Last week, Sony released Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty to legions of adoring fans. The brief, downloadable game picked up right where the events of Tools of Destruction left off, and gave gamers a little more insight into that game’s cliffhanger ending. While Quest for Booty hasn’t tied up any of the loose ends from Tools of Destruction, it has begun to lead us down the path of realization.

Of course, the major question is when we’ll have the answers, and Insomniac slipped a little hint in for those patient enough to complete the game and wait all the way through the end of the credits. The very last thing the player sees is a treasure map emblazoned with the words, "The Quest Continues in Fall 2009..."

So from the sounds of things, Insomniac has been hard at work on the next Ratchet game, and our Lombax friend will be back for more baddie-bashing fun sooner rather than later. Of course, this could just mean another short, downloadable experience is being released rather than the full sequel, but that seems unlikely. In any case, you now officially have roughly a year to kill so you may as well construct your own fully-functioning RYNO and find a horde of mechanic evildoers who need to be put in their place.