God Of War Novel Coming Soon

Matthew Stover is penning a novelization of the PS2 original which should be released alongside the third game.

“In the novel GOD OF WAR, Kratos, the game’s protagonist, is a great warrior who seeks revenge on the God of War Ares for the deaths of his wife and child. On his journey to Olympus, Kratos must battle great monsters of legend–and fight his own inner demons.” So basically it’s the first game in text form.

Preorder from here

There is also a God Of War movie on the way which is in preproduction.A film adaptation of the game was announced in 2005. Creator David Jaffe confirmed that a completed script had been written by David Self and would be sent out to an unspecified "huge-name director". Jaffe also expressed interest in seeing actor Djimon Hounsou in the role of the protagonist, Kratos.

Furthermore, at Comic-Con 2007, Game Head's Geoff Keighley introduced the creator of God of War, David Jaffe to infamous film director, Uwe Boll. Jaffe was asked by Keighley, "Would you really let [Uwe Boll] direct God of War?", to which Jaffe answered "If it was my call you ask me? Truthfully? No, I would not." Boll replied, "Wait until you see Postal, then you judge." Jaffe also confirmed that Universal Studios is behind the making of the God of War movie but was unaware of its current status. Brett Ratner was originally set to direct the film, but has since abandoned it.

US, July 13, 2009 - A report online claims to have the early word on the screenplay for the film adaptation of the PS2 videogame God of War.

CC2K claims to have seen an early draft of the script by David Self (Road to Perdition) and says that "everything about God of War is like Clash of the Titans, only taken to the extreme and amped up to satisfy the 21st century sensibilities of males aged 15-25."

The site says Self's script "has stayed true (almost slavishly so) to the game's plot." Although most of the changes are relatively cosmetic -- satyrs and cyclops are now far taller than they're portrayed in the game -- they claim there has been one "significant" alteration made to the source material that may rankle some fans of the game.

SPOILER WARNING: CC2K claims the end of this draft differs from that of the game, with the script ending on an "unresolved" note. "Instead of being offered (and accepting) the Godhood of War after he attempts suicide as he does in the game, in the script Kratos is offered the godhood, rejects it, and casts himself off the cliffs," the site reports. Just as Kratos is about to die, the script supposedly has him say, "Your turn, Hades...", before it cuts to black. No intervention by Athena, no trip to Mount Olympus, and no Blades of Athena.

Gran Turismo PSP Questions Answered

Hello there Gran Turismo fans. I’m Penrose Tackie Gran Turismo European Brand Manager. Our friends in the US have recently followed up a Kazunori-san interview with a quick heads-up about the forthcoming GT-PSP release, so if you’re salivating waiting on new information on the groundbreaking appearance of Gran Turismo on the PSP read on…

Last week we gave you 3 and a half minutes with Polyphony Digital’s Kazunori Yamauchi on Gran Turismo PSP. That’s not enough, you said! So as promised, we fired off your questions to the game’s US Producers, Chris Hinojosa Miranda and Taku Imasaki, and below are their responses.
Also, we know you have a lot of questions about Gran Turismo 5, and we’ll be calling for those soon. But for now, we’re just focused on GT PSP.

Check out the full post over at the EU PlayStation Blog

ModNation Racer Coming To PSP?

Gamefly as listed ModNation Racer for the PSP as well as the PS3 for a tentative release date of February 28 2010. This could simply be a mistake when being listed by Gamefly or may be true seeing how we are about to see the release of LittleBigPlanet on the psp having been very successful on the PS3, maybe Sony already know ModNation Racer is going to be a big success and is aiming to bring it to both the PS3 and PSP at the same time.

MAG Information

Gameplay Information:

• First Person Shooter (FPS)
• Aiming for "T" Rating
• Wave Respawn
- You spawn in "timed waves" and you spawn in with your squad.
- Some lucky squads get to paradrop into the combat zone or ride in on APCs
• 256 players online
- Can be on screen at the same time, so it is not broken down into split areas of the map
• Strictly multiplayer - Online only
- Possibly only retail release (Ed Byrne stated, "MAG is too massive to be a mere downloadable title)
- No splitscreen (Mike Gutmann stated, "We've got huge environments and lots of streaming going on to achieve fidelity - split screen would cause some real limitations)
- There will be an offline training course to let you get up to speed with controls, weapons, and all the equipment
• Action Shooter at its core
• Long Term Goals
• Vehicles including ground and air combat (unmanned)
• Set in the near future, 20 years from now
- Many weapons in the game are weapons currently in experimental/testing phases
• Audio cues (like air raid sirens after anti-aircraft positions are destroyed) inform teams if the attacking team is making ground
• Game modes ranging from 64 to 256 players
• Biggest maps are appx. 1 square kilometre
- Maps are based on three global regions - Alaska, Central Asia, and Central America
• Matchmaking fast and streamlined
• Push to talk (PTT) mics
- Squad channel
- Command channel (allows squad leaders to talk amongst themselves, as well as platoon leaders)
- Company channel (allows platoon leaders to talk together with the OIC)
• FREE online play

