Google Wave will Revitalize Blogging

If you've been living under some rock, here is the website for Google Wave.

Essentially, this is "Real Time" internet collaboration. If Tim and I were working on this blog post right now, we'd both be able to see each other typing. None of this "I type, you read, then you type" nonsense.

But anyway.

I want Google Wave. Now.

Also, iJustine should totally do a video with me that I can upload onto redtube.

I'm just sayin, is all.

Patapon 2

This game is like drugs.

I fucking hate you Sony.

I was doing pretty good in Monster Hunter.

I was doing pretty good in FFXI.

Then I bought Patapon 2 off the Sony Store and LOOK AT ME!

Ok, if you liked Patapon, or if you like music games, or if you like strategy games, or if you like games where you have to repeat shit so that you can loot whore and upgrade your troops rinse/repeat, then Patapon is a game for you.

If you are rhythm-impaired, it's not going to be fun.

Some things I noticed

Easy Mode is FRIGGIN EASY
Take advantage of it. You can switch difficulty at any part of the game. It's easier to get your hero into HERO MODE and makes it easier to pwn the faces of things

Setting your Hero as a Dekapon is CHEAP
If you keep getting Hero Mode, your Hero Patapon will keep doing their "Hero Attack". I've only seen this with Robopon, Dekapon, and Kibapon, but the Hero will never stop attacking as long as you keep the attack song up.

Having your Hero as a Dekapon is INSANE, because you never stop attacking the boss, and it has monstrous HP, also, Dekapons can't be knocked back. Most of the time, the rest of my army is dodging, but my Dekapon Hero is attacking, stun locking the boss.

It's not for the faint of heart, but the only boss I don't think it'll work on are the Birds and the Transforming Dog/Bird shit.

No Longer Stuck with a class
If you played the last game, you had static units, and if you wanted to upgrade to a stronger/different patapon, you had to dismiss the unit and recreated. Now, they have a Class tree where you can level up the different classes and switch before any mission.

This is good because each class has it's own positives and negatives, and the missions are so varied. Some times, you might need to stock up on Ice resistant Patapons, other times you'll need to do all Fire resist, or Super Critical to stun bosses.

It added a new dimension to the game, but makes it so that farming/grinding plays a bigger role than before.

More rewards from minigames
But they do this because you have to grind a LOT more. Also, the minigames can "upgrade", giving you access to better rewards and higher-tier items.

Hero Patapon makes the game too easy sometimes
Seriously, this guy can easily change the tide of battle.

--------------------------------
All in all, I love Patapon 2. Best part was that I didn't even need to go to the store to buy it!

This Blog Is Alive, AND SO IS MY PSP!!!

So another winter passed, and another PSP broken. I think I should keep these in my front pocket where they'll stay warm.

So anyway, this time, I decided to fix the screen myself. Dropped $60 on a replacement and it came in from Asia. THEN THE FUN BEGINS!


DISCLAIMER: THE MEMBERS OF SONY REPORT ARE PROFICIENT TINKERERS AND DO NOT CONDONE DOING THE SAME THING TO YOUR PSP UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. IT IS BEST TO EITHER HAVE YOUR PSP REPLACED, OR TO TAKE IT TO A TRAINED MECHANIC. THE PROCESS REQUIRES A FUNCTIONAL KNOWLEDGE OF ELECTRONICS, HARDWARE AND THE CONCURRENT SYSTEMS ATTACHED TO THEM NECESSARY TO MAKE PARTS REPLACEMENT FLAWLESS. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DO THIS UNLESS YOU ARE 100% SURE OF YOURSELF, BECAUSE SONY REPORT WILL NOT REPLACE YOUR PSP, NOR WILL THEY OFFER ANY MECHANICAL ASSISTANCE WARRANTING FAILURE, BREAKAGE, LOST SCREWS, LOST PARTS, OR DAMAGED REPLACEMENT SCREENS.

DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK

So when the damn screen was on, this is what the little bastard was showing me.



How nice of him, no? Well there are 6 screws that need to be taken off of the PSP before you can crack the face. I don't feel like taking a jillion pics, so their locations are:
- 2 at the top of the PSP
- 1 at the bottom of the PSP
- 2 to the right of the UMD case
- 1 underneath the battery (below the sticker)

For this project, all I used were:
- "Eyeglass" Screwdrivers
--1.8M/m Phillips
--1.2m/m Flathead)
- Can of Compressed air to remove dust

Anyway, take the face off the PSP, and this is what your PSP's Skeleton will show up as!



