UPDATE: This competition is now closed. The second winner will be announced 11am Monday.

LittleBigPlanet on PSP is an entirely new Sackboy adventure with an Australiana themed area just one of more than 35 original levels. And just like on PS3, you can create your own levels and share them online with the PSP community.

Thanks to our friends at Sony Computer Entertainment Australia, we have two prize packs up for grabs, both including:

* A turqiose Slim & Lite PSP
* A copy of LittleBigPlanet on UMD
* A Sackboy screenwipe
* And a Sackboy PSP pouch

How do you win? It’s limerick time again. You have to write a LittleBigPlanet themed limerick that begins “There once was a Sackboy…” (Remember: limericks have fives lines; lines 1, 2 & 5 should rhyme, and lines 3 & 4 should rhyme.)

Good luck!

NOTE: As with all Kotaku comps, only one entry per draw is allowed. If you leave multiple entries, only the first one will be considered.

And the first winner is… Brent Harrison, who submitted not just the first but the best classification-themed limerick:

There was a sackboy named Michael,
who thought banning games was delightful,
Until one day,
Voters sent him away,
By electing his political rival.

Remember, leave your limerick here to go into the second draw. Entries close at midnight Sunday.

[Terms and Conditions]

PSP owners with a hunger for playing people over the internet via their PlayStation 3’s should grab the adhocParty app, then show your interest in seeing more games support the feature. And if you’ve got six bucks left in your wallet, a download of Resident Evil 2, one of two new PSone Classics, might be an amusing trip down memory lane.

There’s plenty of new content dying to get into your download queue, all of which is after this…

Apps
adhocParty (free)

Games & Demos for PlayStation 3
Peggle ($9.99)
PSone Classics – Resident Evil 2 ($5.99)
PSone Classics – Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver ($5.99)
Smash Cars demo

Games & Demos for PSP
Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines ($39.99)
PSP minis – D-CUBE Planet ($3.99)
PSP minis – Echoes ($2.99)
PSP minis – Circles ($3.99)
PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe demo
LittleBigPlanet demo
Promethus demo

Expansions & Add-ons
Peggle Nights ($4.99)
PAIN: Flavor Flav character ($1.99)
High Velocity Bowling: Psychedelic 60’s Ball Pack ($0.99)
High Velocity Bowling: Techno Modern Ball Pack ($0.99)
Way of the Samurai 3 Accessories (free)

Guitar Hero 5 tracks

• “Lick It Up” by KISS ($1.99)
• “Modern Day Delilah” by KISS ($1.99)
• “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” by KISS ($1.99)
• “KISS Track Pack ($5.49) – “Modern Day Delilah”, “Lick It Up “, “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” by KISS

Rock Band tracks

• “Beautiful Thieves” by AFI ($1.99)
• “End Transmission” by AFI ($1.99)
• “Love Like Winter” by AFI ($1.99)
• “Medicate” by AFI ($1.99)
• “The Leaving Song, Pt 2″ by AFI ($1.99)
• “AFI Pack 01 ($8.49) – “Beautiful Thieves,” “End Transmission,” “Love Like Winter,” “Medicated” and “The Leaving Song, Pt 2″ by AFI
• “Walk Like An Egyptian” by The Bangles ($1.99)

The Beatles Rock Band tracks

• “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)” by The Beatles ($1.99)
• “Within You Without You” by The Beatles ($1.99)
• “When I’m Sixty-Four” by The Beatles ($1.99)
• “She’s Leaving Home” by The Beatles ($1.99)
• “Lovely Rita” by The Beatles ($1.99)
• “Fixing A Hole” by The Beatles ($1.99)
• “Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!” by The Beatles ($1.99)
• “A Day In The Life” by The Beatles ($1.99)
• “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Album) ($13.49) – “Fixing a Hole,” “She’s Leaving Home,” “Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!,” “Within You Without You,” “When I’m Sixty-Four,” “Lovely Rita,” “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise),” and “A Day in the Life” by The Beatles

