Sure, we've been gushing about Heavy Rain lately, but Quantic Dreams President David Cage has assured Eurogamer that we will be able to experience it all first-hand with a demo. "Yes, of course, there will be a demo," he said, adding that it will likely not contain any elements of the main storyline. "We've spent a lot of time working on the story this time ... And I think it's a very unusual story for a videogame, so I think people will be quite surprised." Cage also noted that what we've seen so far is a separate episode and not related to the main storyline.

Cage also hinted that Heavy Rain DLC could be trickling out in the near future. "This is something it's really too early to talk about, but it's definitely a possibility," he said, adding, "You can tell any story with this interface, because it's entirely contextual." The clouds will burst with Heavy Rain (seriously, we're going to work on our pun addiction) in 2009.

Sony officially unveiled the third-generation PSP yesterday, with a PS button, built-in mic and an improved LCD screen. Our friends at Engadget Japanese have learned a few more details straight from Sony about how exactly the screen has improved. Compared to the PSP-2000, the new 3000 model has twice the color gamut, five times the contrast ratio and, what we're most excited about, a response time that's twice as fast. The PSP-3000 is arriving on North American shores in mid-October.

Update: LCD's response is twice as fast, meaning the response time itself is halved. Fixed, thanks everyone!

[Via PSP Fanboy]

Another lawsuit has been filed against Nintendo for alleged patent infringement in the Wii remote, according to Bloomberg. Maryland-based Hillcrest Labs filed the suit in Greenbelt, Maryland, and has also filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission seeking to block imports of the Wii console and remote. Hillcrest's technology, dubbed Freespace, is reportedly used by Logitech International and Universal Electronics.

There have been numerous lawsuits and patent claims on Nintendo's Wii and DS interface technology. We're wondering if any of these companies who are suing Nintendo for patent infringement will ever sue each other for the same violations. We won't be seeing the lawsuit go to court anytime soon, however, as it's been put on hold while the ITC investigates. According to Bloomberg, that could take about 15 months.

While not as high quality as the falsified chat multiplayer trailer, the Kizzy Dos (remember, that's our nickname for Killzone 2) footage from Leipzig GC 2008 above does reveal that the game is now in pre-beta. When we last saw the game about a month ago at E3, K2 was rocking a pre-alpha build. We're happy to see the game progressing smoothly, even if we have to wait until February to play the final build. Here's to hoping developer Guerilla Games follows in the footsteps of its peers and opens a public beta for the game.

Konami has announced at Leipzig (via GamerByte) that it's going into the vault and preparing to spruce up its 1996 racer, GTI Club, exclusively for the PlayStation Network. The game, now called GTI Club+, will feature a visual overhaul, eight-player online multiplayer and support for the PS Eye (because what we really want is to see our fellow racers while we make sharp turns), along with the usual remake details of new cars, new tracks and new gameplay modes. It is being developed by Sumo Digital (Outrun, Driver 76) and is due out in November.

Ubisoft has released video of Far Cry 2's map editor, complete with a soothing narrator who holds your hands through the 5-minute trailer. Quite frankly, we're excited for how intuitive it seems to be, but perhaps that's just wishful thinking that we'll be able to accurately recreate the island from LOST and play out our own scenarios (only with fewer polar bears). Weather and time of day can also be altered. The folks at IGN have detailed impressions of the editor.

It looks impressive, for sure, but remembering Unreal Tournament 3 for Xbox 360, what is unclear right now is how (if at all) console gamers will be able to trade maps. Update: Curse our insomniac ways! Previous entry Far Cry Instincts featured ways to share maps over Xbox Live, so it'd be safe to assume a similar method will also be used for Far Cry 2.

Sony announced today at the Leipzig Games Convention 2008 that over 2.2 million SingStar songs have been downloaded via the aptly titled SingStore, which launched less than a year ago. Additionally, the company also unveiled SingStar Singalong with Disney for PlayStation 2, which as you might have guessed is a collection of Disney songs you can sing along to. Singalong with Disney is coming this Fall "exclusively for PAL territories." And hey, don't forget it'll be compatible with SingStar PS3.

Source – SingStar Singalong With Disney on PlayStation 2
Source – Over 2.2m songs downloaded via SingStore

In the midst of the Leipzig Games Convention, Microsoft has issued a statement (via IGN) about the much-ballyhooed and long-delayed Grand Theft Auto IV downloadable content. Said Microsoft, "In autumn there will be news from Liberty City; the first episodes of GTA IV will be available for download exclusively on Xbox LIVE, underlining Xbox 360's leadership role in the field of digital entertainment."

While we're fairly certain "news from Liberty City" is indicative of an Autumn launch, the "news" could just be a more confirmed release date for later this year. Take-Two previously noted that the DLC is expected in Fiscal Q109 (between November 1, 2008, and January 31, 2009). We've put in a call to Microsoft for clarification, who may or may not be too busy booking tickets to San Andreas. Update: Heard from Microsoft who confirm that the exclusive DLC itself is coming this Fall.

LucasArts has sent us a rather hefty excerpt from The Art and Making of The Force Unleashed book (itself a whopping 224 pages) that came out this week. We're guessing it doesn't end with a note on the dev team being cut.