Not too pretty, right?

Next thing to do is to CAREFULLY remove the bottom green strip.



And with a slight twisting motion (you'll need to do this on both sides), it'll snap off very easily.



Then it's time to CAREFULLY take off the old LCD screen. There are notches in the screen that "connect" it to a metallic frame.


These "pop" out with little effort, and are on both sides of the screen.

On the Chassis of the PSP, there are two connections to remove.



This is the data conenction to the LCD screen. This can be accomplished by sliding a small flathead under the black flaps and slightly twisting the flap up. Very simple.

The next connection can be removed the same way, and is the Backlight connection



OPTIONAL. To remove the connection for the "home bar", remove this.



Makes it easier to replace screen, but isn't really necessary.

Reverse the directions, taking great care, and TAKING YOUR TIME. It's annoying to put those connections back in, and there is metal framing that Sony Engineers decided to put at the top of the PSP to annoy me. I completely screwed in my PSP before I realized I moved a piece the wrong way.

But if you're comfortable doing hobbies like this, then little hiccups shouldn't be a problem. It makes the ordeal very fun, and makes you value your PSP more!

And Sony didn't do a bad job of engineering this piece of metal and plastic.

[Updated 2/26] Notable PS3 Games

Games that interest me in some fashion, either in passing or with a fever pitch. As of this posting, I don't have a PS3, so it's entirely feasible I'll start this list with the oldest games (being as how they're the cheapest). For comparisons sake, I put the dates of the games, even old ones, so we can see how the platform has evolved, and where it's headed to.

[2007]
[02/22] flOw
[06/28] Super Stardust HD
[08/28] Warhawk
[09/12] Heavenly Sword
[10/09] Folklore
[10/23] Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
[11/05] Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
[11/14] Assassins Creed
[11/19] Uncharted: Drakes Fortune
[12/11] The Orange Box

[2008]
[01/22] Burnout Paradise
[01/24] PixelJunk Monsters
[02/05] Devil May Cry 4
[04/17] Gran Turismo 5 Prologue
[04/29] Grand Theft Auto IV
[06/12] Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
[07/29] Soul Calibur 4
[07/31] PixelJunk Eden
[08/21] Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty
[08/26] Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice
[09/16] Pure
[09/16] Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
[09/25] Wipeout HD
[10/14] Dead Space
[10/14] SOCOM: Confrontation
[10/21] Bioshock
[10/21] Eternal Sonata
[10/27] LittleBigPlanet
[10/28] Fallout 3
[10/28] Motorstorm: Pacific Rift
[11/04] Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm
[11/04] Resistance 2
[11/04] Tom Clancy's End War
[11/04] Valkyria Chronicles
[11/11] Call of Duty: World at War
[11/25] Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
[12/02] Prince of Persia
[12/04] [PSP] Everyday Shooter
[12/23] Lumines Supernova

[2009]
[01/08] Cuboid
[01/21] Skate 2
[01/27] Afro Samurai
[01/29] Savage Moon
[02/12] Flower
[02/17] Street Fighter IV
[02/19] Noby Noby Boy
[02/27] Killzone 2
[03/13] Resident Evil 5
[05/09] Bionic Commando
[05/31] inFamous
[06/16] Ghostbusters

[2009] Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams
[2009] Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
[2009] DC Universe Online
[2009] Heavy Rain
[2009] MAG: Massive Action Game
[2009] Tekken 6
[2009] Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
[2009] White Knight Chronicles

[2010] Final Fantasy XIII

[TBA] Final Fantasy Versus XIII
[TBA] God Of War III
[TBA] Gran Turismo 5

Uncharted Teaser

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/43625.html

Ren's Wish List

I was looking over Ren's wish list and just wanted to toss out my opinions on some of the game. For those of you looking at this list and wondering if you should invest in list as grand as this or not.

Now this is a pretty ambitious list to start out with, and unfortunately Ren's missed out on some good stuff in 2008. Hopefully he’ll be able to start joining in on some of the awesome that was 2008 on the PS3. Even as much money I dump into my gaming, I don’t have all the games on this list, but I have a number of them or some experience with them. So here’s my take on some of his selections!

Bioshock – A really great game that I’m glad made its way to the PS3. Great mix of FPS and RPG with a story that slowly eats at you along the way. DLC is exclusive to the PS3 but I haven’t tried any of it out yet due to how heavy October was with game releases.

