As we mentioned earlier, Warhawk's upcoming expansion pack Operation Fallen Star is being shown off this week at the Games Convention in Leipzig.

The pack comes with ten new battle maps set in the forested Tau Crater as well as the Icarus M. 1 Rocket Pack, which allows soldiers to fly about and take on both ground troops and Warhawks up close. Hit the jump for the full release and a fancy gallery.

Warhawk Jet Packs, Crash Commando, Savage Moon Invade Sony PSN

Riding high on the success of downloadable titles like PixelJunk Monsters, echochrome and Super Stardust HD, Sony packed their booth with a collection of upcoming digital goodies.

High on the list are such stand-outs from E3 as Flower, PixelJunk Eden and The Last Guy Standing, but there's also a nice selection of some newer titles like old-school side-scroller Crash Commando, tower strategy game Savage Moon and Warhawk's Operation Fallen Star expansion pack which includes, yes, jet packs.

Full list and descriptions on the jump.

Warhawk updates are coming in a little over a fortnight, you know that. What you may not be aware of are the extent of what Warhawk version 1.5 will bring with it. Thankfully, we have officially sanctioned PR outlets and video game producers to do the heavy lifting on the promotion side, with the PlayStation.blog rounding up all the changes.

In short, you're getting new insignias, new paint jobs, custom soundtracks, Trophies, tutorials and very painful looking "Ceremonial Blades" in the next free Warhawk update. What you're not getting are those jetpacks. For that, you'll have to wait for the rumored booster pack, beans from which may possibly be spilled at the Leipzig Games Convention (or so hints Warhawk producer Dylan Jobe).

Warhawk v1.5 Update “Free Never Gets Old!” [PlayStation.blog]

Warhawk Getting Jetpacks In New Patch, Says GameFAQs

The release of Warhawk version 1.5 is not only bringing with it a slew of Trophies, game modes and online options, it may be bringing an entirely new vehicle type — jetpacks!

A posted list of alleged 57 attainable Trophies in the PlayStation 3 version of Warhawk features three jetpack specific achievements — Aerial Ballet, Are You Aim-Botting? and That Was Some Bug. Jobe may have been hinting at the inclusion of the new ride on a post about the Warhawk 1.4 update on the official PlayStation Blog last month.

Consider it rumor for now (*cough* GameFAQs *cough*), until we get some confirmation from SCEA and/or Incognito.

UPDATE: We did hear back from SCEA, who say the list of Warhawk Trophies at GameFAQs is indeed accurate. Jetpacks ahoy!

Warhawk [GameFAQs - via PS3 Fanboy] [Image]

Warhawk Trophies (and Other New Stuff) Coming At The End Of The Month

When the PS3 trophy system was announced in June, Warhawk was to be one of the first pre-trophy games to be brought up to speed. They weren't fibbing! Sony have announced that, as part of Warhawk's 1.5 update, over 50 trophies will be introduced into the game, and they're being offered for achievements as diverse as hosting a game for four hours, playing a "perfect deathmatch" (come 1st, no deaths) and shooting down aircraft with a tank. The update will also introduce "custom music tracks from the Home Menu", new paint schemes and insignia and a range of tutorial missions to help new players out before jumping online. It'll be released on August 27.

As Dylan Jobe says in this PlayStation.Blog post, Warhawk is "almost a year old". Time for a fresh coat of paint! And Sony are obliging, with the innocently-titled "1.4" upgrade actually bringing a ton of gameplay and functionality tweaks to the game. On the gameplay side, two new modes are added, Collection and the great-sounding Hero (each team gets a "hero", who glows and can be seen on the map but is also incredibly powerful). Behind the scenes, everything from the mini-map to the scoring's seen changes, with the addition of new features like "Quick Join", which is Warhawk's name for instant matchmaking. The 1.4 update goes live on July 16 at 0300 Pacific Time, and is completely free of charge.

Warhawk v1.4 Update “Free Gameplay Modes!!” [PlayStation.Blog]

Warhawk Expansions Bundled In A Combo Pack

Sony have announced that, sometime in the future - probably the near future - they'll be releasing a Warhawk-themed value pack over the PSN. Said pack will roll both Warhawk expansions (Omega Dawn and Operation Broken Mirror) into the single release. As of now there's only British pricing available: the pack will go for £4.99, a charitable offering when you consider they each went for £3.99 when first released. North American pricing can't be too far away.

Warhawk DLC bundle incoming [CVG]

6" Warhawk Figures Usher In An Era Of Desktop Dogfights

A PlayStation.Blog post about an upcoming Warhawk tournament actually contains something far more interesting: news of a line of miniature Warhawk figures. Gentle Giant studios are currently at work on the project, and when done will be releasing a line of 6" replicas based on the series' trademark fighter. They'll even come with little plastic stands, so it looks like they're flying, and you can pick them up off your desk and be all "mmmmmyyyeeewwwwww, pew pew pew" when nobody's looking.

