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The word was confirmed at the scaled-down E3 this month: Sony actually is releasing a mildly remodeled PSP later this year. And there was cause for rejoicing from Honolulu to the Outer Banks.

While I tend to prefer the PSP over the clunky original Nintendo DS, the DS remodel has been putting pressure on Sony for months now. While the new PSP won’t add a much-needed second analog stick, the new form will feature an even brighter screen, improved battery life, a trimmer design and some other technical improvements.

A screen that doesn’t scratch without being protected would be a nice idea, but doesn’t appear to be part of the package. We’ll see how it looks when more details are announced later this year.

The movie was a predictable blockbuster, but the PS3 videogame of The Transformers, for all its eye-candy, is nothing more than a solid, if somewhat predictable and formulaic action game.

The Transformers handle like a dream, with smooth controls and zippy animations. Even when they are in vehicle mode rather than fighting mode, they never play like a clunker in need of auto accessories.

That’s good news.

The story is solid and the graphics are above the next-gen average, which will three eye-candy enthusiasts. About the only thing that bothered me, in either the PS3 or PSP versions of the game, is the simple lack of inventiveness with the storyline.

The videogame world is full of mech-based combat games and this one really doesn’t distinguish itself from the pack. That’s unfortunate, because I’m PS3 library is desperate for a few new “keeper” titles. But this isn’t one of them.

Marc Silvestri, the comic book artist / Image Comics co-founder / CEO of Top Cow Comics, is the fellow who invented The Darkness, the comic book off which this videogame is based. The story focuses on a hitman named Jackie who may or may not have lost his life and now has the power of “The Darkness,” an octopus-like ghost-demon that helps make Jackie an even-more-deadly killing machine than he already was.

Trouble is, while he would make a great villain, Jackie’s actually the hero/antihero/protagonist of this PS3 release and the results are at once both eye-popping and stomach-churning.

Eye-popping because the title has the feel of a “second-wave PS3 game,” boasting graphics impressive enough to finally put even Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion to shame. On a pure eye-candy scale, The Darkness sets a new standard in next-gen in-game graphics, at least until something better comes along.

Trouble is, from the opening moments of the car chase scene that signals the beginning of the game, through the various scenes from basement shootings to roaming poker tables at a local bar to big shootout scenes from rooftop to rooftop, the game is wall-to-wall with profanity after profanity after profanity and profanity after… well, you get the idea. If the game had a “bleep out” censor, you’d never here hardly any dialog.

The folks who wrote The Darkness wrote the single laziest excuse for a game script this reviewer has seen in, well, just about ever. Hell, the original US localization of Final Fantasy Tactics on PSone was more creative!

That’s sad, because in this reviewer’s opinion, the game is more than M-rated; it ought to be adults-only, because when you add the level of violence and gore to the profanity scale, the amount of objectionable content is simply off the charts.

Now, admittedly, some folks will embrace this game for that very reason; and they would certainly enjoy the eye-popping graphics and solid game play.

But let’s put it this way: turning down the TV sound and blasting William Hung’s latest tone-deaf CD would be a less offensive experience.

The latest Fantastic Four movie, subtitled Rise of the Silver Surfer, is a big improvement over the first film in the series. It has more humor, stays truer to the comic book source material and is simply a more enjoyable movie for adults and kids.

It’s a different story, however, on PS3, where the latest Fantastic Four movie, despite being published by 2K Games rather than Activision, plays almost exactly like Marvel Ultimate Alliance. The graphics are OK, but nothing you couldn’t see on an Xbox 360.

The game is fun but simply lacks its own identity. So if installing EMI shielding is your idea of a good time, go do that. The rest of us will play this game for a few hours, then get bored and go looking for something a bit fresher.

SquareEnix simply never learns to adapt.

