It’s Wednesday and it’s the ‘Heads Up’date! Yes, it’s that time of the week again – time marches on and we bring you new and exciting downloadable joy nuggets to brighten your lives.

First of all – you asked for it, we listened – in the Latest section you’ll find a new tab called ‘New This Week’, which is exactly the way the old Latest section used to be. So if you want to see everything that’s dropped in the update, that’s where you should head first. Don’t say we never do anything for you.

We’ve got loads of gaming goodness for you this week, including the launch of The Fancy Pants Adventures, Battle: Los Angeles and Red Johnson’s Chronicles.

Fancy Pants Adventures tasks you and up to three friends (online or offline!) with traversing the line drawn world in search of your kidnapped sister – if you’ve played the Flash game of the same name you’ll know the score. This version turns the Fancy Pants formula up to 11 and comes highly recommended.

Battle: Los Angeles is the movie tie-in game for the recent alien invasion blockbuster – kick the aliens off your planet and protect the human race in this first person shooter.

Red Johnson’s Chronicles follows in the footsteps of BTTF and Sam and Max, you play as the titular Red Johnson as he attempts to solve the mystery of the murder surrounding Drownedman’s Bridge. You’ll have to question suspects and look for clues to find the truth! Plus member? Half-price for you! If that’s not an invitation then I don’t know what is.

Speaking of Plus discounts, ModNation Racers has a hefty day-one discount and hits the Store today for you to enjoy, sans disc.

And let’s not forget Patapon 3 – the latest outing for everyone’s favourite war-mongering eyeball creatures hits the Store today for all you PSP owners.

DLC? Well why not, eh? How about Reverie, the long awaited Lords of Shadow DLC, character packs for WWE AllStars, and the Revelation pack, vehicles based on the four horsemen, for MotorStorm: Apocalypse!

And more Capcom avatars – we’re aware of the issue with a couple of the Darkstalkers avatars actually being Ghouls and Ghosts avatars and some of them were linked to the wrong images – these are now fixed. Plus lots of new ones are live today!

That’s it from me, I’ll be in and out for comments. I’ve got to go and get some elaborate trousers.

EDIT:We’ve run into a small publishing issue with Red Johnson’s Chronicles and ModNation Racers, which means that they might not might launch with the main publish but we will get them there as soon as we can.

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I hope you’ve been enjoying all the amazing content so far in April, especially the brand new stuff you won’t have played before.

As promised, here are your mid month treats that complete the content in the biggest Plus month yet.

The first mid month treat was the day-one discount from Ubisoft on Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes which came on the 13th. If you haven’t checked out this great new puzzle/RPG yet, then get it today at Plus exclusive discount of 20%. This discount is available to Plus members for almost a month, not just the rest of April (ends 11th May).

Also released on the 13th was an exclusively early single player demo of Virtua Tennis 4. Hope you made the most of being the first people to ever try the fantastic new tennis game and checked out the game’s new world tour mode.

Now for the stuff you haven’t seen yet -

• 50% discount on the brand new game Red Johnson Chronicles
• 100% discount on Socom Pro Access – This download gives you different game modes at launch and then future updates to pro will give you new weapons, maps and other Socom benefits. And you guys get it exclusively early in Europe
• 100% discount on the wacky PSN classic Pain
• 20% discount on the 2nd of the Ubisoft brand new titles: Outland
• 20% discount on the awesome racing BD title coming new to the Store: Modnation Racers
• 100% discount and exclusive to Plus – new Clock theme from The Studio

Don’t forget, if you haven’t signed up to a year membership then now is definitely the time. Everyone can benefit from the limited offer of 15 months for the price of 12 until the 3rd May. Even if you have a membership already, you can stack another one on top and the 15 months will roll on when your current subscription ends.

That’s it for the April mid month treats but May is going to be another fantastic month in Plus so keep an eye on the blog for my update on May 4th. Keep the suggestions coming as we will always try and get you the games you request on here if we can.

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SCEE can confirm that we are officially delaying the release of ICO/Shadow of the Colossus Collection and The Last Guardian from their respective launch timeframes of Spring 2011 and Holiday/Winter 2011. We will provide more information regarding release timing at a later date.

Here are a few words from The Last Guardian Director/Game Designer, Fumito Ueda:

I announced at last year’s Tokyo Game Show that the release timing of The Last Guardian which is currently being developed would be holiday 2011.

However, to provide more challenging and better quality of content to users and to fulfill First Party Studio’s obligations, I decided to postpone its release timing.

All the members of my production team are working together at a fast pace to develop and release the game in First Party Studio quality.

I sincerely apologize to all the customers who have been waiting for “The Last Guardian” for so long, but I beg for your patience. I will also announce the new release timing at a later time.

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I’m pleased to announce that SOCOM: Special Forces launches this week in Europe!

So I’m sure you’ve seen quite a few posts over the last few months from the guys at Zipper but, just in case you’ve missed anything, here’s a quick recap on what to expect.

In the solo campaign, players will guide the Operations Commander and his squad across 14 missions set in war-torn Southeast Asia and a country on the verge of civil war. Fans can also expect exciting competitive 32 multiplayer battles with all-new maps, original gametypes and numerous modes of play. In addition you can hook up online with a great five player co-op mode…

If that wasn’t enough the game is also compatible with the PS Move controller, Sharpshooter and in gorgeous stereoscopic 3D (for those lucky enough to have a 3D TV)

You also might have seen a post on the U.S blog by me from Zipper Interactive mentioning SOCOM PRO which gives access to some great content and benefits.

I can confirm that SOCOM PRO Access for PAL regions will be available to download for PlayStation Plus subscribers at no extra cost from tomorrows store update for one week (20th April) Following that it will be available to everyone from the 27th April, free of charge.

So what can you expect? To begin with you’ll get PRO custom game types that were tested in the SOCOM: Special Forces beta period.

• Community Day Classic – Suggested by members of Zipper Community Day 2011, CDC offers a medley of different maps that support 8-vs-8 “Classic” variations on Suppression, Uplink, Last Defense and Bomb Squad with faster movement and no ranged explosives of any kind
• Last Defense Run ‘n Gun – Our incredibly fast-paced deviation from our Last Defense gametype that includes speedier player movement, reduced weapon damage, and limitations to sub-machine guns and shotguns only
• SCRUM – A Suppression mod that offers a “Classic” rules-inspired list of features that includes no respawn, no Sniper Rifles, no Concussion, Poison Gas, or Frag Grenades, higher damage and faster character movement
• Sniper Alley – Another 8-vs-8 variation on “Classic” Suppression that boasts higher damage values and weapon restrictions that allow players access to only Smoke and Poison Gas Grenades, Shotguns, and of course, Sniper Rifles

Following that SOCOM PRO players will get a set of weapons to wage warfare with.The M-16 (for Spec-Ops) and the AK-47 (for the Insurgents) assault rifles! Expect to see those within the first 30 days of SOCOM Special Forces release. Additional benefits will include access to exclusive multiplayer maps, various co-op additions, dedicated leaderboards, and lots more.

Hope you enjoy the game and any feedback for the guys then please let me know.

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Hi, this is Djamil Kemal at Lexis Numérique and I’m glad to give you more details about Red Johnson’s Chronicles for PlayStation Network. You can check it out tomorrow on your PlayStation Store (with a two-week exclusivity for PlayStation Plus members and a 50% discount) and Wednesday, April 20 in Europe.

A fresh mix of investigation & adventure

For those of you who are into investigation games and who like noir crime movies, Red Johnson’s Chronicles is for you. We really tried to create a new genre with a mix of classic adventure and innovating gameplay. In this 8 to 10 hours long adventure, you’ll have to solve the murder of one of most hated men in town. As you explore dark worlds, find, analyse and use clues that will lead you to the truth. Question suspects, spot their lies, push them over the edge and, when necessary, confront them in quick-fire action scenes.

Kick some ass but also to use your brain

If you’re only into FPS, Red Johnson’s Chronicle is not for you. But at Lexis Numérique, we believe there is a real opportunity for bringing puzzles to the PlayStation in a very smooth way. In Red Johnson’s Chronicles, you’ll have to crack many different puzzles during the course of your investigation. We worked really hard to make sure they perfectly fit the script so that you always feel immersed. To add this feeling of immersion, we also tried our best to do a ‘tactile’ game. At many occasions, you’ll have to move and handle objects in 3D to see how to use them.

Astonishing backdrops and unique atmosphere

Red Johnson’s Chronicle is set in a very unique atmosphere with a quality of 3D environments rarely seen before on PlayStation Network. In Metropolis City, capital of crime, you’ll discover a world in which everything is dark, sharp and deadly. Even the humour.

Great value for money

And last but not least: at Lexis Numérique, we decided to make a bet. We believe that price is always an issue but we also think that downloadable content doesn’t mean cheap content. Hence we decided to offer you 8 to 10 hours of unique and immersive gameplay at only €9.99/£7.99. We worked for more than a year to achieve it, with three additional months to tune it. And as an independent developer, we preferred spending our money on game development as opposed to marketing. Hence, if you like the game, please tell your friends

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