Game Videos
Pulse 11/19 Edition
Pain: Flavor Flav Trailer
Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier Launch Trailer
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves 15 sec Accolade TV Spot
FIFA Soccer 10: Director’s Cut Trailer
Madden NFL Arcade Trailer
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Flag Runner Trailer
NBA 2K10 TV Commercial
Assassin’s Creed II Arsenal Trailer
Assassin’s Creed II TGS Trailer
Assassin’s Creed II Dev Diary 3
Assassin’s Creed II GP Trailer
Critter Crunch “Feeding Time” Trailer
Army Of Two: 40th Day Extraction Trailer
Peggle Trailer

Themes & Wallpapers
Peggle theme (free)
Celtic Maidens 2 Premium Plus Theme ($1.99)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 wallpapers
Topatoi wallpaper
Peggle wallpaper

LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues spends much of its time focused on the brickification of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but it also gives players a taste of Indy’s original adventures. Better still, it gives Indiana Jones fans a chance to build their own LEGO levels this time around.

Can a new, coop-friendly split-screen system and the ability to design your own levels make up for the fact that the game reanimates Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull? Lets see.

Loved
Two Players, Two Screens: One of my big qualms with previous LEGO games was that when you started playing coop — and that’s always been the best way to play — the screen became a leash. If one player went too far in a direction it started pulling the other player around with them, sometimes to their death. This time around, once you hit the limits of the screen it splits, allowing the two players to go their separate ways. The way the screen splits also shows which direction the other player is in. It’s a neat design concept that typically works quite well.

Build Mode: While LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues spends most of its time focused on just about everybody’s least favourite Indy film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, it also introduces the ability to design and play through your own LEGO levels to the franchise. The system is fairly straight forward: You select and throw down LEGO bricks you’ve unlocked through gameplay to create sets based on what comes with the game. Not only does that include AI-programmable enemies and creatures, but traps that you can tie to different bricks. It’s a robust little system tied to a fun aesthetic. My only disappointment is that you apparently can’t share your creations with friends online. A pretty big bummer.

Another Take: While more than a third of the game is devoted to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the game also includes abbreviated takes on the first three movies. Interestingly, instead of just porting over chunks of these LEGO adaptations from The Original Adventures the game seems to completely reinvent them. While Indy purists may lose sleep over these in-a-nutshell adaptations of the first three films, they’re clever, punchy and fun in a way that makes playing the story a second time worthwhile.

Wide Open Spaces: Every LEGO game has a sort of jumping off point, a hub from which gamers embark on the multiple stores and adventures of the particular game. In the original LEGO Indy game it was a university, this time it’s the storage warehouse from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Sort of. The top menu has you select one of the eight containers (some start boxed up and have to be unlocked) to decide where your adventure begins. There are crates for the first three movies and then three crates for Crystal Skull and finally a crate each for the build mode and another for “Super Bonus” levels, which are essentially time trials. But when you jump into a movie, the game drops you into a fairly expansive area that than has to be explored to find the storyline. While you wander around these large set pieces you also discover hidden items, challenges and fun little things to do. It’s a neat addition to the LEGO gaming experience.

Vehicles: Always a pleasure in LEGO games, this time around the world gives you access to cars, motorcycles, bikes, tree-cutters, horses, camels, rickshaws and, my favourite, planes. There’s nothing like flying over a LEGO land and jumping out to parachute to your favourite play area.

Completest: As with all previous LEGO games, LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues comes with quite a few reasons to play, replay and replay the game again. There are special LEGO pieces to collect, time trials to unlock, Easter eggs to discover. And it’s all a lot of fun to do.

Funny Story: Played in tandem with my eight-year-old, the game had Tristan in stitches. And it wasn’t just him. Sure, I’d still like to see a LEGO heart ripped from a mini-fig’s chest, but the alternative to all of that Indy violence can be quite funny at times.

