Update: The PlayStation 3 Slim doesn’t play PS2 games. “Note: This product is not compatible with PlayStation 2 games,” reads the release.

Original: Kaz Hirai, head of all things PlayStation, announced today, during GamesCon, that the long rumored and awaited PlayStation 3 Slim will be available in the first week of September. Hirai detailed the system stating that the system will feature a 120 GB drive. Along with that, he said that it will be 33 percent smaller, 36 percent lighter then the current PlayStation 3.

The PlayStation 3 Slim will be priced at $299 in the U.S., 299 euros, 29980 yen. Sony also announced at their GamesCom conference that it will add e-reader technology to its PSP handheld devices, introducing digital comics from Marvel and other publishers. The e-reader technology PSPs will release in December.

In an interview published by the Japanese magazine, Dengeki: PlayStation, Hideo Kojima explained why he took the role of game designer on Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, despite his previous claims that he would play a smaller role in the development of Metal Gear games after Metal Gear Solid 4.

“At first, I was just going to create the overall guidelines and concepts for the project, and leave it in the hands my excellent staff. I was going to have a hand in the project as a producer, and make titles other than MGS. But, I set the game in the South American(sic) country of Costa Rica and created a story with themes about nuclear deterrence and the cold war. It looked as if it might be very confusing to young people, because of generational differences. So, in the end I finally said, “I’ll do it.”

The only time Kojima directly referenced the gameplay of MGS: Peace Walker during the interview was when discussing the trailer shown at Sony’s press conference. When pressed about the cardboard box with two Snakes in it, Kojima said, “what we showed is called ‘The Love Box’.”

When discussing Metal Gear Solid: Rising Kojima said that it would not be a traditional Metal Gear game. “It’s a completely different kind of action than what has appeared in the series so far.” He also said, “I’ll be working more deeply on the project then a normal producer.”

During the demoing of Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny, the first Soul Calibur title coming exclusive to the PSP, at E3 players were left in amazement at the reveal that Kratos, from Sony’s God of War series, will be playable in the final version of Broken Destiny.

However, we have received news that Kratos wasn’t playable at the demoing of the game. But, 1UP did manage to gain a pic of Kratos within the character select screen.

Many already assumed that Assassin’s Creed 2 would be releasing later this year, but what many of us wanted to know was if we were right for thinking so. Anyway, it seems that we were right.

Today, Ubisoft revealed that gamers should expect the game later on this year, more specifically around the time we all say “Marry Christmas”, which, if you didn’t know, is Holiday 2009. 

“Our creative team is working hard to top the experience of Assassin’s Creed,” said Patrice Desilets, creative director at Ubisoft. “We’ve made improvements to every aspect of the game. We’ve plunged ourselves into the stunning history of the Italian Renaissance so that we can offer fans a unique, varied and innovative Assassin’s Creed experience.”

Additional details on Assassin’s Creed II are revealed in the May issue of Game Informer. Assassin’s Creed 2 will be available for “all current gen consoles and the PSP”, but they aren’t saying nothing about it coming to the Wii.

Trust us when we say that this isn’t a Apirls fools joke. Today, Sony has announced that Jak and his mischievous sidekick Daxter are back together, and for the first time-ever on the PSP and PS2 in Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier.

Prepare for non-stop action and adventure as the duo travel across mysterious lands and take to the sky on a mission to save their planet from destruction.

Picking up from where the original Jak and Daxter trilogy left off, Jak and furry friend Daxter team up with their friend Kiera on her quest to become a Sage and save their world from the threat of darkness. As the environment of their planet slowly dies, our two worldly heroes embark on a mission to protect their world from the threat of ‘dark eco’. Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier will release on both platforms this Autumn.

While many of us are home enjoying the PSP version of Resistance, when talking to the PlayStationBlog in a ‘little chat’, director Chris Reese revealed that Bend Studios has ‘no plans’ for Resistance: Retribution downloadable content.

“Currently there are no plans for DLC,” said Retribution technical director Chris Reese.

Creative director John Garvin did add that more Retribution themes and wallpapers should be available on the PSN soon, though, so technically there will be new content.

A big ‘I told you so’ just can’t cut it, but ‘I knew it’ sounds way better. So here’s I go. I knew it. According to CVG, LittleBigPlanet is currently in development for PSP and it’s being worked on by Sony Studio Liverpool, in England.

But, sadly, no details on the title were shared expect for the fact that it’s going to release in September ’09 and that CVG thinks that the game will be able to link up with the PS3 version – much like what they did in Resistance.

