It's a quiet week for the PlayStation Store. Sony's Welcome Back offer has ended and the company has now caught up with the backlog left by the PSN downtime.

There are no new PS3 or PSP games to download, but a few decent dollops of DLC.

A day after its launch on Xbox 360, PS3 owners can now investigate Rockstar's final L.A. Noire episode. The Reefer Madness vice case pits Cole Phelps against a city-wide dope ring and is free for those who own the Rockstar Pass.

Want some freebies for MotorStorm Apocalypse? The Rock Livery Pack provides some new car decals, while the Dynamo: Queen of Hearts Event Pack adds six new challenges.

Elsewhere, gamers can nab a free trial of colourful bullet blaster PixelJunk Shooter 2. Meanwhile, top-down co-operative zombie slayer Dead Nation becomes available as a trial and unlock demo.

There's also a wardrobe of Final Fantasy outfits for LittleBigPlanet 2, if your Sackboy is the cosplaying type. Fan favourites Cloud, Tifa, Sephiroth and Aerith feature.

And that's about it. We can only look in envy at this week's US PlayStation Store update. Over the pond, players get a summer sale with Back to the Future, Pac-Man and Dead Space DLC discounted. US gamers also get a demo of Catherine (on the US Xbox 360 marketplace now too), although the current lack of a European publisher rules out a similar demo here.

Here's the full European list, courtesy of the European PlayStation Blog

PS3 Demos

Dead Nation - Trial & Unlock (£9.99/€12.99)
PixelJunk Shooter 2 (free)
L.A. Noire's Reefer Madness DLC.
PlayStation minis

Arcade Pool & Snooker (£3.49/€3.99)
Awesome Summer Minis Bundle (£4.99/€5.99) This bundle includes the following games: A Space Shooter for 2 Bucks!, Young Thor, Widget Odyssey 1 and 2, Zombie Tycoon
Gamocracy One : Legend Of Robot (£4.15/€5.19)
PS3 Add-ons

DanceDanceRevolution: New Moves - DDR Supernova 2 Greatest Hits (£2.99/€3.59)
DIRT 3 - Mud And Guts Car Pack (£4.39/€5.49) (contains the following content also available separately): Citroen C4 Rallycross (£1.25/€1.59), Ford Mustang Gt (£1.25/€1.59), Lancia Stratos (£1.25/€1.59), Peugeot 205 T16 Evo 2 (£1.25/€1.59), Saturn Sky (£1.25/€1.59)
Hyperdimension Neptunia - Red Events (£3.19/€3.99), 5Pb Events (£3.19/€3.99),
LA Noire - Reefer Madness" Vice Case (£3.19/€3.99, or Free via Rockstar Pass)
LittleBigPlanet 2 - Final Fantasy Costume Pack (£4.79/€5.99) (contains the following content also available separately): Sephiroth Costume (£1.59/€1.99), Cloud Costume (£1.59/€1.99), Tifa Costume (£1.59/€1.99), Aerith Costume (£1.59/€1.99)
Michael Jackson: The Experience - Another Part Of Me (£2.39/€2.99)
ModNation Racers - Gladiator Props Pack (£3.99/€4.99)
MotorStorm Apocalpyse - The Rock Livery Pack (free), Dynamo: Queen of Hearts Event Pack (free)
Rockband & Yoostar:

Rock Band 2 - Andromeda - Bluefusion (£0.59/€0.79), Another Step - Andromeda (£0.99/€1.49), Country Song - Seether (£0.99/€1.49), Queen Bee - Tina Guo (£0.99/€1.49), The Final Episode (Let'S Change The Channel) - Asking Alexandra (£0.99/€1.49)
Rock Band 3 - A Little Respect - Erasure (£0.99/€1.49), Boom - P.O.D. (£0.99/€1.49), Relax (Come Fighting) - Frankie Goes to Hollywood (£0.99/€1.49), Youth Of The Nation - P.O.D. (£0.99/€1.49)
Yoostar 2 - Vegas Happens Fast (free), Reverse Bear Trap (£1.39/€1.75), Three Stooges (£4.39/€5.49), My Response Would Be 'Go To Hell' (£1.39/€1.75), Terminators: Part Man, Part Machine (£1.39/€1.75), Bombs Don't Unscrew (£1.39/€1.75)

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...date-13th-july ...

