There’s currently a trial program in place in the state called “Empire 2.0″, which is all about the government extending existing services and means of communication to 21st century outlets such as Facebook and Twitter.

Of course, gaming consoles are included in that, and NY are in the process of testing – across Xbox Live, the PlayStation Network and the Wii’s network – a means of distributing emergency warning messages across those platforms, so anyone with their console on (and TV or radio off) can be reached.

It’s a good idea. I actually had the displeasure of hearing the “whoooop whoooop” of an emergency warning back in 2003, but I only heard it – and evacuated my house in time – because it was on both the radio and television. These days, I’d be far more likely to be on Xbox Live or the PSN.

Not that I live in NY, just saying… it’s a good idea.

Interop: New York Tests Xbox-Based Alert System [IW, via Gizmodo]

Those 33 million users download a staggering 25 petabytes of data a month. More importantly for Sony, they’re also spending three times what they did last year at the PlayStation Store.

Sony’s presentation highlights what it called a significant revenue in downloadable games and add-ons. The company also pointed out that its video delivery service now has more than 2417 movies and 15,047 television episodes.

A final point made in the slide presentation by Sony about the PlayStation Network is that a new revenue stream is coming from a subscription model.

Reached for contact this morning, SCEA told Kotaku that in terms of the PlayStation Network and subscriptions “we’re looking into a variety of options, but nothing to announce at this time”.

The PSP has two modes of internet play: Ad Hoc and Infrastructure. Infrastructure mode lets players connect through the internet, but Ad Hoc mode is local only, or at least it was. The PSP adhocParty, launched last year in Japan, allows select games that normally allow for only face-to-face multiplayer connect via the PlayStation Network, using the PlayStation 3 as a bridge.

“The PlayStation brand is synonymous with creating exciting new gameplay experiences that connect and challenge people in ways they never thought possible,” said Scott A. Steinberg, vice president, product marketing, SCEA.

“AdhocParty for the PSP system creates an avenue for gamers to connect, strategize, and compete with each other – Gran Turismo is a great example of this. Polyphony Digital developed robust Ad Hoc features within the game, which are now even more accessible through adhocParty. We saw this as a tremendous opportunity to enhance the PSP system’s online gaming experience and bring the service to our North American consumers.”

While it would be nice if the PSP could perform this sort of function on its own instead of requiring a PlayStation 3, the service will definitely be a godsend, especially to those poor, lonely Monster Hunter Freedom Unite players. Look for the feature to go live later this month.

How good is Vagrant Story? At a time when Square was releasing Final Fantasy VII through Final Fantasy IX, Vagrant Story was the only original PlayStation game to receive a perfect score from Japanese video game magazine Famitsu. That’s how good it is.

The game, which actually takes place in the Final Fantasy Ivalice setting used in the tactics titles and Final Fantasy XII, follows the story of Riskbreaker Ashley Riot as he investigates the link between a cult leader and Duke Bardorba of Valendia. It’s a solo dungeon crawler that relies on weapons crafting and modification rather than the random shopkeepers scattered across most RPG worlds.

It’s an exquisite experience, and according to the latest European Square Enix newsletter, forwarded to us via Kotakuite Emilia, it’s coming soon to the PAL PlayStation Network.

Way back at the dawn of time (better known as the year 2000), a certain video games company called SQUARE made a game called VAGRANT STORY, which stormed the charts, became a genre-defining classic and, amongst other things, garnered a perfect score from Famitsu magazine – so pretty much business as usual for character design god Akihiko Yoshida. But the great news is that SQUARE ENIX are bringing it to the PS3 and the PSP on the 12th November!

Note that Square Enix has clarified since the newsletter was released that the date given is incorrect, and the title is coming soon. Hopefully this means we’ll be seeing the game released in North America soon as well. It’s a PSone Classic I would purchase without hesitation if I didn’t have the original sitting on a shelf behind me.

There’s Military Madness, Numblast and a Trine demo for PlayStation 3 owners to enjoy, with a little something for the PSP crowd too — Dissidia Final Fantasy and Ghostbusters: the Video Game have made the jump to digital download.

On the DLC side, there’s paid content for Dragon Age: Origins and free content for Brutal Legend. See? Plenty to be excited about this week. The full list of PlayStation Store noobs is below.

