doublejg3288 writes, "As of approximately 3PM Pacific Standard Time, the US login server was up and running. Players have confirmed that everything seems to be running just fine. Sega has yet to announce any form of compensation due to the extended down time.

For more information please view the messages here. "

About time, no? The servers were down for around two weeks! You can discuss this update in our forums.

The PSO Gamecube servers have been offline for the past day or so due to a power outage. Sonic Team will have the servers back and online as soon as possible.

You can read the offical announcement here and discuss it in our forums here.

According to several (1) (2) (3) threads, the offical Gamecube US servers are experiencing technical difficulties. Apparently when you connect and press A past the Minhiro information, the ship select bugs out and sends you to a random ship. After you materialize, you get disconnected and have several windows open (like the ship select still on the screen). Also, it will apparently freeze your game if you wait too long to disconnect. Item loss has been reported.

Hippie recommends that you either soft reset, pull the ethernet/modem cord out, or open/close the lid to force the game to save. As a reminder, you can soft reset by holding B + X + Start. This will save your game and return you to the title screen.

We will keep you updated on this story! In the meantime, you can use our forums to post about this issue in this thread.

EDIT: Seems this problem has stopped for the time being.
EDIT 2: Seems the problem is back again. We advise you to take extra precautions before going online, just to be safe until ST solves this problem. And as a reminder, do NOT shut the gamecube off if this happens. Do a soft reset instead of shutting the Gamecube off.

SEGA of Japan has announced today on their offical website that they have sent out their final wave of invitations to the beta today, meaning that if you haven't recieved an email yet, you did not make the beta. You can chat and vent about this in our forums

We've also got some images and videos from some users in our PSU Forums. You can view the picture and video thread here, comment on them in the picture and video comment thread, and some questions and answers here.

Our news and video staff contributor, Jonathan_F, recently got interviewed by Gamertag Radio on Phantasy Star Universe. In this podcast, Gamertag Radio discusses PSU and reflects back on PSO. You can directly download the podcast here, and subscribe here.

"This fall 2006 Phantasy Star Universe will be coming out for the Xbox 360 and some of the GTR staff members are very excited about this news. We had the chance to interview one of the staff members from one of my favorite sites PSO-World.com & Phantasystarmonthly.com. He had the chance to play the beta version of the PC and gave us more information how this game will be offline and online, the difference from past games and the story.

We talked about our "favorite platform" (this is a joke), & what's up with Japan making mistakes with 99 Nights display at a local store. E3 coverage coming soon and remember to subscribe on Itunes to get all the audios during the week of May 8-12, 2006."

Around 11 minutes 30 seconds in the recording they start talking about PSU and PSO, and about 15:30 is when they start interviewing Jonathan_F. It's pretty interesting to hear about how PSU is in a review. Congratulations on the Interview, Jon!

According to the Japanese PSO BBS, Starting May 20, you will no longer need to pay to go online for EU/JP PSO Version 2. This means that you will no longer need to purchase a Hunters License for your Japanese or European version of PSO!

Please note that the US Servers are still down, this only applies to Japan and European PSODC Servers. You can read the rest at the Japanese PSO BBS. (Babelfish Link)

Discuss this in our Forums!

As many of you know, the PSOBB Login and Character servers are down due to an unknown glitch, thus causing everyone attempting to go online to get a 'Server under Matinence' message. Clumsy has stated that they are looking into the server issues right now. This announcement on the PSOBB Forums thread is located here. We'll keep you updated.

Update from Clumsyorchid:
"As many have noted in PM and in other threads, other Sega sites are down as well. The problem is not only with the BB servers and is affecting many of our Sega-Europe sites as well. We are working to resolve the problems and find solutions.

Thanks to everyone who submitted information about this! Unfortunately I do not have any timeframe for when the servers will be back online, but the BB team is working to resolve it."

Another Update from Clumsyorchid:
First off, they locked the first thread from spam, and now there is no open topics concerning it (unless you look in their Genral PSOBB Fourm) Clumsy is now reporting more information on the situation which can be read by clicking on "Read More".

"As everyone knows the servers are still down and there is no timeframe on when they are to be up. To offer a little background into the problem, the Authentication servers went down which rejected all incoming clients. People still online were unaffected, but any users attempting to access the game were given an error.

The problem, it appears, is not only related to the Auth server, but also most of SOE's websites. SOE is working to resolve the problems as well as get the PSO servers back online. When I get word of when this will occur, I will inform everyone in this thread.

I want to thank everyone again for sending in information about the problems and offering to help. All is very appreciated by myself and the rest of the PSO staff. We recognize this downtime is unacceptable and are working to issue compensation for the time."

neda writes, "After almost a couple of months without most of the online quests, the Xbox version was finally updated today and the quests are back!"

This is great news for PSOX players. Also, Episode 2 C-Mode is back, as reported by squeak in our forums.

The 10 million kills milestone has been reached, and the secret prize has been announced! All players will recieve a Yahoo! Cup Mag! after the Yahoo! Cup has ended on September 19th.

You can read more about the other milestones set here. Congratulations to everyone participating in the Yahoo! Cup! Next milestone is 20 million, let's get to it! Also, Post your opinion about this in the forums!