Burnout Paradise – A year later this game still calls to me. Legendary car pack was released last night offering tributes to the Back to the Future Delorean, Ghost Busters’ Ecto-1, Knight Rider’s K.I.T.T., and Dukes of Hazards General Lee giving players even more toys to play with. Flawless offline and online integration, absolutely no lag in any online play, and continued support from Criterion/EA for a game released over a year ago now.

Cuboid – For those who love puzzle games, Cuboid is the game for you. Simple game play with great challenges and Trophies. Background graphics and textures in the puzzles are nice, but the transitions from puzzle to puzzle looks like an old PS2 game. All around a very enjoyable puzzle game for $9.99. Great use of a 10 spot if you ask me.

Gran Theft Auto IV - I own this game and sadly I still haven’t opened it. I bought this when I bought GT5:P and just went from that to other games. With the addition of Trophies I really should go back and rake some in, but at the same time I haven’t touched GTA III: San Andreas either.

GT5: Prologue – Referred to by many as a $40 demo, but there is still a lot of fun in this game. Still has a huge online community, lots of features, and let’s not forget that it looks amazing. Play back of races are routinely mistaken for actual video footage. Yes, this game looks that good!

Killzone 2 – Having played the demo since I pre-ordered the game, I went and bought the original game. I wanted the story behind why you’re suddenly invading this planet, what the motivation was, why so much hatred for the Helghast. Only to find out why the first game was reviewed so poorly and didn’t sell very well. But there is a hint of a story there. I am now excited for Killzone 2 because of the continuation of the story and for the amazing visuals in the game. This game pushes the visual feel of games, and I’m excited to see what it inspires.

LittleBigPlanet – Can’t be praised enough. It just won 8 AIAA awards last night, keeps releasing new fun each Thursday in the way of levels, stickers, and costumes. The hugely successful MGS pack reiterated that there’s pretty much nothing this game can’t do or be. Levels based off movies or other games have been awesome, new levels with their own stories and follow up stories are amazing. Many gaming sights still do a weekly creator list or favorite level list. This game is going to be relevant and awesome for a very long time. This is the title that sells and sells over time.

Lumines Supernova – If you loved any of the first 2 PSP games as much as I did, you will really enjoy this. Music selection isn’t as great, but the visuals and the challenge are still there. It’s just as addicting as ever, and now you can collect Trophies for doing so. Those score a double win in my book!

PixelJunk Eden – PJE as I’ve taken to referring to, is an odd platform game that is immensely enjoyable. As you progress through the different gardens – each level is called a garden – the difficulty ramps up. It challenges you all while encouraging you to get the 100% completion. As you get to the higher gardens getting the 100% Trophy for that garden becomes more and more difficult but it just looks and sounds so good that you keep coming back for more.

PixelJunk Monster – Continuing on in the glory that is PixelJunk, PJM is another beautiful game with enough of a challenge to appeal to a wide range of people but is still simple enough to draw in even the most casual players. It’s a basic Tower Defense game that simplifies the usual game play, but it still stays deep enough to challenge some of the more experienced Tower Defense gurus.

Resistance 2 – In my eyes this is the best FPS I’ve ever played. Greater than the original Unreal Tournament, better than the original Half-Life, looks awesome and no online lag. Flawless 64 player battles, 8 player co-op, your standard FPS game modes, great visuals, HUGE battles, voice chat with no lag, and a hint of more to come in a likely Resistance 3. Controls for this game are amazing and it’s the first console FPS I haven’t wished I had a mouse and keyboard for. I have convinced 5 friends to buy this game and they are all glad they did. Our weekend co-op sessions are challenging, intense, fun and hilarious. Even if you feel the story from the campaign mode is lacking in the least bit, the online play more than makes up for it.

Super Stardust HD – SSHD was the first Trophy enabled game, and it took a game that was already fun for the random pick up, and turned it into an obsession. I created a silent war between two of my PSN friends as I tried to beat their high score or their Trophy count, and I think they did the same thing with me. I’d randomly sign on and see they beat my score or got another Trophy and I immediately rushed into to take the lead again. Great for a casual 15 minute gaming session, great for an obsession 2 hour stint as you try and claim the Stock & Awe Trophy that I hate so much. (Even my damn sister has this Trophy and it continues to elude me!)

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix – Is a great homage to the old arcade days. Plunk down your quarter and call next. Get in bang away at the sticks and hope you were still standing at the end. Often running into that one kid who we all knew never went to school and spent all day practicing on the same damn quarter for hours; God I hated that kid! Now you can enjoy the classic in HD and truly see the racist backgrounds we all ignored when we played this game in the early 90s. (Pay attention to the T. Hawk level. Apparently kids in Mexico can’t afford clothes.)

