PSP owners can expect a lot of new sports games this year, including Steve Davis Pool, Ronnie O'Sullivan Snooker and Phil Taylor Darts. Developer GameShastra announced a partnership with PI Sports to adapt their mobile games -- including titles based around pool, cricket, rugby, snooker, golf, tennis, darts, fishing and poker -- for the Minis platform on PlayStation Network. All in all, "over 10" games will appear on the PlayStation Store this year. In addition, GameShastra is promising visual improvements and enhanced controls over the original smartphone versions.

"With some of the biggest names in sport attached to the biggest names in mobile gaming, this agreement is brilliant news for all PSP owners," GameShastra's CEO said in a press release. Considering how few new releases are announced for Sony's handheld, the addition of more than ten titles to the service certainly does sound appealing.

The next episode of PSN-exclusive platformer Topatoi will be arriving on the European PlayStation Store tomorrow, February 4th. The Pillar of Skies promises seven new chapters, ten new arcade levels and a new "Double Mode" that allows two players to go through levels cooperatively. With 11 new Trophies to acquire, this second episode should take about ten hours to complete.

The Pillar of Skies is not a standalone product. Instead, it acts as an add-on to the original Topatoi. You won't have to beat the original game, but you will need it installed in order to go through the new content. See a trailer after the break.

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Kevin Butler, you need not worry: Your job as Sony's VP of First Person Shooter Relations is in no threat of ending. Neither is your job as Chief Weaponologist, VP of Epic Footage, VP of Big Action Moments and -- our favorite -- Family Activities Director. In an interview with IGN, SCEA senior vice president Peter Dille talked about the company's new "It Only Does Everything" slogan and marketing campaign. "It's been tremendously successful. Consumers love it. It's great to hear people like you guys love it. And the results are really in the sales because it's really been flying since this coincided in September with the launch of the new PS3."

The tremendous success of the ad campaign has guaranteed its continuation through 2010. "You can expect to see Kevin Butler inject a lot of life into the PlayStation brand between now and the rest of the year," Dille commented, and promised we'd see the tagline quite a bit "when motion control comes onto the scene." We personally cannot wait to see the ad Butler will star in for the PlayStation Motion Controller.

For a limited time, select Minis (playable on PSP and PS3) will be on sale in the European PlayStation Store. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe will discount these eight games from February 4–18:

• Fieldrunners - €3.99/£3.49
• Kahoots - €1.99/£1.74
• Vempire - €1.99/£1.74
• Breakquest - €1.99/£1.74
• Pinball Fantasies - €3.99/£3.49
• Bloons - €2.49/£1.99
• Mahjongg Artifacts: Chapter 2 - €1.99/£1.74
• Dracula - Undead Awakening - €1.99/£1.74

SCEE is also promising to update its YouTube channel with new videos of the Minis. It's not quite as good as playable demos, but it's better than nothing, right?

Sure, Critter Crunch is cute. But it is also barf-inducingly hard. Thankfully, a new patch (releasing today) will help make the more challenging stages "less insane." In addition, the patch adds support for in-game XMB music, so you can play while listening to your extensive Miley Cyrus collection. The full patch notes are below:

Additions:

• XMB Audio support
• Language select available for all!
• Hey losers! You get a little XP even if you lose in multiplayer

Tweaks:

• Player feedback regarding DIFFICULT LEVELS has been taken to heart. Tough levels got a little less insane!
• Coop networking tweaks to decrease pesky lag
• Multiplayer "Disconnects" are now awarded more accurately
• Catching a jewel while feeding glorious vomit to your son will no longer interrupt you
• Your rank will now be retrieved more reliably when playing Adventure

Nasty bug fixes:

• No more annoying audio glitch
• No more Wins/Losses upload issues when the server is in "'maintenance" mode
• Player score for Challenge levels now correctly handled in ALL cases
• "Barf Success" icon now shows up correctly in ALL cases
• "King of the Jungle" Trophy now successfully unlocks correctly even with a score of 0

A new Modern Warfare 2 patch will be releasing tonight for the PS3 version. Once again, a number of exploits will be addressed, including:

• Care Package, Emergency Airdrop, and Sentry Gun marker grenades sprint speed normalized
• Fix for "infinite care package" exploit
• Sentry Guns: Improved placement detection, preventing cases of Sentry Guns inside geometry
• Model 1887: Bling using Akimbo and FMJ combination now has same range and damage as non-Bling Model 1887s
• Improved player collision removing cases of getting into geometry and "elevators"
• Fixes to prevent various XP hacks

Unfortunately, the patch went live earlier in Europe, and broke a key feature of the game: being able to play online. Since then, the patch has been pulled, and is awaiting yet another fix. Once SCEA certification clears the patch, it will go live in both territories. An Xbox 360 version of the patch is also in the works, but there is currently "no ETA" on when it will go live.

[Thanks Kurby!]

Natsume continues milking the Harvest Moon franchise, with a new game coming to the PSP later this year. Hero of Leaf Valley promises to be "the biggest PSP Harvest Moon adventure yet." This time around, players must farm their hearts out in order to save Leaf Valley from the evil Funland Corporation. Multiple endings are promised -- we hope one of them involves your vegetables combining to form a mech that destroys Funland Corp. (That might be unlikely, though.)

Harvest Moon: Hero of Leaf Valley will be available in April for $29.99.