We could see scope for transferable levels, or a level editor on the PSP that would allow you to keep working on your creations even when away from the PS3. Sony offered ‘no comment’ on the matter.

Hey, do you remember the crazed Strangle Hold-like mediocre shooter that was on last-gens consoles entitled, ‘Dead to Rights’? Well, it looks like the game is coming back, but not on the PlayStation Portable (PSP) but on this gens systems.

In the March issue of PlayStation: The Official Magazine, it reveals that Namco is planning to release a brand new entry in the Dead to Rights franchise for PS3 and 360, which is coming in the fourth quarter of 2009. The game is being developed by Volatile Games, who did games like Reservoir Dogs.

The game will have a heavier focus on hand-to-hand combat other than the previous three versions, counting the PSP version, but it’ll still retain third-person shooting mechanics. Staring Jack Slate and set in Grant City, the game will feature the return of Shadow, which is the dog – although this time it’s a stray Jack finds, other then a police dog.

And according to 1UP, it looks like the game has a sort of Jason Bourne-style, meaning it’s alot more action oriented.

In response to the latest PlayStation Portable 2 rumors, which were started by IGN, a rep from Sony has replied to the, so-called, ‘non-sense’ rumors.

When speaking to TechRadar yesterday, a SCEE rep told them that in no uncertain terms that there were definitely no current plans for a PSP 2, despite IGN’s claims from its unnamed sources.

To quote original IGN article: IGN has learned from several credible sources that the PSP 2 is indeed on the horizon, and will be packing multi-touch technology. According to our sources, the PSP 2 will feature a widescreen multi-touch interface comparable to that of the iPhone for both in-game control and menu navigation.

After the PSP version of the hit PS2 game, God of War, video game developer Ready At Dawn reported that it wasn’t going to be making anymore PSP games in the future.

Now, however according to a post on their official website, 2 out of 5 top PSP games sold on Amazon in the US last week were Ready At Dawn games. And right after they reported that, there was a little messages on the bottom of the post saying, “maybe we should reconsider this whole ‘no more PSP games’ thing because we seem to be doing pretty good at it.”

It was report back in June that the company wasn’t going to be making anymore PSP games,  here’s what the company said,  “we’re now officially done with PSP development.”

“Today we sent all out devkits back and seeing all these boxes ready to be picked up definitely marks the end of an era here at Ready at Dawn,” the company continued.

One of Sony’s upcoming PSP games, Resistance Retribution, will use a newly developed technology called “PSP Plus.” So what is “PSP Plus” and why does it sound like “WiiMotionPlus”? According to the guys over at Joystiq, PSP Plus is a new function that will allows players of Retribution to connect their systems to the PS3, in order to enable use of PS3 wireless controllers. Using the DualShock will enable dual-analog control in the game. In addition, rumble will be supported. Other games may be able to potentially utilize PSP Plus — however, it is currently a Retribution-only tech. And to answer the other question I really do not know why they call it “PSP Plus” it’s just the name, or it could be because it adds to the PSP.

SCEA’s Al de Leon has revealed some very important information to PSP fanboy, he apparently confirmed with them that the PSP’s extended life battery kit has been discontinued. The product nearly doubled the battery life on PSP-2000 systems, but it did come with a price, a larger battery cover which created a bulge in the system. The battery life span was as 12 hours and more making it easier for you to play your PSP on the go.

“Yes, we are discontinuing this product as we look for other opportunities to service the consumer,” said de Leon. We just hope that we see a better extended life battery kit from SCEA sometime soon.

Today, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe announced that their European store will be the first to receive the Haze Demo on Tuesday (May/6/2008) the European store will also have two updates next week due to the PlayStation Day event that they will be holding. With Haze being a major part of Sony Huge Keynote this just proves that Sony is going to bring more to the table with games like Resistance 2 ,Secret Agent Clank [PSP] and SingStar Vol. 2. There is no word on the demo coming to the United States store.

The game is not officially announced until tomorrow but, thats not going to stop us from doing what we do best, an that is 24/7 gaming news. We have some new screenshots for the upcoming game SmackDown vs. Raw 2009, as you may know the games focus has change to a tag team aspect of the game adding co-op storylines and earning tag-team attributes and more to the game. The game is set for a fall release on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS, PSP and the PlayStation 2.

Experience Kratos’ journey during the 10 years of servitude to the Gods of Olympus. In God of War: Chains of Olympus, Kratos venture to lands that no mortal has ever walked upon. The game is coming to Sony’s PSP sometime this March.