R&C: Quest For Booty Getting Blu-Ray Release

Ratchet & Clank: Quest For Booty is, at its heart, a PSN game. It's meant to be short, it's meant to be downloaded. And in the US, that's how it'll stay. As a PSN title. But in Europe, consumers will have a choice. They can download the game from the PSN, or they can buy it on Blu-Ray, as a disc-based version of the game will also be released. No reason given, but our guess is one of the versions will ship with only a handful of major languages, so it hits the market quicker.

Ratchet Booty coming to Blu-ray [Eurogamer]

ESRB Rates My Japanese Coach, Ratchet & Clank Future Follow Up

Hey, geeks and otakus, there's good news on the edutainment front, as the Entertainment Software Ratings Board has given ratings to a slew of new games, including Ubisoft's My Japanese Coach. Yes, now that you've mastered the Spanish and French languages via your Nintendo DS, your next challenge is the tongue of the Japanese people. Finally, the mysteries of Rhythm Tengoku's menu screen will be unlocked to me! It's a perfect compliment to your fansubbed anime of choice.

Also making a rated appearance at ESRB.org is Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty, the PlayStation 3 game that can't seem to keep its existence a secret. Surely, the title must be announced at E3 next week.

Finally, in other exciting news, Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium has been rated for a Wii release, meaning its Virtual Console appearance could be just months to a year away.

USK Rates Still-Unannounced Ratchet & Clank Title

If you can cast your minds alllll the way back to March, you'll remember a leaked SCEE release schedule alerted us to the existence of a new Ratchet & Clank game, Ratchet: Quest for Booty, which would most likely be made available on the PlayStation Network. The game - still yet to be announced by Sony, mind - is now a step closer to release after being rated by the USK, Germany's ratings and classification board. Now that we know the Germans see it as a game fit for twelve year-olds, all we need to know is...well, everything else, really.

Booty found, another Ratchet game for the PS3 [Siliconera]

Clank Figure Acts As Bait For Game Purchase

Ratchet: Quest for Booty? Lair: Diabolical Dragons? The Last Guy? A Resistance 2 trailer next month? Those releases are rumored to be hitting the PlayStation Store this spring and summer, according to the above pic going 'round the internet today. It's all based on a allegedly leaked PlayStation Network release list from Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, which lays out the planned PSN releases for the next four months, including a July release date for Home.

As you can see, according to the list, April is a big month. These releases may be bundled together to help promote the PlayStation Store revamp, also rumored to hit on April 15. So what is all this stuff?

With the PlayStation 2 port of High Impact's excellent PSP take on the Ratchet & Clank series just a week away, the official PlayStation Blog posts some details about the game's multiplayer. PS2 Size Matters takes the same amusing multiplayer functionality from the PSP version and splits it in two for split-screen goodness between you and a friend. You get four maps - Island Escape, Danger Valley, Mega Cannons, and Moon Cow Disease - complete with the Iron Lombax special challenges for each map. Personally I miss my R&C online multiplayer, but how much can you really expect from a $29.99 port of a PSP game?

Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters PS2 Multiplayer Details [PlayStation Blog]

Insomniac Still Developing New IPs

Now that Insomniac has found success with both the Ratchet & Clank and Resistance franchises, you might expect them to simply sequel the IP as long as the checks come in, staggering each title's two-year development cycle to release one game a year. But Insomniac's president Ted Price explained that such a schedule ping ponging Ratchet and Resistance wasn't the plan. Instead they intend to, "continue to produce new IP, there's no question about that."

So a new IP is coming from Insomniac in the semi far to far future? Sounds good to us.

Insomniac's Ted Price Talks 'Ratchet' Sales Surprises, New IPs [MTVmultiplayer]

Interview: Secret Agent Clank

Today, in between our sprinting between Moscone centers to cover all of Microsoft's news, we had a chance to sit down with High Impact Games' Lesley Mathieson. She was the Lead Designer on Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters, worked a bit on its PS2 port and is now Design Director on the second Ratchet & Clank minus the Ratchet title to hit the PSP: Secret Agent Clank.

And, between my heavy pants of hyperventilation at meeting the brains behind the PSP's best game to date, I was able to sputter out a few questions regarding the direction of the franchise and what sweet features we could expect in the new game.

Looks like Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters appearance on the PlayStation 2 isn't just a well-founded rumor. A recent PlayStation Underground e-mail update shows the former PSP-only game will get the PS2-port treatment, but provides nothing in the way of upgrade details or specific release date. Gamestop says we'll get it in March, Amazon says February. So far, no release date from Sony themselves.