Click read more for the whole post


Player Roles:

• 8 player squads
- Inspiration from real life military operations
- 4 squads form a platoon, 4 platoons form the company
- Each squad, platoon, and company have specific objectives to complete along with secondary objectives assigned by OIC
- Allows for a team dynamic even when not in a clan, so the game is more approachable by casual players as well as hardcore players
• Lead by people who are "proven" to be good leaders
- Squad Leaders vs Even higher Chains of Command
- After reaching a veteran level, players can enlist in the leadership tree
- Squad leaders can plot waypoints and call in UAVs
- Proven squad leaders can be promoted to platoon leaders
- Leaders can issue FRAGO commands (Fragmentary Orders), in which they assign an objective by clicking a button that tells the squad to complete something like destroying a bridge
• Officer in Charge (1 per team, highest level of command)
- Has the ability to call on Strategic Maneuvers, which affect all players on one side or the other
- Tactical Asset Recharge is an example manuever that recharges the squads leaders abilities to call in air strikes, special abilities, etc.
- Abilities include satellite recon sweeps, enemy blockades, signals jamming, air bombardments, precision strikes, etc.
- Still a player on the ground like everyone else
- Players around him gain better abilities, like running faster, planting a bomb faster, etc.
• Leaders have access to the Command Network Interface (CNI), which is a tactical map overview that allows them to zoom and scan the map and show objective locations, etc.

Character Development:

• Character advancement tree to fine-tune your character
- Character development is about customization, personalizing, and specializing
- Not a linear progression benefiting the player (ex. not like COD, Battlefield)
• Character cusomization (face, voice, armor)
• Each player carries a primary weapon, sidearm, melee weapon, and three gear perks (smoke grenades, frags, med kits, rocket launchers)
- Can save three loadouts in your armory and switch freely when you respawn
• No set classes
- Free-form kit creation
- You earn skill points and decide how to spend them
- Another example is sprinting where you can increase sprint duration by sinking EXP into it if you're the kind of player that wants to get around in a hurry
• Earn double experience for completing objectives, killing enemies, healing teammates, etc.
- As an example, a sniper can earn extra points by killing enemies in a target area that you are attacking
- Earn weapons, perks, and leadership poisitions as you rank up
- Reward players for working as a team
• Medal/Award system will be in place

Game Modes:

• Domination (256 players)
- Attackers start scattered along the map edges and move on foot or ride in one of a few transport vehicles
- Defenders must take outer defensive positions to meet the oncoming attackers
- Each defending squad is responsible for holding specific areas of the base
- Attackers must eliminate front line defense emplacements (bunkers, turrets, tank traps)
- Once in the inner base, attackers must take down anti-aircraft batteries and radar sensors
- Destroying things like the anti-aircraft batteries allow the attacking team to launch UAVs
- Attackers must capture and hold objectives and inflict enough damage to the defenders base to win
• Acquisition (128 players)
- Escort style requiring attackers to steal two protoype transports from a rival faction and escape to the extraction poin
• Sabotage (64 players)
- Attackers must infiltrate rival communication facilities and hold two control points at the same time
- Once achieved, a final demolition objective is revealed and must be destroyed to win
• Suppression (64 players)
- Pure infantry battle
- Only mode that does not contribute to the "Shadow War"

Factions:

• Three warring factions / Private Military Corporations (Raven, Sver, Valor)
- Their power struggle is dubbed the "Shadow War"
- You must decalre your allegience to one faction when starting the game
- Your PSN friends can only be on your team if they are in the same army as you
- You can change your allegience at a later date
- Each battle you fight impacts your factions standing
- Team with the most prestige plays as the defending team
- Once your faction wins enough in a specific mode, your faction gains the contract for that mode
- Earning contracts gives you bonus points, perks, weapons, or vehicles
• Raven
- Have high-tech futuristic weapons
- Play style will appleal to fans of sc-fi shooters like Halo or Resistance
• Sver
- Weapons arsenal may not be as powerful, but players are more adaptable
• Valor


"Groundbreaking large scale combat, intimacy of 8-player squad combat, and character growth"

GTA 5 Coming 2010?

