Despite a higher percentage of broadband penetration in Europe, and the introduction of a PC-based PlayStation Store for the PS3-less, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has still opted to wrangle up the bits of some of the PSP's download-only titles for UMD distribution in themed "packs".

The first two packs (there are "more Collection Packs to be released throughout 2009") are the Puzzle Pack – cramming the mischievous Lemmings with the excitable Go! Sudoku and Go! Puzzle – and the Power Pack – an odd grouping of Syphon Filter: Combat Ops, the more contemplative stylings of flOw, and the rhythm-happy Beats. The Puzzle Pack is slated for a European debut in "mid" October while the Power Pack will come along right behind it, in "late" October. We've asked the fine folks at SCEA to comment on a North American release so, until then, let's just assume this is Europe-only.

You can put down that syringe full of bear hormones – EA's got a much easier (and more affordable!) way of transforming yourself into that most noble of Mother Nature's creatures: simply don Korssar's Helm. You see, the "magical Kislevite helm is imbued with the spirit of the wild North and will magically transform the wearer into a ferocious bear."

There are some caveats however: your ability to live your life as a bear will be limited to the virtual confines of EA Mythic's Warhammer Online MMO (a deal breaker for some, to be sure) and those willing to confine their bearness to WAR will still need to preorder Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 on PC to access the magical helm. Preorder cross-promotion? Clever move, EA. Great to see publishers further incentivizing preorders ... but we're sure there's at least a handful of WAR-heads eager to play as a bear (a bear!) but uninterested in picking up Red Alert 3. In other words: don't throw away those bear hormones just yet.

The get-kids-voting people behind Rock the Vote recently spread out beyond the limitations of MTV's core demographic and decided to enlist the Xbox Live community, long known to be an e-bastion of enlightened political discourse. So, being the politically (and mathematically!) astute bloggers we are, we took a look at the live poll results, as presented by MyGamerCard.net.

As of press time, Democratic-nom Barack Obama had a commanding lead over Republican oppollnent John McCain, with 4,623 gamerpics in circulation versus just 2,076 – a nearly insurmountable lead of 2,547 gamerpics. That's fine, but what's the real story here? How the pundits and the pollsters – clouded by the corruption and cynicism of a two-party election system – have ignored the dark horse in this election: Gears of War skull face guy, who right now controls a most impressive 87,626 of The People's votes. Ignore the political machine and vote your conscience!

[Via Cheap Ass Gamer]

Worried that game dev Rare lost its knack for shooting stuff, taking a prolonged three-game detour through kiddie-town? First Viva Piñata, now Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise and Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, but what of the Goldeneyes and the Perfect Darks and the Conkers? In a (lengthy!) Q&A with Rare's Justin Cook, Trouble in Paradise's lead designer, says the team doesn't have "any plans for DLC" and "are taking a break from VP for a while to make something new."

Of course, Mr. Cook doesn't elaborate on what that "something new" may be, but it would appear we can safely cross "Viva Pinata DLC" off the list of anything else possible in the world. The rest of the three-page interview is chockablock with details on the new game so, if you're really curious about those new pinata races, hit up that Source link.

What's more upsetting: that rumored God of War director Brett Ratner thinks the Guitar Hero brand is good movie material or that someone actually pays this guy to consult on their brands? In an interview with the movie mangler, MTV managed to get Ratner to say (ostensibly with a straight face), "I would love to do a Guitar Hero movie, if Activision would ever let me. I'm trying to convince them, but why would you have a movie screw up such a huge franchise? Not that I would make a bad movie." Oh no, what could be bad about a movie based on a video game that tasks players with hitting colored dots in time with rock music? Wait, don't answer that. Joystiq spies report that Ratner is also considering adaptations of video game classics Pong and Tetris.

So there's that. Then there's this: Brett Ratner was paid real money to "come up with a name" for the latest Guitar Hero. Ratner says, "I did, and it became Guitar Hero: World Tour." In other words, the geniuses at Activision couldn't figure out a name on their own, so who better than the guy who directed Rush Hour? In other news, we're apparently in the wrong line of work.

An Activision press release that just landed in our inbox breathlessly details every single promotional tie-in that Guitar Hero World Tour's packing. Really, it's a huge list! Here it is, straight from the release: "Ampeg, Audio-Technica, EMG Pickups, Ernie Ball, Evans Drumheads, Guitar Center, Krank Amplification, Mackie, Marshall, Orange County Drum & Percussion, Pork Pie Percussion, Regal Tip, Sabian cymbals, Vox and Zildjian drumsticks."

