Today marks the launch of the PlayStation 3 Greatest Hits collection, with nine games given a (slightly) new jewel case and an attractive $30 price tag.

• Warhawk
• MotorStorm
• Resistance: Fall of Man
• Call of Duty 3
• Need for Speed Carbon
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
• Ninja Gaiden Sigma
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas
• Assassin's Creed

But which of these games are worth your time and money? Our friends at PS3 Fanboy have done the research for you. Check out their Buyer's Guide to see recommendations, and which online retailers currently have these budget games in stock

We thought Ninja Gaiden Sigma was pretty good. You know, nothing revolutionary, but at least worth a spin for PS3 owners, especially those who hadn't played through Ninja Gaiden. But we've just received word (via CVG) from Ninja Gaiden I and II developer Tomonobu Itagaki that we're wrong, wrong, totally wrong.

When asked about the game, Itagaki said simply, "It was no good." Apparently not into the whole brevity thing, CVG continued the line of questioning, prompting Itagaki to add, "Despite the fact that it's on a 'next-generation' console there's no evolution whatsoever. That was made not by me, but one of my sub-ordinates who basically tried to copy the success of Ninja Gaiden." You think that's pretty rough, right? Well get this: That guy was sitting next to him. And he was making Itagaki a fancy birthday cake. No, that stuff isn't true. But it's still fairly icy.

Oh, and he dropped a preemptive burn, saying that a PS3 port of Ninja Gaiden II "would be a loss of face for everyone involved." ... So, yeah. Remind us not to cut him off in traffic.

Savior of stingy spenders and bane of box art, the budget lineup, is set to incorporate several PlayStation 3 titles in Japan next month. IGN reports that the official "PlayStation 3 the Best" branding will highlight familiar titles at friendlier prices, with Resistance: Fall of Man, FolksSoul (aka Folklore), Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Gundam: Target in Sight, and Ridge Racer 7 pinching the first pennies -- or, uh, yanking the first yen. The "Best" games will sell for ¥3,800 ($36), which represents a saving of roughly ¥2,200 ($21) for Sony-published games and ¥3,200 ($30) for third-party titles.

On the other side of the ocean, Sony told GamesIndustry.biz that a similar "Platinum" range of budget games would likely arrive in Europe. "We have introduced a Platinum range of best-selling titles for all of our platforms to date, and it is likely that we will do so in the future for PS3," said a spokesman, noting that the timing and lineup had yet to be finalized.

We'll let you know what Sony America has to say about a budget lineup as soon as they accept our collect call.

Read -- "PlayStation 3 the Best" for Japan
Read -- "Platinum" for Europe

Today's additions to the PlayStation Store may not incite frenzy, but with the entire video game world talking about a certain spartan, maybe Sony thought it was to retain their big guns for another week where they could garner more press.

For US PS3 owners, in addition to an assortment of free trailers, we have demos for Clive Barker's Jericho (which also came out today on the Xbox 360 and PC) and NBA 2K8, a new vehicle for Motorstorm dubbed the Castro Capitano ($0.99) and Speed Master feature for Ninja Gaiden Sigma.

European gamers today got some Warhawk and Heavenly Sword wallpaper, a quartet of new Motorstorm vehicles (£1.49 for each pair), the Ninja Gaiden SIgma Speed Master pack a demos for Sega Rally and Folklore (this is a different demo than the one previously released).

[Via PS3 Fanboy]