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Joystiq hands-on: God of War: Chains of Olympus
When Sony said they were unleashing the full power of the PSP for God of War, they weren't kidding. God of War: Chains of Olympus plays and looks gorgeous beautiful amazing gorgeutifulzing. The fact that its a hand-held game on a small screen should not turn people off to this title, it's like a normal PS2 game in a little package and there is no denying it gives the full God of War experience. So much so, that before finishing the demo level in the game, we had to hand it off to somebody else or we'd have ripped the PSP out of the station and walked away to play the demo version until the game released this holiday season -- on the bright side, the demo releases this September.Developer Ready at Dawn has done a great job at capturing the controls of God of War. Thankfully you hardly used the second analog stick (only used for dodging) in the PS2 version, so the PSP's one nubbin along with planned button mashing brings it all together. The animation is smooth -- so very, very smooth. Smooth to the point where we'd almost believe the PS2 GoW titles could hopefully one day come to PSP. All you really need to know about GoW on PSP is that everything you've come to expect from a PS2 version is here. This Kratos ain't watered down and he might even help sell some PSPs. This is a true God of War experience in a hand-held package that no fan can miss.%Gallery-3184%
Hands-on: God of War: Chains of Olympus
September can't come soon enough. That's when the public will be able to get their hands on the incredible God of War: Chains of Olympus demo that we got to play at E3. The game is everything a God of War fan could possible want: beautiful, gory, and utterly exhilarating.The controls are incredible intuitive, and it was within mere seconds that we were able to start pulling off combos and dodges with relative ease. Kratos' basic moves return unchanged, but there are a few new special attacks, exclusive for the PSP edition. We were surprised to see the dodge return, in spite of the second analog stick. In order to jump out of an enemy's way, pressing down on both shoulder buttons whilst using the analog nub will allow Kratos to jump away. It's surprisingly intuitive and easy to use.It should go without saying that the game is beautiful, taking advantage of all 333MHz the system has to offer. It is everything a PS2 God of War game should be ... but on a handheld. And knowing Ready at Dawn, we knew they'd be able to pull it off.%Gallery-3212%
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%
Behold the wonder: God of War mobile isn't bad
When our own reporter came back from the Sony gamer's day and said God of War: Betrayal for the cell phone was good, we feared the poor man had cracked. But now comes word from IGN, which gave the game a 90 that it is, in fact, a good solid game. We may never look at our mobile the same way again.God of War: Betrayal takes place after Ares' defeat but before the events of God of War II. IGN says the game is a 16-bit "glory days" 2D side-scroller and is a God of War title "through and through." Guess for those who can't wait for God of War: Chains of Olympus on PSP and have a compatible phone, maybe it could be worth checking out this mobile game. We hope this doesn't make us reexamine mobile gaming entirely -- let's call this a one hit wonder for now.
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%
Cory Barlog talks E3 inside the developers studio
Like the subject of a James Lipton (pictured) interview, Cory Barlog, creative director on God of War, enjoyed the fluffiest time on the receiving end of a journalist's questions in the latest Sony blog post. So fluffy, in fact, that there wasn't even a journalist asking the questions. It was Barlog asking the questions, which he then answered. But wait, it gets better. Instead of talking about the game he's working on, namely God of War: Chains of Olympus, the self-scribed interview tangents into "mini-E3." Although an utterly pointless post that actually takes shots at Min-E3, it's still fun to watch a developer ask questions to himself, which he then answers back.Our favorite question in the "interview" is when Barlog asks himself if he could sit one person in front of his game, who would it be? Barlog answers himself, "Jack Thompson. I think after 5 minutes of playing the game that hard crunchy exterior would melt away and reveal his candy coated liberal center." Best answer ever! Only to be outdone a few moments later saying that he doesn't really consider Min-E3 a real E3, so when he attends this year it'll be his "7 and 1/2" time going. He also says he wants to play BioShock (a non-PS3 title as far as we know, which is kinda refreshing to see on the site). We hope to actually speak to Barlog at Min-E3 about Chains of Olympus, or at least host witness to him talking to himself about it. By the way, we're totally kidding around here about Barlog interviewing himself. It's just that the byline to the Sony post says it was written by Cory Barlog instead of giving the actual author who then pasted Barlog's answers into the ongoing series.
