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Get your Qs ready: God of War chat scheduled for Friday
Those lucky enough to participate in the upcoming God of War chat should have received an email with further details. In attendance will be Ready at Dawn's Dana Jan, Garret Foster, Marc Turndorf and Ru Weerasuriya.The chat is scheduled for this Friday at 4PM PST (7PM EST). Obviously, you'll want to get there early if you want the best (virtual) seats in the house. If for some reason, you can't attend, you can also submit questions via e-mail at: playstation_community_support @ playstation.sony.com.We love what Sony's doing for its rabid God of War fan base. We'll be there, just like you, eyes glued to the answers that the Ready at Dawn team will provide. See you there.
Bringing the epic God of War to PSP
It wasn't an easy task bringing God of War to the handhelds. A brand new engine (Ready at Dawn Engine 2.0) had to be created, and the controls had to be adapted to a whole new system. Our time with the game at E3 proved that Ready at Dawn has been successful in recreating the God of War experience on the handheld ... but how did they do it? This new video documentary provided by Sony attempts to go behind the scenes of the game, and showcases tons of new gameplay footage.[Thanks, Random!] Download MP4 for PSP
God of War team prepares live chat for fans
Ready at Dawn, the developers of the upcoming PSP-exclusive God of War: Chains of Olympus, is preparing a special treat for those that have been selected to receive the playable UMD demo. The developers are planning a special live chat with their fans. However, they'd like to remind fans that they'll need a PlayStation.com user ID before July 30th to participate.Details of the chat are still forthcoming, but be sure that we'll have all the information here on PSP Fanboy when it goes live.
God of War e-mail treats fans to concept art
Sony has just sent an e-mail to members of the PlayStation Underground, with an exclusive piece of concept art and a new screenshot. Ru Weerasuriya, director of Chains of Olympus, mused over developing the title:"It's no easy task bringing God of War to the PSP. Fans have come to expect these huge landscapes, complex gameplay, and visceral combat that God of War I and II gave them. To bring that same experience on the PSP, we are pushing the hardware further than ever before. We're really pleased with what we have so far but we're not done yet. We still have a few tricks up our sleeves. I'm also really proud of the story of Chains of Olympus and I can assure you that there'll be some mind-bending puzzles in there for you guys."While it's true that this doesn't provide us with any new details on the game, we're pleased that Sony is still reaching out to its most dedicated fans. We're confident that Ready at Dawn will produce a title of the same magnitude as its console brethren, and hope to get some play time at E3.%Gallery-3212%
God of War to use PSP's full processor speed
God of War: Chains of Olympus creative director, Cory Barlog, has posted a follow-up to his "Inside the Developers Studio" Sony blog debut in order to "add some more of what you're asking for." Apparently, you were asking if Kratos would find his PSP adventure enhanced by the recent lifting of the system's processor speed restriction. Barlog confirms that developer Ready at Dawn will indeed take advantage of the unthrottled CPU, no doubt using it to render an alarming number of snarling mouths, serrated limbs and somewhat pointy breasts -- frequently all on the same creature, if the rest of the God of War series is any indication.Barlog, who notes that he prefers a hands-on approach to game development versus his overseeing role on Chains of Olympus, is currently working on God of War III an unannounced PlayStation 3 project. Industry insiders strongly suggest that it's a survival horror title featuring an undying James Lipton. %Gallery-3184%
God of War: Chains of Olympus fully revealed
God of War: Chains of Olympus. You know you want it, and 1UP has the exclusive.preview. There's six pages of beautiful info on quite possibly the most anticipated PSP game of all time."A lot of what we're telling with the later stories is Kratos when he's just really realized he's a puppet of the Gods, really realizing that he's getting screwed over, and [the PSP game will] flesh out when he did have maybe a little bit of faith and when that faith started to crumble a little bit -- when he started to see some cracks in the stories they were telling him," says Chains of Olympus creative director Cory Barlog.We don't want to spoil the rest, so you're going to have to check out 1UP for the rest. Hopefully, we'll see even more of God of War: Chains of Olympus soon enough.
Cory Barlog's role in the handheld God of War
God of War creator David Jaffe has been removing himself more and more from the franchise he created, opting to focus on new titles, like the perpetually delayed Calling All Cars (PS3). In his stead is Cory Barlog, who became director of the PS2 sequel, God of War II. As any player of the game can tell you, the sequel is vastly improved over the original, addressing all the criticisms that the first title faced. The incredible action of God of War II proved that Barlog was a fantastic replacement for Jaffe.However, what's Barlog's involvement with the upcoming PSP iteration, Chains of Olympus? Development is in the capable hands of Ready At Dawn (Daxter), and initial screens and video show almost limitless potential for the title. Although we're excited to see the title develop so well, we're disappointed by Barlog's fairly removed involvement from the title. Speaking to GameDaily, Barlog reveals "I'll be working on it kind of in the way Dave oversaw God of War II, being a sounding board for [developer] Ready at Dawn. My main focus is to try and make sure it's within the God of War universe."
