The Eye of Judgment Legends (don't-call-it-a-port) version will also drop one more physical object: the UMD. Legends will hit the PlayStation Store in North America as a digital download sometime in (wait for it) spring of 2010, packing in some 300 digital cards, 30 of which are unique to the PSP version.

Sony will also offer wireless card trading, a story mode and downloadable booster packs—at some point—with the PSP version of Eye of Judgment.

Coming to PSP: THE EYE OF JUDGMENT LEGENDS [PlayStation.blog]

Granted, many of the highlights of 2010 are either remakes, spin-offs or tinier versions of their higher-definition siblings bound for the PlayStation 3, but maybe you'd prefer to play them on the go to begin with. Although 2009 wasn't too shabby—Gran Turismo, LittleBigPlanet, Half-Minute Hero, Resistance: Retribution, etc.—we're going to go out on a limb and say that next year could be much stronger in the games department—but we'll not make any bets until Capcom releases a proper Resident Evil Portable screen shot.

Let's have a look see. And, of course, please suggest your own personal PSP highlights from the coming year

Note: We'll be looking at every platform's currently announced and estimated 2010 slate over the course of the rest of the week-and much much more.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Hideo Kojima takes us back in time for the next Metal Gear Solid for the PSP, a follow up to the PlayStation 2 classic Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and previous portable entry Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. Expect lots of Snake on Snake action, with a major emphasis on cooperative gameplay.
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep
The PSP entry in Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts series also takes us back in time, as Birth By Sleep is a prequel to the PS2 original. Expect all-new gameplay for the series, an epically long adventure and multiplayer for up to six Disney-Square Enix fans.
Valkyria Chronicles 2
Sega shifts its focus to the PSP in this sequel to the under-appreciated PlayStation 3 tactical action RPG. Despite the platform change, the younger crowd and a step down from the fantastic visuals of the PS3 original, the rock solid gameplay appears to be intact.
echoshift
The spin-off from the perspective shifting original echochrome keeps the same minimal graphical treatment, but offers all-new time shifting gameplay.
Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake
The PSP port of the PlayStation Network real-time strategy action game looks to offer a portlier set of modes.
Hot Shots Tennis
You know how this works. Clap Hanz puts some big headed jocks into a game and make it good. Hot Shots Tennis offers one more reason to take your PSP to court.
Invizimals
This Pokemon-like monster hunting game uses the PSP's camera to find hidden Invizimals in the real world, similarly trapping them with a real-world tool.
Army of Two: The 40th Day
Total fistbump destruction on the go. The coop shooter is one of a handful of third party PSP games built on the foundation of now-generation console games, giving portable gamers all the Salem and Rios they crave in a smaller package.
Dante's Inferno
Go to Hell with the portable version of Dante's Inferno. Like Army of Two, EA is bringing what appears to be a capable port to the PSP. Perfect for the on-the-go gamer who wants something similar to God of War: Chains of Olympus.
Shadow of Destiny
Konami returns to the PlayStation 2 time-traveling adventure, bringing us a straight up port of the murder mystery in tinier form.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
This re-imagining of the original Silent Hill for the PlayStation has already been released on the Wii, but portable gamers with fond wishes of Silent Hill Origins may want to consider this. It's unlike any other Silent Hill, for better or worse.
SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3
Third-person shooting action. Ex-KGB agent killing. Lots of guns and an incredibly long title. If the acronym had never been invented, we'd call it Special Operations Command: United States Navy SEa, Air, and Land Forces Fireteam Bravo 3.
Eye of Judgment
Another PlayStation Portable game based on its bigger PS3 brother. This time, the camera gimmick has been done away with, giving card-based fantasy game fans something to do with their PSPs.
Duke Nukem Trilogy: Critical Mass
Not three games, but the start of a trilogy, a third-person shooter set in a world where Duke Nukem must shoot things or terrible things may happen. But there's a very very good chance it will actually come out.
Holy Invasion of Privacy Badman! 2: Time To Tighten Up Security!
Protect Badman once again from a flood of hopeful heroes by taking up your pickaxe and sending loads of monsters at them! Looks like this one will ship on UMD and on the PlayStation Store.
Lunar: Silver Star Harmony
Really, you can never have too many versions of Lunar, even if you've played the original Lunar: Silver Star on Saturn or any of the other enhanced remakes. This classic Japanese role-playing game even comes in a new deluxe package!