Street Fighter IV – I hate Seth. I hate that they named the final boss Seth, I hate that they named him after a pretty cool guy over at Capcom, and I hate that he’s the most cheating boss in cheating boss history. But I love this game. I was never a huge fighting game player, because I suck at almost all of them. I’ve only ever been good at 3 fighting games in history. Marvel Vs. Capcom (Spidey was just too fast for most people, and Wolverine was just brutal.), Killer Instinct 

Uncharted: Drakes Fortune – Nathan Drake is the first potential mascot for the PS3 and he tried to carry the torch but just didn’t have it. At first. With out Trophies most people would have never gone back and taken this game up again. It’s a good game, but it has it’s flaws. (ie, why does it take 4 shots to the forehead of a thug and still not kill them? Why do all the thugs look like stereotypical South American drug lords who obviously love Scareface action scenes?) Even with those flaws people went back and played the game through two or three times to get all the Trophies and has everybody excited about Uncharted 2.

Warhawk – It’s difficult to describe the awesome that flows through Warhawk. Another PSN game with zero lag, good community, tons of people still play, and some continued developer support. The enhancements were welcomed in all but one instance, even going as so far as adding new game play mods.  My only complaint with this game is the addition of the jetpack. It breaks some of the most enjoyable maps and set ups because you can completely avoid where all the fun used to happen. When I play I avoid levels with the jetpack, but that’s just a personal preference and I know a few who love the jetpacks. But every time I jump in there’s always somebody around to play, the Trophies are well named and challenging enough to make you fight for them. A great 3rd Person Shooter with a lot for everybody.  Planes?  Got 'em.  Tanks?  Got those too.  Jeeps?  Yessir you can run people over in Jeeps!  Anti-air Turrets?  Oh yeah!  Available in Blu-Ray and direct download from the PSN.  Get your Warhawk anyway you can!

So for those of you who haven't read this here are some other reason why you should own a PS3 already.

DLC - December 23rd

Happy Holidays! Let's get this rolling because I have a TONS of stuff to play and I'd rather be doing that right now. Sorry, but I've always been open about my priorities! So let's treat this like the speed round! To the links!

IGN PS3
PlayStation.Blog

SALE
Jeopardy is the only package to get the sale treatment this week, and it's not a limited time offer! From here on our Jeopardy is going to float you $9.99 - nothing more, nothing less!

Add-Ons
BUZZ! Quiz TV National Geographic: Undersea ($7.99)

More fun to be had with more ball packs for High Velocity Bowling this week. Not sure how much content they're going to release for this game but they sure have been releasing a lot of stuff here lately.

• Patches Pack One - free
• Gutter Bird Ball - free

I don't think there's been any free DLC for Hot Shots Golf up to this point, but I guess they're in a giving mood! For the awesomely festive price of free a new character has been introduced to Hot Shots Golf. Welcome Toro as we all wish they would also add Trophies to the game. MOAR TROPHIES PLEASE!!

Speaking of Trophies, if you own LittleBigPlanet there's no reason for you not to spend at least $5.99 today. There's a ton of new content and some of it even comes with Trophies. For the first time we recieve premium level packs that actually come with new levels and TROPHIES!!! For $5.99 the Metal Gear Solid Level kit comes with new stickers, new levels, new Trophies, and the PAINTINATOR! I'm going to spend the $5.99 for the Level Kit as well as the $5.99 for the MGS Costume kit and be extremely happy about it. I know some people have been vocal about the costumes being over priced, but I've enjoyed the little $2~5 I've spent on the game so far, and I think this whole set is going to be absolutely worth it. Check out the article for the video on the new levels. Trust me you won't be disappointed with this $6.

• Solid Snake Costume - $1.99
• Meryl Silverburgh Costume - $1.99
• Screaming Mantis Costume - $1.99
• Raiden Costume - $1.99
• Metal Gear Solid Costume Kit - $5.99
• Metal Gear Solid Level Kit - $5.99

It's been a while since I've put some serious time in to PAIN, but I did play for like 10 minutes the other night. I still have to unlock a lot of stuff, but I'm still tempted to get the new character just to have them all. I bet he'd be fun for some of the combos due to his sheer.... girth. For $.99 grab sumo character Ao No Kutsu.