Warhawk GGL Tournament! [PlayStation.Blog]

Jaffe Explains How Heartland Crashed And Burned

Sure, we heard the gory story details of David Jaffe and Incognito's canceled PSP game Heartland about this time last year. The super emo tale of a Chinese invasion of U.S. soil was said to rip our hearts out. In a fun way! You know, in a burning a Chinese-American family alive way, according to new revelations about the nixed game in the latest Escapist.

Jaffe explains how Heartland came to be and came to not be, as the game was a bad fit with the Warhawk developer from the get go. The intended follow up to God of War was planned as an emotional response to the Bush administration, but at the core, Jaffe says "what we really wanted to do was create the definitive shooter for the PlayStation Portable." That, obviously, didn't happen, and it doesn't sound like it ever will.

Inside David Jaffe's Heartland [The Escapist]

The latest update to Incognito's PlayStation 3 shooter Warhawk has gone live, bringing an extra tenth of numeral to the software version and inserting a host of new features. Go ahead, download it! In addition to new paint jobs, new VOIP options and new tactics, Warhawk's 1.3 flavor brings with it Home support. That's just fantastic, now we just need Home to launch so we can enjoy it. If you missed it the first time, here's what we heard Home will bring to the Warhawk experience. Until the service goes from beta to prime time, enjoy whacking things with your new field mechanic wrench!

The winners of the Warhawk custom paint job contest have been announced via the official PlayStation blog, and boy, are they a fabulous bunch. Warhawk producer Dylan Jobe revealed the 18 new user created color schemes that will be shipping with the 1.3 software update, a fantastically rainbow colored assortment of non-drab airships. The winning insignias, less showy, were also revealed. Jobe even dropped off a new trailer for the next Warhawk update, all of which can be seen at the link below. Congrats, winners!

Warhawk Contest Winners! Plus v1.3 trailer! [PlayStation.blog]

Warhawk Hits 500,000 Ranked Players

Warhawk Expansion Pegged For April

We just released an expansion on Warhawk in September, and we'll release another one in April.

Warhawk's upcoming booster pack, Operation Broken Mirror, will feature an armored personnel carrier which can serve as a mobile spawning point and weapon producer and also create the "mother of all bubble shields," the game's producer, Dylan Jobe told me in a recent interview.

"You can roll this around a map and it's like this clean blank canvas for combat," he said. "When it's driving around it works as a mobile forward spawn point and when you spawn into it you get additional equipment."

Jobe said the APC will also be able to deploy a piece of equipment that is "like the mother of all bubble shields" and is a couple of hundred feet wide.

How Warhawk Makes Home Really, Really Cool

Sure, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and Resistance: Fall of Man may have wicked cool feature sets for PlayStation 3's Home, but it's actually Warhawk's planned game portal that has us most excited. According to our sources, the Home lobby for the Incognito dogfighter will serve as a "war room" where up to eight players can meet to discuss their strategy for an upcoming match.

Sure, you could do that with text or voice chat, but it sounds like the developers have gone the extra mile to make planning your battles even cooler.

Sony has announced that the v1.3 patch for Warhawk is coming soon and fills us in on all the details. The patch adds a myriad of functions including future Home support, new VOIP Options and new paint schemes & insignias. The latter will be culled from a contest that invited users to submit their original paint schemes. The winners will be included in the patch when it arrives. Also included will be two new pieces of troop equipment: the Bio-field Generator and the Mechanic's Field Wrench. There is no word yet on when the patch will be deployed but you can check out all the details on the Playstation Blog.

Warhawk v1.3 Patch details [Playstation.Blog]

The next update for PlayStation 3 dogfighter Warhawk should appeal the fashion design crowd. It's ushering in a new era of visual customization for vehicles and foot soldiers, giving budding designers the chance to have their work featured in-game. Sony and Incognito are currently holding a contest, seeking decal design and paint scheme submissions, 70 of which will be included in the upcoming patch. Details are still scarce—but coming "pretty soon," says producer Dylan Jobe—on the rest of what version 1.3 will bring, so stay tuned.

The contest is open to U.S. residents only (blame the lawyers!) and entrants would be wise to read the rules before firing up MS Paint. May we suggest a tasteful blend of tropical pink, chartreuse, white and black? Possibly with a bold "K" for your decal? Just riffing, here.

Warhawk Paint & Insignia Contest! [PlayStation.blog]

This week's PlayStation Store update is not unlike a Christmas stocking overflowing with goodies, nary a switch or lump of coal to be found, except that you actually have to pay out of pocket for some of presents. And we don't recommend hanging your four-hundred dollar plus console from the mantle. We do, however, recommend grabbing all the free content you can get your hands on this week, including demos for BlackSite: Area 51 and Snakeball, plus freebies for Folklore, Guitar Hero III and MotorStorm.

To celebrate the release of the Omega Dawn expansion pack for Warhawk, a new theme joins the store alongside the release of the PSone original. You'll marvel at how far graphics have come since then. The full list of stuff is available after the jump.