Don't you love it when you wake up in the middle of the night with the worlds best idea? Me too. Don't you hate it when you realize that you should have thought of the worlds greatest idea, like, 5 years ago? Yeah, me too again.

Someone at Sega must be feeling that pain. They finally realized that instead of trying to ram that big ol' square peg through the round hole, they would take the time and make a friggin' round peg.

Huh?

Okay, that was confusing. Simply replace the words "square peg" with "The Phantasy Star Online series" and "round hole" with "game consoles that don't really have online support like the GameCube" and you'll get it. Actually, that's confusing too, now that I have requested my buxom secretary to read it back to me....yes, videogame journalists ALL have buxom secretarys. That's how we get to talk to women. We have to pay them.

Finally, PSO comes to the PC, where it should have debuted over 5 years ago. Back then the PC was online and fine while the Dreamcast was not exactly the best way to play with people all over the world. Thankfully someone at Sega realized that this is the way it should have been all along and have made it so.

From the screenshots received from the fine folks at Sega, PSO has never looked better thanks to the horsepower of the average gaming PC these days. Admittedly I'm not a fan of online RPGs and I'm pretty damn sure I won't EVER play this game unless some maniac forces his way into my office and holds a gun to my head, but nevertheless I've heard that some of you actually do enjoy a good online RPG romp now and then.

Blue Burst will be available via download this Spring. If you do happen to see me online playing this one, call the police! Thanks in advance.

Press:

Since its debut on Dreamcast in 2000, the revolutionary PHANTASY STAR ONLINE series has received 17 awards worldwide and now the PSO journey continues on PC! Each player takes on the role of a Hunter on the Planet Ragol and ventures deep into lush worlds filled with mystery, intrigue, and powerful enemies. You'll battle in real-time and draw off the magic of more than 1,000 powerful rare items as you continue to search the planet for survivors of the Central Dome explosion, as requested by Governor-General Tyrell.

New Quests!

• Thirty three quests have been created from the offline portion of the PSO story. Visit the Governor-General and receive up to 15 quests, or get to the Laboratory to accept 18 quests that await you there.
  
• Customize 12 characters.
  
• A new character named Momoka is introduced through one of the Governor-General's quests. Also, new morphing technology allows you to customize your character's face, hairstyle, clothing, and body size.
  
• Play from any PC.
  
• Your character data is held on a server allowing you to play anytime from any PC that has Internet access and PSO Blue Burst installed.
  Team Features.
  
• Join a team and chat with other members at any time via "Team Chat". The "Team Point Ranking System" allows you to compete and it converts undesired rare items into team points.
  
• 3D Battle Action.
  
• Outstanding sense of realism where results of battles are determined by player's ability and the parameters of the player's character. Customize your command palette for simple, straightforward operations.