So here's a little riddle: what happens when you get Sonic Team, the guys that make, y'know, the Sonic games to do something different? Ding-ding, time's up. You get Phantasy Star Online, one of the more horribly addictive and yet deeply flawed games to attempt the whole massively multiplayer online role-playing game thing on consoles. In addition to it being rather, well, repetitive, it was also on the Dreamcast, which means while it looked really nice and was, frankly, awesome, it was also on the Dreamcast. Thus it is relegated to the status of many games on the system as being "awesome" in hindsight.

But we're not bitter or anything, all you haters that were holding out for the PS2 instead of enjoying games on every system didn't kill the system (SEGA kinda took care of things for you), but you won't be enjoying the best parts of the system's online functions any time soon either. Instead, you'll have to go for the successor, Phantasy Star Universe. Now, we've already done a ton of media coverage on the game (seriously, you can almost play it with the screens and movies we've got), but, well, let's let the marketing folks do their thang.

See, the game is actually more than just an MMO. What's crazy is that there's actually a 40 hour single-player RPG in here too, meaning you're in effect getting two games. Now, if you want to shell out some money, you can do so, and for $9.95/mo you'll get a GUARDIANS License, allowing you to play the game online with other folks, but also download a customizable "online space", clothing, Photon Arts, quests, bosses and weapons every month.

So yes, it's fully playable offline, but it's also an online game too, and one that, if the ill-fated Dreamcast version is any indication, will completely rob you of all productivity and reduce you to a neckbearded, poopsocking vegetable. We can't freakin' wait.