PlayStation Store users downloaded more games in June 2011 than before the PSN closure, reports EEDAR.

Based on a sample of IGN users, the report found that 17 per cent of users had downloaded a game from the PlayStation Store last month, compared to 13 per cent in March, before the shut down of PlayStation's online services.

The Welcome Back scheme allowed gamers with a PSN account to download two free games from a set selection, Infamous, LittleBigPlanet, Dead Nation and Wipeout.

Even when the four free titles were omitted, 15% of those surveyed has downloaded a PSN game, suggesting paid for games were also positively affected by the scheme. PlayStation's share of games purchased by consumers also increased from March to June, from 40 per cent to 44 per cent. Again, even with the free games removed from the analysis, the share had still increased by 1 per cent.

"While this increase in market share is small, the fact that the PlayStation 3 market share increased both with and without the free offerings indicates that the Welcome Back Program likely boosted sales of other paid content, specifically those available either exclusively through download or those that had a physical or digital purchase options."

EEDAR's report also notes that scheme may have had a negative impact on retail, as opposed to digital, sales in June.

The research lead EEDAR to recommend that publishers make older versions of games free to users for limited periods around the release of sequels or follow ups. It's sources indicated that games like LittleBigPlanet 2 benefited from having an earlier iteration released as part of the free scheme.

"In one case, it increased the awareness and possible purchase intent of sequels even though a sequel was non-existent (i.e. Dead Nation 2)."

Research firm EEDAR produces GamePulse, an information service that provides analysis, review scores and customer data to the video games industry.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ystation-store ...

Speaking to Develop Online, Sony Computer Entertainment's Worldwide Studio President Shuhei Yoshida said that the gaming megalith sees value in the continuously expanding world of indie development, and that supporting those developers is the key to industry growth.

"We have to support those smaller teams," he said. "Without doing so, the whole industry will stall, in terms of innovation." Yoshida thinks Sony's forthcoming PS Vita will serve as a good platform for indie developers currently subsisting in the mobile-phone universe, citing the handheld's capacitive touch-screen and AR capabilities as an entry-level gateway for development on the platform.

He also added that the Vita's development kit has been specifically engineered with affordability in mind, and that the system is "small and light and easy for developers to handle." With smartphones gobbling up increasingly larger slices of the mobile gaming pie, Sony seems to be positioning itself as the indie-friendly option for mobile developers looking to enter the world of dedicated gaming devices.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/07/11/so...-says-yoshida/ ...

Zumba Fitness is in its fourth week in a row at number one in the UK software chart. It's also the 505 Games' exercise title's seventh appearance in the top spot since the Wii release at the start of April.

Codemasters' Dirt 3 has climbed to second place, while Transformers: Dark Of The Moon has moved into third, pushing LA Noire into fifth.

Call Of Duty: Black Ops' return to the top ten, up ten places to seventh place, is almost certainly the result of the the Annihilation Map Pack DLC on XBLA. UFC Personal Trainer also climbed from twenty second place to thirteenth.

A quiet week for new releases means no new entries into the top 40.

Last Week This Week Title
1 1 Zumba Fitness
7 2 DiRT 3
6 3 Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
2 4 LEGO Pirates Of The Carribbean
3 5 LA Noire
5 6 Virtua Tennis 4
17 7 Call Of Duty: Black Ops
9 8 Brink
4 9 F.E.A.R. 3
8 10 Top Spin 4
10 11 FIFA 11
23 12 LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars
22 13 UFC Personal Trainer
19 14 Red Faction: Armageddon
16 15 Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
14 16 Portal 2
13 17 Wii Sports Resort
15 18 Infamous 2
20 19 Dungeon Siege III
18 20 The Sims 3

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...re-type-charts ...

