If you're looking forward to the upcoming May 6 release of R-Type Command for the PSP, but are wondering where to pick it up, Atlus USA might have just made the decision a tad easier. The company has announced that for a "very limited" time those who buy the game from GameStop, Amazon.com, GameCrazy, EB Games Canada, and other select retailers will be able to take home a free plastic miniature replica of the game's R-9 spacecraft, which we imagine to be perfect for keeping your desktop safe from the Bydo Empire.

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

As you can see, we follow Atlus USA's requests to the letter. The quirky company has asked us to tell you lot about R-Type Command, "a bold new turn-based strategy entry in the long-celebrated series of side-scrolling shooters." Hitting the PlayStation Portable on May 6th, the game has players going up against the evil "Bydo Empire" in "exciting tactical gameplay!" The exclamation mark is theirs.

You'll have close to a hundred different upgradeable units at your command, including those hailing from the aforementioned Bydo Empire. Oh, and a little protip for those eager to engage in the wireless Ad-Hoc multiplayer: Make sure your underwater module with powerful anti-air missiles and torpedoes doesn't lose its resupply function! (That one was ours.)

Side-scrolling shooter meets ... turn-based strategy game? According to a blurry Famitsu scan, a new R-Type will attempt just that. R-Type Tactics features traditional side-scrolling shooting action confined to a turn-based grid system. Instead of cursing bosses for cheap kills and numbing your fingers slapping the fire button, you'll take turns attacking and plotting devious schemes with your enemies. Look for the strange mix of genres on the PSP in Japan later this year.

[Via PSP Fanboy]

On a day most Americans have off, we get another lame assortment of VC games for the Wii. Xevious (NES, 500 points), R-Type III: The Third Lightning (Super NES, 800 points) and Moto Roader (TurboGrafx16, 600 points) are the titles Wii owners are expected to blow their cash Wii points on.

Bring on the Metroid, even Super Metroid, Kid Icarus, or titles we've heard of. We know that some good games need to be saved for the rumored incoming Wii drought, but with an amazing library of games at Nintendo's disposal, we're getting some unimpressive and genre clumped offerings. The VC is not living up to its potential.

Wii owners waking up this Christmas morning expecting to download some classic space 'shmup goodness might be a little surprised at what they have to pay to get it. R-Type, released today on the Wii's virtual console, is the first TurboGrafx-16 game to be available for 800 VC points instead of the normal 600.

This didn't come as a total surprise: Nintendo casually mentioned last month that virtual console games merely "start at" the now-standard point levels (NES: 500, TG16: 600, SNES/Genesis:800, N64:1000). They also mentioned the R-Type price specifically in a press release last week, but our eyes glazed over and we misreported it at 600 points. Silly us... we thought the price used in six other TurboGrafx-16 games so far would carry over to the seventh.

While R-Type is a bit more popular than a similar game like Super Star Soldier, we can't help but wonder why Nintendo chose this game to break out the first price hike. While a 200 point increase isn't too outrageous, we can only hope this does not represent the start of a trend in ever-increasing virtual console prices.

Sony has dropped nine more PSOne games into Japan's PlayStation Store. The process is still tedious, the files still only playable on PSP (and only downloadable with a PlayStation 3). A new PSP firmware update (v3.03) is required to play the newest oldies; and although the update is available for all to install, it's useless to those outside of Japan -- or those in Japan without access to PS3's PlayStation Network.

Here's a rundown of the PSOne games you won't be playing on your PSP today:

• Dino Crisis
• Gekitotsu Toma L'Arc: L'Arc-en-Ciel vs Tomarunner
• Global Force: Shin Sentou Kokka
• Migi Hadari U-SA
• Migi Hadari USA
• Mr. Driller
• R-Type
• Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure
• Taiyou no Shippo: Wild, Pure, Simple Life
• The Conveni: Anomachi o Dokusenseyo

There's been a surprising amount of chatter recently about some sort of "Christmas surprise" coming out of Nintendo on Monday, Dec. 25. The source of all this speculation, as far as we can figure it, is a Nov. 30 post on RumorReporter.com that coyly suggests "you might want to keep an eye on your Wii's WiiConnect24 service leading up to this Christmas. Nintendo's sending a nifty gift... a surprise."

The only cited source for this information? "A friend of mine from Germany, who works for a very legitimate gaming production and publication." And really, if you can't trust some guy's unnamed German friend who works for an unnamed "legitimate" gaming company, who can you trust?

The extreme sketchiness of this tip hasn't stopped the 'net from rampant speculation on what the big surprise might be. The current leading contender seems to be free Virtual Console games. As GamersReports notes, a little Firefox hacking can turn up Wii Shop pages for upcoming games Super Mario Bros., ToeJam & Earl and R-Type that list the price as "0 points / Free." The report is careful to note this as a rumor, but still holds out hope for "a real Christmas miracle, though."

We don't buy it. As noted on the original hacking guide on Following Revolution, "any unreleased game says free for now, as it's just a placeholder for price" which will be set later. Some might say that the "free" message where the "download" button usually appears proves that the games are indeed going to be offered gratis, but it would be a relatively simple process for Nintendo to set that message as the default for any page with an unset price. At best, this proves that the virtual console has the functionality to offer products for free -- something we've long known was planned for the system's Opera browser.

But the greatest argument against this Christmas surprise is that it's bad business. Giving away Super Mario Bros., a title that is likely to be one of the Virtual Console's biggest sellers, is not a smart move for a company that obviously values profits. The positive PR for the move likely wouldn't offset the hundreds of thousands of dollars lost to the free downloads.

We suppose we could be wrong here, and that some huge surprise could show up on our systems come Christmas morning. Just don't get your hopes up, is all.