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Kratos fights Persian King in brutal new video
Spoiler alert? The upcoming God of War: Chains of Olympus demo disc will feature an absolutely gory battle with the Persian King (video embedded, after the break). In this Gamespot preview, we see that the graphics, the voice acting, and the violence have all been retained from the PS2 original. It's exciting to see a small glimpse of the upcoming game (dated for a March release), but those that don't want to ruin the experience may want to look away.This is an M-rated game, and you must be 17 years or older to watch the video.[Thanks, PSP_Amigo!]
Blizzard's third project: Hydra
We already know Blizzard has three games in development right now. One of them is Wrath of the Lich King, the next WoW expansion. The second is Starcraft II. And the third is an as-of-yet-unannounced title... called Hydra.That's what the Inquirer overheard at the Austin GDC. One Blizzard employee asked another what they were working on, and the overheard reply was "I'm working on Hydra."So now we have an internal name for Blizzard's third project. Let the speculation begin. I'll start: the Hydra is a creature from Greek mythology, so maybe we're looking at a Diabloesque game set in Greece? Like Titan Quest (which is really Diablo anyway) or God of War, but made by Blizzard? And Hydras also appear in World of Warcraft (notably in BFD, where a Hydra is the final boss), so could it be possible that this is actually another WoW expansion, maybe the Maelstrom expansion we've been waiting for?Thanks, James!
God of War: Chains of Olympus UMD-capitates March 4, '08
Kratos gets ready to break free from the Chains of Olympus on March 4, 2008 according to Gamespot. They were given the information while on a visit to developer Ready at Dawn today. The game still has no price or rating, but thank Olympus we can finally grasp a release date. Hopefully the launch of God of War: Chains of Olympus will herald the God of War III announcement.Ready at Dawn is also aware that March is a long way off. Beyond the game's demo releasing sometime this month, which we had a chance to get some hands-on with at E3, those who already signed up for the demo on the official website will receive "a special-edition demo UMD containing a portion of a playable level as well as additional content, including a behind-the-scenes video of the game's development." Those who didn't sign up for the demo UMD can get their hands on a standard demo featuring only the level portion later this year. Although we're a little bummed that Chains of Olympus won't be out this year, at this point we take games coming out early '08 as a blessing.%Gallery-3184%
God of War: Chains of Olympus hits March 4th
Gamespot is reporting that God of War: Chains of Olympus will hit store shelves on March 4th, 2008. No price or ESRB rating has been announced yet. This prequel to the original God of War seems like a far away release, but thankfully, the UMD demo coming this month with its new unseen level will help pass the time. And if you're not getting that demo in the mail, one (which may or may not be the same as the UMD) will be available on the Internet, and of course, hosted in our demo section as well.
Downloadable God of War demo will also be available
What if you didn't get selected to receive the upcoming God of War UMD demo disc? Don't worry! YourPSP will be hosting a downloadable demo, at least according to German Dutch OPM (as discovered by PSP Demo Center's Benjami). Whether or not it will have the same content as the upcoming disc demo is unclear, but this should come as good news for those that weren't eligible for the limited edition demo. And as always, once the demo goes live, PSP Fanboy will also be hosting it for you.[Thanks, phinal!]
God of War demo disc to feature unrevealed level
The press has only played one level from God of War: Chains of Olympus. Whether at E3 or PAX, Ready at Dawn has been incredibly secretive of its PSP exclusive title. For once, gamers will have the first look at the game, able to see a never-before-revealed level, the Cave of Eos. "In this level, the player is introduced to Eos, the goddess of Dawn. She will reveal events of the story that will lead you further in your quest, but getting to her is no easy task. You will have to defeat a multitude of enemies to progress, one of which is a new take on a God of War classic, the blood-lusting Minotaur. The rewards awaiting you are a new magic granted by Eos that adds to the vast array of mechanics Kratos already posses. But to advanced to the end of the level, Kratos will have to prove himself by using his new abilities to solve a challenge so deadly it could have only been created by the Gods of Olympus."We can't wait. The demo is unleashed to the world later this month.
Contest: Cosplay as Kratos, win a PSP
[Update: Submission period is over! We'll be picking the winner soon.]To help promote Kratos' first portable outing, Sony has offered us a PSP to give away to one lucky reader. But it's not so simple. Now that God of War has gone mobile in God of War: Betrayal, we thought we'd ask readers to, well, go mobile as the god of war. Wherever you're likely to break out your cellphone to eviscerate some minotaurs kill some time, we're asking you to: Take a picture of yourself dressed as Kratos in a mundane location; think: bus stop, DMV, waiting in line, etc. Submit your image in .jpg format, no smaller than 800px wide, to joyswag.submissions+kratos AAT gmail DAWT com between now and 5pm on 9/5/07 You may submit one entry each day, giving you more chances to win Winners will be selected based on creativity, uniqueness, and humor Please, no real weapons, we don't want anyone to get hurt. Try cardboard or styrofoam instead! Please consult the official rules for more details. You can purchase God of War: Betrayal on Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint, or by texting KRATOS to 4SONY.