The former boss of Sony Europe has predicted that the hacking community may not be finished targeting PSN just yet.

Sony claimed at E3 last month that 90 per cent of PSN's user base had returned to the service following April's attack, which exposed the personal details of over 70 million gamers.

Reeves, now-COO of Capcom, admits that his current employer did "suffer" due to the PSN attack - but also believes that its aftermath has shone a light on the success of pre-pay cards.

"Yeah, we lost out, particularly in Europe and North America by not being able to put [our games] up onto the PSN... Capcom did suffer for a month, and we were not alone." he told ME Gamers.

He added: "We have seen in the last week...the last 10 days, quite a bit of resurgence in [PSN users], which is pleasant. We have seen on PSN, and probably Sony are in a better place to tell you this, that there is a resurgence in people buying the generic PSN cards in retail stores rather than putting up their credit card details... I think in the future they will make more non-generic cards, like game branded ones, such as Street Fighter or FIFA, or even Modern Warfare. But the generic ones have done well.

"People are playing it a bit safe at the moment because the hackers will be back [laughs]. That's my personal opinion. I mean...they will right? They are going to say: 'So you think you are secure?'"

Sony finally restored its full PSN service, including the PS Store, in Japan last week. The service had remained down in the territory for over two months.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...-will-be-back/ ...

The Lavalit guys have released a new version of their Beatem Up for the Dreamcast, PSP, Wiz, Wii, GP2x and Dingoo:

penBOR is a continuation of the Beats Of Rage 2D game engine, which was originally
created by the wonderful folks over at http://www.senileteam.com.


History
----------------------
In 2004, Senile Team released Beats of Rage, a free beat-'em-up for DOS inspired
by SEGA's Streets of Rage series and using sprites from SNK Playmore's King of
Fighters series. The game spread only by word of mouth, but it nonetheless
amassed popularity very quickly. Senile Team soon released an edit pack allowing
anyone interested to create a mod for the BOR engine.

In 2005, Kirby2000 asked Senile Team to open the source code to BOR. They
agreed, and OpenBOR was born. Development on the engine was continued by the
community, and still is to this day.


Available Platforms
----------------------
OpenBOR has a very modular and portable design inherited from Beats of Rage. Ports
to the following platforms are currently supported:

* Windows
* Linux
* Mac OS X
* Wii
* PSP
* Dreamcast
* GP2X
* GP2X Wiz
* Dingoo a320

In addition to the above, the original Beats of Rage engine (downloadable from
the Senile Team website) is available for the following platforms:

* DOS
* Playstation 2
* Xbox
* GP32
* Palmtop

Download and Give Feedback Via Comments ...

Via http://wololo.net/wagic/2011/07/10/m...8v3-unbricker/

Developer ErikPshat just posted an impressive video showcasing the ta88v3 unbricker running. He surely trusts his work, as the video shows him intentionally bricking a ta88v3 (by removing the battery in the middle of an Official Firmware update), and bringing it back from the dead with a Magic memory stick.

Again, the legality of this tool is extremely controversial (much more than the Pandora Battery, if you ask), so please do not share any links here. I’m sure those of you who have a bricked ta88v3 will find their way to this tool one way or another, anyways.

Seriously, bricking your own console to make a point…that’s what I call being brave, ErikPshat

...

Version 0.2.6 is out and the game is now compatible with Windows!

Download the game here :
http://www.atien.net/data/documents/magicmaze/magicmaze.rar

If you want to play it on Windows, just download LUA Player and unzip it in your MagicMaze game folder.
Launch the game with MagicMaze.bat
http://www.atien.net/data/documents/.../luaplayer.rar

Have a good game! ...

Sony has extended the registration period in the United States for its identity-theft protection service, AllClear ID Plus, which will provide one year of free, intensive security coverage for PSN and Qriocity users. Registration will now run until July 31 (at 11:59:59 p.m. CST, Sony has been sure to clarify), right from the US PlayStation website.

The offer initially ended June 28, so sign up now while this armored, bullet-proof window of opportunity is still open.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/07/09/so...-through-july/ ...