According to a post over at the PlayStation Blog, a new firmware update for both the PlayStation 3 and PSP will be available within the next few days. Eric Lampel, Director of PSN Operations, has revealed that the PS3 update will fix the network error encountered by some users while the PSP update will add a few new requested features.

Lampel’s post reads:

"Taking into account customer feedback and some internal testing, we will be making available in the next few days a firmware update for the PS3 (1.93) that fixes the network disconnect issue that some of you have experienced as a result of downloading Firmware 1.92. In addition, we are adding a new firmware update for PSP (3.71) as well, which adds many features that readers of this blog have requested.

The main feature we’ve added with the recent updates for PSP is the ability to set themes on your PSP. Over time we will be providing themes on PlayStation.com, our official PSP site and through PLAYSTATION Store. You can download themes based on some of our popular titles."

Lampel has not revealed the changelog for the new PSP update, however we should expect more details in the next few days.

Sony has informed IGN that a playable demo of Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction will be available to download from the PlayStation Network Store on October 4th 2007. After hearing the news, IGN checked with SCEE who confirmed that this was indeed true. News of a demo first surfaced during an interview with the Insomniac team on website TheDaily.com.au.

An unhelpfully nameless Insomniac employee commented, “We essentially flat-out demolish the symbol of PlayStation 2 Ratchet & Clank: the city of Metropolis [in Tools of Destruction]. Players will get a sneak peek of this level via a downloadable demo that should hit the PlayStation Network Store in the not-too-distant future.” The demo will allow gamers to play the opening level of the upcoming game.

[Via: IGN]

The European release dates released yesterday are incorrect according to SCEE. A SCEE spokesperson has commented on the dates stating “That’s not an official release schedule. None of the dates on the list have been confirmed at this time.” Among the release dates list was a provisional date for PlayStation Home, the spokesperson revealed that Sony will be “making more announcements about Home at this year’s Tokyo Game Show.”

Games are sure to be disappointed regarding this bit of news, however, we hope the release dates are somewhat close to those stated in the earlier report. Look out for the actual release dates once they have officially been released by SCEE.

Sony have finally set a release date for PlayStation Home, although it is only provisional at this time. Nonetheless, it is still good news for PlayStation 3 owners in Europe. SCEE have revealed the release date for Home as well as a number of other titles. Home is provisionally set to be released on October 11th 2007. See below for other release dates.

The date for Gran Turismo 5 Prologue has not been set yet, but it is expected for release sometime before December. The other game release dates are as follows:

• October 4th – SnakeBall and Pixel Junk Racers
• October 11th – Home (provisional)
• October 18th – High Velocity Bowling
• October 25th – Aqua Vita, Operation C.F, Trials of Topoq and Eye Create
• November 8th – Tori Emaki
• November 15th – Mesmerize
• December 6th – Sky Diving and Elefunk
• December 13th – Pain
• December 20th – Dark Mist

[Via: TheSixthAxis]

As we reported a few week back, Sony was planning to release a new starter pack in PAL territories. This move has now been confirmed according to several sources. However, Sony has mentioned that different regions will be getting different starter packs. On September 19th, France will be getting a new starter pack containing the PS3 console. Heavenly Sword, F1 and an extra controller.

SCEE provided the following details about the new 60GB Starter Packs:

• There will be an extra controller
• All SCEE regions will start getting a new 60GB starter pack
• Two bonus titles will be included in the package
• Depending on the region, freedom to change the titles is up to the individual markets based on their unique conditions.

A statement by Sony reads:

“To remove any confusion, the Starter Pack, with an extra controller and two titles is a SCEE wide initiative and has been launched in all of our territories. The choice of which titles to include in the Starter Pack, and the freedom to change the titles is up to the individual markets based on their unique market conditions.”

