Greeting Axeheads!  To start things off this week I would like to wish a Happy belated Canada Day and early Independence Day to all our North American brethren across the EBA community.  With patriotism at an all time high and our countries heritage being at the forefront of this weekend (aside from the drinking and partying of course…) it makes sense that we embrace that heritage and slaughter some rumors the old school way that would make our ancestors proud.  And where pray tell can we do such a thing?  Well the only place on the interweb where rumor murder is legal my friends, EpicBattleAxe.com’s The Rumor KILL!!!
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Holy digital comics, Batman! DC Comics officially hit the PSP, iPhone and iPad today with 81 initial titles and five free comics available for download.

In this first batch of DC releases is Batman: Hush #1-6, Fables #1-5, Green Lantern: Rebirth #1-6, Jonah Hex #1-6–We promise the comic is nothing like that high school drama club production they tried to pass as a movie this summer–plenty of Superman-Batman issues and others (and probably some serious daddy issues, but those are free).

Sony and DC are also releasing free downloads of Bayou, Fringe, Mirrors Edge, Resistance, and a 10-page preview of Superman #700 for the PSP.

The Digital Comics store for PSP already hosts over 1600 titles from Marvel, Image Comics, IDW Publishing and others.

Will you download any of these titles for your PSP, iPad or iPhone? Tell us what you’re reading right here, right now!

Did the God of War fans amongst you get the chance to check out the above E3 teaser trailer for Ghost of Sparta on the PSP? Honestly, while it does a pretty good job of getting us pumped, it’s super short and light on the goods, but fortunately this gameplay video over on GT makes up for it. I know a few of the Axe Lords got some hands-on with the game and used words like “Sweet-ass”, “Awesome”, and “Epic” to describe their play experience.

Anyway, check out the trailer above, the gameplay vid on GT, and let us know if you’re pumped or not for God of War: Ghost of Sparta!

Sony is having major promotions for the PSP-3000 and PSPgo handheld systems during the month of June. Ranging from cheap games to free downloads, Sony is making sure you will get the most out of your PSP system, and hopes this gives newcomers incentive to pick up the PSP.

First up in the vast arsenal of promotions, Sony announced a new PSP software lineup. Titled, “Favorites”, this lineup will include a variety of games at a friendly consumer price. Now, you may be thinking they already have this idea with the PSP “Greatest Hits” lineup, but those games cost $19.99. On the flip side, PSP “Favorites” cost only $9.99, which causes me to sound like a wholesale commercial and say, “it’s like they’re practically giving ‘em away!” So far there are fifteen games to launch the “Favorites” lineup, with more to come soon:

-Ape Escape: On the Loose
-Buzz! Master Quiz
-Hot Shots Golf Open Tee
-LocoRoco 2
-Patapon 2
-PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe
-SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo
-Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow
-Twisted Metal: Head On
-Justice League Heroes
-Manhunt 2
-Pinball Hall of Fame: Williams Collection
-Silent Hill: Origins
-Sims 2
-The Warriors

That’s a whole lot a gaming for your buck!

Next up from Sony’s PSP June promotion is the addition of four new games added to the “Greatest Hits” collection.

-Gran Turismo
-LittleBigPlanet
-Resistance: Retribution
-Secret Agent Clank

As with all PSP “Greatest Hits” titles, you can pick these up for the bargain price of $19.99.

Lastly, Sony announced a PSPgo promotion which lasts an entire year! If you purchase a PSPgo “Digital Game Pack” system from now until March 31, 2011, you will receive via e-mail a PlayStation Network voucher to download three games for free. The three games are , LittleBigPlanet, Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters, and SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo 3.

This certainly is a lot of love for the PSP, and with Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker coming out soon, people should definitely take these promos into consideration.

So, tell us, are you giving the PSP a second thought now? Voice your thoughts below.

Source

So, as a post on the Official PlayStation Blog points out, Sony’s PlayStation Portable turns five years old today and while we’re certainly not gonna try to rain on the parade, we here at the ‘Axe thought it was a relevant time to seeks some feedback from the EBA Community in regards to the PSP’s overall success and immediate future. Now, I personally own a PSP and rather enjoy it while traveling around, but I think there are plenty of gamers who might have expected more out of the system over the past five years and even more gamers who have hopes for what it CAN DO over the next 60 months.

With that said, I’m going to invite the Axe Head Army to read the rather triumphantly toned post on the PlayStation Blog and then use the comments section below this post to share your thoughts on what the PSP has accomplished thus far, what you hope it will attain, or whether or not you even give a crap about the PSP to begin with.

Have enough AAA titles been released to justify a purchase of the system? Are PSP games DIFFERENT enough from their PS3 brethren to generate interest? Does the hardware itself deliver a good experience or would you like to see something different? What about the PSP Go? Has it hurt the PSP brand overall or made things better?

