We're not exactly sure how much of MTV Multiplayer's information about transferring Rock Band songs to Rock Band 2 is new, but it gives a tiny bit more detail to the process, which has yet to be fully explained. We knew that the transfer would cost "under $5"and that RB1 would receive a patch the day RB2 released, but we believe the detail about a "password" bundled with RB2 is new ... maybe. Either way, we haven't written about it.

Harmonix's John Drake tells MTV that when the game releases on Sept. 14, the RB1 patch will add an "export" feature to the game. Selecting to export will prompt the user to add a password included with Rock Band 2, after which a payment screen will be displayed. Told you it was a tiny detail!

NPD, Chart-Track and Enterbrain have announced the joint monthly Top Global Markets Report, an account integrating the point-of-sale data from the US, UK and Japan. We don't know what information will be released publicly from the report on a monthly basis yet, but for the clients of these groups it will provide global data from the leading markets.

After the break we've placed a small taste of what the report has to offer, with a chart showing the top five selling games year-to-date across the tracked countries. We're also following up with NPD regarding what impact this new report will have on the standard monthly US report and what information from the global report will be made public. We'll update as soon as we hear back.

Update: A NPD representative tells us: "The monthly report from NPD US will still be a standard deliverable. We're not sure if a regular media deliverable based on this new tracking product is something we're going to be providing. It all depends on partner reactions, client acceptance and things like that." Translation: Monthly NPD data goes on as normal, a public version of the combined global data is still up in the air.

This week American McGee's Grimm retells the story (in Grimm's special way) of the anthropomorphic Puss in Boots. The episode is free for everyone the first 24 hours after release and will be available only to GameTap subscribers after that time.

• Grimm: Puss In Boots (Windows) - Cats are evil and Puss is no exception. Dogs rule!
  
• Patrician III (Windows) - How to describe ... how to describe? Oh, it's like playing "Medieval Tycoon."

There are no new additions to GameTap's free games lineup this week. As always, though, the full list of free-to-play titles can be found after the break.

The PlayStation Blog announced today that the God of War himself will be available tomorrow as a downloadable character for PS3's Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds. Kratos, sporting the "clubs of chaos," is taking some time off from battling the gods of Olympus to try and sink a couple putts.

The Kratos DLC will cost $2, but this isn't just a fancy new character model for the game. We give Sony props for bringing in T.C. Carson, the voice of Kratos, to record some new lines for the Ghost of Sparta to use in the game. Don't expect any of Kratos's trademark rage, though, as the game will continue to be rated "E."

It appears that two of the Xbox 360 SKUs will receive a $50 price drop by the week of Sept. 7, making the 60GB model $299 and the Elite $399 -- we've yet to hear any change on the $279 Arcade meanwhile, the Arcade will drop $80 to $199. A few of our retail contacts, some of whom have given us good intel in the past and who all work for separate corporations, have sent us identical information regarding a price drop. Evidence of the Elite and Arcade price cut can be found in the gallery below.

Update: Oh mercy, it's been a long day. The Arcade is marked as $199 in the flyer as well (under the TV, to the left). Thanks, Strike Man.

[Thanks Patrick, Master X, and everyone else who helped.]

Looks like the kids of Bullworth Academy are ready to practice their delinquency on PC. Eurogamer notes that a poster in the Leipzig Games Convention has the Bully logo with the words: "Demnachst fur PC."

We're positive some umlauts belong in there, but the basic message is that Bully is coming to PC "soon." Rockstar will probably make an official announcement sometime during the convention.

An associate producer for Konami's Rock Revolution confirmed that the game would be delayed until early 2009 during the company's Leipzig press conference, IGN reports. We've contacted Konami to find out if the representative meant that the title will be available for Europe in 2009 (this is a European press event after all), or if the game has actually been delayed from its original Fall '08 release in North America as well. We'll update as soon as we get the official skinny from Konami.

[Via Wii Fanboy]

Konami announced today that Silent Hill: Homecoming will release on PC, in addition to PS3 and Xbox 360. The press release states the game "will be available as a digital download" through Steam and doesn't mention anything about retail.