Hated
Not So Invisible Walls: The worlds of LEGO Indiana Jones 2 are much, much bigger, but they’re not without their limits and unfortunately those limits aren’t disguised very well. Go too far and your mini-fig will just float back to the map.

The Camera Controls… Still: How can Traveller’s Tales, who have single-handedly reinvigorated, reinvented the LEGO gaming franchise, still not have the in-game camera worked out? I’m sick of dying simply because the perspective is throwing me off. Fix this already.

What Next: I love the huge explorable, hidden, area-filled worlds of LEGO, but I hate having to wander around in them for half an hour trying to figure out which path, which cave, which ladder will take me to the next step in the story. A map or maybe a better indicator would be much appreciated.

I wasn’t really looking forward to LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues. Of all of the LEGO games the first Indiana Jones was my least favourite, though I still quite liked it. And this time around, I wasn’t really anticipating playing through my least favourite movie in the series. But the game delivers on so many levels, adding a much needed split screen and a fantastic build mode, that I’ve been delighted with the experience.

If you didn’t pick up the first LEGO Indiana Jones game, I think it might even be worth skipping and instead going straight to this one.

LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues was developed by Traveller’s Tales and published by LucasArts for the DS, PC, Playstation 3, Playstation Portable, Wii and Xbox 360 on November 17. Retails for $US49.99/$AU89.95 (Xbox 360/PS3). A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played through all sets and campaigns both alone and with my son on Xbox 360. Built several levels alone and with my son.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

The PlayStation Network has been a big hit with PlayStation 3 and PSP owners, and now Sony wants to bring the same experience to other areas of hardware, including televisions, MP3 players, ebook readers and laptops. According to a Sony presentation delivered this morning, the same infrastructure that is used to deliver video and games to the PlayStation and PSP will be used to deliver games, video, music and ebooks to other Sony devices. Consumers would connect to the Sony Online Service using a single user ID, meaning that most likely your PlayStation Network ID would also be your Sony Online Service ID as well.

The network would also be used for devices like digital cameras, allowing users to share their photos and videos directly with the PlayStation 3, PSP or newer Sony televisions without requiring the use of a computer or memory card.

A unified service would further strengthen Sony as a brand, while giving users a unified interface familiar across all products. If they pull it off, it should be a real boon to the company, with hardware users knowing exactly what to expect when they purchase a Sony product.

Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron follows the tale of two brothers, both Jedi clones, named X1 and X2. As the Dark Side’s power grows, the brother find themselves on opposite sides of the battle with X1 fighting for the Empire and X2 helping the Rebel Alliance. The game takes place over the course of the Star Wars films, with clips and characters from the older and newer films.

Compared with the previous entry in the Battlefront series, Elite Squadron offers “deeper” customisation than any of the previous Battlefront titles. But with customisation now standard on so many titles, a good game needs more than the option of character changes.

Loved
Variety Is The Spice of Space: Elite Squadron takes the fight into space, allowing players to fly X-Wings and board Star Destroyers. The inclusion of a galactic front in the series, opens up the title — makes it feel bigger. You go from blaster Stormtroppers on Tatooine to barrel rolling TIE Fighters in space. It really encapsulates the Star Wars experience.

So Epic: The great thing about Elite Sqaudron is the scope — players travel from Tatooine to Hoth to Endoor. The game is epic! Just like a Star Wars title should be. But at the same time, it does give players the feeling of experiencing the smaller side of a larger battle — just like a Battlefront title should

We Are Online: Elite Squadron has robust multiplayer, and The Heroes and Villains mode is a welcomed addition, giving players the chance to play as Stars Wars heroes or bad dudes. The other online modes, such as Galactic Conquest, offered replay value once the single player campaign is finished.

