Sony updated the US PlayStation Store a little early this week, and I almost missed it. Anyway, here's what you'll find that's new for PSP this week.

PSOne Classics

• Backstreet Billiards ($5.99 USD)
• Command & Conquer ($5.99 USD)
• Dino Crisis ($5.99 USD)
• Fighting Force ($5.99 USD)
• International Track & Field ($5.99 USD)
• Reel Fishing ($5.99 USD)

Downloadable Games

• LittleBigPlanet PSP ($39.99 USD)
• Tekken 6 PSP ($39.99 USD)

PSP Minis

• Blast Off ($2.99 USD)
• Bloons ($3.99 USD)
• Fortix ($4.99 USD)
• Kahoots ($4.49 USD)
• Let's Golf ($6.99 USD)
• Pinball Fantasies ($6.99 USD)

Add-On Content

• Disgaea 2 DLC (x7) - Hanako, Pram, Marona, Ash, Plenair, Sapphire and Almaz ($1.99 USD each)

Themes

• Cavalier Warrior PSP Theme ($1.49 USD)
• King Zumo PSP Theme ($1.49 USD)
• Yuefeng: Fire Prince PSP Theme ($1.49 USD)

Get your downloads direct to your PSP, or via your PS3 or PC.

Before you get too worried that you won't be able to play Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep on your new PSPgo, keep in mind that this is only a rumor. PSP Updates is reporting that a blogger who recently visited a Sony promotional event asked when Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep would be available for download from the PlayStation Store and was told that there would be no downloadable version due to Disney's policies on the internet and copyright. It does sound plausible, but we'll have to wait and see. (Find the original blog post, in Japanese, here.)

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

• November 24: Tekken 6 (Namco Bandai) - compare prices

PSP games scheduled to be released in Europe this week:

• November 26: Dracula: Undead Awakening (Chillingo)
• November 27: Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier (Sony)

PSP games scheduled to be released in Australia this week:

• November 25: LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues (LucasArts)
• November 26: Ben 10: Alien Force - Vilgax Attacks (D3 Publisher)

PSP games scheduled to be released in Japan this week:

• November 26: La Pucelle: Tactics Ragnarok (NIS)

UMD movies scheduled to be released this week:

• November 24: Angels & Demons (Sony) - compare prices

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.

A lot of really big franchises had or soon will have PSP games this holiday season. Here are nine of the biggest, hottest games for PSP for holiday 2009.

• Hot Holiday Games for PSP 2009

If you think I've missed one, or disagree entirely, feel free to let me know by hitting the "comment" link below.

We've heard a bit about PSP homebrewer FreePlay hacking the PSPgo. There was some doubt that the exploit was even real. Well, now FreePlay has released the exploit to he public so you can try it for yourself. If you have firmware 6.1 or lower, because one of the things that Sony did in firmware 6.20 was patch the exploit. Also, the exploit uses the game Archer Maclean's Mercury, but you'll need a UMD version, because the PSN downloadable version has also been patched. Of course, you can't really do much with the exploit yet. More details are available over at PSP Updates.

Here are this week's new PSP goodies from the official PlayStation Store.

PSOne Classics

• Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver ($5.99 USD)
• Resident Evil 2 ($5.99 USD)

Downloadable Games

• Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines ($39.99 USD)

PSP Minis

• Circles ($3.99 USD)
• D-CUBE Planet ($3.99 USD)
• Echoes ($2.99 USD)

Demos

• LittleBigPlanet PSP Demo (free)
• PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe Demo (free)
• Promethus Demo (free)

Add-On Content

• Rock Band Unplugged: "California Über Alles" - Dead Kennedys ($1.99 USD)
• Rock Band Unplugged: "You're No Rock 'n' Roll Fun" - Sleater-Kinney ($1.99 USD)

Wallpaper

• Armored Core 3 Wallpaper (x2) (free)
• DJ Max Fever Wallpaper (x4) (free)

Themes

• Armored Core 3 Portable Theme (free)
• Celtic Maidens PSP Theme 3 ($1.49)
• Celtic Maidens PSP Theme 4 ($1.49)

Get your downloads direct to your PSP, or via a PS3 or PC.

Sony has announced that the official PSP firmware 6.20 will go live later today. This update adds the digital comics reader (which also requires a separate download), and the ability to export photo and video playlists to Media Go (which also requires Media Go). It looks like the comics reader is US-only for now--so Canadian gamers get left out again. I know that Canadian and US copyright laws are slightly different, but if dvd releases are North-America-wide, and we can rent the same dvds in Canada as in the US on the same release dates, why can't digitally-distributed movies work the same way? And the same goes for comics. Heck, Sony even has a (small) Canadian branch--can't they work something out? Anyway, you can read the announcement over at the PlayStation.Blog.

SCEE (aka Sony Europe) has announced that the PlayStation Network's video delivery service, which offers hundreds of movie downloads for sale or rent on a PSP or PS3, has been extended to Europe. The service is currently available in France, Germany, Spain and the UK, and will expand to more countries in 2010. The movies can be downloaded from the PlayStation Store from a section called (appropriately) "Video Store." (Source: SCEE press release.)

It seems like I say this a lot, but once again, Japan gets the goodies. Sony will be releasing a special Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep PSP-3000 bundle in Japan on January 9, 2010. And this time, it's not just a bundle with the game and a color-coordinated PSP. As with some (but not all) previous bundles, it will have a game-specific PSP, in this case a silver PSP-3000 with Kingdom Hearts graphics on it. Pretty tasteful graphics, too. If this was released in North America, I'd be sorely tempted. See pics over at the andriasang.com blog or Kotaku.

Gamasutra has posted an analysis of the PSPgo's performance in its first month at retail, despite there being no official figures released. The analysis is based on data leaks from a source that has been reliable in the past, and shows sales of the PSPgo as being "modest." Based on these numbers and some other factors, such as the lack of PSPgo bundles compared to PSP-3000 bundles, Gamasutra says,

We are undecided about the PSP Go's success so far and its long-time prospects. Sony's decision to simultaneously support the PSP-3000 and games packaged on UMD while also offering the download-only PSP Go may appeal to retailers (or at best anger them less) but the split confuses consumers.

I don't think the two models are particularly confusing to hardware-savvy gamers, but to people looking to buy a system as a gift, it certainly could be confusing. On the other hand, I haven't seen the same criticism leveled at Nintendo for having two different DS versions available simultaneously, though perhaps it's because the DS Lite and the DSi aren't quite as different as the PSP-3000 and the PSPgo, either feature-wise or price-wise, and neither is download-only.