Meanwhile, there's a report by Darkzero out of Leipzig that the game's release has been delayed from September to November. The press release for the PC announcement, however, still states Homecoming is "expected to launch" in September. We've reached out to Konami to clarify the release date and PC details and will update as soon as we hear something.

After seeing the same few minutes of Mirror's Edge footage ad nauseam, EA has seen fit to release three minutes of new parkour goodness from the game for Leipzig. In the newly released video found after the break, Faith works her traceur magic and attempts to escape from snipers inside some kind of warehouse/hydroelectric plant. Yup, we're still excited about this game and we can't wait to play it again.

The Federal Trade Commission has stated that it will not oppose EA's pursuit of Take-Two Interactive. Following an investigation, the government agency concluded that no antitrust issue will occur, but left the door open to "take further action as the public interest may require."

This means all systems are go for EA and Take-Two to come to some sort of amicable agreement over how to bring the companies together. If that doesn't work, EA will probably just go back to throwing money on the table until Take-Two is ready admit she can't deny the sugar.

Source - Closing Letter to one EA attorney
Source - Closing Letter to one Take-Two attorney

[Via GamePolitics]

Tecmo president Yoshimi Yasuda pulled a Mr. Hudsucker (minus the dying) and has left the company citing personal reasons. GI.biz reports his sword will be taken up by chairman of the board Yahuharu Kakihara as of Sept. 1.

Yasuda's personal reasons for leaving Tecmo might have something to do with the lawsuit brought by Ninja Gaiden's leather aficionado developer, Tomonobu Itagaki. Tecmo took a hit to its stock following Itagaki's departure (and subsequent fallout), so this changing of the guard might be a sign that the company is ready to clean up the mess and move on.

It appears that the 80GB PS3 MGS4 bundle has finally been done in by the La-li-lu-le-lo. Our trusted Wal-Mart operative -- who has yet to fail us on a mission -- informs us the status of the bundle within the megacorp's computer is now "deleted." S/he tells us this means that there are no plans to receive any more shipments. We've contacted Sony for official word regarding any plans to restock the model.

We always knew the $499 bundle was a limited edition, so this isn't exactly a "!". What we are wondering: Will the model in the bundle be repackaged with a new game? Is this the end of PS3s with any type of PS2 backwards compatibility?

We were a little startled when Eurogamer revealed Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty was a 3.2 GB download. We knew the game had junk in the trunk, but the last we heard it was around 2.3 GB. With no Blu-ray disc planned for North America, the less time we have to spend waiting for the interminable download from the PSN (plus install) this Thursday, the better.

We contacted Sony and were told that the difference between the European and NA version could be blamed on the 11 languages being included with the former, with two .pkg files containing 5-6 languages each. Not that a file size would have stopped us from getting the $15 game, but why do the Europeans keep getting Blu-ray releases of PSN games while North American consumers learn to macrame waiting to download another hefty PSN title? Come on, Sony. We're North America, we're not used to gaming inequity like Europe. Give us the disc and make them wait. It's just the way things are supposed to be.

PSN title Novastrike will receive a major update in the next few weeks. Kevin McCann, president of Tiki Games, writes on the PlayStation Blog that the patch will tame the difficulty levels a bit, add Trophies and make several other tweaks to the top-down omni-directional kill-anything-that-moves shooter.

For those who purchased the $10 title, the list of changes made appears to be quite significant and might be worth giving the title another spin. McCann writes that he's looking forward to hearing from those who stopped playing the game due to the difficulty issues once the patch is released, while reiterating that a European release for the game will happen "as soon as possible."

Clarifying its stance on rhythm game compatibility issues, Microsoft's Gamerscore Blog announced today that all the instruments for Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Revolution will be "cross-compatible" on Xbox 360.

Sony announced yesterday that PlayStation 3 would feature full cross-compatibility among the three games as well. Guess that leaves only Nintendo to make it official.

Update: The Instrument Compatibility Matrix has been updated
[Thanks, Mike]