Gamespy spent some time with Ep 3 and has a new preview of the game up on their website with some videos and screenshots. See and read the article for yourself! What do you think, guys?

ST a brief news post in conclusion of the online Famitsu Cup event. More details including an interview with the winner can be found at the Famitsu Cup website.Here's an overview of how the tournament went.

Congrats to the winner, Ring, (whatever deck you might have used) and a good job well done to all the participants and finalists.

jonathan_f writes "Rappy's Holiday and Gallon's Treachery will be online on the 30th of January. The Valentine's Quest will be playable between February 3rd - 16th. Also Valentine's like decorations will be up during those dates.

No word on Gamecube yet...

Source: www.GamerFeed.com and ST."

Skett writes "In the newest issue of Nintendo Power magazine, they preview Phantasy Star Online Ep. 3. Inside they wrote about the different cards, how the battles work, and have a small interview with Yuji Naka. It also includes a small, pullout poster. "

Here's text from the magazine:

"Not content to the rest on their laurels, Sega and Sonic Team are once again reinventing their flagship role-playing franchise. Whereas Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II brought us action-RPGs that encouraged teamwork, PSO Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution will pit players against each other in turn-based card battles. The story takes place 21 years after Episode II. With the primary goal of human migration unfulfilled, the starship Pioneer 2 remains drifting in orbit around Planet Ragol. You must choose to join either the Hunters (Hero side), a special investigation team under the command of Pioneer 2's Principal Government, or the Arkz (Dark side), a resistance group that believes there are hidden motives behind the government's actions. As you'll soon discover, the two sides offer distinctively different experience."

And take a peek at Nintendo's Ep 3 webpage with videos and screenshots.

Sega's U.S. website has listed an Episode 3 release date of 3/2/04. Feel free to discuss this in our forums. A final official release date, good news for all of our US players?

Here's a little description from the Sega website:

"A strangely powerful Photon-like substance found on Planet Ragol has spurred a raging battle between the Hunters and a rebel team called the Arkz. The prized matter known as "The Germ" has unique replicating powers and can be sealed in small playing card-sized packets. Warriors carrying a deck of the sought-after cards can then bring unprecedented amounts of destructive weapons and animals into battle. Fight with the Hero Hunters or on the rebels' Dark Side and stack your decks accordingly. You'll compose several powerful decks from nearly 500 cards featuring fighting moves, weapons, and PSO creatures. Teleport to awe-inspiring battlefields and throw out your best hand against other card-carrying opponents for the ultimate win, lose, or draw battle."

Credit: RX-7

ST posted rank results for Famitsu Cup entries! We're proud to announce that our very own PSOW member, Shimarisu/Arion is second place in the tournament. Congrats Shimarisu! And good luck in the Famitsu Cup final tournament!

Name	Guild card No	Point Acquisition
D.D	xxxxxx787	39000
Arion	xxxxxx309	37600
Ashe	xxxxxx581	37500
AfternoonTea	xxxxxx895	37100
JIN	xxxxxx167	36900
Nei 4th	xxxxxx215	36500
JYUNJI	xxxxxx962	36200
Ring	xxxxxx218	35900
Tsubasa	xxxxxx330	34800
Masato	xxxxxx482	34400
F.L(T) CARD.	xxxxxx207	33900
kurou	xxxxxx874	33400
NOBUchan	xxxxxx587	33300
Lemon-bomb	xxxxxx876	33200
mira	xxxxxx490	33100
SIEGFRIED	xxxxxx145	33100

The final tournament for the finalist will take place on Sunday, January 18th at a spcial ship designated for this and named FamitsuCUP/FINAL. The tournament entry time will begin at 6:30 pm until 7pm. Final tournament will start at 7 pm and will last til the event ends. There will also be a exhibition punishment style game at 5 pm at Ship 65-Block 1 for the losers. If Block 1 is full it will default to Block 2 or 3 or so on. Above times are all in JP. Rules are mentioned in the post below.

