lollipoplolita writes, "Sonic Team posted this on their US BBS at 7:53pm:

"Attention PSO Gamers - we are aware of a problem with the PSO servers and have been working to stabilize the situation. Stay tuned for updates.

Thank you for your support."

People have reported having difficulty getting online, getting frozen in midplay and have been disconnected. This lag has been reported to cause some FSOD corruptions.

Join the discussions in the forums here."

lollipoplolita writes, "In this Comprehensive BBS post, Sonic Team confirms that EU/PAL PSO will go on sale as scheduled on Friday, March 7th, 2003, dispelling all previous rumors of delays. This message also shows upon log on on JP servers.

A server maintenance will take place on Friday, March 7th, between 2pm til 4pm to add the new EU ships so that JP and US ships will be connected to EU ships. As usual, ST asks to not connect during the maintenance and to end all games before the scheduled maintenance time or all games will be cut off. The above time is JP time.

Just 2 days til EU release guys!!"

psosaladwood writes, "Reuters featured a news story also mentioning Xbox Live's milestone of hitting 350,000 users.

The entire news story can be found here."

xboxusersgroup.com reports that XBL now has 350,000 subscriptions.

"I have just learned from the 'Xbox Live Press Club' that XBL has reached more than 350,000 subscriptions.

This comes as a great joy to us as Microsoft originally expected to sell at most 100,000 subscriptions by the end of the year 2002 where it reached the 250,000 subscriptions with Xmas 2002. Now that we have reached the end of February 2003 we see that the holidays are still going on.

An Official Xbox PR release will follow soon."

You can read the full newspost in the site.

While gamesasylum.com reports that XBL received positive approval.

"They surveyed UK testers, with the following results. 97% said that they were able to connect to the service with no problems, and 96% plan to recommend the service to their friends. 66% have used the guest facility to allow friends to play without having to register, and of those friends 69% are "absolutely" or "highly likely" to purchase Xbox Live themselves.

40% declared the Voice Communicator the best feature of Xbox Live, followed by the matching system with 18% and the Gamertag with 11%. 63% of users haven't had to use the customer service helplines - but that means 37% have had to, which seems like a fairly significant percentage to us.

Xbox Live launches officially on 14th March, in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden."

Read the full article here. This should hopefully encourage a good turnout of players on PSO XBox!

Kalbelgarion writes, "According to a high-end field Xbox Microsoft rep at TeamXBOX, the latest word from Microsoft is:

Xbox Accessory: Text Input Device
Text input device for Phantasy Star Online.
Overview (TID1)

1. Text Input Device 1 is only an adapter that allows the user to plug in a USB keyboard into your Xbox controller.
2. This ONLY works for PSO; not in the dashboard and not with any other games.
3. Will only be available for purchase online.
4. The current methodology for distributing the product is through www.xbox.com only (The user will get there through a flyer enclosed in the PSO packaging, fill out form ONLINE and receive the unit through the mail/NO OTHER WAY)
5. The unit is FREE, except S&H of $6.95
6. This adapter will be available on-line only on 3/25, launch date of PSO.
7. Our on-line version of PSO SUPPORTS VOICE/research shows players in Japan LOVE voice communication in this game; it goes without saying that our North American IB already loves voice...

(there's a pic - silver with a blue plug that goes into the controller where the memory card goes... I can't see the side where the keyboard plugs in, and it looks like this TID1 might block the second hole for the memory card... not a biggie, but wanted to make that observation-SG2K)"

Please note that we are not verifying this information to be true. As of now, this is just what a rep said on another board. We tried contacting other XBox reps and they had no information on the device. This is not to say that this news is not true but we just can't verify it as of now.

Also, here is the Web Money package picture for PSO PC.

lollipoplolita writes, "With GameCube set to go online in Europe on March 7, computerandvideogames.com of Europe had an exclusive interview with PSO creator Yuji Naka.

Here are some brief interesting excerpts from the interview:

"Can you tell us how you've taken advantage of the link-up capabilities between GameCube and GBA?