Hated
The Controls Are Outta Control: There’s no way around it, controlling the camera and the character by using the PSP’s analogue stick is a bad idea. Why not control the character with the directional pad? Oh right, because I’m using it for all sorts of input controls like getting into spaceships and whatnot. The controls could be and should be streamed lined — they feel dated. There is nothing wrong with complex controls when they add to the experience. Here, they don’t. They detract. It would make more sense to have the character controlled with the direction pad — not just for camera issues, but for control issues. The analogue numb on the PSP often lead my character all over the place, jumping too far, running too far, missing my landing spot. Unfortunately, the Alternative Controls are even less instinctive than the Default ones.

Been Here Before?: And as previously mentioned, the inclusion of space battles, provides a variety in gameplay, but some of that variety gets stale in the single player campaign. Missions seem to be either shoot guys on foot, use Ion Canon, then fly away or fly away, use Ion Canon and then shoot guys on foot. A pattern develops and becomes old.

The addition off space battles and the new multiplayer mode show that there is still innovation and room for the Battlefront franchise to grow. But for it to truly blossom, the basic control mechanics are in need of an overhaul. I fear the dark cloud of clunky controls shrouds all Elite Squadron.

Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron was developed by Rebellion Developments for the PSP and published by LucasArts on November 3. Retails for $US29.99/$AU59.95 for the PSP as well as for the Nintendo DS. A copy of the game was acquired via PSN digital code for reviewing purposes. Played through single-player campaign and tested multiplayer.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

“Our work is already bearing fruit,” Howard said, according to the Associated Press. “We still have more work to do.”

After its second year of losses in the current fiscal year, which ends March 2010, Stringer said that Sony’s target is to turnaround their game business and have it be profitable by March 2011.

The company plans to use a two-prong strategy to achieve that goal. Sony believes they can improve profitability through cost reduction, becoming more efficient internally and getting internal divisions to work better together.

Sony also sees a growth in hardware, software and network services pushing sales up in the gaming division.

Stringer says that Sony’s PlayStation 3 has five key advantages: The incorporation of a Blu-ray player, the Playstation Network, PSP linkage, upcoming 3D games and their recently announced motion controller.

The Motion control, he said, uses the PlayStation Eye camera, can track depth, position and motion by “sphere, gyro and acceleration sensors” and vibration feedback and “rendition by light”.

Stuff we can use now: The PSP now supports playlists for video and photos, and you can transfer existing ones over from your PC or PS3 to your handheld.

Stuff we can use later: The Digital Comics reader will now be added to your XMB, but it’s completely useless until December, when the actual PSN comic store opens.

The only dates Sony could offer up were “December” for the US, and “mid-December” for the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Ireland.

LittleBigPlanet on PSP is an entirely new Sackboy adventure with an Australiana themed area just one of more than 35 original levels. And just like on PS3, you can create your own levels and share them online with the PSP community.

Thanks to our friends at Sony Computer Entertainment Australia, we have two prize packs up for grabs, both including:

* A turqiose Slim & Lite PSP
* A copy of LittleBigPlanet on UMD
* A Sackboy screenwipe
* And a Sackboy PSP pouch

How do you win? It’s limerick time again. You have to write a LittleBigPlanet themed limerick that begins “There once was a Sackboy…” (Remember: limericks have fives lines; lines 1, 2 & 5 should rhyme, and lines 3 & 4 should rhyme.)

There’ll be two draws, one for today and Friday and a second one for the weekend. You’ve got until midnight tomorrow to get your entry in for the first draw. Then stay tuned for the opening of the second draw at 10am Saturday, where we’ll also announce the first winner. Got that?

Good luck!

NOTE: As with all Kotaku comps, only one entry per draw is allowed. If you leave multiple entries, only the first one will be considered.

[Terms and Conditions]

There’ll be a PSP firmware update on the 19th to 6.20, which will add the comics store ahead of the service’s launch a few weeks later on December 10.

Individual issues will cost between ¥50-150 (USD$0.55-$1.70), while collections will run for the uniform price of ¥420 (USD$4.70).