God of War: Chains of Olympus revealed, free UMD demo offered
Someone over at IslandOfRhodes.org finally got around to tacking the "r" and "us" onto "God of Wa: Chains of Olymp," setting in motion a cataclysmic series of events that has unearthed this trailer and unleashed a mail-order UMD demo (Sony, you know the PSP can like totally do that WiFi thing and download stuff, right?). So, did we mention the demo is only available while supplies last? That means the dude who read this a second ago is already clicking away. What are you waiting for ... a bigger price cut?[Via PSP Fanboy]
Sony makes price drop official; adds Daxter and Syphon Filter to Greatest Hits
The $30 price drop isn't exclusive to GameStop/EB Games--it's universal. But, that's not where the savings end. Sony has also added two more games to PSP's Greatest Hits lineup: Daxter and Syphon Filter.According to the press release, "We have always been passionate about making great entertainment accessible to everyone, and the new price for PSP, as well as the continued growth of the 'Greatest Hits' library, reflect our ongoing commitment to supporting and expanding the PSP community," said Jack Tretton, president and CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment America. "We are pleased that we are able to engineer savings for the consumer at this stage of PSP's lifecycle, allowing more individuals to experience PSP for the first time. In particular, we have recently seen a steady rise in the number of teens adopting PSP as their primary handheld entertainment system, and we expect the new price will accelerate that trend."Sony also reminds players that the future of PSP is quite bright, especially with the upcoming God of War: "Ready At Dawn couldn't be more pleased with our success bringing Daxter to the PSP platform last year, and now we have another opportunity to blow away expectations of what a developer can accomplish on a portable when Kratos hits the 'small screen' in God of War," said Didier Malenfant, co-founder and president, Ready At Dawn Studios. "PSP is an ideal platform for us to work on because we have a high level of freedom to be creative, and we can deliver gameplay experiences that rival ones you'd get from a computer entertainment system."[Update: According to Engadget, the PSP Entertainment Pack will also receive a $30 cut, from $250 to $220.]
PSP Fan Art Fridays: Daxter
Do you want to share your PSP-related fan art? Send us an e-mail. A new piece of fan art will be shared every Friday. Ready At Dawn has been in the news a lot lately, but most PSP gamers still love them for their work on Daxter. This week's art depicts the various qualities of our hero. Wennichelle created this work and I'm not sure I've ever seen Daxter depicted any cuter. If Daxter looks good (and he does) there's probably a reason. Wennichelle has done many Daxter fan arts prior and I actually had a difficult time picking which one I wanted to use. If you like Daxter and/or the art above, go check out Wennichelle's Deviant Art account for more. Thanks for making such great fan art Wennichelle! %Gallery-3450%
Ready at Dawn explains PSP's power; prepares PS2 Daxter?
Ready at Dawn has been getting a lot of attention lately. Their first game, Daxter, is considered one of PSP's best: not only does it feature solid gameplay, but it features truly impressive graphics technology, and completely invisible load times. Obviously, the team has learned new tricks, and has managed to squeeze more power out of our handheld for their upcoming God of War game. According to co-founder Didier Malenfant, Daxter doesn't come close to taking advantage of the system's true capabilities: "[We] made the conscious decision not to push the hardware as far as we could ... mainly because we wanted to ship the game in a timely manner."Obviously, the talented team is unlocking even more of PSP's power in God of War. However, "the biggest frustration right now, in a way, is the limitation on the clock speed. We'd love to run our games at 333Mhz (we do internally just for kicks) because it does make a big difference in how much stuff you can push on the platform."So, how does Ready at Dawn feel about being responsible for two of Sony's biggest franchises? "The truth is," Malenfant explained, "we built Ready At Dawn Studios to create original IP, but ... I don't think anyone here regrets working on two of the world's biggest franchises in the meantime."The future is bright for this Santa Ana-based team. The single most wanted request the team receives, though, is a PS2 version of Daxter. "I think everyone here would love to do it, and it actually wouldn't be that hard because Daxter was never designed as a handheld game, we could even add a few things for the PS2 version."[Via Gamasutra; Thanks, Joe!]
God of War release date revealed?
An anonymous PSP Fanboy reader wrote us to make us hip to the fact that GameStop has given a release date of 11/01/07 to the PSP version of God of War. This listing could be like many GameStop listings and just be a placeholder date, but at the same time it makes a lot of sense for God of War to come out in the fall and we do know it's coming this year. Don't take November 1st off just yet, but also don't plan any big events for that day. It may be Godmergence Day ... or something.
Developers talk PSP's future
IGN took some time on PSP's 2nd anniversary to ask several developers what they thought the future held for PSP. Here are some of the more interesting excerpts: Ready at Dawn (devs of Daxter and the upcoming PSP God of War) "I think it's bringing a whole new crowd to handheld gaming, people that would have never played the type of games on previous handhelds." SCEA's SOCOM Team "The PSP is a great platform, but very few publishers and developers are creating games that really take advantage of the platform. I really hope that this will change. We have many more great PSP games coming out and I hope you look forward to them. " Continued after the jump ...
What do you want to see in God of War PSP?
I loved the original God of War and from what I've played of God of War II, it seems even better than the first, but what can Ready at Dawn (creators of the excellent Daxter) do with God of War on the PSP? Well first of all, I'm just happy that I am getting more God of War this year, so it fulfills my wishes on that level, but I suppose I should have more expectations than that. Here's what I'd like to see in God of War PSP:
