The ESRB has rated Eye of Judgement: Legends for the PlayStation Portable, and that reminds us -- that game's coming out!

While not officially announced for North America, the PSP adaptation of Sony's PlayStation Eye card game is set to hit the portable in Europe and Japan early next year. The game shuns the use of physical cards, instead packing all of the available PS3 cards onto the PSP, along with 30 new cards downloadable via PlayStation Network. 

No word on whether the North American release will be timed alongside Europe's early 2010 launch, but this rating makes it likely we'll see it sooner rather than later.

2000 AD, Disney, IDW and Marvel are among some of the publishers planning to deliver Digital Comics content over PSN for the PSP’s Digital Comics Reader.

Earlier yesterday afternoon, the official EU PS blog revealed several publishers with plans to release Digital Comics content. Of major note is Marvel, the company responsible for Captain America and several other man-boy-style comics. 2000 AD (Judge Dredd, ftw!), Disney, IDW, Insomnia, iVerse and Titan round out the rest of the teaser list, proving that several different-sized hands are involved in the project.

According to the post, the Comics tab on PSN will debut with over 500 comics at some point this mid-December. The price of the content is still an unknown at this time, but surely all of you would pay whatever amount is asked to own digital copies of the Judge Dredd series, right? RIGHT?

Last week, a survey leaked to Kotaku suggested that Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria would be on the cover of 2K Sports' Major League Baseball 2K10. 2K sent out a press release earlier today to make it official, but we now know that the four covers that the survey included were mere mock-ups. Six different box art designs, available for your viewing in the gallery below, accompanied the press release; you can vote for your favorite at 2ksports.com/vote. (They did the same thing for NBA 2K10.)

Longoria, like MLB 2K9 cover athlete Tim Lincecum, is one of baseball's most quickly rising stars; he made the AL All-Star team in his first two years in the league, and he recently won his first Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards. And he isn't related to Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria.

Which cover do you guys like? I prefer the one pictured above. MLB 2K10 will be out in March for the PS3, 360, Wii, PS2, PSP, and PC. Cover voting will be open for two weeks, until noon EST on December 8th.

Tis' the season for gift giving. With some many great games released this year, finding the perfect gift for that gamer in your life (or for yourself, you selfish jerk!) can be quite a task.

That's where we come in. Destructoid staff writers were asked to make a few holiday, game-related gift picks, either based on personal choice or simply in the spirit of giving. The results were wide and varied, as each staff member's tastes and gaming experiences, uh, vary widely. We're quite an eclectic bunch, that's for sure. 

Hit the jump to see what made the list, and we hope to ignite some gift-giving sparks for you this holiday.

As a PlayStation Portable owner, the most exciting news surrounding the PSPgo was the plan to have most games release on PlayStation Network day-and-date with their UMD brethren. Stores? Hah, it's nearly 2010. We don't need silly stores anymore. Plus, carrying around those discs is no fun. No fun at all.

As with quite a few things related to the PSPgo, this turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment. The first major issue for me wasn't until Half-Minute Hero's late digital arrival. I don't know how many of you were desperately awaiting LittleBigPlanet, but surely someone was upset by the delayed PSN version.

It's more annoying than it is anything else. We want to give you money for your hard work! That's all. Allow us this opportunity in a timely fashion, please. Okay. You've endured enough ranting for one night. PSPgo owners and lovers of digital games can get LBP on PSP as of today.

Likewise, there will be a demo, too. Which is good, since I'm not entirely sold on this scaled down version of LBP just yet. Also, a patch -- one of those happened. It's ready right now, and aims to improve how some of the "physics and tools in the Create mode" perform.

Visceral drew the ire of bookworms and literature students when it revealed its videogame adaptation of Dante's Inferno. Some believe the classic poem has been violated by a tasteless videogame company doing tasteless videogame things, but the studio has hit back by claiming that true fans of the poem actually love the game.

"Generally those critics are often people who weren't fans of the poem and weren't that familiar with it until they heard we were doing this," alleges executive producer Jonathan Knight. "What we're finding is, a few people anyway, that quite clearly didn't know it well, now have gone off and read it and they're looking for ways to go, oh you're taking liberties here, or you didn't do this, or whatever. But the reality is that true Dante fans, people who actually have spent time with the literature and care about it are over the moon with the game project.

"I like to say the game is a celebration of Dante. There are more people going to actually read the poem, learn about The Divine Comedy, read up on Dante and what he meant to western culture, than otherwise would have. That's a good thing. The game's not meant to replace the poem. It's not meant to be like, hey, play the game and you don't have to read the poem. The cool thing is the opposite is happening. More people are reading it, not less, because of the game."

I think Visceral has it right. The Dante's Inferno videogame can have as little or as much to do with the poem as you want. It's not taken anything away from the original work, and those crying sacrilege really are getting worked up over something that has no real impact on their enjoyment of literature. It's a videogame. Its job is to entertain us a game, not as a book.

Of course, if the game itself sucks, then feel free to criticize it to the Moon. But let's wait on that, shall we?

Do you like free stuff? Of course you do. Sometimes you even take free stuff when you don't want it, simply because it is free. A train whistle might be a good example of this. Well, if you're in the mood to get something free that you may or may not want and you own a PSP then Sony has got a deal for you. To get people excited for the PSP's digital comic store, which is landing next month, the company is giving away a free comic.

If you want to read an issues of Star Trek: Year Four - The Enterprise Experiment then boot up your PSP, download the digital comic reader, head into the Playstation Store and enter this code: 724K-A4BG-JLD7. Comic! In your hands. Done and done. Get to reading. If Star Trek ain't your bag, baby, don't fear. Sony will be handing out more free comics via the Playstation comics site and Twitter. It should also be pointed out that the Star Trek comic can only be downloaded for free until Dec. 16, which hints at when we might be seeing the comic store go live.