Disgaea 3 Adell DLC - $1.99
Disgaea 3 Disgaea 2 Character Pack - $4.99
Disgaea 3 Nekomata DLC - $0.99
Disgaea 3 Rozalin DLC - $1.99

Nothing like releasing a game with DLC goodiness. Almost as good as Dead Space releasing DLC the week before game release. But LUMINES Supernova flies in a little higher priced than I had hoped, but I'm still going to get it and the free Holiday Pack to go along with it. Not sure if it's Christmas songs or what, but I'm sure I'll play like crazy!

Demos
Demos... which I have absolutely no time for, but I did manage to play NBA Live 09 demo last night and I was actually impressed with it. I haven't been impressed with a basketball game in a really long time, but I was actually enjoying it. I still absolutely suck at them - just like I have since Double Dribble for the NES - but it was fun. After a few 2 quarter games I was able to not get crushed and only lose by 2 or 3 points, but check out the demo and/or the game if you were worried like I was.

As for this week, we just have 1 lonely demo amongst all the other awesome game and DLC that I won't likely play for another month or two.

The Lord of the Rings: Conquest Demo

Games
Finally the time as come! LUMINES Supernova flies in for $14.99 - which as I already was higher than anticipated - and has me very excited. Trophies, make and add your own music, game modes, and let's not forget awesome game play on my wide screen HDTV! Those last two would have been good enough for me honestly.

For the rest of the people who have cried for PSone Classic games, today we can enjoy the old skool RPG of Suikoden. For $5.99 you can go through the process of regaining all the 108 characters from the game on your PS3 or PSP. For those that embark on this epic journey - again - I will pray for your souls.

Videos
I'm really surprised at this, but there's only one video this week. Now I'm glad it's this video, as I always forget to check out the webpage - since it's not on the PlayStation.Blog, and it gets annoying watching it inside of Home because of all the text chat popping up. But here's our lone video for download today.

Games
PULSE 12/23 Edition

Themes
Lots of pay themes today. The usual junk, but the Batman theme is kind of nice. The rest is basically crap and I can't believe somebody makes these let alone approves storage space on the servers.

• Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice Disgaea 2 Character Theme - $0.99
• The Dark Knight: Batman Theme - $1.99
• The Dark Knight: Harvey Dent Theme - $1.99
• The Dark Knight: Joker Theme - $1.99
• University of Virginia - $1.99
• School Girls - $1.49
• Digital Blast - $1.49
• Bikini Photo Shoot - $1.99
• Alpine Winters - $1.49

After all the pay stuff, there's only one free offering for the rest of us and two Savage Moon wallpapers to toy with.

Resident Evil: Degeneration Theme
2 x Savage Moon Wallpaper

Well that's it for me, time to go work on my new Trophies I've just gained access to. I have to get up early tomorrow and I'm not going to bed early tonight. Tomorrow's going to be a rough day!

DLC - December 18th

It's Thursday again. The last one before Christmas, but don't worry there's still going to be a store update date next week. And it had damn well better have my Lumines Supernova with it when it comes. (Don't mind me.) Either way we still have some goodies this week to play with so let's get cracking! To the Links!

PlayStation.Blog
QJNet - European Update

SALES
I'm not surprised we have a sale item this close to the holiday but I'm a surprised at the game. The recently released Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars has lost some weight so soon after initial release and now weighs in a skinnier $9.99. Now I'm not sure if this a full time price cut, or just for a week, but let's see if this can drum up some sales for the insanely long named game.

Add-Ons
LittleBigPlanet continues it's run of DLC this week with free stuff and pay stuff. To go along with the Santa pants and Santa's coat. This week we pick up Santa's hat and beard for absolutely free. For an additional $2.99 you pick up new items for your Pop-It and new stickers that are Christmas themed, and two more costumes. So this is a big chunk of newness for only $3. Personally I think it's well worth it, and I have already downloaded and installed it! See you in LittleBigPlanet.

Not letting LBP take up all the good holiday fun, High Velocity Bowling flies in with new content as well. Two costumes are free and two will run you $.99 each. I think if there was a demo for this I'd be inclined to actually buy the game.

This week in Guitar Hero World Tour, it's Eagles week! Three songs from The Eagles - each $1.99 - and The Eagles Track Pack which includes all 3 songs for a discounted $5.49. Personally I would buy this if I had World Tour!

Rock Band Thursday floats in this week with plenty of country music for fans. So for those of you who have felt left out by the music selection within Rock Band, here's their first attempt to branch out. Each song - 5 in all - is $1.99 each and the Going Country Pack 1 is $8.49 giving a slight discount to pick up all 5 songs at one time. All I know is a song with a name of Hillbilly Deluxe (From Brooks & Dunn), it has to be even partially enjoyable.