The champion of this tournament will receiver a certificate of merit, an episode 3 sound track and webmoney valued at 3000yen. The runner up will receive a certificate of merit and webmoney valued for 1500yen. Other players can watch the tournament from the lobby. If you're wondering about people's or your rank, it will show up above your name. The number 1 Ep 2 player will soon be determined!

?

ST posted saying that Stage 2 of Episode 2 C-Mode will be coming our way. Taking place in VR Spaceship, this stage will test your ultimate skill and partnership as you journey through with your friends and face tough monsters. The quest will be online and will be playable for 2-4 people. There will be a server maintenance on Tuesday, January 20th between 2 to 5 pm JP time to load the new stage. Please do not connect to the server at this time and place end all games before the scheduled maintenance times.

Nern writes "MOTD screen states: New Quest of Phantasy STar Online Episode 1&2 on Xbox will be released as of 1/15/2004. Battle 7, Battle 8, Lost Soul Blade and Labyrinthine Trial. Have Fun!!!"

Well a Famitsu Cup for episode 3 has started. You must pass through the preliminary round with the 16 Highest scoring players making it to the Final Round that will be held on Sunday on a special ship.



Rules

Restriction Time: 30 Minutes
Phase Time: 30 seconds
Card Permission: Everything
Card Type: Assist prohibition
Dice Lowest Value: 1
Dice Highest Value: 6
Dice Boost: Yes
Deck Shuffle: Yes
Deck Loop: Yes
Character HP: 15
Dice Exchange ATK: high

Preliminary Round Point System

Acquisition Point / Personal Points
1st Time Victory: 100 / 300+
2nd Time Victory: 200 / 300+
Semi-Final Victory: 300 / 300+
Final Victory: 500 / 300+

The Preliminary Round lasts 24 hours, starting 1/16 (18:00JP) - 1/17 (18:00JP).

The Final Round starts 1/18 (19:00JP) - Till End. Registration starting 1/18 (18:30JP) - 1/18 (19:00JP).

1st and 2nd Place winners recieve Certificate of Merits by favorite card design, as well as secondary prizes which will be decided at the end of the tournament.

Good Luck, have fun.

Anonymous writes "According to Amazon.com, Phantasy Star Online III C.A.R.D. Revolution will be released in the United States on February 17, 2004, but you can pre-order it now from Amazon! "
Toysrus.com is also showing the same release date, so lets see if it holds true. Though we've had release dates before for PSO games.

Velocity_7 writes "Nearly three months after Sonic Team made an announcement regarding a Windows version of PSO Episode 1 & 2, they have finally released some information as well as six screenshots of the game in development for Windows. Take a look here, and please enjoy the screens.

"

PSO PC ver. 2 Servers are now officially down as were scheduled. This is also to make room for the new PSO PC Ep 1&2 Servers that will be going up this year.

WhiteHawk writes "just check this out: http://www.sonicteam.com/pso/pc/ greetings White Hawk (now using the "Submit News" button! ^^) [www.miateam.de - biggest german PSO Community]" Sorry for delay in news this is totally my bad.

ST posted announcing that the lobbies will soon experience a visual change and be turned into the New Years Lobby with decorations to liven up the mood. This change will happen from Thursday, January 1st until Friday, January 31st JP time. Because Ep 3 and Ep 1&2 share servers and lobbies, this visual change will also affect Ep 3 lobbies. And even though no news is posted about PSOX, visual change for PSOX lobbies is also likely as it usually happens.

Ketchup345 writes "According to Nintendo Power Issue #176, Episode 3 will be a Gamecube Exclusive. Also, PSO+ will be available in the U.S. (from what I understand) around the same time: "PSO 1&2 Plus should hit stores around the same time as PSO III..." All of this was taken from the Epic Center (page 126)."

Does this sound like a official confirmation? Also at www.nintendo.com, they have a page up for Ep 3 with a stated release month of February 2004. Don't know how accurate that is, since it also says it's 1 player. No PSO Plus page though!