Both Pocket Gamer and Joystiq have similar reports about PSP minis support on the PS3. Joystiq cites a "a handful of reliable sources" in its write-up, saying that PSP minis may become PS3 minis as well before the end of the year. Those bite-sized downloadable games are said to get a resolution boost, too, the report says.

We've heard from one development source that backs up the story, but adds that minis may not be the only PSP content making the jump to the PlayStation 3. Would PSP playable on the PS3 be something that interests you?

PSP Minis to be playable on PS3 before Christmas [Pocket Gamer]
Rumor: PSP Minis playable on PS3 before Christmas [Joystiq]

While Assassin's Creed II tells the story of Renaissance nobleman assassin Ezio, Bloodlines brings players back to 12th century and the story of the original Assassin's Creed's Altair. The game picks up where Assassin's Creed left off, and Altair must hunt down the remaining Templars who have fled to the Island of Cyprus. It also serves as a link between the first game and the second.

Bloodlines is not Ubisoft's first stab at bringing Assassin's Creed to handhelds. Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles appeared on the Nintendo DS in February 2008. It was later ported to the iPhone in spring of this year. Unlike the DS game, the PSP's Bloodlines features gameplay similar to the home console versions of the game. Players can roam around Cyprus, blend into crowds, jump into haystacks and sneak up on targets to snub them out. But just because something works on a home console, that does not mean it will work on a portable system.

Loved
Combat, Cool Combos...: The most fun to be had in Bloodlines? The combat. Players hone in on their target and go in for the kill. Counter attacking, likewise, is fun and the first twenty or so times you see the mini cinematic for a finishing move is also satisfying.

Once Upon A Time: For fans of the series, the real draw here is not the gameplay, it's the story. What is the connection between Altair and Ezio? Are they related? If so, how? The game touches on those issues, and those who have been following the AC plot will be interested in picking up bloodlines if only to fill in some of the blanks between AC1 and AC 2. Maria is also a stand-out story wise in Bloodlines.

Graphically Impressive: Bloodlines looks solid for a PSP title. While the brown color palette of Cyprus is largely drab, it's very cool to see Altair running around on the PSP's screen. The frame rate is generally smooth. Like with many PSP games, however, this look great from far away, but not so great close up. That's simply hardware issue, and all and all, the game's pretty.

Hated
Not So Intelligent: The A.I. in Bloodlines is, sorry to be frank, dumb. Enemies are not very smart! Sometimes guards notice when you are slaying your prey, and sometimes, even when they are standing close by, they are blissfully unaware. On other occasions, they'll draw a sword for no apparent reason. Bosses aren't too bright, either.

Setting: The game's developers picked Cyprus to set the game. There's lots of brown! Okay, fine. I can live with that. The real issue is the way the city is divided up into sections. It's impossible to get an expansive feel when there are invisible walls and divides. It's hard to build up any real rhythm moving around. Then, Cyprus itself is mostly barren and empty, and it seems like guards outnumber the regular population — maybe that's how it was in the 12th century! But it doesn't make for the most seductive game environment.

Confusing: Let's say, you've never played Assassin's Creed. Who is this Altair? Who are the Templars? What's with this Maria lady? Animus, wha? The tutorial is suitable, but more story exposition is needed to bring this title to a wider audience. If you are familiar with the series, dive in, enjoy. If not, this is not the game for you. Go play one of the console games. Pronto!

Camera Issues: The developer makes a valiant effort at addressing the camera controls in Bloodlines. I applaud what they tried — more importantly, I respect it. Thing is, it doesn't work. To access the camera, players must press one of the shoulder buttons. Then that allows them use the triangle, square, circle, etc. buttons to look up, down, right, left. Players must stop dead in their tracks, and access the camera. It kills the flow — rather, it ensures that there really is no flow.

Hoping to repeat the commercial and technical success of something like God of War: Chains of Olympus, Bloodlines leaps high, but ends up falling flat on its face. Just because Assassin's Creed can be developed on handhelds, that doesn't mean it should.

Assassin's Creed is a big title — it needs the power of home consoles to fully play up the strengths of its gameplay. The developers did attempt to reproduce the console version on portable systems, but perhaps, retrenching for the PSP could lead to more satisfying gameplay.

Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines was developed by Ubisoft Montreal and Griptonite Games, and published by Ubisoft for the PSP on November 17. Retails for $39.99 USD. A digital copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Completed single player.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

The PSPgo launched on Oct. 1, kicking off an impressive glut of download-only games on the Playstation Store. It also marked Sony's promised push for new, triple-A games for the Playstation Portable including MotorStorm, LittleBigPlanet and Assassin's Creed titles.

Take a gander at some of the big games that hit the PSP this year. What titles would you recommend as a gift?

Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines
Price: $39.99
Genre: Action Adventure
Subject Matter: Assassin's Creed vaults onto the PSP.
Value: Players curious about what happened between Assassin's Creed I and II might want to check out this title.
Buy it for fans of AC.

Read the Full Review.

Fieldrunners

Price: $6.99
Genre: Tower Defense
Subject Matter: The popular iPhone Tower Defense game brought to the Playstation Portable.
Value: This was one of my favorite downloadable minis when the PSPgo launched. It's a great port of the original.
Buy it for fans of tower defense titles.
Read the Full Review

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Price: $29.99
Rating: Teen
Genre: Action
Subject Matter: A arcade-style shooter loosely based on the live-action G.I. Joe movie.
Value: G.I. Joe is a movie tie-in strangely reminiscent of Konami's Contra series. One or two players take control of their favorite Joes from the movie and take on Cobra across multiple levels of run-and-gun action. There are a few unlockables catering to fans of the old cartoon series, but other than that this is strictly a movie-lover's affair.
Buy it for: Really, really big fans of the G.I. Joe live-action movie.
Read the Full Review

Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars

Price: $39.99
Rating: Mature
Genre: Open world action-adventure
Subject Matter: Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars is a 3D, top-down adventure, putting players in the shoes of Huang Lee, a spoiled son of a Chinese gangster. The typical Grand Theft Auto rise to power through sex, drugs, violence and bad driving flows over the course of the game.
Value: There's a lengthy story to be told, with Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars throwing in plenty of side missions and mini-games to keep the player interested.
Buy it for: PSP owners looking for a chunky, fun-to-pay adventure.
Read the Full Preview

Gran Turismo

Price: $39.99
Rating: Everyone
Genre: Driving Simulation
Subject Matter: Gran Turismo offers players over 800 cars to purchase, customize and race on more than 35 tracks in a realistic setting, testing their driving skills with real-world physics.
Value: Gran Turismo offers nearly limitless replayability, thanks to the numerous cars, tracks and Driving Challenges stuffed in to the game. Long time Gran Turismo fans may be turned of by the lack of a Career Mode and Leaderboards, but this is a solid pick up and play racer.
Buy it for: The car-obsessed portable gamer who prefers a passenger seat in the real-world.
Read the Full Review

Half-Minute Hero

Price: $29.95
Rating: E10+
Genre: Across four mode: Hyper-speed role-playing game / hyper-speed scrolling shoot-em-up / hyper-speed real-time strategy game / hyper-speed top-down dungeon-crawler
Subject Matter: A winning send-up to the genres and technology of 16-bit Japanese-made games, there's actually a lengthy adventure here that spans eras and tells the comedic/dramatic tale of heroes who repeatedly face the challenge of saving the world in 30 seconds.
Value: High, as the game offers short-session bites of play that combine into a lengthy adventure that has none of the brevity suggested by the game's title.
Buy it for: RPG fans, fans of the Super Nintendo era, and fans who are looking for something original and smart on the PSP.
Read the Full Review

LocoRoco Midnight Carnival

Price: $14.99
Rating: Everyone
Genre: Platformer
Subject Matter: The LocoRocos are up past their bedtime and rolling and bouncing their way through a Halloween carnival-style levels.
Value: The stages might be short, but they are hard. A more satisfying (and less stressful) gaming experience was found in some of the mini-games.
Buy it for: Gamers looking for a challenge who get music stuck in their heads easily.
Read the Full Review

MotorStorm: Arctic Edge

Price: $39.99
Rating: Teen
Genre: Racing
Subject Matter: MotorStorm: Arctic Edge is an over-the-top, semi-open world off-road racer.
Buy it for: fans of arcade race games who spend a bit of time commuting or can't afford a Playstation 3.
Value: With 12 maps, two directions to race them on, multiple courses and vehicle types, MotorStorm Arctic Edge is packed with content. Online play rounds out the experience giving you a chance to test your skills against five other players at a time.
Read the Full Review

PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe

Price: $19.99
Rating: Teen
Genre: Tower defense
Subject Matter: Classic tower defense mechanics and gameplay mixed with delicious PixelJunk aesthetics.
Buy it for: fans of the original Playstation 3 title, tower defense games or developer Q Games.
Value: Featuring new maps, enemies and towers, this is worth the cash.
Read the Full preview

PSPgo
Price: $249
Rating: NA
Genre: Hardware
Subject Matter: Sony's latest portable platform ditches the need for a UMD drive and instead gives you a 16GB harddrive and the ability to download all of the games directly to the system.
Value: At $249, the portable platform is quite pricey, coming in at the cost of several home consoles.
Buy it for: anyone interested in being able to load up their portable with movies, TV shows, pictures, music and games without having to carry a single disc around with them.
Read the Full Review

PSPgo Traveler Case
Price: $19.99
Rating: NA
Genre: NA
Subject Matter: This fauxe leather case protects and beautifies your PSPgo.
Value: For just under $20, this is a heck of a deal.
Buy it for: PSPgo owners looking to protect or upgrade the look of their portable.
Read the Full Review

Rock Band Unplugged>/strong>

Price: $19.99
Rating: Teen
Genre: Rhythm game
Subject Matter: Harmonix' insanely popular Rock Band on the go.
Value: For just under $20 you get a full-fledged World Tour and about 40 tracks. You also get the ability to download new tracks to your PSP.
Buy it for: fans of rhythm games, Rock Band and good music.
Read the Full Review

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona

Price: $39.99
Rating: Teen
Genre: RPG
Subject Matter: A remake of the original Persona for the PlayStation.
Value: A more faithful translation of the original Japanese Persona has never been seen in North America, making Persona PSP the definitive first entry in a series that's been enjoying increased popularity these past few years.
Buy it for: Any Japanese RPG fan.
Read the Full Review

Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron

Price: $29.99
Rating: Teen
Genre: Adventure
Subject Matter: You are X-2, a Jedi clone out to help the Rebels take down the Empire and stop your brother X-1 before it's too late.
Value: Elite Squadron mixes gameplay, story and clips from the Star Wars films as it tells the story of X-2. The real replay value comes with the game's online multiplayer.
Buy it for: Star Wars fans or those looking for a PSP multiplayer experience.
Read the Full Review

Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron follows the tale of two brothers, both Jedi clones, named X1 and X2. As the Dark Side's power grows, the brother find themselves on opposite sides of the battle with X1 fighting for the Empire and X2 helping the Rebel Alliance. The game takes place over the course of the Star Wars films, with clips and characters from the older and newer films.

Compared with the previous entry in the Battlefront series, Elite Squadron offers "deeper" customization than any of the previous Battlefront titles. But with customization now standard on so many titles, a good game needs more than the option of character changes.

Loved
Variety Is The Spice of Space: Elite Squadron takes the fight into space, allowing players to fly X-Wings and board Star Destroyers. The inclusion of a galactic front in the series, opens up the title — makes it feel bigger. You go from blaster Stormtroppers on Tatooine to barrel rolling TIE Fighters in space. It really encapsulates the Star Wars experience.

So Epic: The great thing about Elite Sqaudron is the scope — players travel from Tatooine to Hoth to Endoor. The game is epic! Just like a Star Wars title should be. But at the same time, it does give players the feeling of experiencing the smaller side of a larger battle — just like a Battlefront title should

We Are Online: Elite Squadron has robust multiplayer, and The Heroes and Villains mode is a welcomed addition, giving players the chance to play as Stars Wars heroes or bad dudes. The other online modes, such as Galactic Conquest, offered replay value once the single player campaign is finished.

Hated
The Controls Are Outta Control: There's no way around it, controlling the camera and the character by using the PSP's analog stick is a bad idea. Why not control the character with the directional pad? Oh right, because I'm using it for all sorts of input controls like getting into spaceships and whatnot. The controls could be and should be streamed lined — they feel dated. There is nothing wrong with complex controls when they add to the experience. Here, they don't. They detract. It would make more sense to have the character controlled with the direction pad — not just for camera issues, but for control issues. The analog numb on the PSP often lead my character all over the place, jumping too far, running too far, missing my landing spot. Unfortunately, the Alternative Controls are even less instinctive than the Default ones.

Been Here Before?: And as previously mentioned, the inclusion of space battles, provides a variety in gameplay, but some of that variety gets stale in the single player campaign. Missions seem to be either shoot guys on foot, use Ion Canon, then fly away or fly away, use Ion Canon and then shoot guys on foot. A pattern develops and becomes old.

The addition off space battles and the new multiplayer mode show that there is still innovation and room for the Battlefront franchise to grow. But for it to truly blossom, the basic control mechanics are in need of an overhaul. I fear the dark cloud of clunky controls shrouds all Elite Squadron.

Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron was developed by Rebellion Developments for the PSP and published by LucasArts on November 3. Retails for $29.99 USD for the PSP as well as for the Nintendo DS. A copy of the game was acquired via PSN digital code for reviewing purposes. Played through single player campaign and tested multiplayer.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

"Our work is already bearing fruit," Howard said, according to the Associated Press. "We still have more work to do."

After its second year of losses in the current fiscal year, which ends March 2010, Stringer said that Sony's target is to turnaround their game business and have it be profitable by March 2011.

The company plans to use a two-prong strategy to achieve that goal. Sony believes they can improve profitability through cost reduction, becoming more efficient internally and getting internal divisions to work better together.

Sony also sees a growth in hardware, software and network services pushing sales up in the gaming division.

Stringer says that Sony's Playstation 3 has five key advatages: The incorporation of a Blu-ray player, the Playstation Network, PSP linkage, upcoming 3D games and their recently announced motion controller.

The Motion control, he said, uses the Playstation Eye camera, can track depth, position and motion by "sphere, gyro and acceleration sensors" and vibration feedback and "rendition by light."

I've been waiting for something to topple God of War: Chains of Olympus from the top of my list of favorite games to play on Sony's portable. Could Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines be that game?

I still haven't had a chance to spend any time with it, so I'll reserve all judgment.

Don't forget, you need to be 18 to watch this video... or your head will explode.

"This decrease," states Sony, "was mainly due to lower VAIO PC and game sales." According to Sony, lower PS2 hardware and software sales as well as the appreciation of the yen negatively impacted business.

During the quarter, Sony sold 3 million PSP units, down from the 3.2 million units sold during the same period last year. PS2 sales dropped from 2.5 million units sold during this period in 2008 to 1.9 million units sold in the same period this year. PS3 sales, however, were up: 3.2 million units were sold during the period, compared with 2.4 million units some during the same time last year.

"An operating loss of ¥58.8 billion ($654 million) was recorded," states Sony, "a deterioration of ¥18.2 billion year-on-year, mainly due to a deterioration in profitability in VAIO PCs and the game business."

Graphics have been tweaked and there's a new character costume, too.

Tenchu Kurenai is out January 28 in Japan and priced at ¥3,990 (US$43).

『忍者活劇 天誅 紅 ポータブル』の発売日が決定 [ファミ通.com]

Q-Game head Dylan Cuthbert has stated that he doesn't think the company will port anything else to the PSP, telling Kotaku, "We thought the psp-go and the psp-3000 were safe but a rip "that works on psp-3000s" went up on the torrent servers the day after we released PJMD."

The PSP port is optimized for the PSP screen and features all the content of the PSN tower defense original as well as a brand new island.

Concerned about piracy, Q-Games decided to release the game as digital-only, but to no avail. "Seeing it up on torrentz.com the following day was very depressing," states Cuthbert.

A UMD version of the game was released, but in Asia, and it was not the full game. The pirated versions appearing online are the full game.

Piracy aside, if PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe isn't a big PSP hit for Q-Games, then porting games over to the PSP could very well be more trouble than they're worth.

Because, unfortunately, it appears that the deal is in-store only. And if you've ever been to a Fry's, you know what a crazy place the discount electronics retailer can be. The $199 asking price, while an uncommon markdown for a new piece of video game hardware, is not out of the norm for Fry's. It's also offering Uncharted 2: Among Thieves for ten bucks off the price you'd pay elsewhere and giving away multiple free games with every Wii or Xbox 360 sold.

So, maybe consider it a bellwether of Fry's current PSPgo stock if it makes you feel better or just focus on the less cynical side of the story and get yourself a cheaper PSPgo.

Thanks to Brian for the tip!

Fry's Electronics Ad [San Jose Mercury News]

Rockstar today announced that beginning today Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition, Midnight Club: L.A. Remix and Manhunt 2 will be available for digital download from the PlayStationNetwork for the PSP.