Hot Shots Golf hasn't had a lot of new stuff released for it in a while, and sadly I still haven't touched my copy since May sometime. But for those of you not completely hooked on LBP or Resistance 2 like I am, there are new costumes available for your golfers for a low low price of $2.99. For me it's all Kratos as far as I'm concerned!

Not to be over looked in the myriad of music based games, Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore 2 floats in with 5 new tracks at their usual $1.49 price range. I still have an issue with a game name that's likely longer than some of the songs they're offering.

PS3's exclusive NARUTO: Ultimate Ninja STORM releases yet more content for the game that seems to have been received with opem arms by a number of Naruto fans I know. Another free pack is released that adds in a new legendary ninja as well as new Ultimate Missions to play through. Seems like they're trying to be another Burnout Paradise with new free content.

Looks like we also have a new music based game in town. Rock Revolution, which I've only heard of vaguely but is in no way a reflection on this game, shows up for the first time with DLC. Each song will run $1.49 and there are 7 total song. For $5.49 a pack includes all of the 7 songs at pretty big price cut.

Demos
Recently we had the MGS4 demo show up at the PSN, and this week we get a crack at MGS4 Online. Gives those of you who haven't had a chance yet, to try out the online action and get hooked.

The last few Sonic games haven't really been enjoyable, however this new game is supposed to give it another twist but still get back to the speed of the old skool games. I'm hoping it does, so I'm going to check out this demo with high hopes. Nothing quite like the crazy sensation of speed you could get from the glory days of SEGA. Check out the Sonic Unleashed Demo even if it's just for the nostalgia.

Games
Crash Commando gives me a Warhawk like feel to it, and I know it's completely off based. I think I'm going to end up getting this game, mainly because of the recently released trailer released yesterday. Of course it does have online play and bots and Trophies (WOOT!) and does kind of look fun, I'm still on the fence with this. We're expected to get a foot of snow this weekend so I may buy that instead of going to the movies on Saturday. We'll see.

Penny Arcade Adventures: On The Rainslick Precipice Of Darkness: Episode 2 is now available for the PSN as it was released a while ago for "that other service." I was tempted to buy the original but sadly it released at a bad time. Releasing in the month of October this year was just a rough month to enter the world in. $14.99 brings you the second episode in what has to be just insanely silly.

Castlevania Chronicles doesn't even require a comment. If you ever played any Castlevania game you've played this one, and know it's worth the $5.99.

I think I still own the original PSone disc for RAYMAN 2: The Great Escape, and if I do it's the game my sister played until she wanted to throw the original Dualshock out a damn window. She loved it, and couldn't stop playing, but the horrible issues with camera angle on the jumps just made her scream. She'd probably say it was still worth $5.99, but she's not here to ask currently! Check it out!

I actually bought Tokobot used when I originally bought my PSP, and it wasn't a horrible game. It's a platform puzzler with a quirky story and even quirkier mechanics, but it's enjoyable. I don't think I paid very much for it at the time, but I can't say I spent $10 on it. A friend of mine borrowed it once just for the sake of trying something different and he actually enjoyed it as well. Tokobot UMD Legacy will run you $9.99 at the Store today and I guess I'd recommend it to somebody looking for something new with enough of a challenge to still satisfy.

Videos

Games
UNCHARTED 2 Spike TV VGA Tease
Crash Commando Trailer
HVB: New Characters Trailer
GT5 Prologue - Tanner Foust: Drifting 101
Gran Turismo Awards at SEMA 2008
The Next Great Game Gods: Dylan Cuthbert Interview
The Next Great Game Gods: Pixeljunk Interstitial
Sonic Unleashed Launch Trailer
The Punisher: No Mercy Game Trailer
Mirror’s Edge DLC Trailer
PS3 “Murals” TV Spot
PSN “T-Shirts” TV Spot

Movies
Resident Evil: Degeneration Blu-ray Trailer

Themes
Lots of horribly put together "Premium" Themes tonight, and as I see more and more of them I really wonder who puts these things together or approves them to be sold on any service. I go through and look at the previews and I just can't believe how horrible they look. Never mind how ridiculously sexist they are, they just look horrible. Either way, if you're deciding to spend your money, here's what they're offering.

• Rock & Roll Babe Theme - $1.49
• Ohio State University Theme - $1.99
• Misty Dawn Theme - $1.49
• Ink and Saints Theme - $1.49
• Dancing Skies Theme - $1.49
• Azmodeus Dark Angels - $0.99

On the free side of the street we have the following.