Just in time for tomorrow's DLC update, Uncharted 2 is receiving another title update. Patch 1.04 only addresses one issue, but it's a crucial one. Players affected by a rare "error syncing player data" issue will be able to connect online after downloading this patch. Unfortunately, the fix comes at a huge price: all multiplayer stats will be wiped for those affected by this glitch.

"This is going to happen ONLY to the accounts who couldn't connect because of the "error syncing player data" message. Everyone else who has been able to connect and play normally will be entirely unaffected," Naughty Dog's Arne Myer told the community. For those that have yet to see the error message, the patch will come as just a minor step to take before jumping online. However, there are a select few that will lose a great deal of time and effort. "This was not an easy decision for us to make. Over time it became clear to us that there was absolutely no other option remaining to eliminate this issue for all affected."

"If there was an alternative that didn't require rolling back the affected accounts, we would have implemented that in a second." Hopefully, you weren't unlucky enough to be stricken by such an unfortunate situation.

It's been a while since Gravity Crash landed on the PS3. But what ever happened to the PSP version? It's still in the works, and it's gotten much bigger since we last heard of it. Not only will the PSP version of Gravity Crash feature the same retro-inspired gameplay as the PS3 game, it'll add a brand new "Survivor" mode, exclusive to the handheld version. In addition, the previously-canceled level editor has found its way back on the PSP. Looks like LittleBigPlanet PSP isn't the only Play, Create, Share game on the system!

Additionally, a new patch is hitting the PS3 version of the game. For more details, visit the PlayStation.Blog. Check out a trailer of the PSP game after the break.

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Finally! You can put your CSI knowledge to good use. Starting tomorrow, PlayStation Home will be updated with a brand new Space: The Backstage Pass. At first glance, it may not seem related to Heavy Rain, but keen minds will be able to find a way to unlock a secret adventure, the Heavy Rain "Evidence Analysis" mini-game.

The PlayStation.Blog is scant on details, but promises Home denizens "will receive a rather special reward" when completing the game. "This prize is definitely one you Heavy Rain fans won't want to be without." That certainly sounds like the most enticing reason to visit the PS3 online community in quite some time.

Tales of Vesperia continues gracing the PS3 with more and more content. The First Strike, an animated film prequel to the game, will be available on Blu-ray in Japan and it'll unlock extra costumes for the PS3 version of the game. (Undoubtedly, this will make some Xbox 360 owners quite angry.)

This isn't the first time a Blu-ray has been enhanced for the PS3. Most recently, District 9 featured a playable God of War III demo. Zombieland also includes a dynamic XMB theme. However, Tales of Vesperia seems to be charting new territory by unlocking additional game content via a Blu-ray movie. It's certainly an interesting experiment: one we'd like to see more and more movies take advantage of. See a trailer for the movie after the break.

[Via Andriasang]

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Relentless Software's episodic PSN murder whodunit, Blue Toad Murder Files, continues next month. Best of all, it'll be available for the low price of free. Episode 3 will release in Europe on February 25th and will be free for one month. The free DLC will require Episode 1 to be installed which -- as you've deduced if your detective skills are sharp enough -- isn't free. Episodes 1 and 2 are currently available together for £9.99 (€12.99).

The remaining three episodes (4-6) of the Blue Toad Murder Files will then release on April 8th in a bundle for £9.99 (€12.99). Unfortunately for the rest of us, an American release has yet to be announced. Too bad, because this charming Professor Layton-esque game is a perfect family-friendly addition to the PSN.

Here's a nifty app that's almost guaranteed not to make its way to America. x-Radar Portable released stealthily on the Japanese PlayStation Store yesterday for free. The app can detect a user's location and display a map with nearby points of interest. Users can take advantage of the PSP GPS accessory for the most accurate results, but PSPs only equipped with wi-fi access will still be able to use the service. PlaceEngine can determine your location via wi-fi, or you can manually input a train station to see what's nearby.

While most cell phones are equipped with similar services, x-Radar adds a few game-like attributes to make it distinctly PlayStation. For example, users will be able collect spots throughout the country and build a collection to share with friends. Like foursquare, the service will reward you as you discover new places, and you'll even be able to level up an avatar. It's certainly worth a look, provided you live in the land of the rising sun.

PS3-owning billiards fans have something to look forward to this week. This Thursday's PSN update will feature Hustle Kings, a PSN-exclusive game promising "real pool, real physics" and "the real hustle with real balls." With all this talk about being "real," we won't be surprised if this game eventually gets patched with PlayStation Motion Controller support.

Sporting the standard $9.99 price tag, the surprisingly good-looking game also includes YouTube support to upload your best shots, in-game XMB music control, and online multiplayer. Check out the trailer after the break.

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In Japan, Sega gave away eight weeks worth of free DLC following the launch of Yakuza 3. However, it looks like Sega has something different planned for its upcoming US release. A new GameStop listing spotted by VG247 promotes an exclusive "Challenge Pack." According to the retailer, this Pack adds a variety of two player mini-games, including pool, darts, bowling and golf. In addition, there are special outfits for Haruka, Kazuma and Rikiya to wear -- all content that was originally released for free in Japan.

We're hoping this GameStop exclusive DLC won't stay exclusive for too long. inFamous' Gigawatt Blades also started as a GameStop exclusive, only to appear on the PlayStation Store for free a few months later. However, for those looking for the "complete" Yakuza 3 experience as soon as possible, it seems a trip to GameStop is necessary. At least the store is offering a $5 discount on the game.