IGN has a hands on preview of the demo.

[HuBBsDoctor]

here ya go. enjoy the read.<p> PSU hands on!<p>Oh and I think many of you will find this wonderful.<p>"As for the online portion of the game, it's definitely going to be lengthy. Still shrouded in mystery because of its far-off release date, Phantasy Star Universe is at least taking the concept of cheaters and hackers very seriously. After five years of administrating PSO, Sonic Team believes that it knows how to prevent and penalize would-be bastards so that the game won't be corrupted by the same problem that plagued "Online" in its middle years. So for you Code Breaker users out there, you had better take notice: SEGA doesn't like you."

[Saner2]

yeah it rocks<p>http://ps2.ign.com/articles/611/611874p1.html

[Benoit]

As usual, IGN is being moronic.<p>"Phantasy Star Universe at first resembles its Dreamcast-based predecessors PS Online Episodes 1 & 2"<p>Still a good article, though.

[Parn]

In IGN's defense, I read it as a resemblance in terms of art direction and style, not the actual quality of the graphics, especially given the sentences that came after. He clearly states that the graphics are of a higher resolution and goes on with more positive commentary.<p>As far as cheating is concerned, unless they utilize the PS2 hard drive, I don't buy it. I am excited as much as anyone else about this game (I've played and purchased almost every edition of PSO ever made, and this includes imports), but I wouldn't get your hopes up on the cheating issue. Server side saving is a fantastic feature and a step in the right direction, but Diablo 2's online mode also had server side saving.<p>Small patches are possible, but without a hard drive, they could never make large software patches because it'd use disgusting amounts of bandwidth, and it wouldn't be feasible to have people waiting half an hour to get online every time. See: Final Fantasy XI, Anarchy Online, and every other MMORPG with regard to large patches.

[Neo48]

As far as what I read...it still seems good to me. The game does look great (pictures that is) and I like the part where they mentioned there is some difficulty in it. Challenges are good.

[Lord Khyron]

How will Sega even utilize the PS 2 HD?<p>Sony dropped support for it.<p>PS2 memory card will be inadequate for updated quests and stuff.<p>Looks like the PS2 users will get the short end of the stick.

[Neo48]

Perhaps they are hoping to reach its playstation potential when the PS3 is released. (PS2 games can be played on PS3 right?).

[Benoit]

Yes, but it won't be able to support PS3 peripherals, as it's a PS2 game.<br>The no-hard-drive makes no sense if you want a cheat-free environment.

[Neo48]

Hmm, they must have something else planned.

[Lord Khyron]

You can't have anything else planned..<p>There isn't a PS2 memory card that can handle the required space for updates.<p>the PS2 one will prolly have to be upgraded with a brand new CD every time, Just pike PSO ver 1 and 2.<p>But hey, PS2 owners buy crappy games all the times, and a certain demographic buys every new 2k game or Madden game, which is just the previous updated..<p>SO a new version of PSU is feasible. Have fun buying ^^<p><p>[size=small][Edit by Lord Khyron on [TIME]1117222965[/TIME]][/size]