Historically, taking big detours from formula hasn’t worked out so well for Ratchet & Clank. True, it’s only really taken one – Ratchet: Deadlocked – but that left enough of a bad taste in the mouths of fans that the series has since stuck to continually adding new bells and whistles, instead of reinventing itself entirely. That changes with Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, which takes traditional Ratchet gameplay and turns it into a top-down, minigame-infused adventure for four players.

If reading that makes you suspect that All 4 One is a simplified, possibly terrible party-game spinoff instead of a legitimate entry in the series, you’re not alone. That was our initial, knee-jerk reaction, too. But after checking it out behind closed doors at PAX, we’re happy to report that All 4 One actually looks promising. Impressive, even... ...

When he wasn't busy discussing the return of Duke Nukem, Gearbox co-founder and CEO Randy Pitchford spent some time at PAX revealing that, around the release of the Borderlands Game of the Year edition (scheduled for October 12), Gearbox will update the game to increase the level cap by eight, bringing it to 69. They decided on an increase of 8 because they didn't want it to be too low, or as high as the 11-level increase that the General Knoxx brought.

Joystiq reports that Pitchford explained that Gearbox opted to make the increase a free update instead of including it in the Claptrap DLC because then "you'd have to buy every previous DLC." Also included in the free update will be a rebalancing of the original game to cater to the new level cap. Given that these are the sort of things you might expect to see in a premium DLC release, it's nice to see Gearbox instead release them to fans for free.

Here's a brief glance at a wish list we've cooked up in the last 15 minutes. 1) We really hope jet pack research is well under way, because we're sick to the back teeth of walking to work. 2) We want our own personal army of albino gorillas... possibly sporting jet packs. 3) We want The Last Guardian to make some sort of appearance at this month's Tokyo Game Show like you wouldn't believe. Sadly, it looks like we're shit out of luck on the gorilla front, so it's a good thing TLG head honcho Fumito Ueda has hinted his game may be at the show in some form. ...