Some good news this morning for PS3 owners across the pond: Though Sony Europe has promised that the demo for Uncharted: Drake's Fortune would appear on the European and Japanese PlayStation Stores November 22, Naughty Dog has dropped the region specificity on the American demo, opening it up for everyone.

According to Christophe Balestra, co-president of Naughty Dog, the whole ordeal originated from a lack of knowledge about the PSN infrastructure. He claims they didn't know that European and Japanese PS3 owners couldn't access the US PlayStation Store and download demos - an oversight that Balestra himself corrected with the quickness. Now if Naughty Dog can just get the game out without boobies in their opening logo (link NSFW), they should be in the clear.

[Via PS3F]

Sony has released a new trailer for Uncharted: Drake's Fortune to mark Halloween, but it's puzzling, because the trailer's not particularly scary. The only thing we could figure is that Sony was hoping that lazy writers would say something to the extent of "The only thing scary is how good this jam looks!" and everybody would be a winner. Because we care so much about you, we're avoiding the temptation.

What we will say is that the new environments featured in this trailer are enticing; not just because they look really good, but also because they reassure us that we won't be spending the whole game trudging about a jungle setting. Also: Jet skis!

As you've no doubt gathered from reading the site, we're multi-system. Most of the time that makes us extremely cool and a hit at parties, but there are times when it's a curse. For example, we're going to get Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii on Nov. 12, then just one week later we get Mass Effect on 360. That's bad, but now we find out we have to contend with Uncharted: Drake's Fortune being released on that exact same day. Yep, that pretty much confirms we won't have time for turkey and cranberry sauce this Thanksgiving (though we might make an exception for pie).

So, whether you can't afford a PS3, you're still desperately searching your local Toys 'R' Us for a Wii or you're left without a 360 thanks to the RRoD, just remember: It could be much worse -- you could have all three.

Former Naughty Dog creative director Daniel Arey has joined the gang at Ready At Dawn to assume a similar role for an unannounced original IP. "When I first got the chance to hear about this new property, I immediately knew I had to be a part of it and get a chance to join forces with the ... talent over at Ready At Dawn," said Arey of the job change.

Already compromised of a few former Naughty Dogs, Ready At Dawn should prove an easy transition for Arey, whose 10 years of work at his former studio yielded a pair of successful franchises in Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter. While Ready At Dawn has quickly established itself as a leading developer for PSP (Daxter, God of War: Chains of Olympus), the California-based studio has not revealed which platform it's targeted for this new project.

What happens when you mix one part Gears of War, one part Tomb Raider, and one part Prince of Persia? You get one potentially awesome game. We really want to like Naughty Dog's upcoming PS3 exclusive, Uncharted, but technical issues seriously hindered our enjoyment of the title.

If there's one thing everyone has been talking about with Uncharted, it's the complex animation system. Thousands of animations are blended together in real-time to create a visually complex world that feels alive. Drake responds to his surroundings: you'll see him look at points of interest, struggling to keep his footing, and more. In one heated gunfight, we had him take cover fire and could see the worried look on his face as he breathed heavily The animation system helps make Drake not only a more believable character, but one we can relate to.

Drake is supposed to be a normal guy in an extraordinary situation, and the platforming sequences deliver upon the feeling of overcoming overwhelming obstacles. Drake will have to climb along rocky ledges, or jump from a shaky pillar to the next. Seeing what Drake can interact with the environment is intuitive due to Drake's focus on where he must go next. By observing what Drake wants to do, players will be able to navigate tricky areas with relative ease. Swinging from a rope and jumping to a ledge feels intuitive and empowering. We love the feeling we get when exploring the environment.

While we've talked about Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (which we now decree shall be referred to as Uncharted from here on in, to save on all the typing) before, this is the first chance that we've had to spend any time actually playing the PlayStation 3 title.

At Sony's Gamer's Day, we watched a trailer that was extremely cinematic in nature, and the game actually looks like it could be a movie starring people like Paul Walker and Jessica Alba. Oh wait, that was called Into The Blue. Okay, change the girl, tweak the plot, throw in a search for El Dorado, and that's about the theme of Uncharted.

Play France went digging into Naughty Dog background modeler Rob Adams' online resume and turned up some new images from the studio's upcoming adventure game, now (unofficially) confirmed to carry the uninspired title Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. A trademark and logo for that name turned up earlier this week and were quickly tied to the Naughty Dog project; an E3 trailer for the game alluded to infamous English navigator Sir Francis Drake's lost treasure. Predictably, Sony has responded with: "We don't comment on rumors and speculation. Nothing has been announced." Not sure this classifies as rumor and speculation any longer...