196w ago - Tecmo have confirmed that the demo for Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 will be going live in North America next week on September 24, 2009.

The demo is due later this week on September 17th in Japan.

To quote: "In the demo you be able to play two scenario stages, one as Ryu, and the other with Ayane. You will also have a chance to play two co-op stages, again with access to Ryu and Ayane.

The character that you don't select is controlled by the CPU.

The demo has also been confirmed as being offline only, in the retail version you will be able to play co-op online."

197w ago - It's official! Square Enix will release Final Fantasy XIII on December 17, 2009 in Japan, unless it decides not to between now and then.

To quote: "Square Enix president Yoichi Wada announced the release date and the price (8,800 yen, or $95!) today at its Final Fantasy XIII Party in the Miraikan museum (via 1UP).

Kaz Hirai then took the stage to announce that of course there will be a PS3 hardware bundle containing the game.

He didn't mention any details - no price nor release date, though it's sure to be day-and-date with the standalone software. When Square Enix does show it off, it'll be hard not to hear about it."

203w ago - Update: French site JVN.com reports that Gran Turismo 5 will hit Europe on December 11, with Game.fr now confirming the release date as well. It's rumored the date will be officially announced at GamesCom Cologne during Sony's August 18th press conference.

Gran Turismo 5 creator Kazunori Yamauchi stated last month that Polyphony Digital will give a GT5 release date for PS3 soon.

That being said, if Amazon is correct then Yamauchi definitely wasn't kidding.

According to Amazon's official listing for North America, Sony will release Gran Turismo 5 on December 29th, 2009.

To quote: The fact that this date falls on a Tuesday only adds more credence since game publishers typically release their titles to retailers on Tuesdays. Oh, and you may remember this little tidbit spilled by SCEE chief executive James Armstrong last December.

Even though this isn't...

204w ago - Update: According to Dutch site NextGamer.nl, the Uncharted 2 European release date will be October 16, 2009.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is almost here, with Sony confirming to Kotaku (linked above) today that the Naughty Dog developed PlayStation 3 game will arrive in the U.S. on October 13th.

To quote: Sony also released Uncharted 2's final box art, reminding us of Mr. Drake's expert ability to hang from ledges and platforms with just one hand.

Combine that with his expertise at maintaining a shirt that's half-tucked, half-not and you'll see why the stubbly treasure hunter's adventures warranted a sequel.

Oh, and speaking of pre-orders, Sony laid out its retailer plans for a quartet of downloadable exclusives with Amazon.com, GameStop, Game Crazy and BestBuy. Golden guns, right after this.

Yes, those are the golden Barettas that Drake can wield in multiplayer, adding a bit of flash to your online death match and "Plunder" competition. They're exclusive to BestBuy, meaning that if you're into sporting golden AK-47s, that should be your pre-order retailer of choice.

Other retailers are getting downloadable exclusive bonuses too, as follows:

• Amazon.com - Exclusive UNCHARTED 2 Treasure...

206w ago - Today an NISA News Letter came with the confirmation of the Disgaea 3 PS3 trophy patch release date and some sad news to those who have 200+ hours of gameplay...

To quote: The Disgaea 3 Trophy patch will be available on the PSN on July 16th. There are more than 50 trophies you can accomplish! Since Disgaea 3 was developed without the trophy system, your saved data will not be usuable with this Trophy patch.

So make certain you are prepared to give up your current save data in order to challenge yourself to collecting these trophies!

Please read the press release for more details, and see the complete PS3 Trophy List (PDF).