^{screenshot © Square Enix}
I have to admit, I haven't played Crisis Core yet, though it's way near the top of my list. I have been spending some time looking at the pretty screenshots, though, and now I'm sharing them with you, gentle readers.

• Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Screenshots
• Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Profile

PSP games scheduled to be released in North America this week:

• May 13: World Championship Cards

PSP games scheduled to be released in Japan this week:

• May: Bleach: Heat the Soul 5
• May: Ikuze! Gen-San: Yuuyake Daiku Monogatari
• May 15: Keibatsuu Portable (NCS)

Release dates are collected from a number of sources, so there will occasionally be errors. Please note that some games may be released in some parts of the world and not others.

Hit Japanese PSP game Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G is getting 3 new downloadable quests. There will be two new Event Quests and one Challenge Quest. PSP Updates has a few pics if you want to see what it's all about.

In an article on GamesIndustry.biz, SCEE president David Reeves commented:

Hand on heart, would we like more PSP games? Yes, we would. We really would

There seem to be fewer and fewer games for PSP in Europe, but the handheld is doing really well in Japan, so maybe some of that success will spill over into other regions. As Reeves said,

We've seen in the last six months that because of the success of the PSP in Japan many Japanese developers have got some absolutely phenomenal games. They're not Monster Hunter 2G or things like that, but they are in development and we'll see them over here.

Fingers crossed. (Via PSP Updates.)

SCEE has announced a release date for the Go!View download service for PSP. It'll be out (only in Europe, remember) June 30 on a subscription or pay-per-view basis. So if you're in Europe and looking for things to watch on your PSP, you'll soon be in a land of plenty. There's no recent news on anything similar for North America or other regions. (Via PSP Updates.)

Gamasutra has a Q&A with D2C Games' Scott Orr in which he says:

I believe given its installed base and increasingly strong sales, the PSP platform is a sleeping giant just waiting for the right kind of content that’s value priced and easily obtainable.

D2C Games first title, SPOGS Racing, will be out in May for WiiWare followed by a June release on PSP and PC. Read the interview for more on why D2C has chosen Wii and PSP over Xbox Live and PSN for downloadable content. (Via Destructoid.)

Accessory maker Thanko has a new product out for keeping your PSP (or your DS, iPod or cellphone) charged on the go. It's a battery-pack bracelet that you can plug your handheld into when its internal battery gets low. The charger bracelet will keep your PSP running for another 4 hours (for a DS, it'll give you more than 20 hours on low screen brightness). Check it out at the Thanko website. (Via Siliconera, via Destructoid.

It looks like Sony has filed a new trademark for some kind of interactive video gaming magazine. According to a note on PSP Updates, the trademark was filed on April 28 and is for something called Qore with this description:

computer service, namely, providing interactive online magazine and entertainment services in the field of video games.

That doesn't really say much about what this Qore thing is going to be (or how it's pronounced, but my guess is "core"), but it could be really cool.

Not only are there differences between the PSP and PS3 versions of Sony's puzzler echochrome (those differences amount to two different sets of puzzles, so players can get both and feel they've got their money's worth), but there are multiple PSP versions as well. Europe gets a UMD and more puzzles, Asia and North America get downloads. Now it turns out that the North American version has two fewer modes compared to the Asian version. Also, the North American version costs quite a bit less--$9.99 USD compared to around $38 USD, apparently. (Via Siliconera and PSP Updates.)

PSP games scheduled to be released in North America this week:

• May 06: R-Type Command (Atlus)

Release dates are collected from a number of sources, so there will occasionally be errors. Please note that some games may be released in some parts of the world and not others.