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God of War: Ascension single-player demo coming late February [Update: multiplayer beta open to all this weekend]
A "full-fledged" single-player demo for God of War: Ascension is coming in late February, according to a recent PlayStation blog. With the multiplayer beta scheduled to end next week, fans only have the above 30-second teaser trailer to watch for the next month in preparation for the game's March 12 release date.Unless you bought the Total Recall remake film on Blu-ray of course, which came with the E3 single-player demo that is exclusive through 3/8/13. While we'd assume those are two different demos by virtue of February and March being two different months, we've contacted Sony to be sure.Update: God of War: Ascension's closed multiplayer beta testing initiative is officially open to all PSN users for the duration of the holiday weekend, Sony has informed us. Get in on that action by clicking here.
Kratos: God of war, man of evolving fashion tastes
If God of War's Kratos is best known for anything, it's obviously his impeccable fashion sense. His ensemble, even from the beginning of his hell-bent rampage, speaks of being meticulously composed, what with that pale skin, flowing skirt and bold face tattoo. How avante garde.That said, it's interesting to note that just days before Sony introduced Kratos to the world, he sported blue full-body markings and more Hot Topic-inspired accessories. Right before his launch, however, someone on director David Jaffe's team pointed out that Smurfy Kratos resembled the Barbarian from Diablo 2, and his design was swapped to the red Kratos we now know and love."I had played Diablo but never 2, and this was sure news to me," Jaffe recalls. "As it was too clearly to many/all others on the team, as this was the first we'd heard of the character, let alone the similarity. So you can bet we changed it, lickety fuckin' split!"
God of War: Ascension, Power Stone, and paying allegiance to the gods
When asked about how he and the team at Sony Santa Monica are bringing multiplayer into the God of War series with God of War: Ascension, game director Todd Papy digs deep for inspiration. The single-player side of the game is obviously an influence, he says, as multiplayer side of the game attempts to enhance the always cinematic world of Kratos with a new character called the Avatar.But then things get a little nuts. "You can look at Allegiance levels," says Papy, referring to the mode's customization choices defined by the four gods Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, and Ares, "and you can look at Diablo and Call of Duty and other games that have skill trees that you basically level up."And then you can look at Power Stone," says Papy, "as far as that old school melee feel to it." Yes. That's the one. Playing God of War: Ascension's renamed "Favor of the Gods" mode, and running around with up to eight other players flipping switches, executing combos, and earning favor points does feel a whole lot like the Dreamcast classic. In a strange way, to be honest. But a good one nevertheless.%Gallery-172713%
God of War: Ascension making-of video covers two years of development
This video from Sony Santa Monica details two years of development time for God of War: Ascension. The developer video shows the creation of a monstrous cyclops creature from its initial design phases. God of War: Ascension will launch on March 12, 2013 for PS3.
Rumor: PowerUp Rewards offers big discounts on Sony PS3 collections
Supposedly GameStop is planning a PowerUp Rewards member-exclusive sale from November 1 through November 14 for select Sony PlayStation 3 collections. Titles rumored to be on the cheap include Ico and Shadow of the Colossus Collection ($10), Jak and Daxter Collection ($10), Uncharted 1 and 2 ($15), God of War Saga ($20), Infamous 1 and 2 ($15), Killzone Trilogy ($20), the collector's edition of Journey ($15) and Ratchet & Clank Collection ($15). The rumored prices come courtesy of a NeoGAF thread featuring deal-seeking gamers.We called a few local GameStop stores and the employees we talked to said there's no indication on their end a sale is incoming. A few employees mentioned seeing the GAF thread, but had no email correspondence or indication in their system of the promotion. We've followed up with GameStop corporate as well because we totally want this to be a thing. Ico and Shadow of the Colossus for $10? Yeah, we totally back that idea.
Ico and God of War PS3 collections patched for Remote Play on Vita [update: later today]
The Remote Play patch for the God of War and Ico/Shadow of the Colossus collections is now live in Europe and the US [Update: It should go live in the US by 8PM PDT]. Sony announced the news on the PlayStation Blog.Sony president Shuhei Yoshida teased the Vita patch earlier this week – once applied, you can remotely play the PS3 HD versions of first two God of War games, Ico, and Shadow of the Colossus on your Vita. It's almost like magic.