World domination. It isn't an easily achieved goal. Talk to any dictator with aspirations to rule over Europe or Asia in recent history and they'll tell you, it don't come easy. Sony has a plan though, and it starts by taking over every electronic you own and then building SkyNet. Step one in that plan is to use PSN as the backbone for all of its online service offerings. The tentatively named Sony Online Service was revealed at Sony corp.'s global strategy presentation and is a way for Sony to offer a single user experience across all of its electronic platforms. Part of this plan is that premium service that was announced at the same presentation.

At the meeting Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Kaz Hirai outlined the strategy, saying that the system would support a single user ID across the entire service and offer consumers an "enhanced value" that will be delivered thanks to SOS's ease of use and universality. "The service will be launched economically and quickly by leveraging the PlayStation [Network] service platform. For example, key assets for creating a network service management system, payment system, and content distribution system will be shared with the PSN platform so that initial investment risk can be minimized," Hirai said while his presentation showed off PSPs, PS3s, Blu-ray players, Sony's electronic books, laptops, Walkman MP3 players and pretty much every other electronic Sony makes. 

Sony also wants the SOS to expand into its mobile line-up and challenge iTunes' dominance of the downloadable media market. To demonstrate that Sony could be successful at this Hirai pointed out that the PSN already has 33 million registered users and those users download 25 petabytes of content each month. He then sat down in a chair, began to pet his white cat gently and laugh maniacally as he pointed out that the company expected to sell $50 billion dollars worth of downloadable goods on the service during the fiscal year ending March 31, 2010.

The last PSP firmware update added the option to download the Digital Comics reader app. One minor problem, though. There weren’t any digital comics to download at the second it was offered. I know this too well -- I looked for a comic and ended up downloading some garbage visual comic for two bucks. Turns out that’s a totally different thing.

The lack of comics has been remedied now. Earlier last afternoon the official PS blog blasted a single redeemable code, giving PSP users the ability to download their first digital comic, Star Trek: Year Four -- The Enterprise Experiment.

It’s a good thing SCE decided to give this thing away for free, because I’m pretty sure no one would download it at a cost. Regardless, the code is available over at the PS blog and just for fun, we’ve went ahead and did a small demo of how the Digital Comics reader works. Check it out in the header, and don't forget tell us how you feel about the app.

I used the “AutoFlow” functionality for the first few panels. This thing makes me sick to watch as it zooms from panel to panel. Thankfully, you can control the comic at your leisure with the analog nub. This is illustrated in the latter portion of the look.

Black Friday and all its horror will soon be upon us, and the Internet has gotten its talons on GameStop's list of ludicrous offers. The list is absolutely huge, some great bundles such as a PS3 with God of War: Collection and LittleBigPlanet for $299, and tens of dollars to be saved on all sorts of games.

While we're here, how many of you are planning to venture out and brave the crowds of braying imbeciles next week? Is the lure of cheap stuff you've never needed enough to make you part of the dignity-sucking problem, or are you going to be like me and hide under a pile of coats until it all goes away?

While you answer, hit the jump for the list of GameStop chicanery.

The cure for a problematic blank screen, a messy desk, and the urge to answer a phone while it’s ringing is Peggle. I’ve been using it for years to avoid doing what I’m supposed to be doing or to procrastinate even more. It’s not quite bourbon, which does the same job I’ve discovered, but it’s good enough. And as promised, is now available on PSN for the first time ever. Hard to believe it didn’t touch the PS3 beforehand.

In addition to Peggle, the PS Store sees the release of adhocParty, the PSOne Classic Resident Evil 2, Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines, and a price reduction on Uno. It’s not quite a blockbuster week, but it’s not like you’d find the time to play a huge game with Peggle available anyway.

Check below the fold for a short list of the new releases and hit the official PS blog for the descriptions, as well as a list of wallpaper releases and other various loosely game-related things.

Late this afternoon, SCE made it possible to compete in Internet multiplayer matches while on the toilet. And it was as easy as offering US PSP owners a downloadable app that works around ad hoc functionality.

The app is called adhocParty. It may seem fresh, but it isn’t -- it has been available in Japan for some time, allowing the droves of Monster Hunter PSP players to connect without having to be near each other. Regardless of newness, adhocParty has just been released in the US as a free download via the PS Store.

As explained in a PS blog video, a PS3 is needed to make the app clap. The big black system acts as a dongle and also provides the visuals for the hoops (creating lobbies, finding players, etc.) you’ll have to jump through in order to play ad hoc games through the Internet. But before that, you’ll have to register your PSP and download the application as if you were setting up Remote Play again.

Just think of the process like adding a controller, except the PS3 actually does something this time around.

Currently, SCE is making a big deal out of Gran Turismo and Monster Hunter support, but we’re guessing adhocParty also works with other games, so give it a spin and experiment if you care. And speaking of caring, a video walkthrough courtesy of the publisher of the app is available over at the PS blog. Go learn!

Koei Tecmo has today announced Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce 2. The original PSP version is currently in the works for PS3 and Xbox 360, but that hasn't stopped the almighty sequel masters from declaring a brand new one, scheduled for Spring 2010.

Shin Sangoku Musou Multi Raid 2, as it is known in Japan, shall release with an all-new story mode, new characters, a new weapon system and, most importantly, a crucial online mode. The lack of online is what let down the original co-op PSP title, which could have been the best DW game ever were it included.

This is good stuff. Strikeforce was a great shot in the arm of the hack n' slash series, but it really needed to be able to go online. This should lead to a great game, if you like that sort of thing.

