Sonic Team of Japan have announced what's coming Japanese Phantasy Star Universe players way following server maintenance on January 11th 2007!

• Story Mission: Episode II, Chapter 6

Of the second episode now available in Japanese PSU, this is the 6th chapter that sees you take to the train to find an answer to someone elses problem!

• New S-Rank-2 Missions
  • Guardians Colony
    • Unsafe passage
    • Planet Recapture
  • Parum
    • Research facility recapture

• New Lobby Decorations!

With New Years ending, the snow lobby makes its way to PSU's Guardians Colony & Parum!

• New Level Cap

The level cap becomes increased to 80 from the current 70!

• New Level Hardness Selection

Upon each rank C mission selection screen, now you can also choose how hard that mission is!

This is just a reminder about the Catch the Criminals competition, as round 2 kicks off later today!

As previously stated, PlayStation2 & PC players are being re-challenged, having found them all the last time, with Peek-a-Boo's #1 & #2 being online at between 21:00 GMT & 22:00 GMT, one on the initial hour, and the second at half past, somewhere in the Gurhal System, Universes 3 - 10.

Meanwhile, Xbox Live players will finally have the chance to grab Peek-a-Boo #3, being online at 20:00 GMT on either Universe 4 or 5, somewhere in the Gurhal System.

There are prizes for finding a peek-a-boo thanks to SEGA of America, but make sure you're the first one to find them! A tiebreaker means a sudden death question.. ooooh!

When you find a peek-a-boo, also remember to type out the secret sentance of destruction: "Peek-a-boo, i see you!".

Good Luck to all participating tonight!

• SEGA Phantasy Star Universe Boards Thread
• Ragol.co.uk/PSUniverse.net Forums Thread

Just a short few (two) words as the clock strikes midnight from all of us here at PSUniverse.net & Ragol.co.uk:

Merry Christmas!

Yes, it was probabily very predictable, but we hope you all have a good'un and get what all all were hoping for out of the next 24 hours regardless!

Cheers! ^_^

Last night the vicious gang members of the 'Peek-a-boo' kind were online and about the Gurhal System just as we suspected... well, all except one anyways. All of those who went onto the PlayStation2 & PC servers were found, with their finders, locations and some images all revealed below!

RESULTS!

• PlayStation2 & PC Servers
  • Peek-a-Boo #1: Found by 'PSU Link'
    • Hiding in Gawik's Pub, Moatoob - Universe 08
  • Peek-a-Boo #2: Found by 'masterofdeath135'
    • Hiding in the Weapons Shop (GRD-AS), and then found in the Central Plate, Guardians Colony - Universe 07
  • Peek-a-Boo #3: Found by 'theiseja'
    • Hiding on a bench outside of the COG Pavilion, Neudaiz - Universe 10
• Xbox360 Servers
  • Peek-a-Boo #1: Got away with it!
    • Hiding in Gawik's Pub, Moatoob - Universe 08
  • Peek-a-Boo #2: Got away with it!!
    • Hiding in the Weapons Shop (GRD-AS), and then found in the Central Plate, Guardians Colony - Universe 20
  • Peek-a-Boo #3: Unplayed through technical difficulties

CONGRATULATIONS!

Congratulations to: PSU Link, masterofdeath135 & theisja who all win special prizes, courtesy of SEGA of America! Bad luck to 'Iceman' for finding Peek-a-boo #2 at the sametime but losing out on the Sudden Death question!

3 prizes go unclaimed - 1 due to technical difficulties. Therefore the entire gang who successfully raided the Xbox360 servers will appear again on both servers - Come back tomorrow for more information on 'Catch the Criminals - Round 2', taking place online shortly after christmas.

