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The PSP Go will have some company on launch day.

(Credit: CNET)

Gran Turismo, launching October 1 with the PSP Go, was the headlining PSP game during Tuesday's E3 Sony press conference. It wasn't the only ammo Sony had. However, it seems like the biggest in terms of holiday 2009 impact. Polyphony Digital announced a "full game" with 800 cars, 35 tracks, 60 track layouts, and four-player play over local ad-hoc along with car trading, almost like Pokemon.

A true sequel to Metal Gear Solid 3

(Credit: Konami)

Other announcements included the first-ever PSP iteration in the Resident Evil series, as well other titles that were shown but not fully detailed: Little Big Planet, Motorstorm: Arctic Edge, Soul Calibur, Pixeljunk Monsters, Fat Princess and a new Jak and Daxter game, to name a few.

Click for full coverage of E3.

Sony's 2009 and 2010 PSP lineup finally looks like the PSP game library we'd been expecting all along.

More to come.

(Credit: 1UP)

Ah, February 14, love is in the air...well, maybe not for everyone, but it's Valentine's Day nonetheless: the day loved ones do things together, or at least should, like download the Little Big Planet Valentine's Day pack from the PlayStation Network.

Media Molecule has put together a Valentine's Day theme pack. In addition to their McLovin SackBoy costume, the theme pack comes equipped with a full array of stickers and decorations that will surely inspire some wild and crazy creations. So go on, create that ultimate Valentine's Day level or object for your chosen SackBoy or SackGirl, and be sure to also show it off on the LittleBigWorkshop.

Also available for download is the Groundhog Day costume from the PS Store. but hurry as this may be your only chance before it's gone forever.

For a little over a week now PlayStation 3 owners have been creating thousand of levels in LittleBigPlanet, a platformer where creativity is both encouraged and rewarded using an ever-expanding level making tool set. The only problem is that these tools are relegated to the game, meaning if you're away from your console there's nothing more than a pen and paper for you to design your next masterpiece.

Media Molecule, the creators of LBP are attempting to change that, with new online tools that let you get your creative juices flowing right in the browser. Using simple drag and drop you can rotate, resize, and combine over 40 objects in a large canvas. Included is a simple graphing grid which shows the relative scale of whatever you're building to the characters in the LBP world, and when done you simply print out your creation which can be used as a reference for when you're back home.

To build a level just drag and drop objects from the right onto the canvas. When you're done you can print it out in one giant map which you can use as a blueprint when designing in-game.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

In addition to the blueprint maker, Media Molecule has also turned to YouTube for users to collaborate on level building. While there is no built-in capture mode in the game (despite it being built-in to the Playstation 3 API), you can find a multitude of creations on the video sharing service, and they're being harvested on the LBP site. Users can also go in and manually drop in the embed code to get their creations (or someone else's) in the directory.

Eventually there may be a time when you'll be able to design levels on non-console hardware, then send them home to your machine, but we're not quite there yet. In the meantime, Media Molecule has shown off the option for users to send image files to their machines through e-mail or flash drive for use as in-game textures, but there's no word on when or if it will be available to gamers.

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Updated at 1 p.m. PDT Monday, October 20, with name of song and artist and link to YouTube video of the track.

Sony is delaying the much-anticipated PlayStation 3 title Little Big Planet due to a late discovery that background music tracks contained two expressions found in the Koran, an inclusion some might deem offensive.

"We have taken immediate action to rectify this and we sincerely apologize for any offense that this may have caused," Sony said on its official PlayStation blog Friday. "Sorry for the delay, and rest assured, we are doing everything we can to get Little Big Planet to you as soon as possible."

It will be a little longer than expected before gamers get their hands on Little Big Planet.

(Credit: Media Molecule)

Concerns about the lyrics--contained in the track "Tapha Niang" by Grammy Award-winning African kora player Toumani Diabate--came to light on official PlayStation Community forums and reportedly on some Arabic gaming forums, as well.

"We Muslims consider the mixing of music and words from our Holy Koran deeply offending," a contributor to the Sony forums wrote on Thursday. "We hope you would remove that track from the game immediately via an online patch, and make sure that all future shipments of the game disk do not contain it."

The puzzle-based game--in which players guide highly customizable lead characters through a series of mental challenges--was slated for a North American release Tuesday. Instead, Sony says it will start shipping Little Big Planet to North American retailers on October 27. Copies of the game already released elsewhere in the world will be recalled from retailers and replaced, according to Sony.

British game developer Media Molecule, creator of Little Big Planet, said it was as "shocked and dismayed by (the delay) as anyone--shellshocked and gutted. We can't wait for you all to get playing and creating!"

Media Molecule added, however, that it takes the potentially offensive licensed tracks seriously. "LBP should be enjoyable by all," the company said on its Web site.

Within 12 hours of hearing about the issue, the game maker said it prepared an automatic "day zero" patch that would have removed the potentially offensive lyrics, which it says it believes were in Somali. "However, a decision was made within Sony that the right thing to do for quality and support...was to replace existing disks," Media Molecule said.

