Ones to Watch on PS3 and PSP for August 2008

By Paul Munn | August 1, 2008

New PSN content this month should include the long-awaited Bionic Commando: Rearmed swinging into view on the 14th and the puzzle-and-platforming focused shorter game Ratchet & Clank: Quest For Booty
on the 21st for $14.99.  In the patch department we’re looking at getting a NovaStrike update to rebalance difficulty, add customizable controls, and add Trophies.  Last fall’s smash hit Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune could become the first disc-based game to get patched with Trophies this month, requiring a replay of the game to earn them.  If a Warhawk update makes it out first it could be a tough fight since that game is out both in PSN and disc form, but Warhawk boasts at least some of its trophies will be retroactive.

One non-game PSN release should be Life With PlayStation this month.  It’s the first casualty of E3, falling from “this month” of July into August.  There are rumblings that the Home beta will get refreshed soon as well, but that’s not open to the public just yet.

On the PS3 retail side we have Monster Madness: Grave Danger coming over from the Xbox 360 with new content, upgraded controls, and other goodies for a bargain price on the 5th.  You can find a demo for that on PSN already, and while it has online play there are no Trophies or voice chat.  Madden NFL 09 thunders in on the 12th and among other things Disgaea 3 and Tiger Woods 09 step in on the 26th with Mercenaries 2 rounding things out on the 31st.

Sports fans will flock to Madden of course, and maybe Tiger Woods, but if you’re like me and don’t care for those I’m betting that Mercenaries 2 will make a nice splash followed by a cult following of the Disgaea series making Disgaea 3 a steady seller.  The raw depth of even the PSP version Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness still boggles my mind.

Speaking of PSP, the B-Boy and Fading Shadows games didn’t make it out in July as planned, so they’re alledgedly headed our way this month instead, but I’m going to go with N+, which Stephen reviewed and found to be a high-quality, high-difficulty title with lots of mileage along with a level editor, online level sharing, and local wifi multiplayer.

Again, sports fans can go with the pocket versions of Madden 09 or Tiger Woods 09.  The most unusual PSP game I’ve seen in a while has to be the Pilot Academy flight sim which I hope is much improved from its November 2006 appearance in Europe where it got low marks.

Release date sources: IGN (PS3 and PSP) and Gamespy (PS3 and PSP).