Another item that I cannot verify is Facebook integration.  I have read on several other sites that there is some basic Facebook integration, but I could not find it anywhere.

If you want the latest firmware, just head to the System Update selection under the Settings section of the XMB.  It is a small update, and took about 15 minutes max to download and install.

Did you hear the news? Sony’s Ad-hoc Party feature for the PSP is coming to North America this month! This awesome new service allows you to play Monster Hunter Freedom Unite ONLINE by enabling your PSP to play through your PS3. This is HUGE news for Monster Hunter fans as now they can play MHFU with their Monster Hunter buddies around the country! The new feature also allows you to use text or voice chat to communicate with friends, which is critical for coordinating those 4 player hunts and taking out those tougher Monsters.

Granted that Adhoc Party will actually bring lots and lots of OLD PSP games online, going back literally years with no patching needed, but it’s also letting developers off the hook to a certain extent. Keep in mind that your PS3 will have to be dedicated to this to work — no DVD, Blu-ray or Netflix use by someone else in your household while you’re online with the PSP — and that you need a hard-line ethernet connection to it so the PSP can talk to it via the built-in Wi-Fi chipset. It’s a great deal for existing PS3 owners at zero dollars and zero cents and no ongoing online service fee.

All of that said, the technical triumphs of things like the two excellent Syphon Filter PSP games from the Sony Bend Studio that included not just online play for a first-person shooter but also had voice chat proved years ago that it could be done, and done well, without having to fall back to another service. Yes, this is just like having Xbox Live to fall back on if you think about it, and yes, this might help boost sales, but there are side benefits to running your own servers.

Take Sega and what they’re planning for Phantasy Star Portable 2. The first game was adhoc only, but the sequel is adding online play. Why is this a big deal? Why not just use Adhoc Party? Maybe because they might use it to reduce used game sales by requiring you enter a code from your manual into the game to register it with their servers before you can play it online.

In the end, though, I can’t help but think this is a net positive for the little handheld that is still alive and kicking up against Nintendo’s incredible DS juggernaut. What older games do you have that you want to play online?

GAME> The Beatles: Rock Band (2009)
SYSTEM> Sony PlayStation3
SOURCE> Email from GameStop, October 2009

Sssh! This code was a GameStop exclusive! Don’t tell anybody!

We all saw the announcement a week or so ago that mentioned Netflix Instant Streaming coming to PS3 sometime in November.  Well that time seems to be tomorrow, as I just received an email from Netflix stating that my Instant Streaming disc will be arriving tomorrow (November 6th).

Anyone else receive their announcement email yet?  And are you surprised with how quickly this announcement went from press conference to reality.  I mean, it is Sony, not Apple.

Ok here’s the thing: I don’t care about the huge military-themed, cross-platform shooter coming to the PS3 this month. It’ll get its spot of ink below, don’t worry, but I’m highlighting the three exclusive franchises returning to PlayStation platforms this month first.

The God of War Collection lands on November 17th as a new experiment: a reissue of two PlayStation 2 games in high definition on a single Blu-ray PlayStation 3 disc. The remastering of the top-selling God Of War and God Of War II includes the addition of Trophy support. Sales of this collection will be watched closely – it takes quite a bit of work to remaster games like this, but if it sells well we might see other Sony PS2 franchises reappear like this on the PS3. I’m a huge fan of the franchise, partly because of the brutally satisfying gameplay, partly because of the mostly-consistent mythological backdrop, so this is a must-buy for me. Of note: this is a $40 game.

The PlayStation Portable gets the PS3’s most recognizable mascot this month with its very own version of LittleBigPlanet. While you’ll be able to make and share your own levels in LBP on the PSP, you’re going to be playing them alone since multiplayer didn’t make it into this game. I’m being cheeky by mentioning this would be a $40 game as well since PSP games tend to debut at this price.

