on the wheel, and depending on who it stops on, he/she/it will give you a special prize. Be warned though, when i say special, it could just turn out to be a monomate! (Bast*rds!). Also if this quest is alike the Gamecube & Xbox versions of the same quest, you'll also find a rappy who's sad and needs cheering up by coming up with a small poem, in which case, if it's not been altered, you'll find the series of answers somewhere on our forums! ;)

'Maximum Attack (Stage 2)' and 'Seaside Festival' are available between August 18th & September 19th on which date all the kill counts will be totalled and if you've got your name on the PSO: BB leaderboard (To be found on the official english Blue Burst website when the competition starts) you'll receive a great new prize. ^_^

Thanks to Ragol.co.uk forumer & Blue Burst Team Member A.S. for noticing this news early on, and you can post any comments on this news in our forums, right here! Happy Hunting and best of luck when the competition blasts off! We'll see you there!

Sonic Team of Japan are at it again with more great Blue Burst updates. 2 all new quests for Blue Burst are here, being added today should you be playing that version of PSO.

• Resting at the Beach - Episode II

It's that time again where Sonic Team are telling you that Summer is almost ending, should you have been playing so much Blue Burst lately you've forgotten the actual date and should maybe open the curtains, so get down to the beach before you miss it end. In this quest if you've never seen it before, the basic gimmick is, Pioneer 2 is shut down for the night, but the route to the beach is open to all who think they'd like to take a trip down to the 'Seaside Area' and catch the stars before the lovely weather ends! There are no enemies (Unless manually prompted!), so its really a space for your and your friends to take a nice rest from all that monster slaying you've been at lately. Entering codes via. the chat will also trigger special events on the beach, such as star displays, campfire explosions, and monster appearances! This quest is playable for between 1 & 4 human players.

• The Respective Tommorrow - Episode II

This great quest is finally available to Blue Burster's, as you and your friends (Between 1 - 4 Player quest) get to take on the job of testing the latest VR system on Episode II.

Here, you're tested on your speed. How quickly can you complete Episode II basically! Yep thats right all of it! From the Temple and Spaceship to the Central Control Area and the Seabed with all the bosses included aswell! When you're back, you'll get a grade on your progress determined by the completion time and enemies slayed.

Sonic Team of Japan, hard working as always, today bring you another 11 screenshots from the outstanding looking Phantasy Star Universe - Seriously this game looks top dollar from the screenshots below, with the 2 at the end really showing you how this game is going to be played, similar to PSO actually! Also i think you'll agree with me when i say the enemies in the first screenshot look like they've come straight from Episode IV. The middle shots meanwhile are just bigger res shots of the new tech's i posted about earlier in the week - Still worth a look to appreciate ^_^

GIMME GIMME GIMME!

Oh and also all the screenshots so far as always are available in our PSU Article - 'Everything we know in all the Universe!' aswell as all the new info regarding the tech's - so Click Here!

New information regarding the recently announced new techniques for Phantasy Star Universe has arisen from GameFront Germany (Coming from benOire of PSO-World.de who once again contatced us with the german goings on from the shores of the European Mainland!).

It appears that with Universe, Sonic Team have traced back to the routes of the SEGA MegaDrive series more then you would have believed. Various characters in the game will have various amounts of 'Photon Points' which are used when casting wizzardry spells, last seen from Phantasy Star IV. You can also combine your spells (Dependant on PP) to give off a much bigger attack! However, if you have no PP, you can't cast. One example of possible technique combinations can be seen below:

• Low amount of PP: Ice & Blizzard Combo
• Average amount of PP: Ice, Blizzard & Paralysis Combo
• High amount of PP: Ice, Blizzard, Paralysis & Shock Combo
• Maximum amount of PP: Combo using all techniques (One hell of an attack!)

The amount of Photon Points you have depend on your character and weaponry. If you upgrade your weapon, your max. possible amount of PP will increase (Similar to using a Monogrinder on a weapon in PSO). Some of the techniques currently announced include (Alike above): Ice, Blizzard, Paralysis, Shock, and Power Attacks. Aparently the techique combo system is similiar to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Should you have played it!).

Photon Points aren't all that'll be returning in Phantasy Star Universe stat-wise, as we also see the re-appearance of Gravity Stats, which currently stand at Gra, GiGra & NaGra.

Thanks again to PSO-World.de for passing us this amazing new info!

benOire from PSO-World.de has generously gotten in contact with Ragol.co.uk to bring you new information concerning a new way to pay for your Xbox Live Subscription and PSO-X Hunters License!

From August 1st, Xbox has teamed up with VISA to bring you the Xbox Live VISA card! This has more pro's then you would think though.

To pay for your Xbox Live subscription, you would always need either a Mastercard or VISA, and for that you'd normally have to be of certain age and of certain bank status, but no more! You can buy Xbox Live VISA Pre-Paid cards from shops to use to pay for items on Xbox Live, such as the subscription fee, or any other Xbox Live download which may come at an extra one-off fee. It's said you'll also be able to use it to pay for your Hunters License if you're an PSO-X player too.

If you're 18, you'll be able to hook yourself up with an Xbox Live VISA Young Card, and if you're over 21, you'll be able to go for the Xbox Live VISA Platinum Card.

At the moment, i cannot determine whether this will apply worldwide or not, but from August 1st 2005 at least, the service will be available in Germany. You can find more information from here (Landesbank Berlin) or here (Xbox Germany).