Starting on Oct. 22 the developer will launch their own storefront on the download service which will offer new and legacy games for the PSP. Games for sale and download will include Beaterator, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, and The Warriors.

But the final answer is yes. Yes, Elite Squadron can handle all 16 players leaping from space combat to ground battles and back again almost at once. Yes, it can get hectic and confusing. And yes, you will totally love it.

What Is It?
Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron is the latest in the cross-platform Battlefront series. This installment on PSP and Nintendo DS keeps level with the series' theme of dropping players into "everyman" Star Wars characters with some special chances to play as "hero/villain" characters in certain levels.

What We Saw
I played six multiplayer Conquest Mode matches with an assortment of other games journalists and QA testers who totally owned our collective face. The worlds we saw are: Tatooine, some Clone Wars planet I didn't recognize, Hoth, Kashyyyk, Dantooine and Mustafar. Conquest matches, for those of you unfamiliar with the series, involve capturing command points and destroying enemy spacecraft in a certain amount of time.

How Far Along Is It?
The game is out November 3.

What Needs Improvement?
Hey! I Didn't Want To Go Planetside! If you're flying a spacecraft, the game sometimes takes liberties with your locations. For example, you can hop in an X-Wing on the ground and try to jet up to space by flying skyward and pressing up on the D-pad – but the game doesn't think you should be up there quite yet and so it either doesn't send you right away, or it doesn't send you at all. This same thing happens in the space-side of levels as well, which gets really annoying if you're flying close to the planet while trying to shoot somebody and the game decides to send you planetside even though you didn't press the D-pad.

Tough To Change Targets: You can lock on to enemies both in space and on the ground – but I was having a heck of a time figuring out how to change targets if I didn't want keep shooting at something. This really became a problem if I happened to be targeting a turret on a Star Destroyer because my ship would automatically angle toward it even as I tried to jet away from the ship so I wouldn't crash directly into it.

My Kingdom For A Melee Button! It seemed like you'd automatically melee-attack somebody when pressing the shoot button if they got close enough, however it didn't happen all the time. I know there are some weapons that are automatically melee-only (e.g. lightsabers) – but if everybody has the potential to melee with their guns, I'd really like a separate button for it. I'm a huge fan of the pistol-whip.

What Should Stay The Same?
Space Combat: Loved it. Loved it so much, I actually started to avoid going planetside.

Escape Pods: A big part of the battle phase is destroying the enemy's command ship that's hovering above the planet. You accomplish this by bringing down the enemy shields (with the ion cannon that's planetside) and then boarding the craft with your ship (easier said than done). Once inside the ship, combat changes to the ground format where you're running around as a trooper, a droid or a special character. You've got to get to the reactor core station inside the ship and wreck it, whereupon it triggers a timed explosion. You've got about two minutes tops to either fight your way back to the ship you boarded with (assuming it wasn't shot up) – but the best option is to grab an escape pod which sends you right back down to the planet.

It's What Multiplayer Was Meant To Be: If you've ever gotten together a bunch of gamers to take a crack at any multiplayer mode, you know when things are going well. People enjoy themselves and really get into the rivalries. When a big event happens – like a command ship exploding – there's a cry from the victim team and a cheer from the aggressor team. When somebody morphs into a Jedi at a random point in battle (depending on how well you're doing), there are squawks of disbelief to see a lightsaber on the field. And when the match ends, there's a collective groan because it felt like it ended too soon.

Final Thoughts
I'm buying it. I really hope my PSP-owning friends do, too, so I can gun them down in space.

As game site Siliconera points out, players can get figures of Japanese Pizza Hut mascot Cheese-kun as room decorations as well as arm themselves with a Pizza Hut cardboard box shield and a pizza pan. The in-game pizzeria also has edibles like seafood pizza for 2,500 meseta (in-game currency), cheese pizza for 1,900 meseta and coffee for 1,000 meseta. The cost of sudden urges for Pizza Hut?

Get Pizza Hut In Phantasy Star Portable 2 [Siliconera]

Hit us up in the comments section.

The strategy RPG looks a lot like several dozen other dungeon crawlers I can think of for handheld systems. But Natsume's President and CEO, Hiro Maekawa, says it's "unique," "charming," and that it should "be on the radar of any RPG fan!" Which means me. Which is why I'm posting about it.

