Never one to be outdone by its European counterpart, Sony Computer Entertainment America just announced its very own 160GB PlayStation 3 bundle. Offering more than just €70 worth of downloadable game content, SCEA's bundle includes the recently unveiled 160GB PlayStation 3, Naughty Dog's excellent Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, a PSN voucher for PAIN (expires March 30, 2009), and a DualShock 3 controller, for the price of $499.99.

Picking our way through the system's specs, it looks like the 160GB PS3 offers only 2 USB ports and no flash card readers, leading us to believe its functionally identical to the 40GB (now 80GB) low-end model. To put it another way: it appears the 160GB model will not have backwards compatibility for PS2 games. As for availability, the press release vaguely states "November." We'll try to get something definitive on the backwards compatibility situation.

Surprise! Naughty Dog has released the Uncharted 1.10 patch, bringing 48 Trophies and whatever else is packed into a 13 MB update to the game, according to numerous tips we've received this morning. The catch? The patch is only available in Europe at the moment.

We're furiously booting and rebooting here in the US and will let you know as soon as we're able to start earning Trophies of our own. (Hopefully, later today.) Update: The patch is live on US servers!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

[Update: Not so fast, turns out the information cited by TalkPlayStation.com was PS3 Fanboy's Andrew Yoon on the PlayStation Nation Podcast. At around 56 minutes in, Andrew simply reiterated what Naughty Dog's Evan Wells already told us: that the developer was targeting the "middle of next month" to add Trophy support to Uncharted. Additionally, a Naughty Dog rep told us that, while August 22nd very well may be the date, they wouldn't know ... it hasn't been chosen yet.]

TalkPlaystation.com has allegedly confirmed that Trophies will be added to Naughty Dog's Uncharted Drake's Fortune on August 22. Despite a form of "achievements" originally being part of Uncharted, we'd been told previously that the Trophies will not be retroactive, so prepare to play the adventure all over again.

Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells mentioned previously that adding the Trophy patch for the game was "incredibly easy" because of the medal system the company already implemented in the game. Now that's thinking ahead.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune developer Naughty Dog tells us that a patch to add PlayStation Trophy support to the game will be available by mid-August. Company co-president Evan Wells says that the update has already been submitted for quality assurance testing and could hit sooner.

According to Wells, the patch was "incredibly easy" to implement because the game already contains preliminary support for Trophies via its Medals reward system. He further revealed that these hooks were actually included because Naughty Dog thought Sony would roll out Trophies before Uncharted's November 2007 launch.

As with other PS3 titles getting retroactive Trophy support, Uncharted will require those who've already completed the game to play through again in order to unlock Trophies, even if they had previously earned every Medal. Wells says this is primarily to prevent people from simply using someone else's save data to artificially bolster their Trophy collection. Shame on you for even thinking about it.

PSN director of operations, Eric Lampel, has confirmed that Naughty Dog's Uncharted: Drake's Fortune will receive a Trophy update "at some point in the foreseeable future." In fact, Lampel told GameSpy, "Ultimately, we'll have trophies for every game." But ultimately is without a deadline currently, suggesting Trophy patches will be trickling out for the, um, foreseeable future.

Still, we imagine Sony is leaning on certain studios to allocate resources to Trophy building asap. Certainly there's a greater demand for Trophy support in Uncharted than in, let's say, Genji: Days of the Blade. Then again, an actual, historically accurate award for sticking the giant crab's weak point might be reason enough to procure Genji from a dusty bargain bin and suffer through the ill-fated launch title. Massive Damage Trophy? We so want that one.

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

Sony Computer Entertainment has declared its intention to take "the most appropriate action" against an online retailer making its Beretta and butter from a replica air gun. The weapon, based on one wielded by the goofy, treasure-hunting protagonist of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, is currently listed for $169.88 on the King of Swords website. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, a Sony representative noted that the "PS3 Uncharted Drake's Fortune Full Metal M92 Airsoft Gun" was in no way an officially endorsed or condoned product, despite its use of the game's artwork in advertisement.

This isn't the first time a publisher has rushed to arms over the sale of replica weapons. In February of this year, Square Enix took stern legal action against those hoping to sell real things based on fake things.

There's plenty of game related memorabilia out there, but, as we'll tell anyone who'll listen, there's just not enough that you can use to protect your home from hemophiliac robbers. An airsoft version of Nathan Drake's gun from Uncharted, now on sale from King of Swords, is just such an item. One look at the all metal, BBs-hurtling-at-inches-per-second power of the replica should be enough to send all easy bleeders sprinting back towards the limited edition Castlevania stained glass window they broke in through.

As much as we like the idea though, we'd humbly suggest that, in the future, King of Swords make guns based on pieces that are in any way recognizable to friends without a few minutes of explanation from their ($170 poorer) owners. You know, like a key-shaped sword.

