I've got some new screenshots from Heavy Rain's Taxidermist DLC for you below. If you don't remember The Taxidermist is Chapter 1 of the Heavy Rain Chronicles, and focuses on investigative journalist Madison Paige and her hunt for the notorious killer. All of the chapter DLC will run you $4.99 but I'm still hunting for a launch date for the Taxidermist.

The last time I heard, Sony said it would be available one month after the game launched; this would put the DLC date somewhere around March 23rd or so.

Read more: Want Some Heavy Rain Taxidermist DLC Images?

In a surprise announcement, Sony and Zipper Interactive told the world that SOCOM 4 is going to be launched on PS3 this Fall. The game will feature a campaign and a 16v16 multiplayer mode.

I haven't heard of this mentioned before today and it sounds like good news. While SOCOM Confrontation (made by Slant 6) isn't as popular as the other SOCOM games were it has the most dedicated players of any PS3 game according to Sony. If they're anything like the Battlefield fans, if SOCOM 4 is even a mild improvement over Confrontation expect the majority to jump ship and start playing the new game.

It's surprising that Zipper had this in the works while developing the massive 128v128 MAG at the same time.

Read more: Zipper Back on SOCOM Duty with New Game Announcement Today

Here's the latest word from Sony regarding the PS3 connection issue:

As you may be aware, some customers have been unable to connect to the PlayStation Network today. This problem affects the models other than the new slim PS3. We believe we have identified that this problem is being caused by a bug in the clock functionality incorporated in the system.
Errors include:

• The date of the PS3 system may be re-set to Jan 1, 2000.
• When the user tries to sign-in to the PlayStation Network, the following message appears on the screen; "An error has occurred. You have been signed out of PlayStation Network (8001050F)".
• When the user tries to launch a game, the following error message appears on the screen and the trophy data may disappear; "Failed to install trophies. Please exit your game."
• When the user tries to set the time and date of the system via the Internet, the following message appears on the screen; "The current date and time could not be obtained. (8001050F)"
• Users are not able to playback certain rental video downloaded from the PlayStation Store before the expiration date.

We hope to resolve this problem within the next 24 hours. In the meantime, if you have a model other than the new slim PS3, we advise that you do not use your PS3 system, as doing so may result in errors in some functionality, such as recording obtained trophies, and not being able to restore certain data.

As mentioned above, Please be advised that the new slim PS3 is not affected with this error. We are doing our best to resolve the issue and do apologize for any inconvenience caused.

For the latest status on this situation please check either the PlayStation blog (blog.us.playstation.com) or PlayStation.com.

Yikes, this is a much bigger problem than previously thought if they are telling us not to even turn the machine on.

Seems like something has gone awry for Sony because there are worldwide problems with PS3s not being able to connect to PSN or even play games at all even off of the network. Here's the official Sony line:

We’re aware that many of you are having difficulty connecting to the PlayStation Network this evening. Those of you with “slim” PS3s (the 120/250 GB models) appear to be unaffected.

Know that we have narrowed down the issue and have engineers working to restore service even as you read this. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you, and genuinely appreciate your patience while we work to resolve this.

Interesting that the PS3 phat is the only model affected because that would seem to indicate much different hardware in the box than with the slim. According to some reports a hardware calendar clock setting is the cause of all of this and it's scary to think something so simple can wack nearly the whole system.

Read more: Worldwide PS3 Network Problems

Sega just released some info and images on the Yakuza 3 Battle Pack and while the game has been out for months in Japan and the next one has already been showing screenshots, this version still isn't out in North America.

By now you should know the deal with this; former Yakuza gangsta leaves the biz and goes legit by running an orphanage but gets dragged back in. Like we haven't seen this a hundred times before!

Read more: Yakuza 3 Battle Pack Comes with DLC Right Out of the Box