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is an online role-playing game (RPG) developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Dreamcast on December 21, 2000. Unlike previous turn-based games in the ''Phantasy Star'' series, ''Phantasy Star Online'' features real-time hack and slash combat. The game was a critical and commercial success, and was followed by three expanded versions: ''Phantasy Star Online ver. 2 ''(2001), ''Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II ''(2002) for the GameCube and Xbox, and ''Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst (''2004) for Microsoft Windows. A spin-off game featuring turn-based combat, ''Phantasy Star Online Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution,'' was released for the GameCube in 2003. A direct sequel, ''Phantasy Star Online 2,'' was released in Japan for Windows and PlayStation Vita in July 2012. ==Development== Sega chairman Isao Okawa believed that internet gaming would come to be important; though internet gaming was popular in PC gaming, it had not yet become popular on consoles or in Japan. Okawa tasked Sonic Team with the creation of a console game focused on network play. Work on ''Phantasy Star Online'' began after the completion of ''Sonic Adventure (''1998). Sonic Team divided to focus on three separate projects.〔With the working title ''Third World'', art director Satoshi Sakai desired to create a game with science fiction and fantasy elements, with realistic 3D graphics. Creating concept art for the game, Sakai drew a dragon and showed it to Yuji Naka, the director of Sonic Team, who connected the image with the ''Phantasy Star'' series for Sega Genesis. This led to the project being retitled ''Phantasy Star Online''.〔 As there was no precedent for online gaming on console, the developers looked to Blizzard's PC role-playing game ''Diablo'' for inspiration on the game's mechanics. Design of the game was left to Sakai and his art team, who were free to design the game's artwork and style as they wished, since the game's 3D graphics were new to the series and most of the staff from the game design of ''Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium'' had already left Sega by the time of development.〔 With a development time of two years,〔 ''Phantasy Star Online'' was released on the Dreamcast on December 21, 2000, in Japan. It was later released in North America on January 31, 2001. To help market the game in Japan, where dial-up internet services at the time charged by the minute, Okawa packaged the Dreamcast with a free year of internet access, and paid for it out of his own pocket.〔 ''Phantasy Star Online'' was bundled with a demo disc for ''Sonic Adventure 2''.〔 The PC version of the game was later released in December 2001, and was also sold in Taiwan and South Korea. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Phantasy Star Online」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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