• Super Stardust Portable Theme
• Savage Moon Theme

There are two Crash Commando Themes this week and they're basically the same with just slight variances of the icons. The background looks like there's a lot of mayhem induced fun being had, but not impressive either. It's a simple theme, and I'm sure there are people out there that this will appeal to. Currently I'm rocking the PJE theme that's just simple and awesome as far as I'm concerned!

As silly as it might strike you at first, the SingStar ABBA Theme is actually pretty fabulous! (Yes, I had to go there.) The icons are simple but fitting, the pure "Glam" of the background fits completely and would be a lot of fun for any ABBA fan out there.

In the wallpaper section we get a few, just nothing I'd use. The detail in the Tom Clancy wallpapers is amazing, and then Crash Commando just looks fun.

• Tom Clancy’s EndWar Spetsnaz Guard Brigade Wallpaper (x4)
• Crash Commando Wallpaper (x2)

DLC - December 11th

Well it's Thursday and I'm saddened. (Wow that looked so horribly spelled!) See I was all geeked up because a puzzle game I've truly enjoyed over the years, and has made the purchase of my PSP absolutely worth it and more, was said to be released today for the PS3. It was to come with all sorts of goodies. Trophies. PS3 exclusive skins. Ability to make your own tracks. All around everything I would have hoped for a new game in this series, and alas it's not here. For those of you who don't know, the game I speak of is Lumines Supernova. As soon as I heard this game was coming to the PSN I busted out my nearly forgotten PSP so I could practice. I actually got in bed with the intent of going to sleep and instead played Lumines II for two hours when I should have been sleeping. (Man that day at work really stunk!)

Well the whole store update wasn't a complete waste, and the today itself isn't all bad for PS3 owners. In case you have been hiding under a rock for months, you should have heard that PlayStation Home was released to open beta to the masses. And the masses immediately got hit with problems. Checking the post over at the PlayStation.Blog resulted in elventy bajillion comments of connection errors. Seems the sudden influx of millions of people around the world attempting to connect has resulted in connection problems. The post in question received 700 plus posts at last check and I think 650 of them were "I'm getting a connection error." I'm currently waiting for mine to update, but when I logged into Home last - three nights ago I believe - everything was as smooth as could be expected.

Well enough about my whining (Lumines Supernova I long for you.) and everybody else's whining ("Errors: D35 C-931 C-991 and so on") time to get on with what we do have today. The Links foo'!

IGN PS3
PlayStation.Blog
ThreeSpeech - European Store Update

Add-Ons
There's nothing quite like Christmas cheer as far as I'm concerned, so when you get to traipse around in some of your favorite video games as good Ole St. Nick, I say it's a good time! Lots of new costumes for LittleBigPlanet this week, and the Santa pants and coat are all lined up. If you progress far enough through the game, there is a Santa hat and an appropriate beard for the whole ensemble.

Some people have complained about the pay costumes for LBP, and so far I've had fun with them and have bought all of them. Today, to go along with the recent Super Street Fighter Turbo II HD Remix we can also dress up as some of our favorite Street Fighter characters and kick butt in LBP. Here's the full list of today's available costumes, make sure you pick the free stuff!

• Santa Coat and Trousers - free
• Zangief - $1.99
• Guile - $1.99
• Chun-Li - $1.99
• Ryu - $1.99
• Street Fighter II costume kit - $5.99

High Velocity Bowling seems to have quite a following, and to say thank you for said appreciation the guys over at SCEA San Diego continue to give out new content. Today you lucky Bowlers pick up a new ball pack - that will run you $0.99 - and Tiff’s Big Zero Trick Shot Pack for free. I'm not sure if, like the name implies, you will now have a Trick Shot option for the game or what. What I'm sure a lot of those Bowlers would really like to see would be Trophy support! NEED MOAR TROPHIEZ!

Tom Clancy’s EndWar was a game that I thought was an amazing idea for a game, and if implemented properly could be a damn fine game. Sadly I haven't had time to even play the demo that was released a while ago, but either way here's some new content for those who do. The Escalation Expansion Pack will run you $9.99 and brings in 4 new missions and 3 new units to get in the mix. The 4 missions appear to be in different areas spread across the globe and across the various alliances in the game itself. Considering how much content appears to be in this game, and now the content added in this pack, I don't think owners of the game will have an issue with it's $10 price tag.

