In a shocking announcement, SCEA’s John Kroller announced that the PSP-3000 4GB Memory PSP Entertainment Pack will no longer release. Basically, SCEA is saying ‘FU’ to its PSP-3000 buyers because they now realize that the PSP-3000 is not a improvement and have yet to announce a Recall of its product. “[Sony] will no longer be offering the previously announced 4GB Memory PSP Entertainment Pack,” Kroller posted on the PlayStation.Blog Tuesday Evening, making plenty of future and current PSP series 3000 owners angry.

Kroller made a weak attempt on advice to those who are interested in the 4GB Memory Stick, who can purchase a 4GB PSP Memory Stick PRO Duo, which will be available soon for $44.99. The Ratchet & Clank Size Matters PSP Entertainment Pack will continue to be available in Mystic Silver in North America, and, starting in December, will be available in Piano Black.

After the 1-week delay of Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet, the game is now live. According to a post on PlayStation.Blog, the game’s servers are up and running just as the game starts selling hotcakes. The reason for the delay was because of 2 controversial songs part of the soundtrack that were offensive to the Muslim’s “bible”, Qu’ran. Sony posted patches for the game, but those who have the original version can choose to skip the update and keep the 2 songs. In addition to this big news- Sony announced that all Online Beta levels can be transferred over due to popular demand.

As Sony was publically announcing  LittleBigPlanet’s launch stateside, the game’s developer was helping hype it in the UK. Sony’s Media Molecule was the subject of a BBC report about the state of U.K.’s game development. During the interview, someone said that Media Molecule is “already at work into a sequel.” It was unclear if the report was referring to a full-fledged PS3 follow-up or the PSP LBP title revealed by a job listing last month.

It’s yet another solid week for NA game releases and as we approach November, it will be interesting Holiday season for the PSP. Only a limited amount of games are releasing in November and right now only 1 game in December. This week offers something for everyone’s desires.

PSP Games:

This morning, PlayStation.Blog officially announced that the United States will be getting v5.00 firmware after all. Its been a tough couple of days because no one knew if the update would only work in the Japan Region, and many believed that North America wouldn’t get the update until after Japan got it. No worries any more however, v5.00 will include the highly discussed ‘PSP PSN Service’, which Sony is bringing PSN to the PSP, but in a down-sized format. You can now sign up for PlayStation Network, manage your account and access PlayStation Store directly from your PSP - that’s it. The big thing about this update was access PlayStation Store directly from your PSP - meaning you can download games directly to your PSP while connected to Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi PSP store will have all the content that’s already on the PC PlayStation store, and you will have the same account if you already registered a store account on your PC.

In addition to the access to the PlayStation Store directly on your PSP, v5.00 adds a Sleep Timer that you can use with your own music saved to the Memory Stick Duo/Pro Duo. Even more, Sony has updated the on-screen keyboard into a new Full-Screen Keyboard, and they also revamped the XMB Background to give it a new look. Below is the entire list of what’s including in v5.00 update for the PSP.

• PSN Access- Manage your PSN Account and access the PlayStation Store directly on your PSP.
• Sleep Timer- Can be used while you are playing music on your PSP.
• Revamped onscreen keyboard- A redesign of the on-screen keyboard for text entry.
• Redesigned XMB background

The PC PlayStation Store will be temporarily down because of this update, but will be back up after Sony tweaks the Wi-Fi PS Store.

The confirmed Wi-Fi PSP PLAYSTATION Store is ready to go live next Thursday, October 15 - possibly worldwide. Today it was confirmed on SCEJ’s official website that the PSP Store will require firmware software 5.00 or higher, therefore confirming the update will be available next week Thursday, which will include the Wi-Fi direct PS Store.

On the page where this was all confirmed, it explains how users will access the store, and when we translated we found “PSP system software version 5.00 or higher is required.” The direct PSP store is access through the PSP XMB (XrossMediaBar) under a new category icon called “PLAYSTATION®Network.”

The success of the PSP in Japan is mostly due part because of Capcom’s Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G. As the months went by seeing MHP 2G at #1 in PSP software sales, we all united and exclaimed “we want it too!” Today, Capcom finally answered a lot of people’s wishes, including ours. At Capcom’s conference, the game was announced to brought to the U.S. as Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. The Franchise hasn’t done quite well here in the U.S. as it has in Japan obviously. Let’s all Unite and change that sometime in 2009, when it’s expected to release.

After reporting that a demo of Square Enix’s RPG Arena Fighting game, Dissidia: Final Fantasy, we have been excited to hear some news from TGS 2008. At Square’s Closed Mega Theater, Cloud and Terra from Final Fantasy VI, were revealed in a trailer. Real-Time Gameplay footage was shown featuring Cloud and Terra fighting against their enemies. Cloud still looks classic, while Terra was change and resembles a “baby face.” These 2 additions completes the Dissidia roster list making a total of 20 heroes and villains from various Final Fantasy games. Lets encourage Square Enix to release Dissidia: Final Fantasy for North America in the future, as we have done to Capcom and Monster Hunter Portable 2ndG.

Sony Bend and Insomniac Games have joined forces to announce that Resistance Retribution and Resistance 2, for the PSP and PS3 respectively, will be able to connection with each other to unlock additional Retribution game play. The feature is called “PSP Plus!” and it will offer to ways to experience games on the PSP. One main thing that stand out to us is the connectivity with the DualShock 3 PS3 controller and PSP. Using the DS3 controller you will enable dual-analog control in Resistance Retribution. In addition, the “rumble” is initiated. Back to the additional content, connect R:R to R2 using a USB cable. Next, go into the R2 options screen, and select “Infect your PSP!” and it will unlock a mode called “Infected mode” for the PSP.

Hopefully Sony will ask developers to start adding PSP Plus to their IPs that are on the PSP and PS3. But for right now, this is a technology only be adapted to the Resistance IP.

There is a lot to be happy about today: echochrome add-ons, 2 downloadable ‘UMD Legacy’ games, free trailers, and free themes and wallpapers. Yesterday we learned that for the first time ever, Sony would be releasing an “add-on content pack” for a game, echochrome. This purchasable pack is a great direction for developers to look into doing for their games because add-on content is always nice to have. Lastly, as it has been a tradition for the last 4 weeks let all say: “Let the Streak live on!”

PSP Game Downloads

* Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow (UMD Legacy) ($24.99)
* Guilty Gear Judgement (UMD Legacy) ($5.99)

Add-ons

* echochrome level pack add-on ($4.99)

Videos (Free)

* Neverland Card Battles Trailer

Themes & Wallpapers (Free)

* NBA 09 PSP Theme 2
* Neverland Card Battles Wallpaper