God of War: Ascension dev 'pulls back' from in-game violence against women
In an interview with IGN, Sony Santa Monica's David Hewitt admitted the team's scaled back on the violence towards women in God of War: Ascension. The team is of the mind that showing such a thing would make a statement and define the character in a way that doesn't befit Kratos. "There are some things we've pulled back from. I think where this has been an issue is with violence against women – the team's pulled back from some of that and assessed that a little more carefully," Hewitt admitted. "There are certain things that carry has a different kind of resonance that we don't want to get into. This isn't about statement-making in that regard. It's about fleshing out this character."The overall interview focuses not just on violence on women, but violence in general. As one of the most criticized games of E3 in this regard, Hewitt justifies God of War: Ascension's body count by saying Kratos doesn't languish in the slaughter, nor does he particularly enjoy it. Kratos is constantly pushing forward, moving toward his goal of revenge, so Hewitt doesn't feel the violence is particularly glorified.
God of War screenplay being rewritten by Saw VI alumni
It seems that God of War movie still exists on some nebulous, astral plane of pre-production. The screenplay originally penned by executive producer David Self is now being rewritten by Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, according to The Hollywood Reporter.Melton and Dunstan come from a primarily horror-based background, with their resumes consisting of such classics as Saw IV, V and VI, as well as Feast, Feast II: Sloppy Seconds and Feast III: The Happy Finish. Considering how eloquent the dialogue generally is in a God of War game, they're probably the perfect choices.
God of War: Ascension gameplay revealed, coming March 12, 2013
Sony just showed off the first singleplayer content for God of War: Ascension. Kratos is back in action fighting all kinds of baddies, including both a goat man and a half-elephant, half-man of some kind. Kratos showed off a nice arsenal of various weapons, including his trusty chainblades, and quite a few environmentally-obtained tools of destruction, as well as a few new stun moves and some very nice counter attacks.Kratos also has one other big move: When a dock is destroyed, he can use something on his wrist (and a shiny green glow) to rebuild the dock's crane, Red Faction: Armageddon style.The demo ended with Kratos diving right into the belly of a large kraken, undoubtedly ready for more killing. The game is coming out March 12, 2013.
Retailer taking pre-orders for God of War 4
Though it still doesn't exist officially, God of War 4 is now available for pre-order at BT Games, a South African retailer. This is the same BT Games that leaked Mass Effect 3's multiplayer and the Jak and Daxter Collection's, so there's precedence for this being more than an ambitious placeholder. We've also confirmed that they operate based on information given by local distributors.The site gives "Feb 2013" as the game's expected ship date, but that's a bit more nebulous in its reliability at this point. Still, add this listing with Sony Santa Monica's search for a Senior Staff Concept Artist and Timothy Williams' affirmation that he is indeed working on God of War 4's orchestral score, and we feel confident in saying -- yes -- there may be yet another game in a super popular franchise.
Sony Santa Monica hiring for unannounced God of War title
A job listing for Sony Santa Monica notes the studio is working on a new God of War, confirming that the sun will rise tomorrow and that McDonalds' french fries are, indeed, the best. The job listing is for a "Senior Staff Concept Artist," so, if you're available, we look forward to seeing your work translated in-game sometime in the next couple years. In March, the studio was also on the hunt for a senior online programmer with experience in "designing and implementing systems and tools to support networking needs," which immediately got us thinking Gods of Wars, as in multiplayer. The rumors are the next installment in the God of War franchise will eviscerate demons of Greek legend in new and gory ways during the 2012 holiday season.
God of War: Origins Collection demo hits PSN tomorrow for Plus members, next week for everyone
The life of a Spartan is hard, you know? Not only do you spend the majority of your time battling the will of the gods and/or Freddy Krueger, but you've also got to deal with Ready at Dawn rebuilding your entire body from scratch. Being completely reconstituted from the ground up is a serious drag on a wrathful deity's love life, but it looks like the reconstruction process is nearly finished, as the God of War: Origins Collection demo will soon make its way into your living room. PlayStation Plus members itchin' for some PSP-remake action can get their hands dirty as early as tomorrow, while plebeian un-Plus members will have to quell their bloodlust until September 6. Full stereoscopic 3D will be included in the demo as well, so if you've got a 3D-capable display and an action-capable attitude, the only thing keeping you from olympian glory is yourself. Unless you're not a PlayStation Plus member; that will also keep you from olympian glory, for one week.
Ready at Dawn gets technical about God of War: Origins Collection on PS3
Oh, you just thought they tighten up the graphics a bit and call it a day, huh? No way, José -- converting PSP games that run at 480 x 272, 30 frames a second, to full 1080p, 60 frames a second is no small task. Ready at Dawn had to get its hands dirty and create a custom PS3 version of its internal engine for God of War: Origins Collection, Nathan Phail-Liff recounted on the PlayStation Blog today. "We ended up going through every single character in the game and doubling or tripling polygon count by hand, as well as up-rezing and re-painting every texture across both games at 4x resolution on both characters and environments," Phail-Liff said. He also said Ready at Dawn had to re-render every cutscene from Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta in the new PS3 engine. Finally, there's also going to be full stereoscopic 3D support in both games. God of War: Origins Collection launches for the PS3 on September 13, 2011.
