Ratchet and Clank help out on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Though they're better known for instilling galactic peace via the use of unnecessarily large weapons, Sony's Ratchet and Clank are about to try their hands at construction on this week's episode of American heartstring puller, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Specifically, Insomniac Games is constructing a digital replica of one of the show's subjects inside its upcoming PlayStation 3 title, Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction.

9-year-old youngster and game designer hopeful, James Westbrook, will find himself free of his wheelchair and in the cockpit of a spaceship, a craft all owners of the game will presumably be able unlock when the game releases towards the end of the year. Even the team at Insomniac must have been pining for sleep after completing the project within a week -- under normal circumstances, it would have taken a month. You can see the whole story of the Westbrook family on ABC this Sunday, April 22 at 8PM EDT.

While some may label this as nothing more than a product's grab for television airtime, the end result will far outweigh any coincidental marketing benefits. See, if it makes a little boy happy, not even the snarkastic bunch at Joystiq have anything nasty to say. Good show, Insomniac.