Confirmed: God of War to use 333MHz processing
After a brief rant about E3, Cory Barlog has updated the Playstation.blog with one crucial new confirmation: the game will use the newly-unlocked 333MHz speed of the PSP. "Many people are asking if God of War: Chains of Olympus is going to take advantage of this. The short answer is yes we are! Ready at Dawn has been doing some pretty amazing stuff with the PSP since the early days of the platform. Every time I see a new build I am more amazed with what we're able to pull off with the PSP."It's incredible to think that Ready at Dawn was able to pull off such incredible graphics before the processor speed was unlocked. Now that the talented team of programmers has access to PSP's full power, it'll be interesting to see what else Ready at Dawn will be able to pull off.
God of War 3 has not begun production, other games take precedence
It seems the director of God of War II, Cory Barlog, wants to pay attention to other projects before the much-anticipated God of War III makes any sort of debut. On his blog, he talks about a lot of things, but he mentions how he's not paying attention to the trilogy and instead is working on his very own RPG opus -- A Family Ties game. Or something.So for those of you who were expecting some kind of surprise at E3 or Tokyo Game Show, we hate to be the bearers of bad news, but you'll be waiting a while to see Kratos and the Titans crushing the crap out of Olympus. Unless Sony pulls a Kojima and replaces Kratos with a different, less gruff and manly character. Possibly a Roman who likes to comb his hair and do cartwheels. That would be most unfortunate! We don't need another Raiden. Or ... do we?[via CVG]
PSA: God of War demo comes in September
Thought you'd play the God of War: Chains of Olympus demo soon? Sorry folks -- you're going to have to wait until summer comes to an end. The demo's ETA is now September. But imagine, instead of lamenting the return of school, you can herald the joys of playing as Kratos on your PSP. As a consolation, those of you that successfully signed up for the demo will be receiving "exclusive info" in the coming weeks, if that helps the pain go away.
PSP Fan Art Fridays: God of War
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. This week the fan art is a quite different than what we've featured previously. This unique God of War fan art was done by someone who actually does art for a living. Peet Cooper drew this excellent and stylized image above and he also works for n-Space (creators of Geist). I really like the constrained proportions of Peet's version of Kratos, it gives him a unique look. Oddly, despite his small stature, he actually looks more menacing than the regular rendition of Kratos. If this fan art scares or excites you, visit Peet Cooper's deviantART page or personal website. It's certainly an interesting visit since Peet is a professional artist. Either that, or let Peet know what you think of the art in our comments section. %Gallery-3450%
Sony and God of War III -- will there actually be one?
While we've all assumed that God of War III will hit the PS3 at some point in the future, it hasn't actually been set in stone by Sony, David Jaffe, or otherwise. It's wishful thinking, but Sony's Santa Monica studio says that "there's definitely the enthusiasm of us wanting to do that, to make the God of War III, but there's obviously no commitment to that right now." Like we said -- wishful thinking, but everyone wants it!Let's talk hypothetical. If GoW3 were in production, what would it feature? The answer: "Put it this way. If we ever do get to make God of War III, it'll have connections to all the games, just like [God of War PSP] has direct links to [God of War] II. So if you go and you play this game, if you remember in II or you go back and play II, you'll see situations that are directly explained because of the PSP [version] and [this game] helps flesh out [the mythology] even more. All these games have a connection to each other." Obviously. If the game told a different story, unattached to Kratos or Greek mythology in general, we'd be disappointed. Maybe at E3? Maybe once we get a rumbling Sixaxis?
Joystiq eyes-on God of War: Chains of Olympus for PSP
Last week's Sony Gamer's Day gave us the chance to sit down with a lot of different games, and one of the highest "must play this or else" on our list was God of War for PSP. It was the first game we spotted across the motion capture studio where the event was held, and we edged our way through the crowd, wishing we had the might of Zeus to part the waves and get there faster.Finally, there we were, sitting on a blindingly white couch, staring at the goodness that is God of War: Chains of Olympus on one of Sony's massive screens. They had a PSP wired up to it, and although the image was cropped a bit on-screen, it made us want to blow up everything we play to that size. We studied the control diagram, noted that it was all very simple, and reached for the controller ... denied!%Gallery-3184%
Impressive God of War: Chains of Olympus gameplay videos
We've already showed off screenshots of the upcoming PSP God of War, but what about it in motion? Does it live up to the PS2 series in looks and gameplay? You can judge for yourself, by watching the video above. Personally, watching it has made me somehow more excited for the game. It makes me think that God of War: Chains of Olympus, may cement Ready At Dawn as the PSP's premier developer. If the cliffhanger ending of the above video depresses you, than keep reading to see how the boss battle plays out. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a certain game I have to go pre-order.Boss video after the jump ...