[Thanks, Andreas!]

Halbrick isn't just working on Raskulls for Xbox Live Arcade. The Australian developer has also set its sights on the PSP and its new PSP Minis initiative. Despite what you and I may think of the expensive, mostly rubbish service, Halfbrick's Phil Larsen believes the service is impressive, and wants a slice of the action.

"Sony is really impressing everyone right now with the positioning of the PS3 and PSP," explains Larsen. "The gamers are noticing it, and as developers we certainly want to make sure our games have good support. Sony is stepping up to the plate and saying they are open for business, so we want to start off by giving our PSP Minis a try. We have developed several original games which will be perfect for PSP Minis, and two are ready for release - Echoes on November 19th, and Blast Off on November 24th."

Halfbrick has developed games for Xbox Live's Indie Channel, and so I asked if the studio felt other XNA developers would jump on the PSP: "PSP minis is being driven by Sony in every way, and that includes submission and certification through official channels. Anyone who has a creator account can review Indie Games, and it’s largely driven by community developers and hobbyists.

"If those developers want to work with Sony directly and adhere to their guidelines when it comes to game submissions we could see a few titles crossing over. Sony wants to find a middle ground between affordable casual gaming not unlike iPhone and XNA, but they are also after highly polished products. A number of great iPhone games are becoming Minis, and we’re happy that our games have the chops to become available on the PlayStation Network."

Hit the link for more.

A new PSP firmware update is available for download. Get happy, people!

The latest update (v6.20) doesn’t snap neck ligaments with head-turning blockbuster additions, but it does add a hook for a solid new feature: the Digital Comics Reader. Accessed through the Extras panel in the XMB after a short download (of which v6.20 is required), you'll soon be able to download and view digital comic books from the PS Store at your leisure. Toilet PSP time is going to get a billion times better, we reckon.

If comics aren't your thing, perhaps this is: the latest firmware also allows you to export video and photo playlists to your PC. (This can only happen after downloading another update to Media Go, though.) Obviously, this isn't something you can use on the toilet, unlike the Comics Reader. Unless, of course, you have a PC by said toilet. If so, that means there's a chance you could be reading this post in widescreen on a toilet. I feel uneasy all of a sudden.

At least three PSP fans have been impatiently tapping their feet, waiting for news on the PSP Comics service that Sony boasted about ten thousand years ago. Today, we're one step closer to the service becoming real, with word of a Japanese release date.

Of course, it wouldn't be a new service without the system's billionth Firmware update, so Japanese PSP users can look forward to that on November 19, in preparation for a December 12 launch. Once the storefront appears, individual comic issues shall cost ¥50-150 (USD$0.55-$1.70), while full collections will run for ¥420 (USD$4.70).

No word on a release date for us roundeyes, but don't worry! We'll get to download Firmware 6.20 on the 19th, too! Sony wouldn't want to deprive us of the PSP's fun Firmware game, now would they?

Sony can't get enough of those weird PSP games. Following in the footsteps of such titles as LocoRoco, Patapon and Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman!, we have a brand new bit of portable weirdness from the PlayStation C.A.M.P development program. This is 100-man Ton no Bara Bara.

Players take on the role of Titori, a man who must protect his town from a series of unmanned airships that descend from the sky to destroy things. Titori will need to latch onto the hull of the ship and tear pieces of it. If he can tear from one end of the ship to the other, a piece will break away. He will have to avoid missiles, robots and other obstacles like indestructible ship parts. He must also rescue prisoners of the ships, and it's hinted that those rescued will join Titori's forces and help take down ships.

The game's due for release in 2010 and looks set to be a cult favorite. Check out the teaser site while you wait!

The VGAs may be looked at with cynicism and contempt by a great many among the gamer community, but there's no denying that it's about as mainstream an award show as we're going to get. With that in mind, the nominations are in, and we now get to see who's vying for the biggest accolades that Spike TV has to offer.

Game of the Year is between Assassin's Creed 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Left 4 Dead 2 and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Best PS3 game is between inFAMOUS, Killzone 2, Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time and Uncharted 2. Best Xbox 360 game nominees are Arkham Asylum, Halo 3: ODST, Forza Motorsport 3 and Left 4 Dead 2. For the Wii we have New Super Mario Bros. Wii, MadWorld, Punch-Out! and Wii Sports Resort. The PC contenders are Dragon Age: Origins, Left 4 Dead 2, Plants vs. Zombies and The Sims 3.

It's interesting to note that the 360 nominees include multiplatform games, one of which (Arkham) was better on the PS3. 2009 really was the killer year for PS3 exclusives.

On a personal note, I'm asking everyone to vote for Demon's Souls as RPG of the year. The very fact it's a nominee is amazing, but it would be incredible to see the game win. It truly, truly deserves it, even though I know in my hear that Borderlands or Dragon Age will probably beat it.

Anyway, go check out the nominations, vote, and let us know who you're rooting for.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep is the latest pretentious-named Kingdom Hearts game to be hitting handheld systems, and Square Enix has revealed a swanky new PSP to commemorate the occasion. Covered in mystical runes, this new PSP-3000 will be bundled with the game on January 9 in Japan.

It's interesting to note that there isn't a special edition PSPgo. It really does seem that publishers have very little interest in having anything to do with that failed experiment. It may also indicate that a PSN version of Birth By Sleep is not on the cards, at least not for the foreseeable future.

Anyway, check out the new PSP. It's new!

Why the hell is Heihachi in space? Is this explained in the console versions of Tekken 6? It's nice to see the game looking so smooth on the PSP, but you can't just throw something as absurd as an old ninja in a space suit into your trailer and not explain it. You hear me, Namco Bandai?