Click above to peruse the gallery (Protip: Click on the Hi-res button on each gallery page to view a high-resolution version of the image). A demo for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed drops this Thursday, with the full game arriving mid-September.

With Sony shedding some new light on the sea of plastic instrument compatibility nonsense, we thought it was time to update our compatibility charts for the Guitar Hero and Rock Band series, as well as newcomer Rock Revolution. Introducing the Instrument Compatibility Matrix, version 3.0. We'll keep updating this page as new information percolates out, hoping one day to fill in every square with a green "yes." Until that time, check out our chart skills.

Update: Now with more green care of Microsoft's compatibility commitment.

Despite (or perhaps because of) the similarities to an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force from 2004, Penny Arcade's Gears of Conflict Resolution took top honors in this week's webcomic wrapup. We'd also like to take a moment to remind everyone of the 300 "PG" parody, since we still can't stop ourselves from shouting "This is Cake Town" at least once a day at random strangers.

Second and third place go to Ctrl+Alt+Del's Moar Co-Op and Monday Night Crew's Street Dated. A special nod goes to mudron's debut in the wrapup.Thanks to everyone who voted; be sure to let us know of any game-related webcomics you stumble upon this week!

After having "warned [their] 3 boys about their behavior while playing the Xbox," a rather vengeful father had decided to create folk art with the console, according to the mother's CNN iReport. In the comment section, the mother said the kids do not "totally hate dad ... There was a problem, and the problem was addressed properly."

Not to worry for the kids, however, as a replacement Xbox can be found on eBay for well under $40. In fact, the Xbox shown above can be found on the online auction site as well, with 50% of proceeds reportedly going to the local school system and 50% towards the children's college fund. So, now that we know it can be nailed ... will it blend?

[Via X3F]

It's been almost ten years since we first saw Too Human at E3 1999, at that point reportedly a 4-disc action adventure for the original PlayStation. In that time, the game has jumped to GameCube and then to Xbox 360, re-emerged as a slideshow, became overshadowed by a lawsuit, and later became the most downloaded action demo on Xbox Live in its first week.

So, after all the hype and controversy, how does the final game fare? Judging by the reviews, it's certainly not a knockout title, with the general consensus being that it aims for the stars and misses the mark. One thing is for sure: If you like seeking out loot, then Too Human is definitely for you.

• GamePro (4/5) "Here's an Xbox 360 exclusive that proudly wears its lofty ambitions on its sleeves, and yet sometimes seems bent on self-sabotage. That it's so relentlessly addictive despite its aggravations is something of a minor miracle."
• IGN (78/100) "What's been delivered in the end is a good game that ultimately falls just short of its promise due to a few questionable design decisions. One thing is for sure, though. If you love collecting random loot drops, you'll find a lot to like here."
• Giant Bomb (3/5) "If you have an insatiable lust for items with higher stats than the ones you're currently using, or if you get giddy at the mere thought of Diablo-style rare item naming conventions, you'll probably be able to look past the game's issues and have a good time. But even at its best, it's hard to ignore Too Human's monotonous combat and dated approach to cooperative play."
  
• GameSpot (55/100): "Too Human is a game of false starts and unrealized potential that infiltrate almost every aspect of the game, from story, to combat, to balance. Its elements feel stitched together, making for a patchwork quilt of a game that's fraying at the seams."
• 1UP (C-) "At the very least, the cyber-Norse concept of Too Human is a good one that's worth exploring further, just not in this context. The game is simply schizophrenic; it attempts to be all things to all people and never succeeds in executing any of them well. The end result is in dire need of polish and focus, and that doesn't solely apply to gameplay mechanics. There's absolutely no reason why a game released in 2008 should have a bug where characters can fall through solid ground and into some pseudoabyss."
  

Famitsu has posted a correction on its website (via IGN) about an incorrect The Last Remnant release date that appeared in the latest Famitsu PS3 publication. The issue, dedicated to Square Enix's recent DKΣ3713 event, incorrectly listed the PlayStation 3 version of the game as coming November 20, the same day as the Xbox 360 release. The PS3 version's actual release date is, as they say, TBA for both Japan and the rest of the world. As far as we know, the Xbox 360 version is still poised to make that November 20 "worldwide" release.

It's been quite awhile since we've heard anything about the Silicon Knights and Epic Games lawsuit -- we last reported on it in January 2008 and were all prepared to make jokes about the lawsuit being on the cusp of vaporware like Duke Nukem Forever is and Too Human was. Thankfully, our curiosity has been rewarded; on the eve of the latter game's launch, Silicon Knights President Denis Dyack managed to put the legal proceedings back into the limelight.

In an interview with Develop, Dyack said that the trial is proceeding and that he was confident in his claims. "We're hopeful that justice will be done. We all feel really strongly that [Epic Games has] defrauded us, and a major portion of the industry," he said.

To recap: In late July 2007, Silicon Knights filed a lawsuit against Epic Games over what it felt was inadequate support for its Unreal Engine 3, thus harming development of Too Human. Epic responded and filed a countersuit. In November, Epic's motion for dismissal was denied. In January 2008, multiple subpoenas were issued to other UE3 licensees. As for Too Human's involvement, we'll be keeping a mental tally of how many reviews mention the lawsuit.