Likely to be completed some time in 2010, but not necessarily before October 31, 2010.

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter has said Take-Two management has confirmed to him that the next instalment of Grand Theft Auto is in development, and has been for over a year.

The new game is said to utilise the same game "engines" as the most recent GTA, and Rockstar North is believed to be highly motivated to complete the game, understanding that a big pay day will follow.

Pachter's comments follow news overnight that Take-Two will not release a new multi-platform Grand Theft Auto title in fiscal 2010.

"When we do the simple math, we conclude that the next instalment is likely to be completed by some time in 2010, although given the frequency of game delays, it is not clear that it will necessarily come before October 31, 2010," said Pachter in a research note put out today.

He added: "However, it is clear to us that the next version of GTA will arrive before the end of FY:11."

Pachter estimates the game will achieve sales of between 15 and 18 million units.

Trine UK Price Update

Remember the news about the price of Trine on PlayStation 3 It included the somewhat extortionate UK price of £19.99 (the US cost is set at $19.99). Following on from the comment where that price was announced on the European Blog, Olivier Vermeille has updated the comment with the price with a new UK price.

I don’t know whether the wrong price was given in the first place, or just that the sheer backlash of the UK price was so severe. But it seems the price has been revised and is now situated at a slightly better price point:
Trine will be priced at 19.99€, 19.99$ and 19.99£ on the PlayStation Store.
Correction: the price in the UK is expected to be £16.99
So, we will be able to get the game for £16.99 on the UK PlayStation Store, that sounds a bit better anyway.

Relentless Announce Secret PSN Project

Brighton based developers Relentless who worked on the Buzz series are working on a PSN only game called Blue Toad Murder Files, “Blue Toad Murder Files is a murder mystery game along the lines of Agatha Christie and Midsomer Murders and 1001 other murder mystery TV dramas like Sherlock Holmes – that’s the style of the game,” said Relentless boss David Amor in an interview with GI.

“If you speak to a non-gamer, as I have done, and they ask what you’re working on and you say ‘it’s a murder mystery game’ then I’ve just summed it up in two words. It’s like ‘karaoke’, or ‘air guitar’, or ‘quiz game’, or ‘keep fit’. I think being able to sum it up as easily as that is a good indication as well.”

The game will be released in December with more information on the title expected next month.

Fallout 3 DLC News

Having expected to see the release of Operation: Anchorage last month with The Pitt and Broken Steel following at 4-6 week intervals thereafter. Having obviously missed their June release date Bethesda Softwork’s Production Director, Ashley Cheng had the unenviable task of posting about the delay on the US Blog.

Unfortunately, the content is going to be releasing later than originally expected. [...] So when can you expect Fallout 3 DLC? We are knee deep in testing at the moment, and we’re hoping to have the first DLC out by the end of September.

It might be worth waiting now for the GOTY edition instead of waiting for the DLC which will start to be released in September, and the GOTY edition which was meant to be coming some time in October. If the GOTY edition still releases in October or sometime around the Christmas period this would be the best option to go for.

Bioshock 2 Pushed Back To 2010

Bioshock 2 along with Mafia II, Max Payne 3 and Red Dead Redemption, have been delayed until Fiscal 2010. With Bioshock 2 likely coming first half of 2010, with Take-Two simply citing “development issues”. Could this be to do with Lyon-based Arkane Studios which was added to the list of developers recently needing more time to do there part?

Modern Warfare 2 Prestige Edition Unboxing (Official)

What on Earth? Infinity Ward community manager Robert Bowling has made a YouTube video of himself unboxing the absolutely epic "prestige edition" of Modern Warfare 2 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. When we say "epic," we're talking "it includes working night vision goggles" epic. Also in the box is a voucher code for downloading the previously rumored PSN/XBLA version of the original Call of Duty. This plus a steel game case, art book and a custom molded plastic head for displaying your working night vision goggles on. (But of course!)

There's no mention of a retail price for the set, but we can't imagine it'll be anything less than stupid crazy expensive. We're also working to find out when and if Activision intends to distribute the downloadable remake of the CoD that started it all. Check out the unboxing after the break -- but only after ensuring that your socks are safely and securely pinned to your pants.

Box includes

• Working night vision goggles
• A copy of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• A voucher code for Call of Duty 1 for either platform
• A molded plastic bust of Soap McTavish