Many reviewers have hailed the game, calling it beautiful and brilliant. A CNET review posted Thursday described it as "novel and imaginative" and gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars.

A number of videos containing the song have been posted to YouTube in the last several days.

It's all the goods from Crave. Crave's Brian Tong and Bonnie Cha talk about the new BlackBerry Storm, a reversible jacket for all conditions, and a Little Big Planet to play in.

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Each year, the selection of games on display at E3 reveals what the hottest current trend in the video game industry is at the time--usually manifesting itself as an overused gameplay mechanic that every developer suddenly feels the need to shoehorn into their games.

Resident Evil 5

This year's big buzzword is cooperative gameplay--meaning gamers play together, but are collaborating, rather than competing, to complete the game's goals. This often happens online, where gamers connect via Xbox Live or the PlayStation Network from remote locations.

We've seen several examples this week of the cooperative gameplay mechanic added to games that don't seem to need it, except as a bullet point on a marketing plan. Resident Evil 5 is adding an online cooperative mode, where players can assist each other in surviving an onslaught of zombie-like creatures. It seems oddly out of place in a game series that has traditionally been a single-player experience designed around building a tense atmosphere through fear and isolation.

Fable II

We also saw co-op features added to Fable II, the ambitious sword-and-sorcery role-playing game from designer Peter Molyneux. While playing through the game, which is a traditional single-player RPG, players will run across glowing orbs. Those orbs represent gamers on your Xbox Live "friends list," who are also playing Fable II at the same time. You can then invite them to jump into your game, where they can lend a helping hand for as long as they want. At first glance, it seems gimmicky and out-of-place, but Molyneux (Populous, Black & White, The Movies) is known for pushing genre boundaries, if not always successfully.

A much more traditional co-op experience will be found in Gears of War 2, the sequel to the 2006 Xbox 360 hit. From our brief hands-on time with the game, it seems to not stray much from the original's successful formula, with tough-as-nails soldier-types fighting weird insect creatures.

The first Gears of War game had a two-person cooperative mode, where you and a friend could play through the entire plot together, and hopes were high for an expanded four-player co-op mode in the sequel (similar to the four-player co-op mode in Halo 3). Unfortunately, the main game is still restricted to two players, but as a consolation prize, there is a new five-person online cooperative mode that's essentially a simple shooting gallery pitting humans against endless waves of monsters.

Co-operative gameplay will also play a big part in Sony's upcoming Little Big Planet (which we talked about in our show preview). There, four players can link up online and guide their tiny sock-puppet-style avatars through a series of puzzles built out of giant versions of everyday household objects.

You can expect to see a greater emphasis on cooperative gameplay in new games this holiday season and beyond. In some cases, it's a natural fit (Gears of War 2, Little Big Planet), in others, we'll have to take a more wait-and-see attitude.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News)

Sony on Tuesday afternoon concluded the trio of press conferences kicking off E3 2008. Here are some of the highlights:

We first got a glimpse of the highly anticipated sequel Resistance 2, set to ship in the fall. The gameplay looked gorgeous and featured a battle with a 300-foot monster. Next up was some time with LittleBigPlanet, shipping in October 2008, a game that will allow users to design, create, and share their own custom levels over the PlayStation Network. MotorStorm: Pacific Drift and SOCOM Confrontation were also briefly shown.

Other PlayStation 3 games were just teased as we saw a short trailer for God of War III, but we got no real information on its release. We also got to see a glimpse of Infamous, scheduled to ship in spring 2009. It's a title where you play a superhero who must decide the fate of an entire city. Next was DC Universe Online, a massive online role-playing game that will have you roaming around and interacting with your favorite DC characters. We were also introduced to MAG (Massive Action Game), a title that boasts online battles involving up to a whopping 256 players.

Sony also announced a new 80GB PlayStation SKU that will go on sale in the fall for $400. The console will mirror all of the functionality in the current 40GB version and looks like it will also include a DualShock 3 controller.

PSP owners will be glad to see a handful of releases, including the newly announced Resistance Retribution, which will ship in spring 2009--an original adventure set in the Resistance universe. Other PSP titles shown off included Patapon 2, Loco Roco 2, Stardust Portable, and Buzz Master Quiz.

The PlayStation Network is also getting a lot of love. Available immediately is the video store that will let you rent and buy movies and TV shows. Sony has sealed up content support from major studios such as MGM, Warner Bros., Fox, Lionsgate, and Disney. Titles bought can be sent to your PSP for viewing on the go. Also, your PlayStation ID will now allow for universal logon including Web integration.

Also announced was a hefty list of exclusive PlayStation Network games. Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest For Booty will be a shorter adventure continuing the story from Tools of Destruction and available for just $15. Other titles include Crash Commando, Fat Princess, PixelJunk Eden, PAIN: Amusement Park, Flower, Siren Blood Curse, and Rag Doll Kung-Fu.

Sony gave us another look at PlayStation Home, which included game-themed environments. But it still did not disclose a release date for the service.

That does it for the opening press conferences. Keep checking Crave for up-to-the-minute updates from the show.