Also hitting the PlayStation 3 this month is Buzz! Quiz World on the 10th. I’ve become a fan of the original Buzz! Quiz TV on the PlayStation 3 and it’s just about the only game my non-gamer wife will play with me on the system. Of note: this also is a $40 game if you already have the buzzers from the first game, or $60 if you need the buzzers too. And in case you’re wondering the buzzers aren’t Bluetooth devices. They need a USB dongle to work.

What else is hitting the systems this month?

PlayStation 3

EA and Bioware are bringing a new fantasy franchise to market this month with Dragon Age: Origins on the 3rd, something some have theorized might have been a D&D game that never quite got the license. As a fully single player adventure it’s already got DLC lined up for it. As someone who’s still thoroughly enjoying Sacred 2 on the PS3 I might be interested in this game at one point, but not quite yet.

LEGO Rock Band also comes in on the 3rd, taking what should have been a filter in Rock Band 2 – the option for kid-friendly songs only – and putting it in a whole different game. Still, LEGOs are LEGOs and it could sell a few copies this holiday season. It’ll also add a whole different submenu to the already large set of PlayStation Store weekly update music game DLC menus.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed — Ultimate Sith Edition comes in on November 4th, and having spent some time with the original I’m not interested in this one. The controls and camera just felt too complex in this one, and since this only adds some additional missions as far as I can tell it’s not something I’ll be going after anytime soon.

That elephant in the room I mentioned is, of course, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The game’s going to have midnight retailer openings and throngs of fans waiting to ventilate each other online, and as I said I couldn’t care less. I’m all in favor of stimulating the retail and game development economy, though, don’t get me wrong, so go ahead and buy it with abandon!

I found the story and feel of the original Assassin’s Creed game to be slow and unwieldy, and it gave me a very strong Half-Life 2 vibe which made me think I knew where the story was going very early on. I quickly lost interest, so its sequel coming on the 17th doesn’t have my interest.

A former Xbox 360 exclusive, the Scene It franchise also comes to the PS3 this month (making me wonder if it did ok over there) with Scene It? Bright Lights! Big Screen!. More party games are always welcome on the console but I haven’t been following this one.

PlayStation Portable

The PSP gets some new blood this month with its first proper Jak and Daxter game, Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier. High Impact Games’ take on the franchise Naughty Dog previously took 3 runs at on the PlayStation 2 already has a demo on the PlayStation Store, so feel free to scoop that up and give it a look. It lands on November 3rd on both the PSP and the PS2, of all things.

Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines takes the first game’s storyline in a new direction, apparently, and does it portably. We’ll have to see how it fares alongside its sequel bigger brother on the 17th.

Lastly, about a month later than its PS3 and Xbox 360 older brother, the PSP version of Tekken 6 comes in on November 24th. Tekken’s got a very good track record with Dark Resurrection on the PSP, so this could be a really stellar fighter.

That covers it for the big deals hitting PlayStation platforms this month. Did I miss anything you’re after? Let me know what and why in the comments below.

Bayonetta has been high on my radar since I got a chance to play it at E3 this year, and it was a bit irritating when it was pushed back to January 2010 here in the states.  I mean, the game takes the action of a Devil May Cry title, but mixes in a very provocative female hero, while throwing some rather unique creatures at the player.  All of that said, the Japanese market will receive Bayonetta a couple months ahead of the US, and a demo has been dropped on the PSN store in Japan.  So being a good PS3 citizen, I setup a Japanese account, and proceeded to download the demo for two reasons.  One was to get my hands on this fast and furious action that the game delivers, but also, to see if the PS3 version is as horrendous as reports have detailed.

After getting the Bayonetta demo downloaded and installed, I started it up, and was a little disappointed to find that it looks to be very similar to the Bayonetta demo that we saw at E3.  This means that you will be playing through the first few bits of the intro level of the game.

The demo starts you off on a train, with Bayonetta not remembering much of anything, including why she was on the train in the first place.  It was very reminiscent of the beginning of Half Life 2 in this respect, but I doubt that Platinum Games was looking at creating homage to Gordon Freeman.  Walking off the train, it does not take long to get into your first bit of combat, and from that point on, the combat does come rather fast and furious.