Piccies of the event can be found below - Click to Enlarge:

• Peek-a-Boo #1 - Gawik's Pub

• Peek-a-Boo #2 - Weapons Shop/Central Plate

• Peek-a-Boo #3 - Neudaiz

Having been partially successful in their last run, we at PSUniverse.net have gotten more reports that the vicious Peek-a-Boo gang are going to return to the Gurhal System! Inside sources are telling us it's going to take place on Thursday 28th December 2006, but this time they're not going to try and steal christmas again, they couldn't, it'd have been and gone (Unfortunately :( ), but blimey, they're only gonna have a go at stealing New Years instead! Jeeez!

As we've still got 3 rewards to give away for finding these fools from the first round, courtesy of SEGA of America, we're gonna offer them again too!

PlayStation2 & PC players are being re-challenged, having found them all the last time, with Peek-a-Boo's #1 & #2 being online at between 21:00 GMT & 22:00 GMT, one on the initial hour, and the second at half past, somewhere in the Gurhal System, Universes 3 - 10.

Meanwhile, Xbox Live players will finally have the chance to grab Peek-a-Boo #3, being online at 20:00 GMT on either Universe 4 or 5, somewhere in the Gurhal System.

Remember, remember, Thursday the 28th of December! They're back, but can you catch 'em all?

Hey everyone!

It's good to hear that this event has been attracting a bit of attention! Just to let everyone know the event will definately be running, with the first person due to appear somewhere in the Gurhal system in half an hours time for a limited time only, on both the PS2/PC and Xbox360 servers. It could be any one of the three members of this evil gang!

Remember that the next will appear in one hours time, and the last in one & a half hours time (In case there's time zone confusion, or i've miscalculated! That's 20:00, 20:30 & 21:00 GMT) from the time this post was made!

Great prizes are at stake! Please remember if you're a winner also to have your partner card/Ragol.co.uk Forum Username/PSU SEGA Boards Username/Contact E-Mail address handy so i can contact you after the event has finished so you can redeem your prizes!

Please also note when shouting (Typing) the secret sentance of destruction "Peek-a-Boo, i see you!", you must be next to the character you're seeking for it to have any affect on them! Just walking around using shortcuts to constantly shout the secret sentence of destruction, even if it appears on my screen won't have any affect unless you've actually found them!

They could be on any server, on any planet, in any building, and appear in any order! Good Luck!

(Just for reference to the images linked to in the announcement above, link #1's name is 'Peek-a-Boo #1', link #2's name is 'Peek-a-Boo#2', and the third link is for 'Peek-a-Boo #3', just incase you're wondering who you should be searching for!)

I should also remind anyone who is thinking of searching around together in groups that it's the first person to mutter the secret sentence of destruction that wins the prize for killing that character! In the case of two or more people muttering it at exactly the same time, a general PSU knowledge question will be asked, and the first to answer correctly, wins that prize!

• Ragol.co.uk Forum Thread for this event
• SEGA PSU Boards Forum Thread for this event

The English version of Phantasy Star Universe has been updated within the last 24 hours, with players being able to explore brand new missions!

• New Guardians Mission
• Episode II, Chapter 2
• "Even though your last mission brought about more questions than answers, you are called to the planet Moatoob with Lou and Laia to investigate the disappearance of a missing GUARDIAN member. Due to the recent purification of the area, this should be a routine search and detain mission. However, upon entering the deserts of Moatoob, all is not well.
  
  Exactly who is this mysterious member of the Guardians that you are looking for, and what are they doing in the deserts of Moatoob? All of this and more will be answered when you play Chapter 2 of the online GUARDIAN Missions on Phantasy Star Universe."
• New S-Rank Missions
• Plains Overlord
• Sleeping Warriors
• Lab Recovery

Sonic Team of Japan have again announced what's coming towards Phantasy Star Universe players over in the land of the rising sun having had the server maintenance due to take place on 28th December 2006.

It's New Years lobby decorations! Appearing from January 1st 2007 at Midnight in all the lobbies will be the flashy new decorations (Seen above), which will be avaiable until January 11th at 11:00 (Japanese time).

