Sony would do well to hire the man who put this PSP mod together. It’s basically what the PSP should have been since Day One: a built-in camera, 32GB of flash memory, and a second analog stick. Well, you have to stretch the definition of analog stick here; it’s that nub thing.

Rockstar’s Beaterator comes out today (and so does Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days… you couldn’t find two more different publishers in Rockstar and Square Enix) for the PSP. We’ve highlighted it in the past because A) Timbaland is one of the better “big name” producers out there and B) I have spent more than a few hours in Ableton Live and the like. It’s familiar territory, in other words.

I took the chance at Koei Tecmo’s booth at the Tokyo Game Show and played Undead Knights on the PSP for a while. As the name suggests, the game is about zombies. And there are knights, lots of them, who you can turn into zombies and let them kill off enemies for you. Undead Knights is PSP-exclusive and will go on sale in Japan on October 15 (USA: September 29).

I just came back from this year’s Tokyo Game Show and must say I am pretty disappointed with the show this year. There were hardly any highlights, Sony didn’t show their motion controller anywhere after the announcement during their keynote (picture of the device below/more info later) and staff members often didn’t let me shoot any pictures or videos (which I did anyway if there was the chance).

Here are some pictures from two booths of the show. The picture on the left shows the final event of the first day (Sunday is the final day). More material from the Tokyo Game Show follows today and tomorrow.

Credit to Sony for actually putting together a reasonably good PSP bundle. Starting on October 1, for $199, you can buy a bundle that includes the PSP-3000 (not the PSP Go, mind you), a copy of Gran Turismo PSP, a voucher to download a Corvette ZR1 in an exclusive-to-this-bundle color, a 2GB memory stick, a PSN movie downloadable voucher (movie hasn’t been announced yet), and a Sony MusicPass that’s worth 10 downloadable songs. Not too shabby.

Those of you still on The Twitter, despite Devin’s recent treatise, may want to add @RockstarGames to your list of followers. It was there that the company announced the release date of the PSP version of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. Look for it on October 20 of this year.

Word on the street is that Sony will release a PSP-4000. You act surprised.

Want Fieldrunners but don’t have an iPhone or Touch? You’re in luck — if you’ve got a PSP Go. The long-overdue tiny games market for the PSP is going to be launching, starring low-priced, sub-100MB games called Minis. 100MB is actually extremely generous; every game for a 16-bit system was far below that, and freeware games like Cave Story and La-Mulana (though both getting high-def remakes) are far below the limit as well. You can bet there’ll be some gems on this service.

To be honest, I’ve paid next to no attention to Gran Turismo for the PSP, primarily because I stopped with Gran Turismo 3. That, and the PSP is sorta meh, to use a fake word. Be that as it may, Sony has arranged a pretty neat pre-order bonus for those of you who… pre-order the game.

This machine translation is a little rough, but I think a PSP/PSN Store just launched (or re-launched, depending on your point of view) in Japan. Gamers there can buy, with actual yen (and not “Space Bucks” that you need on Xbox Live), all sorts of videos. I spy music videos and anime.

Yup, there will be a PSN App Store of sorts. Sony admitted as much, saying that it will focus on “snackable” games. Presumably “snackable” means short, fun games that you’d play while on the elevator, waiting in line at the bank, etc. Think Brick Breaker for BlackBerry. That game is great in a pinch.

While we’re all thrilled to see Google throw a new coat of paint onto the Linux kernel, there are, in fact, other things going on Out There, like, say, the quickly evolving PSP. Yesterday’s exotic rumor suggested that Sony is working on a full-fledged PSP2, a system with Xbox1-level graphics. Today I spy an interview with a Sony so-and-so that attempts to explain the company’s rationale for the PSP Go, how PSN compares to XBL these days, and so forth.

A hot little rumor coming out of Spain, where “Ronaldomania” is running wild, suggests that Sony is indeed working on the PSP2. Such a system would have graphical capabilities more or less on par with the original Xbox.

Gamers of a certain age will remember the Official Nintendo Seal of Quality. It was a little mark placed on official Nintendo products in the NES/SNES era (well, that’s when it mattered) that let buyers know that, yes, this product has been blessed by Nintendo. It will not harm you, your cat or your NES. Fast-forward several years and now Sony has gotten into the business of slapping their logo on officially licensed gear with the “Official Licensed Product” gimmick.

I’m not sure I think this is such a good idea, Sony. A PSP crossed with one of Sony-Ericsson’s phones probably wouldn’t enjoy hybrid vigor, seeing as neither device is exactly best in breed. I mean, they’re both fine for what they are, but let’s be honest: they’re generally overpriced and only sport the most basic features.

I’m afraid I don’t trust you guys to make a successful crossover device, although you’re welcome to try. Er…continue to try. Just remember what the N-Gage did to Nokia.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars will make its way to the PSP and PSP Go this fall. It’ll be available on UMD for PSP owners and in downloadable form on the PlayStation Network in both North America and Europe.

In an interview with The Times Online, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick made it very clear that if Sony does not lower the price of the PS3 then the games publisher will cease support for the console.