Phil Cohen talks up God of War: Betrayal
We never thought we'd have a canonical God of War game on the cell phone but that's exactly what happened. We asked Phil Cohen, producer and designer of God of War: Betrayal, what it was like to squeeze such a huge franchise into such a limited platform.How hard is it to get a high-paced action game onto a mobile device like a phone with limited memory and processing power?"Hard" is a relative term. Every project is hard in its own way. For God of War, that had to do with getting all of Kratos' look, animations, combat and abilities that everyone expects to see, the variety of enemies and their deaths, and the isometric look to the environment. It really comes down to the tools, and our developer, Javaground, has the best mobile toolset that we've ever used. Of course, with every project you try to push certain perceived limits of the handsets and try to figure a way around them ... be it God of War or a casual game like Spider-Man 3 Puzzle. That's always a hard, but fun part of the development process.What struggles did you and your development team encounter upon creating the visual aspect of this title?With just a few hundred kb and much less on most handsets, we spent a lot of time coming up with a single tileset and palette swapping scheme that was diverse enough to portray multiple environments and lived up to the SCEA God of War team's high standards. That was probably the hardest part. Our Art Director, Nathan Leland, did a fantastic job.How long was the development process for God of War: Betrayal?I wrote the initial design document between September and October 2005 when I first got hired on, then it sat and stewed for a year before revisiting it in August 2006, the same month development started. The versions for high-end handsets were completed 9 months later in April. We wrapped up the final versions for low-end handset over the next 2 months, completing the 1st 6 handsets in June 2007. After that, the porting team took the game to over 200 handsets in a matter of weeks.
God of War: Chains of Olympus called best of LGC07
The Leipzig Games Convention has come and gone, and the critics agree: God of War: Chains of Olympus is the best PSP game on the show floor. The jury stated "'God of War' elevates the action genre to an art form, including on the PlayStation Portable: where other titles descend into brutish slaughter, God of War lends the battlefield a sombre beauty."Chains of Olympus should be ready some time next year.
GoW: Chains of Olympus delayed until Q1 2008 [Update]
Fresh from Leipzig, Sony has announced a delay for their highly anticipated title, God of War: Chains of Olympus. Originally expected to ship before Christmas as part of the holiday rush, the title has been pushed back until early 2008. Annoyingly, this comes less than three weeks after Ready at Dawn confirmed that God of War was on track for a holiday release.No reason was given for the delay, but if they need more time to polish up Kratos' newest adventure -- it's worth waiting a couple more months. Plus we get a demo in September to keep us happy anyway, so it won't be an entirely Spartan-free Christmas.[Update: Ready at Dawn responds: "I'm not really sure where this is coming from since we have not announced a date for God of War: Chains of Olympus for the North American marketplace yet. So I would say this falls into the rumor and speculation category."]
The console interactivity I wish WoW could have
As a teenager, I loved console games. I grew up with Nintendo game images, tactics and ideas rolling through my mind. For various reasons, however, I've never really had a chance to pick up any console system since then, and I have often wondered how many changes have taken place in those sorts of games over the years. So recently one of my friends treated me to a few evenings where he just showed me a few of his console games, so that I could get a sense of what they're like these days. The experience made me wish that it were possible for World of Warcraft to incorporate a few of the features I saw in those games.The biggest one was a sense of interacting more with the in-game environment that your character lives in. Especially in this game God of War, I loved how the main character was able to do special moves in special situations, such as jump on top of a monster and rip its head off, or pin it to the ground, or even climb inside its giant mouth. He can also sometimes climb walls or use special items to solve interesting environmental puzzles. Many other games have this sort of experience where there seems to be less of a barrier between your character and the other entities in the game's world.WoW just doesn't have that interactive feeling. Whenever you swing your sword, you swing it in pretty much the same way, even if your target is so huge that you're actually just swinging at the empty space between its massive legs. Whenever you run along up hills or mountains, you do just fine until you come to that magical angle at which your character cannot climb, cannot crawl -- only runs in place against an invisible barrier, even though visually it seems like he should be able to just use his hands. I have no idea how Blizzard would manage it, but I really wish my WoW character could climb up walls (or at least ladders!), flip enemies around, or climb up on top of giants' shoulders and stab them in the head. Even if all these things are an impossibility, I still hope there's something significant they could do to help foster a more cohesive and interactive feel between our characters and everything else in Azeroth.Do you ever wish for some console game features in WoW? Or are they totally apples vs. oranges for you?
