PS3 Fanboy

ThreeSpeech, on their neverending quest to squeeze PSN info out of Sony Europe, have managed to get their hands on the release date for Blast Factor: Advanced Research. The add-on will go onto the store on September the 20th which, coincidentally, is the day the Tokyo Game Show starts. We're wondering what else Sony will have in store for us that day - hopefully they will pull off a hat trick and hack a whole host of new content up, as was the case with E3 and Leipzig.

There's no word on how much Advanced Research will cost, but if we can find out then we will let you know.

The press release is in and we can now reveal the lineup for today's US PSN Store update. While we're not entirely sure when the update will take place, you can look forward to seeing the following filling your hard drive at some point later today:

• Blast Factor: Advanced Research expansion ($4.99)
• Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 demo (free)
• The Darkness demo (free)
• Michael Clayton movie trailer (free)
• Get Smart movie trailer (free)
• The Game Plan movie trailer (free)
• [Update: Super Rub-a-Dub has dropped in price to a mere $2.99!]

Well what do you know. We were right. We look forward to tucking into the delights of Advanced Research later today. Not to mention the two demos - both of which are available right now on the EU PSN Store, but nevermind. This feels like a much more substantial update than we've seen in Europe today. You guys should be very pleased.

Just by chance, we decided to give Blast Factor another go this morning. Perhaps it was fate, or perhaps we were reminded how fun it is by the promise of an soon-to-be-released expansion on the PlayStation.Blog. Either way, when we started the game we were greeted by a message on the menu screen. It read as follows: "A new Blast Factor expansion pack is available to download. Please visit the PLAYSTATION@Store to find out more!"

Of course, with no new updates to the UK or US store as of yet, there's nothing there. We're hoping that means we'll be seeing Advanced Research when the store update hits. We'll let you know when that happens and what it contains.

The president of Bluepoint Games, Andy O'Neil, has posted on the PlayStation.Blog with details on the upcoming "expansion" to Blast Factor. We put quotation marks around the word "expansion" because, from the looks of things, it's going to be bigger than the original game was. Namely "Seven new specimens, eleven new types of enemy, two new bosses, monthly online high score tables, new practice mode, remixed sound effects, eight new music tracks and dynamic lighting." Sounds great to us!

While Blast Factor: Advanced Research has an uphill battle ahead of it if it wants to beat Super Stardust HD and become King of the dual-analogue shooters, we're looking forward to it. We were big fans of the original Blast Factor, even if no-one else was. Thankfully for those who are a bit more cautious about what you download from the store, Advanced Research will have a demo available with the release of the game. Check out the post on the PlayStation.Blog for more details.

The idea behind the subject is that we're getting annoyed at the small-scale of updates for the PlayStation Store -- while welcome, we'd like to see something bigger and better. Like, say, demos of upcoming titles. Giving us ports of classic titles is okay, but getting a demo for Lair or Assassin's Creed would give our friends a reason to gather 'round the TV and screw around. So, what did we get?

Available now is the all-terrain racing title Jet Moto. It's a classic, indeed. Also available for your download pleasure is the multiplayer expansion pack for the fun-filled Blast Factor. The pack allows 4 players to join in cooperative or grudge match multiplayer modes. You can also speed the game up to 150%. The expansion costs three bucks while Jet Moto will set you back six. Enjoy!

You know you're tired of looking at the same fugly outfit your character in Genji is clad in. You know you're sick of handing off the controller when you die in Blast Factor. So what're you going to do about it? Initiate some microtransactions, that's what! Coming soon to the PlayStation Store are:

• Genji: Days of the Blade costume pack
• Blast Factor co-op play download pack
• flOw game and demo

Granted, flOw might take a litter longer than the rest. Heard rumors of a January release, though, so maybe they'll all hit at once. In any case... gentlemen, start your engines! Ready, set, down...load? Damn. Wanted a clever download phrase/cliche, but alas. Next time, surely.

It's a pretty long subject for an otherwise simple idea, isn't it? How wordy. Anyway, Sony Computer Entertainment finally announced pricing for some of their downloadable games, such as the super neat looking Blast Factor. And by some of their downloadable games, we mean Blast Factor. Let's just assume it's indicative of all other downloadable game prices. First off, there will be a free demo for you to download to make sure the game is up your alley. Second off, how else can we keep beating around the bush? Are you annoyed yet? $7.00. Approximately $7.00... which is what, 840 yen? Yes, it is.

As far as eating up your PS3 hard drive space, make sure you can stomach parting with 95 megabytes. If you have a 360, confirm for us this: that size is, on average, higher than XBox Live Arcade titles. Is this too pricey? Just right? Personally, anything under $10 is pretty easy to stomach, but that's very subjective and it's the voices of the masses that matter, not my own.