I’m not talking about new titles; I’m talking about remaking their old ones. At last count, following its initial release on the original NES, SquareEnix has issued remakes of the original Final Fantasy for WonderSwan, PSone, GBA and now, PSP as well. Over the course of at least five versions of the game, while the graphics have been upgraded mildly, the element that’s never really been mussed with is the core of the game’s thin story and lackluster game play, compared to more modern Final Fantasy titles.

Sure, you might say, the throwback game is slightly improved but the general story is so bald of plot and motivation and character depth, if it were a 40-something guy, you’d simply tell him he needs a hair transplant.

What America Idle DEN would like to see is for SquareEnix to invest enough time and talent into the game to really, deeply remake it from scratch. Sure, retain some of the most important core elements and tones of the original, but most importantly, find a way to make these four generic warriors (who in the original didn’t even have character names, though they do on PSP) as deep and intriguing and complex as Yuna or Cloud Strife or Vaan or … whoever. Bring the game world up to at least a PS2 “Final Fantasy XII” level of presentation, if not a PS3 / Final Fantasy XIII level.

In other words, divorce the game from its yesteryear technology without losing the elements that made the game a breakout hit in the first place. Think of the way the original Tomb Raider compares to Tomb Raider Anniversary; it would have to be at least that dramatic to make sense.

Of course, the likelihood of this happening is as slim as new 6′8″ Minnesota Timberwolves SG/SF, Corey Brewer. In other words, the company is still – and probably wisely – more interested in developing all-new Final Fantasy titles, rather than remaking old ones.

But then they should perhaps forget about the half-hearted measures and just stop putting out these cosmetically-enhanced, half-effort retreads and forge ahead with something new already. Like Parasite Eve 3!

I love Final Fantasy Tactics-style RPGs, and generally speaking I love most of the games NIS America produces as a result. I’ve even enjoyed the first two installments of their Atelier Iris series, including Eternal Mana and Azoth of Destiny, when some reviewers were vowing they’d rather spend time listening to sales pitches for time shares at condo hotels than play Atelier Iris 1 or 2.

But with the third installment, Grand Phantasm, I finally have to admit I’m disappointed with the series. The main reason is the game was made with a new design concept that simply doesn’t go over well and kills off interest in exploring the game’s work, no matter what other strengths the game has to offer.

I’m speaking of the “auto-recall” feature that activates whenever you enter a battle area; you get only so much time to explore, battle, complete quests and solve missions before you’re ripped away from that world and sent back to town.

WHAT?

It’s a feature that is as stupid as it sounds, and it just destroys the whole experience. Which is too bad, because other than that, the game seemed enjoyable.

In one of my half-dozen side jobs, I write videogame reviews for a professional videogame Web site, as opposed to what I do on this videogame blog. It requires a bit more effort, longer reviews, and a lot of hard work, but it’s worth it because I get a fair number of videogames for free, a real budget saver, and sometimes I get games before the general public sees them. Hey, it beats getting paid in premium dog food!

Such is the case with Jeanne d’Arc, a PSP RPG due out later this July from Sony and developer Level-5. The game offers over 40 hours of Final Fantasy Tactics-style game play, and is a basic retelling of the legend of Joan of Arc, the historical heretic who claimed the voice of G-d told her to drive the British out of France, only to be burned at the stake for her troubles.

Level-5 takes considerable liberties with the tale of St. Joan, the Catholic heretic-turned-saint, filling out her tale with a colorful cast of friends and followers, including a fellow who, for no discernible reason since most of Jeanne’s followers are also natives of France, has a ridiculously cliche French accent.

Still, it’s the best looking game ever released on PSP and could turn around PSP’s fortunes in much the same way Final Fantasy Tactics Advance made Nintendo’s GBA platform a must have for people other than Pokemon and Mario addicts. With a bit of good fortune and smart marketing, Jeanne d’Arc could draw gamers to PSP who haven’t been interested thus far.

Calling any game a platform-saving killer app is risky business; but with Level-5, the makers of a couple Dark Cloud games, Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King, Rogue Galaxy and several highly anticipated upcoming games as well, it may well be a safe bet.

Just wait till you play it…