Notice anything missing? Considering it's busy trying to sue everyone but Activision, even retailers, it's unsurprising that guitar-maker (and patent-claimer) Gibson is nowhere to be seen. Of course, the total absence of any Gibson branding on Guitar Hero World Tour's Genericasters was our first clue but it would appear that lack of cooperation extends to the in-game experience as well. So, while you trick out your virtual drum kit with gear from the above purveyors, your axe will remain hopelessly generic. Isn't there any game in town besides Gibson and Rock Band BFF's Fender?

Something totally gross is afoot on the intergalactic mining vessel USG Ishimura. The latest issue of the animated Dead Space comic is now available for your viewing pleasure, complete with subtle pans, focus pulls, and just enough squishy sound effects to get the whole thing across.

As far as video game advertising goes, we've gotta say these comics/videos are pretty effective. Watching these chumps try and kill the space-baddies is pretty frustrating when we all know that you need to strategically dismember them. You can't just shoot willy-nilly! And seriously, how do you expect to do any damage without a badass spacesuit and accompanying laser triton? You know what, forget it! We'll just do it ourselves ... drat, advertising!

Perhaps the vagaries of reality have finally taken hold and you've done it. You've canceled the WoW account. Now you're back together with the Mrs., you've re-memorized all your kids' names, and you've got something that approximates steady work. Life, it would seem, is perfect. Then you heard the siren call of Wrath of the Lich King and – what is this? – you shut it out. Fine ... be strong.

But can you shut out the opportunity to drive your Sword of a Thousand Truths deep into the spotted fur of Bambi's mother? Sure, you cried during Bambi like everyone else did, but can you really resist transforming sweet, innocent Bambi(na) – spotted in Wrath's Northrend – into the crazy-eyed "Vengeful Bambina"? Blizzard's hoping you can't. But what if the kids see what you've done? You'll lose it all! Again!

[Via WoW Insider]

Remember when Neversoft's Brian Bright allegedly told G4 that a new peripheral was coming to Guitar Hero World Tour, and G4 speculated it would, in fact, be a keyboard? We had a chance to talk to the very same Brian Bright who told us that "a keyboard controller deserves to be introduced with its own game. This is something we're thinking about." B-b-b-but what about all the keyboard section in the song creator? Bright says, "there are reasons why we haven't included a keyboard controller." He elaborates that not all of the songs have keyboard parts so, "adding a keyboard controller would either have limited our choices, or the players."

... so Keyboard Hero: Billy Joel confirmed? Check out the full interview for more on World Tour's song creation system.

So, you know how this works. Sony releases yet another PS3 SKU and, suddenly, you're tasked with keeping the entire lineup in order. Which one comes with HD compatible cables? (Spoiler alert: none). Which currently shipping model has PS2 backwards compatibility? (Spoiler alert: none). But it's not all bad news. Want to know which models are packing the cooler, quieter 65nm chips? Or which models come with free stuff? It's all in here. If there's anything we've missed or anything we've gotten incorrect, please let us know in the comments. We're quite certain this won't be the last time we update this table.

	160GB	80GB	80GB	40GB	60GB	20GB
Hardware
Model #	CECHP01	CECHK01	CECHE01	CECHG01	CECHA01	CECHB01
Available	Nov 2008	Aug 2008	Aug 2007	Oct 2007	Nov 2006	Nov 2006
Price	$499.99	$399.99	$499.99*	$399.99*	$599.99*	$499.99*
Chrome trim	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
USB 2.0 slots	2	2	4	2	4	4
802.11 b/g	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Flash card reader	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
Size (Cell / RSX)	65nm / ?1	65nm / ?1	65nm / 90nm (built 2008) 90nm / 90nm (built 2007)	65nm / 90nm2	90nm / 90nm	90nm / 90nm
Bundled Accessories
Ethernet cable	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Video cables	Composite	Composite	Composite	Composite	Composite	Composite
Software	Uncharted, PAIN	None	MotorStorm	Spider-Man (Blu-ray)	None	None
Backwards Compatibility
PS2	No	No	Software3	No	Yes (NTSC), Software3 (PAL)	Yes
PS One	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Notes:
* This model is discontinued. The price on the chart represents the original retail price.
1. PS3 graphics chip going 65nm this Fall; New 80GB PS3 may be sporting 65nm RSX to match 65nm Cell
2. 40GB PS3s have 65nm Cell chips, 90nm GPUs
3. SCEE: No plans to offer PS2 backwards compatibility later as DLC for 40GB PS3

Don't believe the hype: PC gaming, while not the juggernaut of year's past, is doing just fine, thank you. One need look no further than Big Download's roundup of the fall's biggest PC releases. Of course, the list is full of the big AAA releases one would expect – that would be your Wrath of the Lich Kings, your Warhammer Onlines, your Spores, your – but just as interesting is the huge amount of multiplatform games hitting the platform. Silent Hill Homecoming, Saints Row 2, Dead Space, Prince of Persia. In other words, there's something for everyone. So hop in and see what PC gamers have in store this year.

