Now that Clank isn't hanging around, Ratchet can finally tap some ... oh, booty also means treasure? Well, isn't that just clever, it's like one of those double entendres. Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty is available on the PSN this week for $15. There's also the Kratos DLC for Hot Shots Golf on PS3 and the demo for The Last Guy. Actually, there's a lot more stuff that might be of interest, so the full list of this week's NA PSN update can be found after the break.

PS3 Fanboy has this week's European update over in their corner of the internetz. Go visit and bring your laundry, they'll do it over there for you.

Sony officially unveiled the third-generation PSP yesterday, with a PS button, built-in mic and an improved LCD screen. Our friends at Engadget Japanese have learned a few more details straight from Sony about how exactly the screen has improved. Compared to the PSP-2000, the new 3000 model has twice the color gamut, five times the contrast ratio and, what we're most excited about, a response time that's twice as fast. The PSP-3000 is arriving on North American shores in mid-October.

Update: LCD's response is twice as fast, meaning the response time itself is halved. Fixed, thanks everyone!

[Via PSP Fanboy]

To be blunt, after some of the series' most disappointing entries, Need for Speed Undercover has something to prove. Today, EA revealed some of the features of the November release, the opening salvo in the battle to win back our hearts (unless you count the announcement of Maggie Q's involvement ... which we do not.)

You'll be taking down a crime syndicate with Ms. Q (if you're nasty), a story that will be presented with the help of live-action footage (hooray!). From a gameplay perspective, the big draw seems to be the Heroic Driving System, which EA describes as "a unique technology that generates incredible high-performance moves at 180 miles per hour during breathtaking highway battles." ... So, it's an emergency brake?

Maybe it's just our relief from the yucky, Far 2 Fast and Uncom4tably Furious aesthetic that's plagued the series recently, but this new entry sounds like a breath of fresh air. Well, Undercover, it would seem we, much like the Ghostbusters, are ready to believe in you.

There's not much to see here but we wanted to share with you anyways. Behold, the PSP-3000! Yeah, it looks just like the PSP-2000 (aka the PSP Slim) but, lo! What's this? A PS button and internal microphone? Take that Home button and super cumbersome external microphone attachment! Check out more pics in the gallery right there.

If those promises of a sexy new screen and built-in mic in the PSP-3000 at the Leipzig Games Convention left you North Americans feeling left out, fear not: Sony has just let us know that the system will also be coming stateside, providing all of you the chance to buy the PSP ... again.

It'll be available both in the previously announced Ratchet and Clank Entertainment Pack on Oct. 14 and in a new PSP Core Pack coming in November with:

• Updated Piano Black PSP system
• 4GB Memory Stick PRO Duo
• Everyday Shooter PLAYSTATION Network voucher

You'll be able to pick either up for $199.99.

Sony has taken the opportunity of the Leipzig Games Convention to reveal the brand-spanking new PSP-3000, arriving Oct 15 in Europe for €199 (around $250), according to our main man Jem Alexander who's currently on site at the press conference.

Though it will look the same as the PSP-2000 (that's what the pic above is of, actually), you can expect an improved screen that's better outside with no glare and a built-in mic. This jibes with rumors we've heard previously, and but we don't know if the new "PS Button" is part of the package. We'll keep you posted.

[Update: We've got an actual pic now, as you can see, the PS Button is in there]

Do us a favor, just for safety's sake: If you've recently been eating sugary foods (Blueberry Muffintop cereal springs to mind) do not watch this Leipzig Games Convention trailer for LocoRoco 2, which is so adorably, pinchably sweet that combining it with other glucose-rich product is a one way ticket to diabetes.

We don't learn much from the trailer, just that it looks like LocoRoco 2 will be sporting a lot more gameplay variety ... oh, and that we'll never ever get that song out of our heads.

LucasArts has sent us a rather hefty excerpt from The Art and Making of The Force Unleashed book (itself a whopping 224 pages) that came out this week. We're guessing it doesn't end with a note on the dev team being cut.

Click above to peruse the gallery (Protip: Click on the Hi-res button on each gallery page to view a high-resolution version of the image). A demo for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed drops this Thursday, with the full game arriving mid-September.

Wow, we can't believe we finally got to type that headline. This week, we get to welcome one of the few games that's actually older than Joystiq itself: Too Human, Denis Dyack's epic story of cybernetically enhanced, Norse-inspired technogods.

Elsewhere in the gameosphere, PS3 owners can download the new Ratchet and Clank adventure, and PC players can buy Two Worlds: Epic Edition, the title of which just ripped off our Irony Meter and kicked it down three flights of stairs.