God of War Master Collection 'currently' only for Germany
As much as we love writing about video games here at Joystiq, it pales in comparison to our real hobby: crushing hopes and dreams. If you were looking forward to playing through every single God of War game in the God of War Master Collection that was spotted on Amazon's German site, and you don't actually live in Germany, you're out of luck. When asked about the listing, Sony informed Joystiq that the Master Collection is "currently only slated for the German market." It seems a bit unlikely that such a collection would be exclusive to a single region, so we wouldn't be surprised to see it announced for other regions as well. Of course, we'll take all the dream crushing we can get, even if it is only temporary.
God of War 'Master Collection' spotted on Amazon.de
If God of War Collection didn't collect game well enough for you, we just might have some good news. A listing for "God of War Master Collection" has been spotted on Amazon Germany. The listing has no image or description, though it clearly states that the PS3 collection includes every single God of War title -- well, except for God of War: Betrayal. In case you've lost track, that's God of War 1, God of War 2, God of War 3, Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta. Given Sony's penchant for fancy collections these days, a new, complete God of War compilation certainly makes sense. We've contacted Sony for confirmation on the Master Collection. [Thanks, Josh]
God of War Origins Collection announced, bringing PSP titles to PS3 with 3D support
He just. Can't. Be. Stopped. As hinted at last month, everyone's favorite furious blade-spinner will return to the PS3 in God of War Origins Collection, a 3D-enabled compilation of God of War: Ghost of Sparta and Chains of Olympus -- Ready at Dawn's two PSP entries into the franchise. Keep an eye out for Origins in September.
God of War development team hiring online programmer
Sony Santa Monica isn't really known for creating games with compelling online user experiences, or ... um, any online user experiences ... but that might be changing with the developer's next project. The God of War developer has posted a hiring notice for a senior online programmer with experience in "Designing and implementing systems and tools to support networking needs," specifically in-game chat systems, matchmaking and leaderboards. It would be irresponsible to jump the gun and say Sony Santa Monica's working on an online-enabled God of War game, but we'll be damned if that's going to keep us from coming up with a bunch of prospective titles. God of War: Kratos and the Gang. God of War: Massively Mythological RPG. God of War vs. Free Realms. Gods of Wars.
Mass Effect 2 wins GOTY, RPG, storytelling awards at DICE 2011
Tonight's 14th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards (i.e., the DICE awards) saw Mass Effect 2 cruise off with honors for Game of the Year, RPG of the Year and Outstanding Achievement in Story. However, Red Dead Redemption ended up with more trophies, riding away with wins for Action Game of the Year and Outstanding Character Performance, along with Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction, Art Direction and Gameplay Engineering. The portable and casual categories were filled with rage, as God of War: Ghost of Sparta won the award for Portable Game of the Year, while Casual Game of the Year went to the ferocious fowls of Angry Birds HD. Check out the full list of award recipients after the break.
Behind the Mask: What Archetypes really need
One of the main draws of Champions Online is character customization. Costume creation is one part of that, while open power selection is another. The two elements allow players to make heroes that truly feel unique. No two Champions look the same, and while it's very possible for two different heroes to play similarly, there are enough ways to express yourself in the system that creating a truly unique hero is a simple matter. As we near the big launch of F2P, I can't help but be stuck on the idea of Archetypes. Having a hero fixed into a particular power build seems contrary to the nature of CO, and when those builds are inferior to Custom characters built for the exact same things, well... let's just say a lot of people, including many of you readers here at Massively, don't see eye-to-eye with the Archetype design decision. Naturally, I have my own ideas. Restricting F2P players in some way to encourage premium subscriptions is definitely something Cryptic should do, but there are quite a number of reasons why the existing path is... just a bad idea.
Rumor: Kratos in Mortal Kombat, exclusively on PS3
It seems that the constantly furious Kratos of God of War fame could be appearing exclusively on the PlayStation 3 version of this February's Mortal Kombat. Fighting game site Shoryuken claims the January issue of PlayStation: The Official Magazine will detail as much, though copies of the magazine have yet to arrive in readers' hands. The Grecian rage machine will purportedly not appear in the game's story mode, but will rip apart characters in versus. Also, if the rumor is true, we're putting this out there right now: fatality featuring a stampeding Pegasus. Just sayin'! Anyway, between the issue's impending release and the nearing VGAs, we hope to hear more on Kratos' cameo soon. Who's next? Link in the Wii version -- oh, wait a minute ... [Thanks, Adam]
