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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.