The second trailer below simply shows off more of the fighting action. There's kicking, punching and other such things. The PSP versions will also have some new levels and content for people to enjoy. If you're on the fence about this one check out the videos and then see if you would like to pick it up on November 24 or if you'll just stick with the console version of the game.

Earlier this week, Sony made an announcement that they would be holding another LittleBigPlanet Art Game Jam Session, this time for the PSP. Five teams of students from the School of Game Design from the Academy of Art Institute in San Francisco were challenged to create levels based on iconic elements of the city. They had 24 hours to create something fantastic, with the winning creation available day one for LittleBigPlanet PSP.

So how did they do? Well, given the choices of landmarks, the competition was pretty tough, even for new players to the game. The Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower, the Cable Cars of Powell Street, Alcatraz, and the famous Victorian houses in the city were all inspiration for the teams. Moments after starting the 24-hour long design session, I chatted with some of the teams.

Some of the teams focused on telling a story, such as the the Golden Gate team. Member Justin Romprey mentioned that "[We have] A lot of ideas from Donkey Kong", while his teammate Joe Chung wanted to focus on trying to tell a story. Ultimately, while their creation did not win, their design of magnetic electrical taxis across the bridge was lauded.

In the end, it was the Cable Cars of Powell Street team that took home the grand prize of a PSP Go and digital copies of LittleBigPlanet PSP. Their design, which involved controlling a cable car up and over the hills of San Francisco, convinced the judges. While far from a polished masterpiece, the design showed enough promise that it will be available for download next week. Sony, far from leaving the other teams high and dry, gave every contestant a copy of the game. Sweet.

I originally scoffed at the idea of an Uncharted-centric pinball game for PlayStation Portable, so now I feel like a proper jerk. There are four separate tables under the Pinball Heroes moniker that went up on the PSN Store today, each of which is based on a Sony Computer Entertainment property.

The PlayStation Blog has a video of these bite-sized games in action, and you know what? They look surprisingly decent. Possibly even good. Priced at only $3.99 a pop, they could very well be worth your money if pinball on the go is what you're after.

Agree? Disagree? "Meh"?

Konami has finally put a firm date on Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for the Wii -- December 8. How appropriate, considering the game's icy setting. 

If your arms tire out easily, but you still wanted to get your Silent Hill on, you'll have to wait a bit longer. The game is also slated to hit PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable, but those versions won't see release until sometime later. Yes, that's all of the info we have. Konami actually said they will be "following shortly." One week? A month? A year? The term "shortly" is relative. 

While you wait, you can hit the jump to check out character bios for the collection of malcontent weirdos that will appear Shattered Memories, straight from Konami.

If you woke up this morning wondering what a bunch of mixed martial arts fighters thought about Assassin's Creed 2, today is your lucky day. Ubisoft has put a promo spot together where professional MMA fighters make tenuous links to the upcoming title, and it's actually quite entertaining.

""When I'm inside the cage by myself, there's nobody else I can rely on," says Brandon Vera, "It's kind of like the assassin. He's on his own. Basically, you're like the lone wolf."

Sure, I'll buy that. Things the assassin also has in common with MMA fighters, according to the video: honor, he knees people in the nuts, he punches people in the face, and you don't want to piss them off. See? Totally the same thing.

Also released today is a trailer for Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines, the PlayStation Portable title that puts players back in the shoes of Altair from the first title. Both trailers are after the jump, and if you like seeing people jump off buildings so they can stab dudes, they're definitely for you.

As Midway Games crumbled and was eventually gobbled up by Warner Bros., the fate of franchises and licenses hung in the balance. Games like Mortal Kombat, Spy Hunter... we were all concerned. But for those concerned about the fate of the Total Nonstop Action wrestling license, worry no more. 

In its financial report, SouthPeak Interactive revealed that it had acquired "certain assets" from Midway relating to the TNA iMPACT wrestling brand. Already announced are two games that will be released next year -- TNA iMPACT: Cross the Line for PlayStation Portable/PSPgo and Nintendo DS.

No word if those "certain assets" also included the sequel to Midway's console TNA title, which was released in 2008 for Wii, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. 

And now you know.

When Visceral and Electronic Arts announced the Dante's Inferno demo for December, I breathed a sigh of relief. It was not, as many demos seem to be these days, tied in to a pre-order bonus.

Instead, Dante's Inferno is getting something a bit better -- a Dante's figure. GameStop is offering up the collectible figurine with pre-orders of the title. The figure looks pretty detailed and posable, but there's no indication as to how big it is. Dante is also, as GameStop points out, holding the tattered remains of his red Snuggie. 

If you enjoy the demo, is the promise of a figure enough to get you to throw down your pre-order dollars?

Destructoid reader Artimecion recently handed me a collection of hot PSPgo color suggestions put forth by Sony in a customer survey. The survey was created by Hall & Partners Europe, a firm that has some loose connection with Sony, and posted on the Web site Valued Opinions. In amongst all of the questions, most of which were allegedly just fishing for compliments, came this big gallery of potential PSPgo colors, with consumers asked to pick the ones they like.

The already released Piano Black and Pearl White are there, and they're joined by some crazy colors that range from somewhat striking to absolutely horrific. Just take a look at Lemon, which should probably have been called a more appropriate name, like Urine. I really wouldn't mind having the Coral one, though. It looks kind of pretty.

What ones would you like to see on the market?

With an obscene amount of creativity poured into equally creative LittleBigPlanet PSP levels.

Similar to the Game Jam Session for LittleBigPlanet on PlayStation 3, SCEA is holding another 24-hour festival in hopes of having Academy of Art University School of Game Design students pump out some cool levels.