Adventures to Go features customizable dungeons to go with its grid-based combat and bland saving-the-world plot. And it also looks like there's some tongue-in-cheek humor to be had as well.

I just know there's a "would you like fries with that" joke in here somewhere, but I can't quite work it in. Anybody want to take a stab at it?

The snow and ice setting of this latest MotorStorm, a shift from the arid desert of the first title and the humid jungles of the second, adds plenty of new twists. But the biggest change is how you'll play the game: On your Playstation Portable.

Can a franchise built on the premise of pushing the bounds of the PS3 succeed on a portable platform more similar to the Playstation 2?

Let's find out.

Loved
Smooth Operator: Played on the PSPgo, MotorStorm: Arctic Edge still delivers a lively experience with intuitive and responsive controls. You'll still find the gas and brake, the emergency brake and nitro all easy to use while shifting through packed courses and drifting around hair-pin turns. The ability to use either the thumbstick or the direction pad to steer is a nice addition as well.

Diminutive Deaths: One of MotorStorm's biggest draws for me was the use of rag-doll physics and a detailed spray of car parts every time I screwed up at high speeds. While Arctic Edge has certainly cut back on the car parts, the physics are fully in play during the game, delivering satisfying, groan-worthy crash-ups and body defenestration.

Memorable Maps: MotorStorm: Arctic Edge comes loaded with a dozen hazard-packed, multiple-route tracks, all of which you will eventually race on in both directions. The maps are nicely detailed, coated with patches of ice, flowing water and even some vision-hindering snowfall, making the races feel more open-ended and alive.

Avalanche!: During the course of some races a racer can trigger an avalanche by using their vehicle's horn too much or crashing in the wrong place. The results sometimes alter tracks, but almost always clear the area of all racers in a tumble of snow and ice.

Expanded Cool Down: MotorStorm: Pacific Rift introduced the idea of cooling down your nitro-heated engine by driving through water. Arctic Edge expands on the idea, allowing you to also use high drifts of snow to speed up cool down. A minor, but nice touch.

Screen Cap: At any time while playing on your own, you can pause the game move a camera around and take a screenshot. You can even save that screen to your Playstation Portable for sharing or showing off later. Great idea for community building.

Online Mayhem: Once you get online, playing with others over a WiFi setting is a fairly fun experience. With leaderboards, and support for up to six players at a time, the races are often frantic and the results always have meaning.

Hated
Getting Online: This may be a very limited issue. But when I tried to get online to play MotorStorm: Arctic Edge the game crashed. Finally, I had to create an entirely new Playstation Network account to get the game to run. While I've not seen any forum or support posts complaining about this issue, GameSpot did mention it in their review as well. Sony tells me this is an incredibly rare problem. If so, then it likely won't impact you.

Bubble of Win: I couldn't help but notice that once I got out of view of the pack in single-player races, I often stayed out of view of the pack. It was as if they vanished. Part of me wonders if that's a deliberate attempt at streamlining resources. It didn't kill the experience for me, but it did seem eerie at times.

Too Fast, Too Small: MotorStorm: Arctic Edge is an amazing racer for the Playstation Portable. It's surprising how many elements it introduces graphically to each race. Unfortunately, this can sometimes get daunting on a small screen with such a fast game. More than once I missed a turnoff or drove smack into the wall because I simply couldn't see it in time.

This game is a prime example of why I like to download games for the Playstation Portable. I'm not sure I'd want to keep this game loaded in my PSP's UMD slot all of the time, but it's nice having it handy. And it's great for a quick session or two to kill time.

MotorStorm: Arctic Edge is a handful of fun, a fantastic portable version of the full MotorStorm experience. While it may shave away some of the essence of the console title, it still manages to deliver enough of the full experience to make picking up the game worth your while.

MotorStorm: Arctic Edge was developed by Bigbig Studios and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the Playstation Portable on UMD and as a download on Sept. 29. Retails for $39.99 USD. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played all race modes and tracks in single player with all vehicle classes and multiplayer modes on the PSPgo.

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Last week I checked in with Sony Computer Entertainment of America to ask how the PSPgo was impacting hardware sales and what sort of impact they were seeing on the Playstation Network.

It's had a very positive impact, Patrick Seybold, Sr. Director, Corporate Communications and Social Media for SCEA, told Kotaku today.

The launch of the download-only device has "generated strong consumer interest in the overall PSP platform and the PlayStation Network's digital content offering," he said.

