Skies of Arcadia acting funny?...

my version of SoA freezes about 2 hrs into the game right where the giant ArcWhale shows up while on the way to save his dad.

after deciding: attack, retreat, or don't know, and the arc whale shoots some blue stuff at the airship, the screen goes black (I'm guessing it's a boss fight or something) but it never loads up and jsut freezes there.

Is there just something wrong with my copy or is there a patch out somewhere for this? or maybe my laser is sorta dirty??...