Games & Demos for PlayStation 3
Military Madness: Nectaris ($9.99)
Numblast ($4.99)
PSone Classics: Gex ($5.99)
Trine demo
Military Madness: Nectaris demo

Games & Demos for PSP
Ben 10 Alien Force ($19.99)
Ben 10: Protector of Earth ($14.99)
Crimson Room: Reverse ($7.99)
Class of Heroes ($39.99)
Creature defence ($7.99)
Dissidia Final Fantasy ($39.99)
Dungeon Maker: Hunting Ground ($14.99)
Ghostbusters The Video Game PSP ($29.99)
Numblast PSP ($4.99)
Star Wars Battlefront Elite Squadron ($29.99)
Star Wars Clone Wars: Republic Heroes ($29.99)
MotorStorm Arctic Edge demo (free)

Expansions & Add-ons
LittleBigPlanet Anniversary Birthday Cake Costume (free)
LittleBigPlanet Spaceman Costume (free)
Dragon Age Origins – Stone Prisoner DLC ($14.99)
Dragon Age Origins – Warden’s Keep DLC ($6.99)
Brutal Legend – Tears of the Hextadon Map Pack (free)
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Character and Mission Pack ($9.99)
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Character Compatibility Pack (free)
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Juggernaut Playable Character ($1.99)
Topatoi: The Great Tree Story Arcade Style (free)
Way of the Samurai 3 Weapons pack (free)

Rock Band tracks

• “Best of You” by Foo Fighters ($1.99)
• “The Pretender” by Foo Fighters ($1.99)
• “Wheels” by Foo Fighters ($1.99)
• “Word Forward” by Foo Fighters ($1.99)
• “Foo Fighters Pack 03 ($6.99) – “Best of You,” “The Pretender,” “Wheels,” and “Word Forward” by Foo Fighters.
• “Fake Friends” by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts ($1.99)
• “About a Girl” by Nirvana ($1.99)
• “Blew” by Nirvana ($1.99)
• “School” by Nirvana ($1.99)
• “Nirvana Bleach Pack ($5.49) – “About a Girl,” “Blew,” and “School” by Nirvana.

Game Videos
Qore Episode 18: November 2009 ($2.99)
Pulse 11/5 Edition
God of War Collection Trailer
PlayStation 3 TV Commercial – “Candle”
PlayStation 3 TV Commercial – “Montage”
Assassin’s Creed 2 Dev Diary 4
Dragon Age: Origins City Elf Trailer
Dragon Age: Origins Dwarf Commoner Origin Trailer
Dragon Age: Origins Mage Origin Trailer
Numblast Trailer
NIER TGS 2009 Trailer

Themes & Wallpapers
Tekken 6 – Returning Characters Theme (free)
Tekken 6 – The Fight Card Theme (free)
Tekken 6 – The New Faces Theme (free)
Family Guy Theme ($1.99)
Roadkill Theme ($1.99)
DarkMatter Quadrilogy Theme Pack ($5.99)
FIFA Soccer 10 Wallpaper
Let’s FIFA 10 Wallpaper
FIFA Soccer 10 Blanco Wallpaper
FIFA Soccer 10 Rooney Wallpaper
FIFA Soccer 10 Rooney Wallpaper 2
Tekken 6 Alisa Wallpaper
Tekken 6 Asuka Wallpaper
Tekken 6 Hwoarang Wallpaper
Tekken 6 Jin Wallpaper
Tekken 6 Kazuya Wallpaper

Major League Baseball is offering games from the showdown between the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees, just in case you happened to miss a game and would pay to relive it. The official PlayStation.blog also makes mention of “classic games” coming to the North American PlayStation Store, downloadable for your viewing pleasure.

MLB and Lucasfilm Join PlayStation Network’s Video Delivery Service [PlayStation.blog]

The time-twisting adventures of Tim will be taking the trip to the North American PlayStation Network on November 12 courtesy of Hothead Games, with a European release coming at a later date. Press, players and rap artists alike have heaped praise on Blow’s innovative platformer, both for its unique gameplay and its distinctive hand-painted look. If for some reason you’ve not heard about Braid until this very moment, welcome to Kotaku, and visit the game’s official website to find out more about the title everyone was talking about while you were trapped in that cave.