For those who are wishing in the new year on Phantasy Star Universe however though, you'll be glad to hear that from December 31st 2006 (At 11:00pm) until January 1st 2007 at 1:00am, you can tune into 'New Year's Radio', broadcasting exclusively to hunters hanging around Universes 21 - 30 with announcements running constantly through the night! Sounds amazing!

As we first reported yesterday, 3 tearabouts in a gang known only as 'Peek-a-boo' are due to hit Gurhal this Saturday at 8pm GMT (3pm EST), and we've now got the images of these 3 scalywags, and can be seen below:

We've teamed up with SEGA of America to bring you exciting prizes to the 6 people who kill these vicious gang members (Prizes for one hero per gang member killed per server), so make sure you pratice your searching skills for this Saturday. Remember, they could be on any universe, on any planet, in any building - Much carnage is ensured!

Christmas is almost here and we'd thought we'd host you all a fun christmas competition as we love to do every year, this time though with that brand new game, Phantasy Star Universe!

In the Gurhal System, in some universe, on some planet, in some location, is a silent but deadly gang of whom go by the name of 'Peek-a-Boo'. We've gotten reports that each of the three members are planning to hide within the PlayStation2, PC & Xbox360 servers of the Gurhal System on Saturday 23rd December 2006 from 2000 GMT, with one of the three members appearing at half an hour intervals for a limited amount of time on both the PS2/PC & Xbox360 servers.

In other words, one of these group members will appear somewhere in the Gurhal System at 2000 hrs GMT, another at 2030 hrs GMT, and the third at 2100 hrs GMT.

If you find any of these group members, simply by shouting (Typing) 'Peek-a-boo, i see you!', you'll have defeated that member of this viciously quiet gang!

We've already recieved initial images of the gang members roaming through various locations in the Gurhal System, and can be seen below (Click to Enlarge):

The first CCTV shot is taken from who we suspect is the leader of this gang, seen here in Gawik's Pub on Moatoob, Universe 10. The second shot was captured on CCTV as this member is seen running into someone's room within the Guardians Colony, Universe 3. The third shows the last member of this newly formed gang innocently walking through the GRM shop on planet Parum, Universe 12.

Though we have no sure details of what they're upto having recently made themselves known amongst the Guardians, an anon source has informed us that they are planning to soon attack the Gurhal System and remove christmas forever in some way or another!

The Guardians are now asking for assistance from anyone who will be around at these times to help catch these vicious gang members. We'll have more news tomorrow, so make sure you stay tuned to PSUniverse.net for the latest.

The S-Rank missions are now available in the English/European versions of Phantasy Star Universe!

Recent server maintenance now see's the following S-Rank missions available to Hunters & Huntresses all across the Gurhal system:

• Parum
• Mad Creatures
• Neudaiz
• Mizuraki Defense
• Demons Above
• Moatoob
• Valley of Carnage
• Mine Defense

Sonic Team of Japan have announced what's coming after server maintenance has occured on December 21st 2006 on the Japanese Phantasy Star Universe servers:

• New Party Free Mission

Playable for 1 - 6 players, though possible with 1.

• New Party Free Mission 

Head down to Underground Parum where the hideout of the machinery has been confined to. Take them out! Playable for 1 - 6 players, though possible with 1.

PSUniverse.net recently hosted our first competition in association with SEGA Europe Ltd. in which browsers could win a copy of Phantasy Star Universe for the platform of their choice &/or a copy of the official soundtrack for the game!

The competition ended last Tuesday and the winners will soon have their winnings winging their way to them! Thanks to everyone who entered the competition, as the amount of FanArts hugely outnumbered the amount of FanFics/Short stories we recieved.

To this end, congratulations to the following who won themselves some great prizes!

• WINNERS!
  • FantasyMeister
  • Holly Bell
  • Kaworu_nagisa
  • K_I_R_E_E_K
  • Rati_Ross
    
• Runners-Up
  • Darkwolf30
  • Kitsadoodles
  • Poo Fly
  • Rhys
  • sk8erdez

All of the winning persons & entries themselves (And other entries with entrants permission) can be seen by clicking here!