Remember the Shadow of the Colossus level from last year? I hope so, because it was a work of art, but more importantly, because the post I linked to is missing the video of the stage in action.

This thing will be taking place in San Francisco on Wednesday and Thursday -- holy crap, that's tomorrow! The Jam Session will have teams of students using Bay Area architecture for inspiration, and when the full day of gaming has ending, judges will pick a winner.

You probably know where this is going, but just in case: indeed, the winning team's work will be put online for our enjoyment (and embarrassment).

Those on the fence about Visceral Games' videogame adaptation of Dante Alighieri's poem The Divine Comedy will get their shot to try it out this December. Electronic Arts has announced that a demo for Dante's Inferno will be available for download next month.

The demo will expore the game's "Gates of Hell," and giving you a chance to hack and slash your way up to a battle with Death himself. The demo will also feature two of the game's cut-scenes, which promise to (at the very least) be flashy.

"The demo will give everyone some insight into how we are treating the story and a taste of the gameplay," says executive producer Jordan Knight. 

So, naysayers -- are you willing to give Visceral the benefit of the doubt? Will you give the Dante's Inferno demo a try?

Did you know that Vagrant Story is coming to the Western PlayStation Network soon? Now you do! Square Enix's classic PlayStation game is regarded as one of the finest RPGs of its generation, and among Square's most accomplished titles. Despite its immense popularity, it never took off as a franchise, but it left a legacy that continues to this day.

Vagrant Story was released on the Japanese PSN quite a while ago.

It was originally believed that the game would arrive as early as next week, but Square Enix has since confirmed otherwise. No official date has been given right now, but hopefully it will arrive soon. Who knows? Maybe it'll even give the PSN version of Final Fantasy VII a run for its money.

The idea of Dissidia: Final Fantasy is probably more entertaining than the game will be (Jim's review was less than exuberant), which is why I've held off on picking up a copy for myself. Today may be the day, as Amazon has the series-spanning button-masher at a 43% discount. That means it's $22.98 if you didn't want to do the math yourself.

Of course, it's their Deal of the Day and will only be available at that price for twenty-four hours or until they run out of stock. While I'm doubtful that the latter will occur, I'm sure there are some people out there who have at least been curious and waiting for a price drop.

Any of you going to pick this up today? Do you guys think this is a bargain or should the price have to dip a little further?

One of the things that has always amazed me is the prevalence of pinball games on home consoles and handhelds. If you had told me in the 80s that the game of pinball would survive in a pretty major way in the world of videogames I would have been very skeptical. However, it is an ever growing genre of videogames as in evidenced by the ESRB leaking the fact that many of Sony's exclusive franchises will be getting the pinball treatment.

Sony will be releasing a series of pinball games called Pinball Heroes for the PSP as part of the PSPMinis lineup. According to the ESRB the game will feature tables based on Uncharted, PAIN, High Velocity Bowling and Hot Shots Golf. Each table will be released separatley and have some special features like the Uncharted table having a crashed plane and gold coins for bumpers and the Hot Shots course looking like a golf green. Like most games that we learn about via ESRB, we know little else on them than the details they give us.

Kyozo Kicks returns! The guy who brings us awesome Zelda and Phoenix Wright shoes that we can never wear because he only makes one pair of them has brought us another pair of shoes we can never wear. This time he hand painted a pair of Converse for his girlfriend's birthday from with Patapon. It's quite awesome.

I think this might be my favorite pair of these shoes just because they are so subtle. The tiny little images around the sole wouldn't be noticed by most, but you'd have an instant connection with anyone who recognized them. Mr. Kyozo I am a size 12-13 shoe. Please contact me for my mailing address. It appears you do take custom requests. I can pay in love or blog posts.

This PSP download is a good candidate for our Ten Minute Taste videos, as it has a really cinematic opening and great sound. The game itself is no slouch either. You'll see the opening, some of the menus, and a bit of the first couple of missions in the game in our video.

To tell you the truth, I didn't know much about Armored Core until I got this. Good game, though. I've been playing it quite a bit here lately. Customizing mechs, blowing sh*t up -- you know the deal. The controls are fine on the PSPgo, but I've been using the DualShock3 to control it today, and that's way better. It kind of makes sense, as the game was originally a PS2 title.

Damn fine videogame, I'd say. Worth the price, definitely. It's available on the PlayStation Network right now for the very nice price of $14.99.

Numblast is a game we’ve explored before when it was announced a few nights evenings ago. Developed by Japan Studios, it’s an odd puzzle game with a focus on numbers. The core goal is to twist and rotate like-numbered blocks into 2 x 2 squares, thereby creating a match. Once a match is complete, the now-glowing blocks leave the screen after counting upwards by one digit. The latter is an important bit of information -- the key to clearing the entire screen and winning big is twisting the higher-numbered blocks to go along with the initial clearing.

As with most puzzle games, Numblast has that puzzle game ability to draw a person into its madness. I’m not sitting around with a Numblast IV-drip, mind you, but I’m eager to get back into the downloadable.

This Ten Minute Taste reveals a major story element (something to do with numbered blocks, students, and a monkey) and deals exclusively with eternal mode, which has you playing until you lose -- no apparent objectives or boring challenges; just the mode for a puzzle game rookie like me.

Despite having a whole wad of brand new and original games all the time, such as Gran Turismo PSP or Critter Crunch, the PlayStation Network proves that nostalgia overcomes all, with Final Fantasy VII remaining the online service's most popular download in both the United States and Japan.

