There’s big news today for the industry’s biggest trade show — Newsweek’s N’Gai Croal is reporting that the Entertainment Software Association will announce tomorrow that E3 2009 will be undergoing some major changes from its current incarnation. The event will take place during the first week of June at the Los Angeles Convention Center and will be open to the public on Friday, June 5th and Saturday, June 6th. The event itself will begin on Tuesday, June 2nd, with the majority of the announcement filled press conferences from Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, and company coming on that first day. Attendance to the event will be capped at 40,000 people, 20,000 fewer people than the attendance of this year’s PAX and nearly half the amount that attended E3 2005, the last year before the event changed to its current, scaled-back ‘Media & Business Summit’ form.

Newsweek’s source told them, “After vehemently opposing a bigger show three years ago — to now go back to the board, admit a mistake, and advocate for a bigger show. It reflects well on the organization and the board to recognize they made a mistake and, regardless of how it would look publicly, go ahead and fixed.”

This is certainly a major change that bodes well for the event, which many believed was becoming increasingly irrelevant and superfluous. The attendance cap will likely make it a tricky affair to get into, but avid gamers should be pleased that they have another major event that seems to be catering to them.

If you own a PlayStation 3, there’s a good chance you were ready to buy Little Big Planet this Tuesday. But after the unfortunate delay we learned of earlier today, come next week, you’ll be walking home from the videogame retailer of your choice with one less game than you were planning.

Had the game come out this Tuesday as expected, it would’ve faced some stiff competition — although it seems unlikely that the inevitably huge sales of LBP would have taken much of a hit (and, if anything, these other games should be sighing with relief). With that in mind, here’s what big releases remain for you to come home with next week:

• Far Cry 2 (PC, 360, PS3)
• Fable 2 (360)
• Rock Band 2 (PS3)
• Wii Music (Wii)
• BioShock (PS3)
• Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS)
• Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (PC, 360, PS3, PSP, DS, Wii, PS2)
• Eternal Sonata (PS3)
• Midnight Club: Los Angeles (360, PS3)

If you also happened to come home with a copy of Petz Rescue: Wildlife Vet for Wii, I wouldn’t have judged you. That might not be entirely true, but what is true is that, with Little Big Planet now scheduled for release on October 27 (although with stingy retailers, that likely means Tuesday, October 28), gamers with multiple consoles are looking at another hard week on the wallet. Here’s what you might be picking up along with your copy of LBP:

• Fallout 3 (PC, 360, PS3)
• Guitar Hero World Tour (PC, 360, PS3, Wii, PS2)
• MotorStorm Pacific Rift (PS3)
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (PC)
• SingStar: Vol. 2 (PS3)
• MotoGP 08 (PC, 360, PS3, PSP, Wii, PS2)
• Scene It Box Office Smash (360)

It’s truly going to be one of the most wallet-busting stretches in gaming history over the course of the next several weeks. We should probably be thankful there aren’t any new consoles releasing — unless you plan on picking up the new PSP 3000s or importing a DSi next month.And — tempted as you might be — selling an arm on the black market isn’t as great an idea as it might seem. If nothing else, it’ll make playing that shiny new game of yours much more difficult.

For the second time this week, PlayStation Network is undergoing some maintenance — although this time it’s “temporary unscheduled maintenance.” In other words, only certain aspects of PSN are down; most notably, the PlayStation Store and account management and registration.

Word of this comes from PlayStation.Blog, which gives no indication as to how long we’ll have to wait for service to be completely restored. There’s also no word as to what this maintenance will be fixing, but hopefully it’ll fix that problem I keep running into while trying to download demos on my PSP.

In the post’s comments, Sony’s Jeff Rubenstein notes that the weekly PlayStation Store update will most likely be released once the Store is back online. In the meantime, you shouldn’t encounter any problems with playing games online. Once the maintenance is complete and the Store update is live, we’ll let you know.

EA has sent out an all points bulletin that Need for Speed Undercover will feature and new cooperative mode, Cops and Robbers. The mode supports two teams of four playing against each other. The criminals pick up a package they must get to their safe house while the cops try to thwart them at every turn.

Cops and Robbers play is meant to showcase the game’s new Heroic Driving Engine. Players will be able to experience high speed chases through the city streets at up to 180 MPH. Given the destructibility of the setting and the espionage theme, Undercover seems like it can deliver on the promised adrenaline rush.

John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment, commented on the future of the PSP after his keynote at the New York Games Conference. He was there speaking on the future of MMOs, which he believes will be a good match for Sony’s portable platform. MTV Multiplayer shared his plans for the PSP.

“I think PSP is something that we’re definitely looking at; 34 million [sold] worldwide really opens your eyes, and they’re all connected.”

“We started to get very interested in [the PSP] when we switched over from Sony Pictures to Sony Computer Entertainment back in April,” he explained. “And as we’ve kind of got our heads up looking around the world within Sony Computer Entertainment, we’re really starting to see a big push for PSP. We think it’s a world-class device… In the future, we see full MMOs that are designed for the PSP.”

Smedley believes that before the PSP gets its own dedicated MMO, he would like to see it integrated into some of Sony’s existing MMOs. He has a couple ideas of how to go about it.

“Maybe one way to do it: In ‘Free Realms,’ you could have a pet-training system that literally connects to our online gaming where you can mess around with your pet.”