Naka: By using a function unique to GameCube to GBA link-up connection, you can download mini-games for Game Boy Advance from the server. If you clear a particular Quest, you will be able to obtain these mini-games. A variety of mini-games have been prepared, which we are going to release as needed. You can also download one mini-game even in Offline Mode. Those who own Game Boy Advance, please give this a try.

And what can gamers expect from the entirely new episode you've designed for GameCube?

Naka: The story of Episode II is set up in the period a little after that in Episode I. A communication message is sent from the surface of Planet Ragol. It was communication from the hero of Pioneer I, Heathcliff Flowen, whose current status - alive or dead - is unclear. Following the mystery of this message, the story develops."

You can find the full interview here."

lollipoplolita writes, "JP XBox live servers will be going down for server and network maintenance on Tuesday, March 4th, between 7pm til 8:30pm. During this time, these services will be affected: creation of new accounts, payment services, friends list, ranking registration and information. You can find the official info here.

A number of PSO PC servers are closing do to decreasing players. All PSO PC Korean servers are shutting down and PSO no longer be available in Korea. The Korean servers shutting down are:
71: KR/ Phoenix
72: KR/ Tucana
73: KR/ Pavo
74: KR/ Apus

Two Taiwanese servers are also closing down. The servers are:
62: TW/Carina
63: TW/Vela

Servers are scheduled to go down on Friday February 28 at midnight. ST thanks everyone for their kind patronage on the Korean servers, but players on Korean servers are now encouraged to play on other servers/ships. You can find more information about the PC servers closing here.

Due to decreasing users on the DC, 3 US DC servers will also be shutting down. US DC servers shutting down are:
12: US/ Ariel
13: US/ Umnbriel
14: US/ Miranda

These servers will be shutting down permanently on Tuesday, March 11th at 10am. You can find more information about the DC servers closing here. Miranda 7 was our old PSOW ship on the DC, such memories and now it's shutting down, truly ending an era. Goodbye Miranda.

For both the PC and DC servers, please do not connect to the servers or play games at the above time. All games will be automatically cut off at midnight. ST asks users to please end all games before the appointed time. Please note that all times listed are JP standard times.

ST reports that as of 3pm JP standard time, Endless Nightmare 3 and Mop Up 3 quests for PSO PC are now up and available for play on the servers. Guides for the quests can be found here. "

psosaladwood writes, "Sega's stock jumps, but not because of PSO.

Apparently the Asian Wall Street Journal reported that Microsoft and EA are interested in buying out part of, or all of Sega. However, Sega said it had recieved no offers.

"Fri February 28, 2003 04:36 AM ET
TOKYO (Reuters) - Shares in Japanese video game maker Sega Corp. 7964.T soared on Friday after a media report that Microsoft Corp. and top U.S. game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. were considering billion-dollar takeover bids for the company.

The Asian Wall Street Journal said the U.S. companies wanted to buy all or part of Sega, which is already involved in merger discussions with fellow Japanese game maker Sammy Corp.

The report sparked a buying spree for shares in Sega, which had a market capitalization of 129.4 billion yen as of Friday.

The Journal, quoting people familiar with the situation, said Microsoft MSFT.O and EA ERTS.O were separately exploring the possibility of buying all or part of Sega, famous for its "Sonic the Hedgehog" character, but had yet to hold formal talks.

The sources were quoted as saying no deal was imminent.

The stock rose 15.63 percent, their daily limit of 100 yen, to close at 740 yen in a generally weaker market.

The news emerged two weeks after Sega, Japan's largest game arcade operator, said it would merge with Sammy Corp 6426.T , the country's largest maker of pinball-style 'pachinko' game machines, and would abandon plans to restructure on its own. "

You can find the full story here."

TerribleDeliMeat writes, "Gamestop.com has once again change their release date. Avoiding the usual trend of delaying games, they've actually moved the date up to 3/18/03.

Other retailers still list their previous "End of March or Early April" dates.

Cross those fingers everyone!"