All winners have been contacted but some have not yet claimed their prizes! If that's you... make sure you get in contact A.S.A.P!

Thanks again to all who entered the competition, and make sure you stayed tuned for yet another coming soon exclusively to PSUniverse.net...

On December 14th, Sonic Team of Japan will be sending another update towards the Japanese version of Phantasy Star Universe with a fair few fancy additions!

• New Story Mission
• Episode II, Chapter 5

The story continues as you head over to Moatoob to check out the old abandoned mines, left for over 600 years, in the valley of doubt?

• New Missions

You can now exchange one particular item for a whole new disk which can improve your techniques, skill level, or otherwise!

• Adjustments to Story Missions

Adjustments are being made to Episode I, Chapters 1 - 4...

• New Photon Arts

Three new Photon Arts are being added, screenshots of which can be seen in action, above! The first sends you into overdrive, damaging everything around you, the second, sending your enenkeis into the sky, the third creating a gravity ball which targets the enemy and gives damage in relation to your own energy (HP)!

• Addition of Baseplate

'Baseplate/Grinder A' get's added to the list!

• Addition of clothing range

New range of clothing for humans, newmans, and parts for the CASTs (Right).

• Addition of 'My Room' reformation ticket

New reformation ticket is added changing your entire room into one for the safari lovers out there, with leopard skin walls being the main attraction on this new ticket!

More weekly updates... next week!

Phantasy Star Universe has now been updated with the huge update revealed last week as we previously posted about.

As well as what was included in that news post, the update contained:

• My Room Decorations!

Seven new reform tickets are now available for everyone to spice up their rooms with!

• New Clothes!

Loads of brand new clothes have made their way to the Gurhal System from top brand names such as Necnec, Flaxo, Revsys, and Gmnael!

• New S-Rank Missions!

New S-Rank missions are available for the quests below:

• Unsafe Passage
• Fight For Food
  
• New Guardians Missions!

Continuing the story mode online, new missions have been made available for everyone to enjoy! The first mission is entitled 'The Masked Girl' and see's you leave for an official training missions where you're to investigate the infection of the Mizuraki CD on Neudaiz!

• Christmas Decorations!

Yes, they're here now too, for everyone to get in the christmas spirit with! They're up until 26th December, so make the most of all oversized novelty christmas trees!

The 7th December holds an update for Japanese Phantasy Star Universe players, as Christmas hits the servers!

The Christmas deccies will be up until 25th December at 23:59 - Sonic Team of Japan must be staying up late on Christmas Day for that update, just for you!

The festive season is now upon us, with the second day of advent now in occurance, and as usual Ragol.co.uk is here to please your festive craves... no, we haven't gotten any presents, we've got crazy quizzes! Huzzah!

In our first christmas game, we've gathered several crazy video game/console TV advertisements from all across the globe for you all to enjoy! However upon uploading them, they've all become broken! Some have lost audio content, and some have lost video content in certain areas, but can you still work out what's being advertised?

Enter our fun competition by clicking the link below!

Are you the AD_BREAKER?

P.S. Don't forget, there's still time to enter our PSUniverse.net Phantasy Star Universe competition where you can win a copy of the game and/or a copy of the official soundtrack! It ends soon! Click Here!

Unfortunately, Phantasy Star Universe's UK debut had no affect on the UK games charts whatsoever, charting outside of the UK Top 40. Why is this? Maybe because SEGA Europe also released the brand new Sonic the Hedgehog game on the sameday of which they've been advertising much more greatly, which debuted at #36 in the UK Top 40!

Phantasy Star Universe did however debut in the Xbox360 Top 20 at #17 but again, failed to reach the Top 20 in the PlayStation2 & PC software charts.

Maybe we'll see a sharp increase in PSU purchases since release day when the charts are released for this coming week? But it's a sad day indeed.