Size Matters PS2 Looking Increasingly Legit

Not so long ago we mentioned a rumor that Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters might come from the PSP to the PS2 after it had appeared on GameStop's website for $29.99 with a February 2008 ship date.

Now the plot thickens! While we've heard nothing official from Sony or Insomniac regarding the title, GameSpot has updated their page with box art. And even the ESRB has jumped on board by adding the title to their database.

What Was Your Worst Glitch Of The Year?

With 2007 almost behind us, it's easy to look forward to the bright and beautiful future or look back to good times had by all. But sometimes the more cynical route is the more real, and learning from our past transgressions is the only way to kick ourselves when we make the same future mistakes.

In that particular mindset, we'd like to know your worst gaming moment of 2007—when a bad glitch that had no right to be in a sold copy of a game ruined the experience for you (funny glitches are also acceptable, but frowned upon by our emo side). My personal worst glitch was during Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (PSP). Some sort of bug occurred about 2/3 through the game while saving, corrupting my progress file. It translated to several lost hours, especially since I'm a gun upgrade whore, and was a big enough blow that I put down the game for good. I tried once to rekindle the magic, but alas, it was gone. And I loved that game.

So what about your worst glitch of 2007? Hit the comments and let us hear it. Then we'll cry together, trash our distant relatives and feel better about ourselves, as is tradition during the holidays.

I spent the weekend in Sydney with my wife. We were on our way to Paddington Market (a must see if you're visiting), when I noticed three buses with these gi-normous Ratchet & Clank Future/This is Living ads go by. They are the first Playstation 3 ads I've seen outside of television since I've been in Australia. Seems like a pretty good investment, though I'd like to see some for Uncharted as well.

AOL is giving away a 40GB Playstation 3 with a copy of Ratchet and Clank Future and a wireless Sixaxis controller to customers who sign a two-year contract for AOL Broadband Wireless Plus.

The 24-month contract also requires you to sign up for AOL Talk call plan (not sure what that is) and runs £19.99 a month. Once you stick around for 24 months you can keep your PS3 forever. The only catch, besides the ironclad two-year contract, is that you have to pay a deliver charge of £14.99 for the console, controller and game. Not a bad Christmas present, especially since it comes with Ratchet and Clank.

Judging by the price and location of the source, I suspect this is a UK only deal.

AOL Broadband now offering a free Sony PlayStation 3 [Think Broadband]

Ratchet Designer Hearts GOW2, Portal, Bioshock

The guest editor is a new thing around here at Kotaku. Maybe Crecente got the idea from Newsweek's N'Gai Croal, who is the king of getting others to contribute to his blog. His newest series, Make or Break, has a game industry veteran weigh in on the five things they look for in a game from another developer. First up is Insomniac's Brian Allgeier, who seems to have a big crush on God of War II, Portal, Bioshock, and yes, even Heavenly Sword. Read why Brian thinks a good opening sequence is key to a game, as is a strong main character and a good pace of progression. What is he forgetting?

Level Up Blog: Make or Break

Insomniac Bringing More DLC

In an interview with D+Pad magazine, Insomniac's Ryan Schneider dropped a juicy, vague, open-ended quote that will get us nowhere but interested in hearing more.

It's been great to have a network that can facilitate the map-pack downloads, demos and trailers for both Resistance: Fall of Man and Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction. The number of users on PSN has been rising steadily and we absolutely plan to support them with more new content coming soon.

D+Pad Nov 2007 [via maxconsole]

"Ultimately we're trying to create more emotional intimacy," he said. "That's one of the things that movies do really well with the close-up, where you can really see the emotions on the character's face. But in games, so often you're just seeing the action from a wide shot behind the character you're controlling and you don't have that emotional connection. So that's what we're going for."

Exorcist Ratchet, Explained By QA Testers

We'll be honest; the overblown, semi-pretentious nature of Lionhead's Fable 2 production diaries endear their clips a bit closer to our hearts than Insomniac's more straightforward Ratchet & Clank chronicles. But we do love this story about a typically ludicrous game bug that developers had to iron out in Future. Specifically, if you threw the wrench and then jumped, Ratchet's head would spin in 360 degrees, gaining momentum with subsequent wrench/jumps until it created a wagon-wheel effect. Hit the clip about a minute in to hear the story.

You already know the game is awesome. Because McWhertor and I proclaimed it as such. And we did about a hundred hands on impressions with the game—none of them wasted, mind you. But now that Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction has been officially poked and prodded by the perverted scientists that are game reviewers, you can have numerical confirmation for what we already suspected.

So hit the jump for our Frankenreview; this week we did something special and only included reviewers that had "game" or some amalgamation of such in the title. That's for you, Insomniac. Live it up.