STAR WARS: The Force Unleashed, as promised, releases new missions. The costumes itself didn't seem that interesting or worth the price for this game, but the mission is something I was interested in. For $9.99 there's a new mission that takes place inside the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. I don't know all the lure, but I didn't think the temple would really have any use this far after Order 66 was executed at the end of Episode III. Either way I'll eventually get this and play through it, but for now I'm saving what's left of my money not being spent on Christmas presents on Lumines Supernova and likely Crash Commando.

As I mentioned the TFU costumes, there's also a costume pack available as well. This week for $4.99 you're welcome to what appears to be a group of mystery costumes. I can't seem to find out the list of costumes included. It likely says in the description at the store, but that requires me to log out of echochrome and login to the Store. Sorry!

Age of Booty continues to help Capcom truly support the PS3 by showing up with two more Map packs. Map Pack 4 and 5 will run you a nice holiday spirit inspired free. Looks like 4 new maps, and each map has 3 different configurations to tailor it towards different battles. Pack 5 also has a new game mode called Triple Trouble included. 4 maps with different setups and a game mode all for free? Happy Holidays!

Guitar Hero World Tour starts out with some heavy hitters this week. Releasing three Nirvana songs and Nirvana Track Pack to go along with it. The other pack is dubbed European Track Pack and includes 3 bands I've never heard of before. Either way each individual song will run you the usual $1.99 and each pack rings up at the usual $5.49. Personally I have to think the Nirvana pack has to be worth it!

Rock Band comes in today and brings with it an albums worth of No Doubt songs. I swear every time I hear No Doubt I think of Chris Rock's most recent comedy special. If you haven't seen it, go do so now!) 13 No Doubt singles will run $1.99 each, but for $19.99 you can snatch up the The Singles 1992 - 2003 Album which includes all songs. Only draw back is that it appears that album pack doesn't include 2 songs off the actual album but 13 No Doubt songs has to be some kind of win!

Not wanting to be left out in the cold, Mercenaries 2 releases some free goodies today as well. Blow It Up Again Content Pack comes with, from what I can gather, some new game modes. With names like Urban Rampage, Death Race, Arms Race, and Mercs Blitz it sounds like a lot of explosions and mayhem and fun.

Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore 2didn't want to get left out today so it shows up with 4 new songs of it's own. Each track is the usual $1.49 but does include "Over the Rainbow" and "Heart of Glass" which could potentially be fun karaoke songs.

Demos
No demos of any kind today which is odd because today's the first time I would have had time to spend with a new demo. Since the game I was expecting didn't show up I could have played a demo. I guess I'll just spend some more time with the echochrome Trophies.

Games
I don't think I've ever even heard of PowerUp Forever until today, and I over looked it for most of the evening because I assumed it said "Lumines Supernova." Once I started prepping this post I finally paid enough attention to see PowerUp Forever. From what I can gather, it's another Shoot 'em Up game. No clue if it supports Trophies, and I'm running into resistance trying to find game play footage. I think I'll stick to Blast Factor and Söldner-X for now.

Videos

Games
BRAIN CHALLENGE video - PSP
LOTR: Conquest Good to be Bad Trailer
Resistance 2 Accolades Trailer
Xam’d: Lost Memories Release Announcement Video
Xam’d: Lost Memories Exclusive Interviews

Movies
Batman Tech Video
Not Easily Broken
Paul Blart: Mall Cop Trailer
Step Brothers Blu-ray Trailer
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc Blu-ray Trailer

Themes
No pay themes this week, but we get almost a handful of free themes. The three Resistance 2 themes are nearly interchangeable. Similar icons, and the same R2 themed sounds for each one, just different backgrounds. They're not by any means, just not great either. I think the backgrounds could be a little crisper but again they're not bad.

• Resistance 2 Americana Theme (free)
• Resistance 2 Man vs. Chimera Theme (free)
• Resistance 2 SRPA Team Theme (free)

The Xam’d Lost Memories Theme is quite simple and is based on the PSN only anime that's released weekly. I've never seen the show, despite wanting to, mainly because of the pricing scheme of the show. But there are 2 videos released this week on the PSN that seem a lot like DVD~esque extras to give you a taste of what's going on.

On the wallpaper side of things we only have one and honestly it would have to be for the most extreme Mountain Dew enthusiast. But if that is you, make sure you download the Mountain Dew Wallpaper and put it to good use as I deleted mine already.

Well I guess here goes hoping that Lumines Supernova actually comes out next week, but until then I'm going to continue practising on Lumines II for my PSP.