We hope you opted to use pencil when scribbling the release date for Rockstar's latest non-felony related driving game into your Niko Bellic pinup calendar. Midnight Club: Los Angeles – the fourth installment in Rockstar San Diego's pimp-your-ride racing game – has jettisoned the old September 9 release date in favor of a new October 7th date (October 10 for you Europeans). Ostensibly, the extra time is being used to put that final coat of Turtle Wax on the open-world, track-less, load-time-less title but we like to imagine they're having difficulty getting the LA traffic experience just right.

IT security firm Sophos reports that someone has been messing around with the official US PlayStation website. "Messing around" as in fitting its SingStar and God of War pages with fake ads that tried to make (and may have succeeded in making) visitors believe their computers were riddled with viruses.

Phobos says that the bogus pop-ups prompted those who saw them to purchase what turned out to be equally bogus anti-virus software. The "scareware" has since been exterminated by Sony's IT jockeys, but we can only wonder how many hapless gamers were drawn into the hacker's insidious ... web of lies before it was too late.

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

With all the recent buzz surrounding big-budget film adaptations of major video game licenses, we began to wonder -- if films based off of games can find funding with movie production companies, why couldn't a film based off of a video game news column? As our minds began to race with thoughts of cross-promotional T-shirts and licensed cereals, we recklessly ran to our laptops, and wrote out a hasty plot synopsis for "Japanese Hardware Sales: The Movie". We're pretty proud of it, and the agent we hired at a local flea market is convinced we can eventually squeeze a trilogy out of the initial concept. Don't worry, gentle readers. We won't forget you when we make it to the big time.

The still night air wafting over the Hardware district of the bustling metropolis of Salesbury, Japan, is punctuated with the crackle of gunfire. The town's many residents realize with a start that Sunday's midnight hour has come, and quickly retreat into their bullet-riddled homesteads. From the shadows of the city's seemingly endless alleyways emerge the six gangs who fight weekly for the unspoken control of Salesbury: the powerful reigning champs known as the "Park Street Pistols", the young and lively contenders known simply as "The Wii-vils", the once invincible "DoorStep Lighteners", the mercenaries of "The Third Order of Private Soldiers", their once-parent organization "The Second Order of Private Soldiers", and the mysterious, poorly-funded outfit known as "The Xterminators of 360th Street".

Who will come out on top at the end of this four-hour-long cinematic masterwork? Only time, and the purchasing habits of the people of Japan, will tell. Starring Samuel L. Jackson as Coolidge, the leader of the Park Street Pistols; Kevin James as Archie, his carefree sidekick; Rose McGowan as Belladonna, the feisty captain of The Wii-vils, and a guy who kinda looks like Bruce Vilanch as the menacing "Red Arrow".

- PSP: 59,351 5,324 (8.23%)
- Wii: 41,037 4,527 (9.94%)
- DS Lite: 36,599 2,602 (6.64%)
- PS3: 20,336 54,975 (73.00%)
- PS2: 6,346 951 (13.03%)
- Xbox 360: 2,555 392 (18.12%)

[Source: Media Create]

See: The bullet-riddled archives

For most of our younger readers, school's no longer in session in observation of the midsummer months -- though we're certain that our studious readers won't allow their minds become dull as rusty butter knives during their valuable vacation time. That's why we turn your attention to a fascinating article written by PS3 Fanboy's newest columnist, Ph.D candidate and gaming enthusiast Kylie Prymus, who examines the effect that the Escher-esque Echochrome can have on our perception of our own three-dimensional world.

Prymus posits that Echochrome's unique, manipulatable 2D perspective is not only jarring when compared to the robust 3D engines we've become accustomed to seeing in most games, but it also points out the "frailty of our own perceptual apparatus", which is fundamentally two-dimensional. Those who still possess unblown minds might want to give the article a read -- if only to give you some Hawking-quality discussion material with which to impress your gaming cohorts.

Ah, this is the image that launched a thousand murmurs across the sea of internets. We were tipped off early in the week from (possibly) eager developers willingly gushing about Sony's trophy system. At the moment, this image and others like it should still be taken with skepticism. We suppose it can't (read: definitely won't) be too long before we see something official. In the meantime, read up on what else we Sony Fanboys have been writing about this past week. Our top headlines are after the break.

Columns

• Echochrome - the new Brain Age?
"What Echochrome does, quite brilliantly, is tweak our perception of dimensionality in an interactive way not possible with Escher drawings or Penrose triangles."

Previews

• PS3 Fanboy Hands-on: SOCOM Confrontation
"Take into consideration that almost everything you can see, you can get to. More importantly, note that almost every building in the game can be entered as well, maximizing the playable area within each territory."

Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) was granted a patent on Friday for a "hand-held [sic] device with touchscreen and digital tactile pixels." It'd be a stretch to say any of this is explicitly indicative of a PSP 2.0 or PSP phone, but it is interesting to note that "game device" is listed as one of the potential applications, alongside a plethora of other sony handhelds: phone, portable media player, email device, web browser device or navigation device.

As for defining "digital tactile pixels," claims 19 through 30 of the patent suggest that vibration acts as the "tactile" response. As our friends at PSP Fanboy point out, it could be a long time before we see anything to do with this patent (assuming we ever do).