Bayonetta dispatches foes with either her guns or melee attacks.  You have your standard punch attacks, but you also have melee weapons you can find along the way that increase the amount of damage you inflict on the enemy.  However, these melee weapons have a duration effect, where they wear out and disappear over time.  You can also fall back and use your guns to take out enemies from afar, but for some bosses, you will have to get close up for guns to hit their mark.  The button layout was intuitive, and combat was sort of an ordered chaos.  Foes come from all sides, but you never feel out of control or overwhelmed.

The nicest part of the combat that really raises it above the Devil May Cry series is that I actually found myself being competent with fighting enemies.  I always feel like I have to die several times, and can never put together a string of combos to really be effective with these types of games, but in Bayonetta, I easily grasped the controls and combo system.  Pulling off a finishing move ends up being more about timing your button presses, rather than some abstract turn of the stick while pushing out a button combo.

The Bayonetta demo also throws out a nice boss that just hints at the size and scope of the enemies that you will have to deal with during the course of the game.  The enemy was a huge giant that slowly destroys the environment, while you have to attack certain sections of his body.  The battle is frantic, taking place over several sections of the level.  Again, the boss battle was challenging, without causing me any stress.

This was the first time that I have had a chance to see Bayonetta running on an actual Playstation 3, and I do have to say that while there are some visual differences between the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions of the title, it was not as bad as it had been made out.  The graphics seemed a bit muddy at times, and there was a lack of visual pop from character models, but it was by no means a red headed stepchild.  But there is enough there in visual differences, that it will give the “PS3 is difficult to develop on” argument more fuel.  Also, while I cannot confirm it, as I cannot read Japanese, there is supposedly a statement at the beginning of the game that makes mention of the fact this version of Bayonetta is developed by Sega, not Platinum Games.

So far, I am impressed with what Bayonetta is delivering on, with its chaotic action, and interesting main character.  It is disappointing that PS3 owners will not get the exact same visual experience, which can be seen in the demo, but it looks good enough to be a day one purchase for those that want a fun gaming experience.  Also, if you would like to try the demo on your PS3, but get lost in the account creation process as soon as the screen turns to the Japanese character set, may I recommend this excellent tutorial over on YouTube for creating a Japanese PSN account.  It takes you through each step, explaining each menu.  Get yourself in and select the first option on the left side of the store, and look through until you find the demo.

We also took the time to sit discuss some of the recent hulabaloo on the web surrounding the complaints over the recent scores that Uncharted 2 has received from some media outlets.  Yes, you read that right, people have been complaining about 9.3, 9.4 and 4.5 out of 5 scores.  We just found it interesting that a game that has reviewed so well, is still getting complaints over the review scores being so low.

The podcast music is provided by Revolution Void and they can be found at www.revolutionvoid.com.  The podcast is mixed as always by our favorite DJ, Stephen “stop clearing your throat already, Joe” Munn.

Download the podcast from here or subscribe to the podcast using one of the services below: Also make sure to review us on iTunes.

The DS didn’t exactly blow its doors off, though. The DS sold 524k, the PS3 sold 491k, the Wii sold 462k, the Xbox 360 sold 352k, and the PSP (pre-Go, remember) chugged along at 191K. In last place, limping along, is the PS2 with 142k units sold. The 360’s number is nothing to sneeze at, but it looks like that PS3 price cut showed that consumers still really did want a PlayStation 3 after all this time. Does Microsoft consider that along with having sold a full 110,000 units less than the Wii this time a problem?

September was also notable for stopping a long slide of months where game sales were down significantly from the previous year. This is no small feat, even if this month just meant staying on par with 2008. New consoles on the market could have been a big part of that and if the holidays are good to those new console owners it could very well be a very happy holiday for all three console makers after all.

Seen at Gamespot.