PS3 Fanboy

The ESRB is listing Castlevania Chronicles for both the PS3 and PSP on its site today. Which can only mean one thing. A PS1 game listed for both the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3 means we should be seeing it coming to the PlayStation Network before too long. "Before too long" meaning before the end of the console's lifecycle. So expect the game to appear sometime within the next nine years.

All PSN bitterness aside, it's nice to see that PS1 games are being delivered on the Store. Despite any European hiccups. Interesting that the only non-first party titles to be released so far are Castlevania games, though. We're not complaining. Just a little confused. If Konami are so keen on releasing games on the PSN, will we be seeing Metal Gear Solid at some point? Just in time for Metal Gear Solid 4, perhaps?

[Via Joystiq]

Due to fatal crash bugs, Medievil, Crash Bandicoot 2 and Spyro 2 were removed from the PlayStation Store. Emails have started being sent out to people who bought the games detailing the current situation. Sadly, it doesn't look great for those of us who actually wanted to play them.

Anyone who bought the PS1 titles from the EU PSN Store will be getting a refund within the next seven days. The money will go straight back into your wallet on the Store and the games will be removed from your download list. Curiously, there is no mention of the games ever being put back on to the Store. The deletion from your download list has a strong sense of finality about it.

Hopefully these three PS1 classics will be but back on eventually, but without any sort of timeframe announced, we're not going to hold our collective breath for too long.

Sony have confirmed to Eurogamer.net that the PS1 title Medievil has been removed from the European PSN store. It seems the game has a bug which comes into effect in level 3, crashing the game. Until Sony have fixed the problem, Medievil will not be available to purchase from the online store. Anyone who has already bought the game, however, will be able to download the fixed version free of charge.

Spyro 2 looks like it may well be receiving the same treatment as it suffers from sound issues, during the cutscenes. While this isn't a game-stopper, it is an inconvenience and for first-time players might spoil the experience somewhat. There is no word yet when Medievil will be put back on, but Sony has promised to make a statement "in due course."

Crash Bandicoot 2, which was released alongside Medievil and Spyro 2 last Thursday, appears to be trouble free. For now. Typical, really, as it's the only one we didn't buy.

It looks like we were completely correct with our post a couple of weeks ago when we laid out a sumptuous platter of downloadable content that would be available on the European PSN this month. ThreeSpeech has confirmed that everything that we listed will be available on the store this Thursday (looks like the EU updates will no longer be happening on Fridays after all). For those with lazy clicking fingers, here is the list of upcoming downloadable content for this week:

• Heavenly Sword demo
• Crash Bandicoot 2 PS1 game for PS3/PSP
• Spyro 2 PS1 game for PS3/PSP
• WipEout 2097 PS1 game for PS3/PSP
• MediEvil PS1 game for PS3/PSP

As well as all of this, there will be a couple more trailers from E3 going up. Namely, Ratchet and Clank and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. Though chances are most of you will have downloaded them from the US Store already.

[Thanks Ian]

[Update]
IGN has confirmation that the demo *should* be arriving this week in America and Japan as well. Woot!

We've managed to get our hands on what exactly we can expect from the EU PSN Store this month. After this week's huge update, we had high hopes that this month would continue offering us some excellent content. Those hopes seem to be well founded. Check out the list of releases for the upcoming weeks. While not exhaustive, this list focuses on major, highly-anticipated playable content.

• Heavenly Sword demo
• Crash Bandicoot 2 PS1 game for PS3/PSP
• Spyro 2 PS1 game for PS3/PSP
• WipEout 2097 PS1 game for PS3/PSP
• MediEvil PS1 game for PS3/PSP

We've also heard mention of the Blast Factor expansion, Snakeball and Feel Ski but aren't certain whether these will be coming our way in July. If not, then we'll probably see them in August. Also on the horizon is news about Warhawk and the Motorstorm Coyote Weekend VIP Pass update. Oh, and in the run up to the Heavenly Sword release in September we'll be seeing five "Animated History" videos which give the game some backstory, along with some more making-of content appearing on the Store too. No doubt each week will be peppered with the normal trailers as well.

The Japanese PSN has had a veritable explosion of PS1 titles added to its collection. This puts the total number available on the Japanese Store up to twelve million or so now, we think. Hopefully we'll be seeing some more being released onto the US and EU stores in the near future. The full list of titles made available today are as follows.

• AI Mah Jong Selection (hamster)
• DEPTH (Sony computer Entertainment)
• Gussun Paradise (IREM software)
• Jet Moto (Sony computer Entertainment)
• Jumping Flash! 2 (Sony computer Entertainment)
• Major Wave Series: Puzzle Mania 2 (hamsters)
• Major Wave Series: Zipangu Jima: Unmei wa Saikoro ga Kimeru!? (Hamsters)
• Metal Slug (SNK Playmore)
• Oasis Road (Idea Factory)
• Panekit (Sony computer Entertainment)
• Samurai Spirits III: Zankuro Musouken (SNK Playmore)
• Samurai Spirits IV: Amakusa Kourin Special (SNK Playmore)
• Spectral Tower 2 (Idea Factory)
• SuperLite 1500 Series Cotton original (Success)
• SuperLite 1500 Series Sanvein (Success)
• The King OF Fighters '98 (SNK Playmore)
• The King OF Fighters '99 (SNK Playmore)
• The King OF Fighters Kyo (SNK Playmore)
• XI [sai] (Sony computer Entertainment)

There are a total of two games in that list that, if made available, we would download. Perhaps it's best to stick with the quality-over-quantity philosophy that SCEA and SCEE have for the PS1 releases. Though having said that, perhaps there's a happy medium between the two that means we can actually get some new games at some point.

[Via PSP Fanboy]

It seems like Sony Europe got a visit last night from the Ghost of PlayStation Future. "Update the European PSN Store!" the ghost would no doubt have said. "And not with one of those well-intentioned insults that consist of a couple of trailers. Give them games!" So Sony did and, seemingly, they will continue to do so for at least the next two weeks.

So scared was Sony of the Ghost of PlayStation Future that they even planned to release a selection of PS1 games onto the European PSN Store, on the 22nd of June. Namely:

• Crash Bandicoot
• Medievil
• Wipeout
• Jumping Flash
• Syphon Filter

With that, the Ghost of Playstation Future's work was done. Harmony would reign over the European continent. At least until July.

The End.

[Via PSP Fanboy]