GoW: Chains of Olympus developer buys God of War PSP for $1725
Late last month we posted a story on a PSP designed to be the ultimate piece of God of War modded art. Turns out the eventual winner of that auction, with a bid of $1725 (with 15% going to Child's Play charity), was Ready at Dawn Studio, the company behind God of War: Chains of Olympus. But the story doesn't stop there.Turns out that Ready at Dawn decided to fly the guy who created the GoW PSP out to Southern California to hand-deliver it himself. Ramon Stokes, who created the PSP, then got to play the Chains of Olympus demo and hang out for a bit. Sure, this is one of those over-the-top PR sorts of things that y'all can be bitter and jaded about, but it's still cool to see someone make a piece of art and have it be recognized.%Gallery-5171%
God of War dev buys homemade God of War PSP
Remember this incredible piece of God of War fandom? This user-modded system caught our eye for its close attention to detail and fine use of "kicking ass." But the story isn't over ... It looks like Ramon Stokes, creator of the system, got a lot more than the winning bid of $1725 in his eBay auction.Chains of Olympus dev team, Ready at Dawn, took notice of Ramon's system and decided to fly him out to their studios "to make sure the PSP wouldn't get damaged during shipping." Yeah, sure.Ramon was also able to play the upcoming Chains of Olympus demo, talk to the development team, and get treated like a God of Olympus. Looks like this God of War hit the jackpot for his fandom (and we're jealous!).[Via Joystiq]
Chains of Olympus will "change the course of the GoW mythology"
A lot of random snippets of information was released in today's chat with the God of War: Chains of Olympus development team. In the chat held for fans, Ready at Dawn revealed a few facts about the game: The game is still on track for a Winter release. Set ten years before the original God of War, Kratos will meet many characters from the previous PS2 God of War titles through his adventure. After the murder of his family, Kratos renounces his service to Ares, and he decides to serve the other gods of Olympus to try and rid him of his nightmares. Voice actors from previous games will return in Chains of Olympus. Linda Hunt will return to narrate the game. "You will have multiple weapons with a new twist on how they integrate into the storyline." The game has been in development since Daxter shipped. The game will have counter attacks -- but whether or not it will be similar to God of War II's Golden Fleece was not revealed.
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.
Custom-made God of War PSP up for auction
While it may not be to everyone's taste, this one-of-a-kind God of War PSP is certainly an impressive bit of console modding, boasting not just a spiffy paint job, but a few additions that dig into the PSP itself. Those include a red acrylic window on the rear of the unit that'll let you see the UMD spinning, as well as some red LEDs that light up the PSP's two shoulder buttons (head on over after the break for some more pics). Only the most die hard God of War fans need apply here though, as last we checked the bidding was around the $1,200 mark. On the upside, 15% of the final sale price will go to the Child's Play charity, and you'll also get that classy velvet-lined case to display your new prized possession in.[Via PSP Fanboy]
God of War-themed PSP rules Mt. Olympus
We really wish this wasn't an eBay auction item, but it's still incredibly cool nonetheless -- and 15% of the final sale goes to Child's Play, so we don't feel that guilty featuring it. Anyway, this is an actual modded PSP which, beyond the accoutrements, was painted in an "18-step process" and then tarnished to match Kratos' armor. Currently the system is up to $590 so it's inching to the combined cost of four PSPs; but it's the labor, detail and charity aspect that make it a nice deal.Beyond the paint job, the unit also features red LEDs in the shoulder buttons which stay lit through playing and charging time. The modder says he used Sony's premium rechargeable power pack so the accent lighting didn't hurt the battery life. Beyond that there's a bunch of hand sculpted elements so that it fits "comfortably in the hands." It also comes with a second faceplate which mimics Kratos' tattoos. Certainly a nice piece of art and an obvious, albeit nerdy, conversation piece. [Via PSP Fanboy]%Gallery-5171%
One of a kind God of War modded PSP on sale
This is for the ultimate God of War fan. In preparation for the upcoming Chains of Olympus, someone took the liberty to meticulously craft this modded PSP. "The PSP console itself was airbrushed with a deep metallic bronze in an 18-step process and then strategically tarnished to create a battle-worn armor look (like the chest plate worn in the game!)." Wow.How many hundreds of dollars would you give for a machine like this? That's a good question, because the system's available on eBay. As of writing, the winning bid was a reasonable $366. Will you try and snag this one-of-a-kind machine?[Thanks, Jeremy!]%Gallery-5170%