Remember back in February when Gearbox Software big boss Randy Pitchford teased his studio's next project as something "big"? Well, not just "big" but something that was "even bigger" than anything Gearbox is currently working on? Well, the kids at OXM sure remembered and they sent their spies deep undercover into Gearbox territory and came back with one heck of a rumor for their October issue: Gearbox is working on Halo 4 as a launch title for the next Xbox (NextBox?).

With Bungie admittedly uninterested in creating Halo games ad nauseum, and Gearbox one of the industry's top FPS developers, we've certainly heard crazier rumors. And there are few licenses that would get a studio chieftain to inadvertently slam his own games in development. Whatever the project is, Pitchford has said he'll be directing it himself, adding, "When you find out what this is, you'll likely agree that I can't oversell this one." Nope, you probably couldn't Randy. Overselling Halo is Microsoft's job anyway; you guys just make with the shooting of the aliens ... no, the other aliens.

[Thanks for the tip, Jordan!]

Our pals at Big Download hit the phones, tracked down PR people and figured out which companies, exactly, are going to this year's E for All Expo ... and the answers ain't pretty. In fact, the only two major exhibitors will be Microsoft and Electronic Arts! THQ and Konami – familiar faces from last year's expo – won't be in attendance this year while Nintendo and 2K Games – also at last year's Expo – have yet to make a decision (Update: 2K and Activision, previously undecided, let BD know that they won't be attending).

To make sense of the whole messy situation, we did the same thing we always do when we're upset: grabbed the crayons and expressed our feelings artistically ... then we turned those feelings into a chart comparing exhibitors for both this year's and last year's E for All, side-by-side with this year's Penny Arcade Expo. Yes, we know the Penny Arcade kids have been pouring salt into E for All's wounds for awhile now and that this is just another pile of color-coded salt that we're placing at their disposal. But really, that's a lot of salt! Chart after the break or read the full article at Big Download.

[Update: IDG sent us a comment: "We're disappointed that you didn't contact us yesterday before putting up your E for All post, and we hope you'll do so in the future. At this point, we'll just say that the show isn't over until Tiger hits his last hole in one, Microsoft has packed up its last Xbox, Target has sold its last Wii Fit, Fatal1ty has blown away his last opponent, and the World Cyber Games National champions are crowned. Further announcements are forthcoming, and we are confident that E for All 208 will be a great event for everyone in the game community."]

Ziff-Davis Media's annual DigitalLife Expo – held each fall in New York City's Javits Center – is canceled this year thanks to "poor economic conditions." The last two years had a significant gaming presence (2006 and 2007) and, facing a lack of interest in the show in 2007, Ziff's "apparent strategy was to put more of a focus on gaming for the 2008 edition" according to CNET. DigitalLife Vice President Paul O'Reilly said in an e-mailed statement, "Hopefully, a bigger and stronger DigitalLife will return in 2009."

So, if you had September 25-28 circled in your 2008 Hot Men of Ziff-Davis calendar, we'd recommend you spend that time with some of this fall's bigger games. Seriously, what were you thinking anyway? September has Rock Band 2, Spore, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and Mercenaries 2 (on August 31). You'll be quite busy.

We'll be honest: most of the staff at Joystiq has a serious medical condition that makes us physically unable to resist good co-op gameplay. We can't do it. It's a serious condition. There's only two known treatments: 1) massive amounts of mind-altering pharmaceuticals or 2) co-op video games. Sometimes, we're forced to seek out the former when there aren't any co-op games on the ol' release calendar while other times there are games like Mercenaries 2: World in Flames that would appear to provide enough co-op gameplay to keep us drug-free for a long time.

Above you've got another Mercenaries 2 developer walkthrough, this time sharing the wonders of the game's co-op functionality. Don't mean to brag, but we've already played it. That means you'll want to pay attention, lest you miss things like "drop-in," "drop-out," "campaign," and "explosion." Say, does anyone have an early copy of Castle Crashers, we're really hurting over here ...