Obviously, there are A LOT of questions regarding Sony’s PSP, so thanks in advance for your participation on the matter…We’re looking forward to your feedback and hopefully we as a community can deliver some good input to Sony regarding our take on the PlayStation Portable’s past, present, and future.

Shields at the front and spears at the ready, its time for another edition of EpicBattleCry! In this week’s skirmish, we reflect on the PSN ApocolyPS3, check out the Blur mutiplayer beta, mourn the delay of Red Dead Redemption, and ponder the graphic differences between Final Fantasy XIII on the 360 and PS3.

First up in the main course this week, we talk about Steam coming to the Mac and all that means for Apple gamers. We also take a look at the rumors Sony is prepping some sort of mobile device to compete with the iPhone. Next up, we look back over the drama between Activision and Infinity Ward and what the future holds for the Call of Duty franchise.

The Battle Cry of the Week goes to the G.G. Collection, Valve, Mafia II, and The Secret World.

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Take a good hard look at the image above.  Now ask yourself, do you want another PSP model?  If your answer is “yes” then by George you just might be in luck. Destructoid was able to snag an image of an advertisement for the Little Big Planet Starter Kit which includes a bunch of LBP accessories for any PSP including the PSP 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000 and PSPgo. Yep, the PSP 4000 is listed even though it doesn’t even exist…yet.

Now this could be a miss print or a forgery so we shouldn’t get our panties in a knot quite yet, in fact, it’s now even being reported as a “mistake” by the creators of the ad, but considering recent rumors that due to the PSPgo’s lack of success Sony is preparing a new PSP with a UMB drive included, anything is possible. Of course, Sony hasn’t commented on the matter as of this post, but we’ll keep you informed as we learn more.

So, it should be interesting to see how this turns out. The ONLY way I can see Sony getting out of introducing yet another PSP model without mutiny is if they finally put a damn second analog stick on the system, but that won’t happen until the seemingly fictitious PSP 2 finds its way out of a gamer’s dream and onto store shelves…

Discuss.

A post on the official U.S. PlayStation blog delivers the deets on the latest PSP Firmware update which was released late last night and includes the following:

• Digital Comics Reader – PlayStation Network Digital Comics is a new service launching in December. It will allow you to download hundreds of classic and new comics from the PlayStation Store and read them page by page or frame by frame on your PSP system. Firmware update (v6.20) includes the Digital Comics reader application, which you’ll find under a new section called “Extras” on the XMB. Please note, the comic reader is an additional download; once you’ve loaded (v6.20) onto your system, simply click on the comic reader icon under “Extras” to download it to your PSP. In addition, you’ll be able to try out a free digital comic sample from the service soon. Visit www.playstationcomics.com for more information.

• Export video/photo playlists – This is a new feature that allows you to export your video and photo playlists from your PC to your PSP system through Media Go. Download the latest version of Media Go (v1.3) for this and a few additional enhancements.

So, there ya go…Your PSP has just gotten slightly more firm. Enjoy!

By Lorin Baumgarten

Well they talked about it on Episode 49 of EpicBattleCry this week, and therefore I must write about it. It is the law. This week’s topic feels like a bit of a ridiculous one, but who knows, maybe as we delve further into it we will find it has some legitimacy. The topic was brought to light by the ubiquitous Michael Pachter, the unassuming gaming industry analyst from Wedbush Securities (formerly Wedbush/Morgan). Mr. Pachter made an outrageous statement that has stirred some conversation. Frankly I am quite surprised that it has. What he said was that he thinks that “…the iPod touch is the most dangerous thing that ever happened to [game] publishers, ever…”. So is it just me, or is that statement completely asinine?
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A post today on the official US PlayStation blog informs us all that a Limited Edition Gran Turismo PSP Entertainment Pack is heading our way. The pack, which curiously ships on October 20 (over two weeks after Gran Turismo’s PSP debut on October 1), will retail for MSRP $199.99 and contain the following:

• Mystic Silver PSP-3000 system
• Gran Turismo PSP game on UMD
• PlayStation Network downloadable voucher for a white Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, a color not available in the game and is exclusive to this entertainment pack
• 2GB Memory Stick PRO Duo
• PlayStation Network downloadable movie voucher – title TBD
• Sony MusicPass voucher good for 10 downloadable songs – available to U.S. residents only. Choose from hundreds of thousands of your favorite artists from Sony Music Entertainment.

Of course, the game will also be available as a digital download title for the new, shiny, and uber portable PSP Go!. Who else thinks this is kind of a confusing message to consumers about the PSP-3000 vs the PSP Go!??? If you were in the market for a PSP, which one would YOU buy?