Last week several media outlets received a leak from an unexpected source claiming to be a tentative schedule for downloadable content on the PlayStation Network. Initially, the leak was treated with cynicism, but, as many are beginning to discover, cold hard evidence is painting a much brighter picture.

What is this hard evidence then, you might ask? The best way to find out is by looking at what lies inside the schedule.

You have your HOME; your Resistance 2 trailer, Wipeout HD, and WarHawk: Operation Broken Mirror. If you take a closer look, though, you may find a small little title known as Ratchet: Quest for Booty. This title just popped out of nowhere. At least, so it would seem. Not so for the forum members who frequent MyResistance, Insomniac Game’s official forum for their latest franchise, Resistance.

For the better part of the last month, these members were busy cracking codes. Codes? What for? Well, that was for them to discover. The codes were released as Easter Eggs in the music video Insomniac put together for the Game Developers Conference weekend.

Within the video they had hidden four codes in the form of magnets. One of those codes was the infamous QBLDC4. This was the code that needed to be broken.

Thanks to several hints offered up by Insomniac’s Community Manager, James Stevenson, and fellow comrade Rolf Mohr, the members of MyResistance narrowed down their options to a few select guesses.

The first correct part was DLC being Downloadable Content, but the rest of the letters were illusive: Beta? Quarter? These didn’t appear to fit with Downloadable Content.

On top of this, Rolf tipped the fledgling interpreters that they were very close to the answer without even knowing it. Still, the code crackers went from hot to cold, boiling to freezing.

After weeks of discussion and intense debates, the board members started getting disillusioned and fell into a rut. Hoping to rescue them, JS tried to set them on the right track. They were told to think outside of the box. Many ideas came up and only divided the unit more.

Eventually, one of the members asked that even if they had guessed the correct answer would JS confirm it. Regardless, the team continued to work, but demanded more hints. In response, he decided to reply with a cryptic message:

Hmm… *glances around the network drives*

I see lots of hints…but will I post them on the message board?…not so much.

“You know, it’d be sort of inconvenient if you guys figured it out, [be]cause it could probably be a magazine exclusive or something[.]

Shocked by the response and overcome with confusion, the small band continued to persevere. They attempted several more guesses, but were then informed that they had missed a clue entirely. As a result, the team doubled back and looked through a long list of hints given throughout. Gradually, they began to weed out most of the guesses that did not abide by what was given. Finally they arrived at an approximation of two values. The answer either had to do with quests or characters/races.

Their final guess before the leak broke out was Quest for B_ Downloadable Content, with no word for B.

(Click to enlarge)

When the image made its first wave on the net, the forum members caught it and noticed that within the list was a title known as Ratchet: Quest for Booty. With that, they had their final word. As of now, Insomniac has made no comment on the title’s existence, but many believe that this is due to other developer projects.

By confirming the identity of one game on the list, the theory is that the rest of the items on the list are also correct. Since then, an uncomfortable silence has followed in its wake. Should we be expecting these titles to be released, or not?

What gives even more credence to the DLC holding true, is the fact that there was yet another Easter Egg within the (pin)Ballz video reported earlier. An obvious one which we noted on the video’s release, were the numbers 0708.

It had always been thought to have been a date for something, but now we can confidently claim that this date, July 2008, was referring to Ratchet: Quest for Booty, since this is the date listed on the leaked schedule.

To add to the turmoil, Sony released a statement with the following remark:

Internal working documents naturally have proposed dates against titles, but these change frequently and dates are not confirmed until issued as part of a press release or formal announcement. The same applies to titles of games, which may be working titles or placeholders subject to later confirmation.

As a result, no weight should be given to titles or dates that appear in this document, other than to those which have already been formally confirmed

Naturally? Really? Besides the obvious no comment reply, notice how the press brief included “subject to later confirmation.” Ratchet would follow this rule. An exclusive magazine reveal is expected.

This Sony comment hasn’t stopped others from believing the list to be true in its entirity. On top of the typical HOME is being released around the same time as E3 theory, there has been one interesting deduction to go along with this state of affairs. Educated gamers have begun to notice that the same day the R2 trailer goes live, along with several other add-ons and expansions, the PlayStation store is reported to undergo a major revamp.

These ideas may seem highly convincing, but any hopes for a formal confirmation continue to slip rapidly away. We’ll just have to keep our eyes open. As we draw closer and closer to the timeframe the schedule details, we will discover more and more about this increasingly suspicious reveal.

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