Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time

Sony has confirmed to Eurogamer plans to launch three collections of PlayStation 3 exclusives on 22nd July in Europe.

The first two Uncharted games are being taped together and put on store shelves from 22nd July, Sony has announced.

As well as the first two games in Naughty Dog's revered PlayStation 3 franchise, you'll also get a theme and avatar for Uncharted 3.

According to CVG, the same treatment is also being afforded to the first two Resistance games and Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction and A Crack in Time.

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Insomniac Games has teased fans with the possibility of a Resistance 3 reveal at German gameshow gamescom this month.

"It's been a long road since we launched Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time to your rave reviews last Fall. While we haven't had any new game content to show you since then, that's about to change in a big way," an Insomniac newlsetter read (posted by GamesOnSmash). "And yes, we realize we're announcing an announcement, and that we announced this newsletter announcement via a Twitter/Facebook announcement earlier this week. We feel a little bad about announcing the announcement of an announcement – but on the other hand, you're excited and so are we.

"With that, we're happy to reveal that we'll be announcing our newest game sometime between now and the Penny-Arcade Expo over Labour Day weekend. We're really excited to finally reveal this project, and we couldn't resist being the first to share the news with you. Even bigger news is that newsletter subscribers will be the first folks to see the trailer: the instant we announce the game – we'll be blasting a newsletter with the trailer for you to view at home."

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Insomniac Games' Ted Price has told Eurogamer he is excited about working with Xbox Live for the very first time - it's a platform he's admired from afar.

Insomniac Games, the maker of PlayStation hits Ratchet & Clank and Resistance, has signed a multiplatform publishing deal with EA Partners. In other words, the studio is making a completely new IP that will be on Xbox 360 as well. That news broke yesterday; the internet was drowned in exclamation marks.

Insomniac Games is "probably" going to turn its back on its long-standing commitment to 60FPS gameplay for its Ratchet & Clank franchise. According to the developer, there is no marketing premium, or review score value, in supporting the highest-possible refresh rate common to all HDTVs. "We want to give you guys, our fans and players, the best looking games you can buy on a console," says engine director Mike Acton, and 60FPS actually gets in the way of that.

Insomniac Games has announced a release date for Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time.

Is it fair to criticise a sequel because it offers nothing new? After all, there would be no sequels if there wasn't demand for more of the same. Having ordered a meat feast pizza, do you complain because what turns up is just like the last one you had? Maybe you just wanted another meat feast pizza. Except with the pepperoni, ham and smingy brown stuff arranged in a slightly different order.

Ratchet & Clank fans who just want more of the same won't be disappointed with A Crack in Time. It's pretty, polished, funny, expansive, satisfying and rewarding, just like all the previous instalments in the series. There are hordes of enemies to batter and bolts to collect. There are puzzles to solve, doors to open, rails to grind on and jump pads to bounce off. Despite the global economic meltdown, business at the crate factory must be booming as there are endless piles of boxes to smash open - wooden ones, metal ones, exploding ones, more wooden ones.

There is a new plot, of course. Clank has been kidnapped by the Zoni at the behest of the evil Dr Nefarious, and Ratchet is on a mission to rescue him. Along the way he bumps into a grizzled old fellow Lombax, General Azimuth, and they join forces. Captain Qwark returns to provide comic relief, and there are plenty of good, occasionally Hitchhikers-esque jokes right from the start (opening voiceover: "Space. It's huge. So huge in fact that if you lost your car keys in it, they would be almost impossible to find.")

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We're still waiting for a full PlayStation Store update list from Sony, but in the meantime the European PlayStation Blog advises us to expect Creat Studios' latest, Mushroom Wars, and a new Ratchet & Clank space for Home.

Sony has revealed that a Collector's Edition of Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time will be released in Europe.

Insomniac Games has revealed that two playable demos are on the way for Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time.

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Sony has announced a release date for the latest instalment in the Ratchet & Clank series.

Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time will be released in the US on 27th October. There are various special offers available for those who pre-order, depending on the shop you pick - Gamestop customers will get bonus level Insomniac Moon, for example, while Best Buy shoppers get an extra weapon skin, more hit points and the new Cryo Mine Glove.

Those who purchase A Crack in Time via Amazon will start the game with two new power-ups plus 5000 bolts already in their account. GameCrazy customers will also get 5000 bolts, along with a skin for Ratchet's ship and their Home character.

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Remember when it was fashionable for action-adventure series to "go dark" a few instalments in? Jak II: Now With Guns, Prince of Persia: He's Got Dreads, Tomb Raider: Miserytits etc etc. Developers thought giving their characters an attitude problem and a stupid haircut made their games cool and edgy, when in fact it just made them dull and rubbish.

Sony has announced that the next full PS3 Ratchet & Clank game will be on shop shelves this autumn.