Here's the most recent North American sales chart, with FFVII sitting atop it like some mad old king:

1. Final Fantasy VII
2. Zombie Apocalypse
3. TMNT: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled
4. .deTuned
5. UNO
6. Gran Turismo PSP
7. Marvel Vs. Capcom 2
8. Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest For Booty
9. Critter Crunch
10. God of War: Chains of Olympus

Final Fantasy VII's performance is pretty impressive for a game released in 1997, and it's kind of amusing to note that the PSP and PS3, two systems sold on the strength of their graphical horsepower, are making loads of cash off an old and graphically dated RPG. Still, the PSPgo is pretty much the best PSOne I ever had, so I can totally understand it.

Cipher Prime's Auditorium is a relatively simple, very self-explanatory game that's presented brilliantly. Rather than listen to me elaborate further, you can hear Samit discuss it or even try a demo, for that matter.

Oddly enough, GamerBytes reports that Auditorium is making it beyond the realm of PC exclusivity and onto Xbox LIVE Arcade, PlayStation Network, and even PSP Minis sometime next year. Not to discredit the game, but it doesn't seem like the sort of thing those services tend to offer usually.

Hell, I would take that as a compliment. More than anything else, it's good news because it means more money will go in the pockets of the guys who created Auditorium. They deserve it.

I'm a sucker for any game with cards in it. Name it, and I've dug it. That crap DS game (name 'em). Culdcept, Magic the Geek Gathering, Baiten Kaitos, Eye of Bullsh*t Camera. Done them all. Game makers, take comfort in knowing that if you make a card game, you'll sell at least one copy.

There's a new one, and it looks pretty good. Creature Defense is a blend of tower defense and card strategy. You work to defend your land against invaders, using a deck you've built. And speaking of card games, Hudson partnered up with Sony to borrow characters from the PS3 game Eye of Judgment.

Creature Defense is available now on the PlayStation Network for the PSP and PSPgo, selling for $7.99. We've got a whole bunch of screens from the game in our gallery below.

It was not too long ago that I was bitching about Dissidia not being available on the PlayStation Network. It was up on the Japanese PSN, but no dice for North America. PSPgo owners want to play, too!

Today, Square Enix ends the wait with the release of Final Fantasy: Dissidia on the PlayStation Network, ready for download on your PSP or PSPgo. This 3D brawler starring the Final Fantasy All-Stars (that would make a fantastic basketball team) isn't the end-all fighting game, but it's pretty good, and makes for a great road trip game. There's something to be said for button-mashy fan service games.

If you were one of the others that bitched about this game's absence, go get it now. It's currently available for the same price as the UMD version, $39.99.

Namco Bandai's not known for giving stuff away, but its upcoming God Eater demo is significantly substantial indeed, going so far as to include missions exclusive to the demo itself. The 150 MB file is a gameplay behemoth, containing ten missions and ad-hoc multiplayer.

Five tutorial missions, four exclusive missions and one challenge missions are provided in the demo. God Eater, as well as having a brilliant name, is Namco Bandai's answer to Monster Hunter. It looks a little heavy on the JRPG angst, but it has ridiculously oversized swords, so it can't be all bad.

Famitsu.com is handing out early demo access to its members, and it'll be available on PSN and online from November 26. Let me reiterate that it's called God Eater.

It's mahjongg. I'm not going to tell you that this is some groundbreaking videogame. But I will say that I played the hell out of this title. It seemed to fill some gap in my PSPgo library that I didn't know needed filling. Some days I played this title until my eyes became crossed.

This is Mahjongg Artifacts 2, a PSP minis title. The "2" in the title implies that there is a Mahjongg Artifacts 1. I never played the first one, but that didn't stop me from giving several hours of my life to tile matching and stereotypical Asian background music.

Is this particular PSP mini worth the asking price? I think so, but then again, I like mahjong.

Poking around on the PlayStation Network this morning, I noticed an icon titled "PSP game sale." To me, sale makes me think of a large selection of discounted items. Here? There's only five items. Good prices though, and beggers can't be choosers.

Here's what they've got:

• echochrome - $4.99
• Super Stardust Portable - $4.99
• Unbound Saga - $4.99
• Brain Challenge - $4.99
• Myst - $9.99

There are at least a couple that are worth the asking price. If you don't have Super Stardust Portable or echochrome, they're both well worth the five bucks.

Arc System Works' newest brawler goes portable, or at least that's what Famitsu's fine print says.

There's no screens or scans or anything (yet), but we're sure they're coming. Famitsu does BlazBlue under the PSP section in the mag's contents, which means its a real thing that's really coming.

One thing's for sure, it won't be all sexy and high-resolution on the PSP. That's fine, though. Portability counts for something, doesn't it?

As Siliconera was saying, maybe they were jacking around with the Remote Play features of the PS3 version and thought that it might make a good stand-alone game. I think it will too.

By all accounts, the PSPgo was a pretty magnificent failure for Sony. Its release was quiet and sombre like the funeral of a man that nobody could really remember, and it's been surrounded by nothing but bad news and retailer cynicism. GameStop, however, is optimistic about the digital-only PSP, believing that the system's lack of traction is all part of some brilliant plan on the part of Sony.

"I think that, by Sony's admission, you can tell by the small marketing that was done for this, that their mentality was more of a slow roll than a major launch. This was clearly different than the way that Nintendo approached the DSi, and I think that was by design," says GameStop's Tony Bartel. "I think the story is far from over and being written on the PSPgo. I think Sony knew it was going to be more of a slow build as opposed to a right out of the gate huge release. I'm not sure that anyone that spent a lot of time working with Sony on the launch was really surprised by the way that it's gone so far."

Really, GameStop? Can't we just write the PSPgo off as a failed experiment and move on to the next big redesign that'll probably hit next year?

Here's another pre-order incentive for those keeping score, this time concerning the PSP debut of LittleBigPlanet. It would appear that LittleBigPlanet PSP will be just as obsessed with Sackboy clothes as its PS3 counterpart, offering as it will one of six free costumes to anybody reserving the game through GameStop.