[Via PS3F]

It's time for another installment of Anonymous Hollywood Insider Reports, here on Joystiq. Last time we caught wind of some Hollywood fat cats eying up the BioShock license like a so many pounds of plasmid-injected steak (Take-Two's chairman later listed a cinematic adaptation of the property under "potential opportunities"). This time, a well-placed source close to the deal tells us that the movie rights to Naughty Dog's highly cinematic action-adventure game, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, have been optioned by Atlas Entertainment. There isn't much else to go on besides that; the project has yet to be formally announced and is still in the earliest stages (that is to say: being written). When asked for comment, an SCEA spokesperson told us, "We have not made any announcements regarding movie options."

With the original tomb raider hitting theaters again this year, and a sequel to the well-received game all but confirmed, a Hollywood tie-in seems like a perfect fit (and by perfect fit, we mean half-tucked). The real debate will be over who plays dashing (yet pirate-murdering) hero, Nathan Drake. Our lunch money is on that guy from Firefly ... he's perfect, right? And get this: his name is already Nathan. Talk about kismet.

Tired of searching Etsy in vain for fan-made God of War apparel? You're in luck! Sony today announced partnerships with four different clothing and accessory makers to feature the company's biggest franchises on all sorts of shirts and such. IV Gear has a list (shown above) of at least some of the franchises which will be depicted, including God of War, Ratchet & Clank, Resistance: Fall of Man, Heavenly Sword and Little Big Planet. Apparel makers Fortune Fashions, Bioworld and MJC will also put the games' logos and character on everything from hoodies to handbags.

"PlayStation is an extremely strong and well-known brand" Shelly Gayner, Director of Licensing, SCEA, said in a press release "We feel that this is a great opportunity for us to satiate our core fans and extend and capitalize on PlayStation name recognition by creating a new line of apparel in connection with the PlayStation brands and our top franchise titles." Memo to Sony: If you really want to satiate the fanboy audience, you'll put Sofia from Battle Arena Toshinden on a body pillow. We're just saying ...

Worried that game integration with Playstation Home will just be trophies, trailers and t-shirts? Well, so were we, actually. Luckily, Kotaku's learned some interesting details about the Home integration of Warhawk, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, and Resistance: Fall of Man. Turns out its way cooler than we thought.

Warhawk will reportedly allow up to eight players to meet in a "war room" prior to a match, mapping out strategies on "sand table" replicas of each level. Once they're ready to go, players can jump right into an online Warhawk match from the Home interface. A nice touch, indeed.

Resistance and Uncharted, meanwhile, will give Home users access to full unpopulated levels from the games, allowing players to casually walk through battlefields with their Home avatars. In addition to this killer feature, Resistance will allow players to explore unseen portions of the game, and locate radio transmissions that further explain the storyline. Uncharted will feature a Contra-style 2D shooter that launches from Home. Consider us floored. We can't wait to see these features in action.

Read - How Resistance makes Home really, really cool [Kotaku]
Read - How Uncharted makes Home really, really cool [Kotaku]
Read - How Warhawk makes Home really, really cool [Kotaku]

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

Wow, Yahtzee needs to visit the States more often if spending such a small amount of time for GDC brings on this level of devilishly delightful hate. This week Zero Punctuation takes on -- some will say quite unfairly -- Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. Every little possibly insane nit-pick thing is leveled against poor Uncharted, including the fact that it's the best game for white supremacists ever. The issues are quite silly for a game that is currently one of the few jewels in the PS3's crown, but Yahtzee is in top entertainment form -- he even makes a rare appearance au naturel (like as a human, not naked).

Included after the break with this week's NSFW review of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is ZP's video presentation at the Game Developers Choice awards.

It's been said that the ultimate user interface would be "a little box with a single red button; when pushed it would give you exactly what you need exactly when you need it." We'd like to think that this was the inspiration that led two ex-Naughty Dog staffers to create game studio Big Red Button Entertainment. Or maybe their inspiration was a little less high-minded. We don't know.

Anyway, the new studio has vowed to become the "United Artists of games" (much like EA) by creating "original character based intellectual properties for cross platform and cross media development." OK, so that doesn't really mean anything, but with titles like Crash Bandicoot, Jak & Daxter and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune to the creators' credit, we're still excited about the possibilities. Hey, maybe they should design some games for the Buzz controller. Y'know ... because it has a big red button ...? No? Not funny? FINE! WHO ASKED YOU?!

A new Playstation 3 bundle will go on sale in the UK this Friday, featuring two first-party titles along with the 40GB model of the PS3, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

The bundle, which will retail for £349.99 GBP, allows consumers to pick two games from a list of first-party titles to accompany the console. The list includes big 2007 titles like Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction, and SingStar (with microphones). With the 40GB PS3 normally priced at £299.99, this deal probably won't incite a voracious demand for the console, but it is a nice way to pick up a few games on the cheap with a new system.

Full list of titles available through the offer after the break.

kdice (Web)

Take Risk. Simplify the rules and create a bunch of new maps. Add an intuitive web-based interface and a complex worldwide ranking system. Make the game entirely free to play and attract a solid stable of online players, available at all hours of the day. The result is one of the most addictive strategy games you've probably never heard of.