The European PlayStation Netowork store has now recieved its weekly update. As previously reported, the MotorStorm Coyote Revenge VIP Pass is now available to download as well as a number of new game and movie trailers. Unfortunately, there are no new playable demos this week, but who knows what next week will hold. As for the US PSN, the Stranglehold demo is now available to download just as the rumor suggested. Check out the list below.

European PSN Update List

• Game
  • MotorStorm Coyote Revenge VIP Pass (add-on)
• Game Trailers
  • GT5 Prologue Trailer
  • Lair Launch Trailer
  • Heavenly Sword
• Movie Trailers
  • The Invasion

US PSN Update List

The US PlayStation Store has also been updated today with two new playable demos and add-on content for MotorStorm and Ninja Gaiden Sigma. Check out the list below.

• Game Demos
  • Stranglehold
  • NBA Live 08
• Game Add-ons
  • MotorStorm Revenge Weekend Add-on Pack (New track, vehicles, races and race mode)
  • MotorStorm Add-on Vehicle 1 (Wakazashi Razor bike)
  • MotorStorm Add-on Vehicle 2 (Wombat Mudslide ATV)
  • MotorStorm Add-on Vehicle 3 (Atlas Varjack mudplugger)
  • MotorStorm Add-on Vehicle 4 (Atlas Arizona big rig)
  • Ninja Gaiden Sigma Weapons Master Add-on (5 survival modes)
• Game Trailers
  • Turok “Quite Kills” Trailer
  • PixelJunk Racers Trailer
  • Heavenly Sword “Making Of” No. 5
  • Heavenly Sword Anime No. 5
  • Lair “World in Chaos” Video
  • MotorStorm “Coyote Revenge” Video
  • Drillbit Tailer Trailer
  • Resident Evil: Extinction Trailer
• Wallpaper
• Heavenly Sword Anime No. 5 Wallpaper

A forum moderator at the Midway Discussion Board has suggested that the PlayStation 3 demo of Stranglehold will be available to download from the PlayStation Network Store this Thursday. Although the news has not been confirmed by Sony, the news could still be credible. The XBOX 360 demo was released earlier last month.

No information was available as to whether the demo is exclusively for the North American PlayStation Store, or if it would also be available from the European PSN Store. Look out for a list of new released when the PlayStation store is updated this week.

Dylan Jobe, one of the developers behind Warhawk has posted an update to the problems some players have encountered while playing Warhawk. According to the forum post, Jobe claims that the team is working around the clock to get the issues resolved as quickly as possible. As most people already know, a few issues were fixed in the Firmware 1.92 update, but more fixes are still to come.

Incognito are tracking a number of problems, three of which are:

• Stats and Ranking errors, delayed posting, missing stats.
• “Connection Failed” or otherwise messed-up join game errors.
• Network Drops/Disconnects (a fix for these will be deployed in the next service window)

“Our team here at Incognito along with our great support team in San Diego were, and continue to be, diligently working on these issues. I want to reassure everyone that while we *have* been quiet these last few days, it is NOT a sign that we are off on some tropical island somewhere…we are hard at work on the big issues.”

The MotorStorm 2.0 patch will be available to download sometime today or tomorrow from the PlayStation Store, with two further packs coming later this month. The first patch will add a number of improvements to the online component of the game and include a new track for use in online and time trial play.

• Vehicle Select enhancement – your last-used vehicle in each class will now be presented as the default choice during vehicle selection.
• Assigned player colours are now displayed in the lobby to make keeping track of your friends and rivals easier during online races and Eliminator matches.
• Further Player-Stat Improvements.
• Purchasers of ‘Coyote Revenge’ can now race this track in Online and Time Attack.
• Purchasers of Eliminator Mode will find results from this mode also contribute to their Fame Ranking.
• Track Exploits for Grizzly and Raingod Mesa have been addressed.
• Headset support:
  • an occasional firewall conflict with headset communications has been resolved.
  • voice comms output now available exclusively through headset.
• Many other improvements and tweaks throughout the game.

Look out for the patch soon. We will update this article with any new information as we get it.