The costumes are based on Uncharted 2, MotorStorm and Killzone 2. One of them clearly stands head and shoulders above the others, because it's a motherf*cking tank. You can also dress up like Drake, a Helghast, or Lucky Jack Flynn, whoever the Hell that guy is.

So yeah. Here are some things that you can get if you want.

To get the above swag spread, you'd have to be madly in love with Persona 3. I am, but I don't know that I'd spend the money to get all of the above pictured stuff.

Someone in Japan bought six copies of this PSP RPG to get the bonus goods. There's shirts, calendars, posters, cards and more. There's even an Aigis pillow so that you may play out a perverted version of the Pinocchio story. Buying six copies of a game to get the freebies is excessive, but I understand. It would be better if you could buy the goods separately.

Atlus USA does a pretty good job of packing in the freebies. I wonder if they could fit all of these things in one deluxe box. At least pack in Aigis.

[via Siliconera]

Love Metal Gear Solid? Can't understand Moon Speak? Well you are in for a tasty treat, young fella-me-lad! It has been confirmed that an English language demo for Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is in the works, and should be hitting a PSN near you soon!

The news comes via the latest KP Report podcast, where it was confirmed that an English demo was in development. Soon you will get to hear the lovely voice of David Hayter doing what he does best, saying "Metal Gear" in a gruff, confused voice. God bless that man.

The Japanese demo was really promising, and I have little doubt that Peace Walker will be a wonderful addition to the Metal Gear family. Who among you lot are looking forward to it?

The PSP may finally be getting a more consistent amount of solid game releases, but let us not forget that it took Sony's handheld almost half a decade to get this far. According to Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida, part of the problem was the PlayStation 3 of all things.

"We look at all the titles we are working on and try to see if there are any holes or areas where our focus isn't enough," he explains. "A couple of years ago we clearly put too much focus on PS3 titles and that caused a lack of support for the PSP last year. So we need to be focused and gear a lot of our resources back to the PSP, and we have many titles this year.

"We are continuing to support the PSP. We didn't announce new titles at [Tokyo Game Show 2009], but in the near future we'll have some announcements."

That's all well and good, but was it not a couple of years ago when the PS3 itself had a lack of titles? It seems to me that both the PS3 and PSP have really hit their stride this year, so I don't know quite how focus on one platform led to problems with another. Still, Yoshida's a wise man, so I guess I'll take his word for it, even if the dates don't quite align well enough for my satisfaction.

Sony's miserable new PlayStation Portable, the PSPgo, has launched this past Sunday in Japan, a month after North America and Europe. The sales tally sees a launch that could be accurately described as ... alright.

According to reports, the PSPgo shifted 28,275 units on day one, which could be described as a moderately encouraging number. However, the numbers are far below launch day sales for the DSi, which stood at 170,000 and even the PSP-3000, which shifted over 140,000 units.

This could be down to the fact that the system launched on Sunday, instead of Saturday as is traditional in Japan. However, such a significant gap between PSPgo sales and PSP-3000 sales would seem to indicate that the PSPgo is just as welcome in Japan as it is in the rest of the world -- not very welcome at all.

Armored Core 3 Portable was released last week for the PSP and we plan to have a review of the game up sometime next week. In the mean time, we have five copies of Armored Core 3 Portable to giveaway and all you have to do to win a code is leave a comment below telling us your favorite robot, android or cyborg.

Comments 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 will each win Armored Core 3 Portable. You can comment as many times as you’d like but you can’t use the same robot twice. The contest is open to everyone and will last until we get 500 comments. 

Go go go!

[Update! aeqe, ran24, ThunderHeartXI, Alexander Berlingieri and Aaron St Croix have each won a code for Armored Core 3 Portable.]

Roleplaying games are dramatic, lengthy affairs in which most players could reasonably expect to lose up to eighty hours of their time. Half-Minute Hero exists to tell you just how much you're wasting your own precious and fragile life, as it reduces eighty hours of gameplay into a mere thirty seconds of content.

The scary part? That thirty seconds of content represents everything you do in an RPG. You grind, you do a fetch & carry quest, you buy a sword, you beat a boss, and you watch the credits. Half-Minute Hero seems to tell the player that all those massive, epic RPGs they've played over the years were little more than thirty seconds of gameplay, stretched to ludicrous lengths. It's all very meta.

It's also quite brilliant, as well. Read on as we review Half-Minute Hero.

Apparently, if your game doesn't have French in it, Quebec won't let you sell it. This is probably something our millions of Quebec readers already knew, but one of them, Destructoid reader Mike, was unaware and has been disappointed to find that he can't buy Half-Minute Hero from any of his local retailers.

Mike was looking forward to playing the excellent RPG game and asked publisher XSEED when it might hit Canada. Here's what the company had to say:

Thank you for trying to pick up a copy of Half-Minute Hero.  Canadian distribution is always tricky because of the bilingual law that Quebec enforces, so for titles with limited distribution we do not create a second bilingual version specifically for Canada because it's too expensive.  Unfortunately, that's what happened to Half-Minute Hero.
 
Wal-Mart Canada and EB Canada both carry it, but their stores in Quebec may not carry them because we did not offer French bilingual packaging.  Our Canadian distributor does not have a relationship with Amazon Canada, that is why they never carry any of our products.
 
Sorry for the inconvenience, but the bilingual requirements in Quebec make it extremely difficult and expensive for us to provide games to Canada sometimes.  Your best bet may be to purchase it from the PSN Store online.