SGD '07: Conan clobbers us with new screenshots
We have three new shots of Conan from the Sony Gamer's Day event, and it's looking pretty good. While clearly influenced by the God of War series, the cel-shading and alternate mythology could make the game a solid alternative while we wait for God of War III.%Gallery-3223%
SGD '07: God of War: Chains of Olympus
Before being deceived into killing his wife and daughter in the original God of War, Kratos was a mere puppet of the Gods. The PSP-exclusive Chains of Olympus tells the story of Kratos' perilous journey before the original God of War where Kratos will have to battle "the most feared creatures of Greek Mythology." This exclusive PSP title, developed by Ready At Dawn, will be available this holiday season. Check out new screens from Sony's Gamers Day below. Then, check out a video, after the cut. %Gallery-3212%
Incredibly wide pictures of God of War
For some reason, new images of God of War: Chains of Olympus have surfaced ... and they're really wide. Not 16:9 wide, nor 21:9 wide. It's so wide that Ben Hur would get jealous. Cinematic? Perhaps. Beautiful? Definitely. Check them out at Play France. While looking through them, make note of Kratos' shield. Hmm ... New gameplay mechanic, perhaps?[Via PSP GadgetZ]
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.
Ring, ring: God of War on your cell phone
Click for larger version. Sony Online Entertainment invited us out to their Gamer Day 2007 event recently to show off all of their new and upcoming releases, and there is some pretty exciting stuff coming out of their six different development studios around the world. Strangely enough, one of the games that looked the most exciting wasn't for a next-gen console, or your PC, but rather for the tiny screen ... your cell phone.God of War: Betrayal is easily one of the closest-to-the-real-thing games we've ever seen on a phone. The graphics won't blow you away, but they're definitely good enough for your cell, and still manage to capture the whole God of War feeling (especially the eviscerations). The controls are incredibly simple: you move your finger around in joystick fashion over the main key to control Kratos, and the middle button does everything else. You can jump, attack, use special moves, climb ladders, and splatter gore all over the screen.It's the first in a series of promised God of War cell games. We played it on a Sony Ericsson, although we're not sure what other platforms / phones it'll make it to. Check out the gameplay video after the break, on our stellar less-than-high-def camera.%Gallery-3060%
God of War 2 rips out its art ... at gallery this weekend
Looking for something highbrow to do with your significant other and still get your geek on? Nucleus, located in Alhambra, California, is holding The Artists of God of War II exhibition this Saturday, May 12. The gallery will present half-God of War II art and the other half features the six artists' personal work. Ryan Ito of Nucleus tells Joystiq, "The art show is a chance to see behind the scenes, to see what art goes into making a video game ... We just want to show art can be appreciated by people that enjoy fine art. It's not just a video game, there is extensive concept art that goes behind video games."The reception is from 7PM until 11PM and admission is free. The artists will be signing copies of The Art of God of War II book and you can purchase a copy for $29.95. There will also be a raffle, prizes, but Nucleus makes clear to state that this is not a God of War promotion, it's an artist promotion and art show. That's a subtle way of saying dress appropriately. There will be complimentary drinks, a DJ and Nucleus says goats are a "maybe." They're kidding, no goats ... "maybe."
Wii Warm Up: Yeah, that's the ticket
The following tale of Wii accessories is true. And by true, we mean false. It's all lies. But they're entertaining lies. And in the end, isn't that the real truth? The answer ... is no.While Nintendo generally makes a profit on every system sold, each Wiimote actually costs over six hundred dollars to produce. On top of that, Nintendo has to maintain an active connection with each controller-- the Wiimote works by sending extremely sensitive GPS data to Nintendo, who then calculates the approximate movement relative to their Wiimote-tracking satellite, and transmits the information to the Wii via an experimental super-high-speed long-range wireless Internet connection. Oh, and also NiGHTS 2 is going to be a pachinko game.We didn't feel like discussing real aspects of the Wii today. We do that every day. No, we just want to make stuff up. Let's discuss the really interesting things that are going on in the world of Wii-- the things that aren't actually going on.