Just for comparison sake, Phantasy Star Universe debuted in the Japanese Top 10 straight in at #1 in the all formats chart selling over 120,000 copies, and lasted two weeks in the Top 10 charts, falling to #9 the week after selling another 20,000 copies of the game!

1up.com have revealed that a HUGE update is heading our way following server maintenance that will take place on December 8th 2006 (European & American versions of Phantasy Star Universe).

The update brings around 7 new hyrbid classes, 8 new weapons, and 5 other additions of which you can read about... below:

• New Weapons!

• Laser Cannon (Left) - Available from Parum
• Twin Claw (Middle) - Available from Neudaiz
• Axe (Right) - Available from Moatoob

• Card (Left) - Available from Neudaiz
• Claw (Middle) - Available from Neudaiz
• Crossbow (Right) - Available from Moatoob

• Double Saber (Left) - Available from Parum
• Grenade Launcher (Right) - Available from Moatoob
• New Classes!
  • Fighgunner
    • An advanced type combining the abilities of Hunters & Rangers.
    • Primary strength is in striking weapons, but can also use ranged weapons
    • Skills: Upto Lvl. 30
    • Bullets: Upto Lvl. 20
    • Technics: Cannot Use
    • Requirements: Hunter Lvl. 5, Ranger Lvl. 3
  • Guntecher
    • An advanced type combining the abilities of Forces & Rangers.
    • Can use both firearms and TECHNICs for the ultimate in long range attacks
    • Skills: Upto Lvl. 10
    • Bullets: Upto Lvl. 30
    • Technics: Upto Lvl. 10
    • Requirements: Ranger Lvl. 5, Force Lvl. 3
  • Wartecher
    • An advanced type combining the abilities of Hunters & Forces.
    • Uses Technics and striking attacks
    • Skills: Upto Lvl. 20
    • Bullets: Upto Lvl. 10
    • Technics: Upto Lvl. 20
    • Requirements: Hunter Lvl. 3, Force Lvl. 3
  • Fortefighter
    • An expert melee fighter focused on striking attacks.
    • Weapon choice is limited but attack and defensive power is unparalleled
    • Skills: Upto Lvl. 30
    • Bullets: Upto Lvl. 10
    • Technics: Cannot Use
    • Requirements: Hunter Lvl. 10
  • Fortegunner
    • An expert ranged fighter focused on firearms. Weapon choice is limited, but attack power and accuracy are unparalleled
    • Skills: Upto Lvl. 10
    • Bullets: Upto Lvl. 30
    • Technics: Cannot Use
    • Requirements: Ranger Lvl. 10
  • Fortetecher
    • An expert TECHNIC user that canuse all TECHNICs with unmatched power.
    • Lacks a strong defense in combat
    • Skills: Upto Lvl. 1
    • Bullets: Upto Lvl. 30
    • Technics: Ypto Lvl. 30
    • Requirements: Force Lvl. 10
  • Protranser
    • An experimental type that is well-versed in use of traps.
    • All traps become several times more powerful
    • Skills: Upto Lvl. 30
    • Bullets: Upto Lvl. 30
    • Technics: Cannot Use
    • Requirements: Hunter Lvl. 5, Ranger Lvl. 5, Force Lvl. 5
• Weapon Ranks Update
  • B & A Ranked (5 - 8 Star) weapons, gears & boards will now be available at all shops!
• SUV Weapons
  • Two new SUV units for CASTs will now be available: Rafal, Buster & Strum Buster
• Level Cap Increase!
  • Top level now upto Level 60, while Photon abilities & Technics can now reach level 30 (Dependant on character class)
• Partner Machinery
  • 'Device Zero' now available enabling you to reset your partner machinery's state to it's original settings.
• New Missions!
  • Over 10 S-Rank quests will be made available across all three planets, including a brand new dragon...

The article, spotted by Staff Member Moonwraith, also promises us new updates every week from this update! Sounds good to me! Comment on all of this over in our forums by clicking here!