Wow, Quebec kind of sucks. It's amusing to note that Canada is screwing itself out of tax revenue with a law like this, since if Mike buys the game on PSN, he gets to give all his money to the publisher rather than have the government take a slice. That's at least a small satisfaction, although this bilingual law sounds effing stupid no matter which way you slice it.

You know how it goes. There's always that one badass at school that no one messes with. Everyone around knows that this particular badass has dignified himself by pulling enough sucker punches and breaking enough noses over the years. This mindless brute, this impossible muscle head -- you usually just stay clear of him and let him do his thing while you do yours.

Every once in awhile, though, a badass with a brain comes along. Badasses that have goals. Badasses that aspire to more badassery. One particular badass in Japan gets an idea during a class field trip: He figures that if he can take out every other school's badasses, all of which are likely in the same place for the same field trip, he could rule over the entire country. 

This is the idea behind Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble, a new PSP game by Spike, brought over by Atlus. Can we write a review where we don't interject "badass" to describe the game? Let's see.

Good morning! What's the best thing to wake up to on a day like today? If you said "bacon and coffee," you are WRONG. The answer is actually these screenshots for Darius Burst on PSP. Alright, so I can think of better things, but this is what I've got right now, so work with me.

And what's the only thing that could make this game better than it already was? You're right, it's the girl in the headphones. But the next best thing is original character art by the father of mecha musume himself, Fumikane Shimada. Somehow this slipped by me when I posted the trailer a while back, but there's no mistaking the Strike Witches character designer's work here. Good choice, Taito.

Darius Burst hits Japan on December 24th, priced at 5,040 Yen. And what's better than importing it? Downloading the digital version from the PSN Store for only 4,000 Yen and saving a ton of money. Check out the screens in the gallery below while I make some bacon and coffee.

[Via Andriasang]

Developed by the small Canada-based Frima Studio as a PSP Mini title, Zombie Tycoon takes the gameplay of games like Rollercoaster Tycoon, Railroad Tycoon, Lemonade Tycoon and throws all of the amusement rides, trains, and lemons right out the window. Instead, player will control and plan the undead's attack on the human race. 

Zombie Tycoon is scheduled to hit PlayStation Network this Thursday, October 29, just in time for Halloween.

I don't really care how contrived Dante's Inferno may or may not be. As a die-hard action fanatic, I'll be playing it either way -- on a console, that is.

As for the PlayStation Portable version, not so much. If I couldn't play God of War: Chains of Olympus because the PSP's nub passionately hates my hands, I won't be playing Dante's Inferno either.

We were handed some screenshots of the PSP game, which looks similar to its console brethren, but scaled down in terms of graphics; not exactly ideal for a portable system, but what did you expect? The weird thing is, the pictures are huge. Why? I have literally no idea. Check the gallery to see what I mean.

Also, the signature for the PR company that sent the images over started with "Go to Hell." These guys are committed.

I'm all for a game that has the words "badass" in its name. Wait, is this a first for gaming?

Soon to be released on the PSP, Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble has you controlling your home town area's biggest high school badass. No one questions your authority. But, in an effort to extend your badassery, you do your best to slowly work your way across Japan, making it so that you're the badass of the country.

In our Ten Minute Taste, you'll see the opening story cinematic as well as a bit of early gameplay. There's also a sort of tutorial where your former badass of a dad lets you beat him down so that you're fully prepared to take on the rest of the country. 

Look for our full review of Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble tomorrow.

["Ten Minute Taste" is something new we're trying here at Destructoid. Simply put, we'll rip the first ten minutes of a game to video -- loading screens, warts and all, no commentary to sway you in any direction -- so you can judge it and experience it exactly as you would when you first pop the game in. Let us know what you think.

To see the latest games, be sure to visit our work-in-progress Videos section, and be sure to subscribe to our video RSS feed to see the latest videos first.]

If you're a Persona series fan and are daydreaming about the release of Persona 3 Portable here in America, you might want be interested in clicking around the P3P webpage to see some of the new updates.

Most of the new updates can be found by clicking the links marked "New." In the "New" to the far right, named Special, you'll find plenty of really slick P3P wallpapers, sized for everything from your PC to your PSP. To the left of that link, System, you'll find a new video with a familiar face. Remember Yukiko from Persona 4? Of course you do. She makes a cameo in P3P.

Japan get their P3P on November 1st. I'm done asking. They know.

Thexder began life life in 1985 on the NEC PC-8801. Although regarded as a classic, the SHMUP never became a massive franchise. It gained international success when converted for the MSX system, and had a sequel called Fire Hawk: Thexder The Second Contract, but that was about it, and the series was forgotten. 

Fast forward to 2009, and Square Enix has decided to revive Thexder as Thexder Neo on the PSP. Sticking to the original game's roots, Neo sees players control a lazer-blasting robot that can transform into a jet and take on all sorts of mechanical foes. Is Thexder Neo a worthwhile revival, or was this one robot better left rusting on the scrapheap? Read on as we review the latest retro comeback.

At yesterday's Monster Hunter Festa finals, Capcom unveiled a new project in the works for PSP, called Monster Hunter Diary: Poka Poka Airu Village. It's a Monster Hunter Freedom spinoff, in which you'll get to play as the Felyne, Airu. What? Awesome!

Very little was said about the game, except that it's currently in production. If I had to guess, I'd say this is going to be something like what Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? was to the Disgaea series, or what Chocobo's Dungeon is to Final Fantasy. In other words, it's probably a lighthearted action-adventure. In other other words, a fun-ass little game.

I wish i could tell you more, but we know squat at this point. You can, however, watch a short video of the announcement after the jump, which is essentially just an animated version of the above header image. But really, what's cooler than that? Not much; at least not this early in the morning. Stay tuned for more info on this one as they spill it.

[Via Andriasang]