You awaken this morning with a stabbing pain in your side, as you do nearly every morning. The straps on your ceiling-bed, while successful in keeping you tightly bound to your mattress, simply aren't comfortable. You undo the safety clasp and gently crash to the ground, taking special care to not land on the rotating floor-fan, which you paid the steep price of twelve steaks to have repaired just last Frumpday. You pull on your sandpaper pants, flannel overpants, one rollerblade, a cast iron breastplate, then place a sock puppet on each of your hands before checking yourself out in the mirror. You look good.

Gliding into the kitchen, you're pleased to find that the dictionary delivery boy (who usually runs behind on his dictionary route) arrived promptly at red o' clock to supply today's edition of the widely circulated definitorial tome. Your dog, though still incensed about last night's heated argument concerning the rapidly shrinking national bureaucracy, has made a fresh pot of coffee for you. How considerate of him. You pour some into a salad bowl, climb on top of the stove, and slowly empty the steaming brew onto your lap. "Refreshing," you exclaim! You then turn your attention to the dictionary -- skipping past the classified ads, you quickly find that week's Japanese hardware sales figures.

- DS Lite: 60,434 3,036 (5.29%)
- PSP: 58,501 2,680 (4.38%)
- Wii: 38,506 2,603 (6.33%)
- Xbox 360: 24,962 19,603 (365.80%)
- PS3: 9,673 165 (1.74%)
- PS2: 8,503 542 (5.99%)

"How entirely predictable," you remark.

You wish, more than anything, to live in a world parallel to your own -- a world where beds are placed on floors and rotating fans are attached to ceilings. A world where steaks are eaten, not spent. A world where wearing two rollerblades at a time (or none, for that matter) isn't considered an illegal activity. A world where dogs kept their acerbic, self-righteous opinions to themselves. A world where coffee could be enjoyed with one's mouth. A world where the PSP would possess an unflagging sales dominance over all other systems in Japan, while the 360 would possess a contrariwise familiarity with last place.

But such a world, such a strange and marvelous world, could not possibly exist.

[Source: Media Create]

See: The frequently emptied archives

Fans of J.K. Rowling's uber-successful series of wizardly novels received some heartbreaking news Friday -- the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has been delayed from its initial release date of November 21, 2008 to a distant July 17, 2009. Electronic Arts has yet to announce how this major delay will affect the release window of their similarly titled video game adaptation of the film/book, though many gaming industry analysts, such as Signal Hill's Todd Greenwald, are predicting that EA will follow suit, with hopes that the film will whip up a Half-Blood frenzy that will boost sales of the game.

The repercussions of a Potter game delay could be bad for Electronic Arts, as both their holiday profits and fiscal 2009 revenue could take a hit without the title -- however, it could mean good news for those waiting on a truly stellar Harry Potter video game. Greenwald claims the title is "pretty much done and ready", meaning a delay would give EA an extra eight months to perfect the movie tie-in. We'll let you know what EA decides to do once they make an official statement.

Looks like Home is finally expanding. A new Home client is being sent to beta testers, new and old. We reminisce about the long history of Sony's oft-delayed online service in our new game page. Then, see all the info on DJ Max -- now coming to the US! Check that out, and all of this week's stories from your friends at PSF.

New Pages

• DJ Max Fever [PSP]
  
• Home [PS3]

Features

• Blue PSP unboxing

Downloads

• Ferrari Challenge screenshots [PS3]
• NBA 09 The Inside screenshots [PS3]

We can only imagine how dejected you must feel right now, sitting at home with a tummy full of popcorn and a heart brimming with disappointment. Your friends and family inquire about the reason for your sorrows, until they notice the tear-soaked ticket stub for Star Wars: The Clone Wars lying on your dresser. No amount of playing with your highly collectible Mego Han Solo seems to help -- your infatuation with George Lucas' epic space opera is dwindling, flickering like a candle in the unforgiving wind.

Allow us to offer you this minor consolation -- a sextuplet of videos from Lucasarts' upcoming dark side frolic, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, via GameTrailers. The trailer above is one of the best pieces of media we've seen from the title, showing some familiar faces from the series and ... what's this? A romantic sub-plot? After the break, we've got five videos which apparently highlight one of the first levels from the game. Before pawning your collection of X-wings in protest, we highly suggest checking them out -- they might just rekindle your once unflappable Lucas-love.

Developer Black Box's nitro button must be worn down to a nub. The studio announced today that its upcoming Need for Speed sequel, Undercover, will ship this November, pulling up to the starting line well before the 2009 release previously mentioned by EA CEO John Riccitiello.

In development for every platform under the sun (yes, even mobile phones), Need for Speed Undercover will also sport what Black Box describes as "big-budget live-action sequences" starring Balls of Fury and Mission Impossible III actress, Maggie Q, as a federal agent who recruits drivers to take down a criminal syndicate. While recent Need for Speed racers have all but siphoned our tanks of what enthusiasm we once had for the series, those who care can look forward to race with Ms. Q in North America on November 18 and in Europe on November 21.