Fun fact: The patent lists former Sony executive Phil Harrison as the inventor. Harrison, now the Directeur Général Délégué at Infogrames, was with the company when the patent was originally filed in January 2008.

[Via PSP Fanboy]

Sony has provided a peek at some of the "lifestyle" applications it has in store for PSP in FY08. The company hopes these non-gaming titles will get a PSP into the hands of – you guessed it – non-gamers. Unfortunately, they all use peripherals not currently available in the US. They've all been previously announced for European release; hopefully their inclusion in the latest business update from SCEI head Kaz Hirai points to a pending E3 announcement regarding US plans.

The lineup includes Go!Messenger, which uses the PSP camera add-on for VoIP video chat; Go!Explore, which uses the PSP GPS to ... well, it's GPS mapping software; Go!Cam, which turns the PSP into a digital camera; and, finally, Go!View, which uses the PSP antenna peripheral to turn the handheld into a wireless video-on-demand receiver. Sony is partnering with Sky in the UK for Go!View content. Sadly, our suggestion of Go!Just Go!, an application for handling difficult breakups, didn't make the cut.

Source (Warning: PDF file)

SCEI boss Kaz Hirai provided some new numbers for the gaming masses to look at and commence with the "wow," "um," "huh," and "yay?"

Peering into the abyss that is a collection of PowerPoint slides, we've concluded a couple of things. First, PS3 is hurtin' for games, with a mere 475 having been released in total at the outset of FY07. Second, PS3 is certainly selling a lot better. Here's how things look on whole.

The PSN update this week is nothing special, but we're still too busy sifting through the MGS4 Database added in last week's update to really care. Beyond the surprising amount of depth the database gets into, it's interesting to see some flat-out confirmations of some arguable points in the MGS canon -- like the whole Raikov being gay thing. The other additions this week include the normal rhythm game additions and Medievel Resurrection for PSP. The full PSN update can be found after the break.

The MGS4 Database is the big deal this week on the European PSN update, get the full details on the update over at PS3 Fanboy.

Tabletop gamers are no strangers to the game Blood Bowl, which we mentioned back in November. The game has spanned 22 years, multiple editions and several expansion sets. The basic concept is "fantasy" football, literally. As in orcs, trolls, elves and the like playing an organized team sport where they try to tear their opponents' heads off. Check out the newly released, Warcraft-tastic trailer after the break.

Despite being an obvious consideration for Sony Ericsson, the nigh mythical "PlayStation phone" has spectacularly failed to materialize -- outside of some dodgy patent drawings. If a recent report by Marketing News is to be believed, the project's current status is up in the air, flitting between sharply dressed men sitting in a board room.

According to the publication's sources, the relationship between Sony and Sony Ericsson has become "frosty," with alleged insider conversations asserting that the gaming giant will "never give its PlayStation branding" to a cellular project. There's been some hesitance on this subject before, with Sony Ericsson's Peter Ahnegard stating, "Up until today we haven't felt we could launch a PlayStation phone because it wouldn't be recognized as a true continuation of that brand of products." Marketing News also notes that sources in Japan and Korea point to the PSP being "converted" into a phone.

Is the PlayStation-branded phone's future in flux? Is such a thing even in development? Will we have it in our mitts during Christmas 2009? This one's too confusing to call.

Those hoping to engage in some frantic side-scrolling shooting, or perhaps read an entire CD-ROM's worth of stilted text with religious overtones, will be pleased to learn that PlayStation classics, Einhänder and Xenogears, are now available for purchase and download on the PSN. And if you'd like to maintain that joyous feeling, you'd better not read the rest of this post, which goes on to append "Japanese" to "PSN."

Gamasutra reports that the cherished Square pair, along with four other titles, Astronaka, Rakugaki Showtime, Raystorm and Fighters' Impact, are now available on the Japanese PSN (we warned you!) for ¥600 ($5.56) each. An unconfirmed NeoGAF translation of Dengeki PlayStation magazine asserts that these games form the first half of 12 classic Square Enix titles to be committed to PSN.

According to Square Enix USA, there are currently no plans to bring any of the titles to the American network.

In what could be the least impressive PSP firmware update ever, version 4.01 has arrived to ... well, to make version 4.00 not broked, in short, improving the Internet Search and Video features. We were so enjoying that clean .00 ending and we barely get to savor it before that stupid 1 has to come along and spoil the whole party.

If this update were adding any new features, this would be the part of the post where we would explain them, or make some disparaging comment about their usefulness. Instead, it's the part where we come to an awkward, joyless close.

Beginning at 11AM Eastern (9AM Pacific) the PlayStation Network will be down for six hours due to routine scheduled maintenance. We have confirmed with Sony that this is not the PS3 v2.4 update, which will add in-game XMB and trophies.

During the maintenance there will be no access to the PlayStation Store or online play through the PSN. Those who had online plans, feel free to take the opportunity to catch up on your Joystiq reading, we've got plenty of features to burn six hours on.

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

After the New Games crown was sullied by Jimmy Threenames last week, Justin McElroy has pulled a Kerafyrm and awakened from his slumber, seething with rage. But, before the rampage could even begin in earnest, the beast has been soothed by the music of loads of new games.

You've got Battlefield: Bad Company, Alone in the Dark, Supreme Commander, Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath, Guitar Hero: On Tour and it's the middle of June! What's going on here? We don't know, but whatever it is, we hope it never ends.