In the three days following the launch of the PSPgo Seybold says that their "top retail partners" saw a 300 percent lift in PSP hardware sales compared to the same period the prior week in the U.S. Seybold says that the launch also generated a "significant increase in revenue for PlayStation Network, driven by a 200 percent lift in PSP game downloads purchased from PlayStation Store" in North America.

Sony declined to give any specific sales numbers for this story.

The platform owner did that they think the growth will continue.

"With several blockbuster games launching digitally and on UMD in the coming weeks — from LittleBigPlanet to Assassin's Creed Bloodlines —," Seybold said, "we expect this momentum to continue and look forward to a strong holiday season for both the PSPgo and PSP-3000."

Seybold's comments echo what officials in the U.K. have said, pointing to a jump in sales the week of release.

With some 800 licensed cars and over 35 tracks on which to race them, Gran Turismo for the PSP offers a broad driving simulation experience that focuses more on car collecting and driving technique than high speed thrills. It also offers local multiplayer, wireless car trading and an undeniably slick package.

The PSP game's spec sheet mostly matches the raw numbers of its PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 counterparts, minus a few concessions, but does it offer the same deep feature set of the games that have come before it?

Loved
Easy In, Easy Out: Gran Turismo for PSP feels more forgiving, more inviting than ever for new players. As someone who dabbled in the first three games and Gran Turismo HD, I typically consider myself a GT noob every time I dive in. The PSP version is generous with credits, initially friendly with its competitive AI drivers, ensuring that getting back into the swing of things is a breeze. It's ideal for a pick up and play session, more so than I'd expected.

Driving Challenges: Also kinder to the casual Gran Turismo fan (who might've had horrifying flashbacks to cruel license tests in previous games) are the PSP game's Driving Challenges. Most can be cleared at bronze level on the first go for easy in-game income, but others offer a serious and addictive challenge for the driving sim disinclined. The demonstration videos of each challenge, narrated by Jay Leno, are generally pretty helpful.

It Gets The Numbers Right: Gran Turismo PSP nails the numbers, with a rock solid frame rate and hundreds of cars to collect, giving the game a Pokemon-like that will have completionists returning for more. There may not be much variety in the gameplay modes, but you can't fault the game for a lack of incredibly diverse cars and trucks to drive.

Technically, It's Gran Turismo: It may not look as sharp as its forebears and some of the early screen shots released for Gran Turismo PSP, but the game's physics model, tracks, car models and general technical prowess impress. The number of cars that can compete in a race have been whittled down to just four, but the game still runs well enough to merit mention.

Hated
Directionless Grinding: After completing the game's Driving Challenge mode and tackling a handful of random time trials, single-player races, drift trials, you may start to wonder where the rest of the game is. There's no campaign mode, no career mode, no structure to the game that would give one much of a sense of accomplishment. This lack of things to do beyond finding things to do with your time gives Gran Turismo a barebones feeling, in spite of the wealth of vehicles to drive.

Limited Time Offers: Gran Turismo PSP curiously randomizes what cars will be available to the player when they're in the mood to do a little shopping. Only four car manufacturers are available at any given time—per day in the Gran Turismo calendar, which admittedly passes quicker than real-time—and up to ten cars per manufacturer are up for purchase. That makes car shopping somewhat of a crap shoot, sometimes limiting the appeal when ultra-expensive Audis or the meek Land Rover offerings pop up.

Personally (and curiously), I found the Driving Challenge aspects of the game—the deep list of driving technique tutorials—to offer the most appeal, helping to make me a better virtual driver. Perfecting some of those techniques was made a little more challenging by my distaste for the PSP's awkward analog nub, a control hang up that might be a turn off to GT fans downgrading to the portable version. But after burning through that portion of the game, buying a few overpriced rides and taking them out in the snow, I felt like I'd exhausted Gran Turismo PSP.

After all this waiting, it's somewhat surprising to see the limitations that Gran Turismo for the PSP comes with. The core essence of the driving game is intact, offering an enjoyable simulation on the go. And that may be all you require of the PlayStation Portable entry, a largely capable if not impressively feature rich driving sim, a portable copy of the Nürburgring on which to study its turns, chicanes and corners.

Gran Turismo was developed by Polyphony Digital and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PSP on September 29. Retails for $39.99 USD. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played 50 single player races, completed Driving Challenge mode and tested Ad Hoc multiplayer.

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