Sonic Team has announced that all Japanese servers for Phantasy Star Online v 1.0 on GameCube will be closed on March 26th, 2004. Players have been able to trade in their older version discs since November, and still have some time to trade in and upgrade their current discs to version 1.1. During the switch to the new servers, Sonic Team has decided that v 1.0 will be free for one week before terminating the server.

Also, on December 16th, a new Challenge Mode quest was added with an Episode II setting. The challenge takes place in the “VR Temple” area. Although it features enemies familiar to the Episode I world, it will require different strategies to progress and complete it with the limited equipment and within the time limit. The quest is designed for a team of 2-4 players.

• GameSpot