While Numblast may sound like a topical cream used in more intimate circumstances, it’s actually a video game! It can be enjoyed on the go or from the comfort of your DualShock 3 for just $US4.99 and should probably be enjoyed by fans of the PopCap school of tile-swapping, brightly coloured short session games.

A trailer for Numblast is after this, which may help explain just what this new addition to the PlayStation Store will be like.

Even better, both of these things are free. So you too can get in on the choke points, silly hats and magic cake madness.

Here’s what developer Titan Studios has to say about the patch:

After playing innumerable games, reading the forums and piles of email, and reviewing all the great feedback we received from you, the fans, we have made a variety of tweaks to the gameplay balance and systems to ensure the game stays fair, fresh and as fun as ever. Here is a full breakdown of all the changes that can be found in the upcoming patch:

New Map

* A brand new awesome city map has been added called New Pork…and it’s free!

Game System Tweaks

* The host’s ability to kick and ban players has been removed.
* The ability for players to switch teams post-game is now restricted so that sides cannot be unbalanced by more than 2 players.
* A new switching team system has been implemented during matches:

* If there is a deficit of 2 players between teams, the weaker team will drop a team coloured ball on the death of a player.
* Picking up the coloured ball switches a player’s team and rewards them with a 300 point bonus.
* So…get the ball.
* The 10 game average ranking system has been removed.
* A new ranking system has been implemented, which adds rank points for every game based on the player’s score.
* Awarded ranking titles will now never go down once earned.
* Online leaderboards have been increased to display all players not just the top 1000.
* All online leaderboards are to be reset shortly after patch 1.03 is released, but all unlocked customisations and trophies will remain unlocked. You will not lose them.

Main Bug Fixes

* The Princess disappearing bug has been fixed.
* The issue with statistics and trophies not saving correctly has been fixed.

Character Balancing

* The Dark Priest’s lock-on range has been reduced.
* The Dark Priest’s drain ability has been slightly reduced.
* The Ranger now has larger movement penalty when locked on and charging attacks.
* The Adv. Ranger has a smaller shot dispersion and increased damage per shot.
* The Warrior’s attack damage has been increased slightly.
* The Warrior’s movement speed has been increased slightly when locked on and charging attacks.
* The Warrior’s 360 degree protect when his shield is raised has been increased from 20% to 40%
* Warrior’s Lock on range increased to match Ranger to stop class being hit from behind when retreating
* Warriors weapon collision box increased in size to aid with hit detection
* Adv Warrior speed increased slightly when locked on and charging to match his normal movement speed
* Adv Warrior damage increased
* Adv Worker’s bomb knockback force removed
* Princess calorie burn decreased slightly in weight state 3 and 4

Control Tweaks

* Two new control schemes have been implemented to allow players to use the R1 button to attack and to free the player’s right hand for target switching. This is AWESOME.

Scoring Updates

* New switching team bonus added of 300 points.
* Princess rescue score increased to 300 points.
* Princess rescue assistance bonus increased to 150 points.
* Princess escort bonus increased to 75 points.
* Win game scoring reduced to 150 points.
* Match completion bonus added of 75 points.
* Average Rank bonus award removed for games won under 3 minutes.
* Bonus score for winning games in under 3 minutes removed.

Additional Tweaks

* Candy confetti added as a special effect when blood is turned off. Check this out – it is really cool.
* All loading screens now in colour.
* Loading screens now allow players to scroll to next and previous tips during the load.

We look forward to slaughtering you – ahem, seeing you – on the battlefield!

LocoRoco Midnight Carnival is the latest installment of the painfully adorable LocoRoco series, featuring 16 new stages, competitive and co-op multiplayer modes, mini-games and three bonus stages. The game also introduces the Boing! manoeuvre, which is a super-enhanced bounce that allows you to bounce off walls, opening up a new level of exploration for fans of those cute little bastards.

LocoRoco Midnight Carnival will be available for purchase on the PSN later today, with a demo also available for those of you less trusting of our spherical bouncing friends. Since the game only uses the shoulder buttons, it should make for the perfect showcase for your shiny new PSPgo.

LocoRoco Midnight Carnival Launches Today! [PlayStation Blog]