After leaving last year's Quest for Booty quickie-adventure open on a chilling cliffhanger, heroes Ratchet and Clank are coming back to the Sony PlayStation 3 in the next thrilling installment of the series.  Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time (how many more double entendre titles can there be?) picks up where Booty left off as lombax and robot try to reunite.  Oh, and there's apparently time travel involved.  Kotaku fills us in.

Some of the franchise's biggest questions will be answered in A Crack in Time, as Ratchet and Clank discover the truth behind their origins and their ultimate destinies as they struggle to reunite following Clank's kidnapping be the nefarious Dr. Nefarious. The official announcement teases us with the question: "Do Ratchet and Clank's destinies lie with each other? Or is it finally time for the universe's greatest duo to separate for good?"

The Ratchet franchise offered some of the best non-Nintendo platforming in years on the PlayStation 2, and the recent current generation adventures have been even better.  With so many high profile games scheduled to release in the spring and summer, it's nice to start penciling in titles for the fall.  Of course, I don't think for a moment that Ratchet and Clank will separate for good in the next adventure.  Gaming hasn't seen a heroic duo so perfect for each other since Banjo and Kazooie teamed up to kick Gruntilda to the curb.  I feel safe in believing that as long as there's money to be made, Ratchet and Clank will be sticking around.