“Another way to do it might be to give them mini-games that they can do [on the PSP] when sitting at a bus stop,” he offered. “You’re sitting there leveling up your character, you log in at home when you’re on wi-fi, and all of sudden your character has leveled up. We think those kinds of experiences are very possible.”

Considering the versatility of the PSP and how well it can work with the PS3, I can envision MMOs on it. However something with very simple graphics like Gaia’s zOMG! or Maple Story which is actually in development for the DS, would work much better than Star Wars Galaxies or EverQuest. Besides, I’m sure Sony wouldn’t want to be responsible for people going blind playing MMOs for hours on end on such a small screen.

There’s not much debate as to Little Big Planet’s popularity; the 3300 replies to this thread on the 1UP boards about LBP beta keys seems like a fair indication that people are extremely interested in the game — and that’s in spite of the PS3’s relatively small install base. Developer Media Molecule is dedicated to Sony’s platform with LBP, but might they consider bringing the game in some form to their handheld system? The PlayStation Portable has been notoriously lacking in the games department, and a portable LBP would be absolute huge. So it’s not much of a stretch to think that Little Portable Planet has crossed the minds of Sony execs at some point.

Speaking with Eurogamer TV (via GamesIndustry.biz), Medal Molecule co-founder Mark Healy talked about the possibility of a PSP version, saying, “There’s definitely scope for a PSP version. We’ve had discussions and talks, [but] nothing concrete at the moment.”

But what could a PSP version of the game be? Aside from using the term “companion product,” Healy mentioned that he’d like to give players the ability to create their own music to import into the game. That would definitely be an awesome addition to bring into LBP. Hopefully Media Molecule wouldn’t expect you to buy the PSP version to create music, though.

Either way, given the response to just the beta of Little Big Planet on PS3, a version of the game for PSP would certainly help Sony in their fight against the DS — particularly if those rumors about a new model turn out to be true.

Apparently not slowed by the economic crisis in the United States (or perhaps as a result), GameStop has reached an agreement with private equity fund L Capital to purchase Micromania, France’s largest videogame retailer, for roughly $700 million. GameStop doesn’t presently have any stores located in France, but the purchase of Micromania will give them 332 locations in the country, bringing their worldwide total up to an astonishing 5,889 stores.

Of course, there are legal hoops to be jumped through; the deal is subject to clearance by the European Commission, but forgoing any snags the deal will be closed by November. While the press release doesn’t go into much detail on GameStop’s plans for Micromania, it sounds as if they won’t seek to rebrand the company to carry GameStop’s name.

The deal will help cement GameStop’s position as the largest videogame retailer in the world and guarantees that — if they aren’t already — our readers in France will soon be hassled for preorders and to sell their used games.

European football fans can look forward to getting a hands on preview of Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 this Thursday, October 2nd. Konami is releasing the demo simultaneously on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. The announcement comes courtesy of Eurogamer and isn’t clear on whether North America will also be getting the demos.

Players will have access to Club teams Liverpool, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Barcelona as well as the French and Italian national teams for a five minute exhibition match that can be multiplayer. It will also come with promo trailers on the new “Become a Legend” and online “Legends” modes that PES 09 introduces. In these modes, you’ll control only one player as you guide their career.

The other bonus feature included in this latest iteration of the game is compatibility with the newly redesigned controller for the Xbox 360. PES 09 will be available in Europe for the PC, 360, PS2, PS3 and PSP October 17 and North America November 12.

It’s hard to even decide what’s worth highlighting first when looking over the list of content that’s been released on the PlayStation Store yesterday. In terms of downloadable games on just PlayStation 3, you’ve got Mega Man 9, GEON Emotions, Burnout: Paradise, and WipeOut HD. Any one of those alone (with the exception of GEON) would have been a big enough release to take up a full week on its own, but instead you’ve got them all together and a whole lot more.

Those who just picked up the recently released Buzz! Quiz TV will either be very happy or very annoyed to hear that there are already three question packs available. The videogames and sci-fi packs will run you $6 and add over 500 questions each, while the Safari pack costs $8 for some seemingly arbitrary reason.

Rock Band players can find new tracks and Rush’s Moving Pictures album, while those looking to sample out some games can find demos of NBA 09, NBA Live 09, and Mega Man 9. There’s the usual helping of videos, wallpapers, and themes — and we haven’t even gotten to PSP content.

The PlayStation Store for PC has two new downloadable games for Sony’s handheld, both of which are $15 a piece: Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade and Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords. Throw in a demo of Pipe Mania and a Buzz! Quiz Master theme, and you’re looking at what’s easily the biggest day for the PlayStation Store yet.

LEGO Batman is finally out on shelves near you. Whether you know him as the Caped Crusader or the The Dark Knight, Batman has spawned a number of memorable allies and enemies over the years, which you can take your pick of to play.

LEGO Batman, what little time I spent with it at E3 this year felt like it played perfectly to the concepts presented in previous LEGO action games but with the mythology and mischief of the Batman universe. The game’s demo level felt like it better used the environmental puzzles to present the 4-color superhero setting of Gotham than say LEGO Indy did. I hope that continues in the full version of the game which I know I’m anxiously awaiting. It appeals to all ages, like LEGO Star Wars before it, but who doesn’t know love Batman, Catwoman and the Joker? This is a game for anyone.