Secret Agent Clank: brand new screenshots
Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters drops to Greatest Hits price
This price drop seems appropriately timed to get PSP fans ready for the upcoming Secret Agent Clank, another PSP follow-up to the always-popular Ratchet franchise.
[Thanks, MikkoH.!]
Rumor: Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters gets ported to PS2

Of course, maybe these companies wouldn't port these games to the PS2 if PSP owners actually bothered to, y'know, buy them.
[Via Joystiq]
PSP Fanboy mega-interview: Secret Agent Clank

How are you going to improve on Size Matters? Are there any improvements on your previous engine or are you building a new one?
Dave Goodrich, Lead Designer: High Impact Games has taken advantage of the Size Matters engine to give us a strong base to work from for this exciting new adventure. Secret Agent Clank has a different style than Size Matters and has expanded into new game types such as timing and stealth. Along with new gameplay modes, there is an assortment of playable characters, each with their own unique levels.
What kind of multiplayer support will there be? Will it work through Infrastructure?
Dave Goodrich, Lead Designer: Secret Agent Clank is a very story intensive game with lots of unique gameplay elements. We have decided to focus our efforts on the single player game to make a really engrossing experience for the player. There is no multiplayer planned for this installment of the game.
Continue reading PSP Fanboy mega-interview: Secret Agent Clank
TGS07: Secret Agent Clank hands-on

The brief hands-on time we had with the game highlighted gameplay that strays far from what series fans have become accustomed to. The first part had Clank jumping through laser grids while pressing buttons in a music-based rhythm game that very closely resembles PaRappa the Rapper. The next area showed platforming as Clank, sans Ratchet. Finally, we encountered a boss where we finally got to play as Captain Quark. Like another green-plad video game character, he uses a vacuum gun to suck trash and projectiles and throw it back to the enemy.
The visuals were on par with the previous Ratchet & Clank title from High Impact Games. The game still has a long way to go, and will not be present at Tokyo Game Show this year.
Rumor: "Secret Agent Clank" game in development
Reader zellhazard has pointed to a screen capture of the site, with the title in question on display. Sony's E3 conference is only a few hours away ... maybe we'll see more then?
Japanese Ratchet ad is like totally kawaii

Dustballs' latest ad fails to have a point
Sony's dustballs gained some notoriety when they helped launch the PSP system in America. Since then, the critters have gone across the shore to Europe, where the poor advertising campaign has continued to antagonize unsuspecting Europeans. The latest ad featuring the hairy duo fails on multiple levels. Firstly, the characters don't even bother mentioning the product that's being advertised. Secondly, it's not even that funny. Shouldn't a great game such as Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters deserve better than this? For example ... America's shrink-ray inspired commercial?
[Update: You guys are clearly smarter than me! =D Great job figuring out that "size matters." Thanks, everyone.]
Deal of the Day: Ratchet and Clank only $20

To be honest, I'm surprised if any self respecting PSP owner hasn't bought it by now. You owe it to yourself to save yourself a bit of money on this great game.
[Via CAG]
Ratchet & Clank interactive strategy guide

Download for PC (18.1MB)
Download for Mac (25.1MB)
*Note: Please do NOT direct-link these files! Thanks.
Blurry R&C video walkthrough & glitches

There's one unfortunate drawback to the mayhem: the videos are really, really blurry. We know that the PSP screen is hard to capture, simply because cameras don't seem to want to focus on it correctly. If you think you can handle the (very blurry) secrets of Ratchet & Clank, check out Zellhazard's YouTube page now.
Rush and get a free Ratchet & Clank demo

Metareview: Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters

- IGN (90/100) "It's packed with fantastic single-player content, has a strong multiplayer element, boasts a great visual and thematic presentation, and excels with razor-sharp gameplay mechanics."
- Yahoo! (100/100) "For the last two titles, the developers of Ratchet & Clank have done a wonderful job building full-featured multiplayer support into their games. Size Matters is arguably the best attemt to date. Although it only supports four players at a time, the maps and modes are meticulously build to wring the most out of multiplayer matches."
- 1UP (70/100) "If you're looking for a game that matches the quality of the previous games in the Ratchet franchise...well, keep looking."
Not sure what game 1UP was playing, but they're the only one to even give the game anything close to that score, so if you're a fan I think you need to check out Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters.
Ad Critic: Ratchet & Clank's shrink ray
See also:
PSP Fanboy review: Ratchet & Clank
[Via IGN]
Play Ratchet on custom firmware
Like many PSP owners, I like the added functionality of Dark_Alex's custom firmware. What I didn't like though was how Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters didn't work on my PSP because of it. Luckily, the fine folks at DCEmu have come up with a solution. Let me run you through it step by step, so you too can get Ratchet swinging his wrench on your custom firmware.
- First, totally turn off your PSP (not sleep mode)
- Now, hold down the right trigger and turn it back on
- This will bring you to recovery menu where you can change several options
- Configuration: Game folder homebrew (currently:3.XX Kernal), Use NO-UMD (currently:disabled), Fake region (currently: America), Free UMD region (currently:enabled)
- Advanced configuration: Plain modules in UMD/ISO (currently:enabled)
- CPU Speed: Speed in UMD/ISO (currently:266)
- Plugins: All disabled
And that should do it. Now you can play the greatness that is Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters. Thanks again for the great fix DCEmu community!