We have just created a new section for the site called "AAG's Developer Profiles". Each fortnight we will pick a developer to profile so that our readers can get an insight into the developers that make the games we know and love. Our first developer profile is on the great SCE Santa Monica Studio. Enjoy.
"Let me put this bluntly: Slamming X a bunch of times to do something mundane like open a door is not fun. It's never been fun. I'm not sure how or why developers came up with the notion that it'd be a good idea to make players sweat to accomplish seemingly simple tasks, but it's a horrible practice that should die as soon as possible.
That's not to say that there's no room for portraying "effort" in a game. There's a value in it, as it allows players to share a moment with their avatar, as..."
Over the past decade, Sony has been quite active at creating new franchises for their Playstation platforms. Their stable of new intellectual properties are diverse and, more importantly, top notch in quality.
Continuing our previous's post, The Kartel follows up with more of Sony's most defining moments in the past decade. Whether you’re a Playstation purist, or anti Sony, there’s no denying the impact of Sony’s consoles and games of the 2000’s.
""Kratos' journey is a troubled one that was worth every moment spent completing the single-player campaign. Fighting off the many heads of the Hydra, the boss battles are out of this world in brilliance as they capture the epic nature of Kratos’ mission.
The gameplay is simply to die for – just ask all the God of War clones who are trying to emulate (or depending on who you ask, imitate) the formula Jaffe helped start. Every action-adventure game released since God of War’s debut has..."
The Kartel plays through the new Dante's Inferno demo. According to their impressions, the game is shockingly similar to God of War. While the two are totally different in hero and plot, both games are dramatically executed with action-packed brilliance, totally immersing players in each of their respective worlds.
"Remember the first time you played God of War (you did play it, right?) and, with the evil hydra finally at your mercy and an on-screen prompt, you pressed some buttons and totally kicked that sea creature's ass?
Yeah, it was pretty great when God of War did that and you hadn't played a Quick Time Event (QTE) since Shenmue. When David Jaffe's violent love-child re-popularized QTEs, at least the game did them right. See, a Quick Time Event's purpose is to allow for a moment of more cinemat..."
After a brief hiatus and a little tooling in the inner workings behind Binge Gamer, The Bender podcast is back with a tighter show. We hit up the piracy topic (ie the lines being drawn between downloading something versus selling something downloaded), talk a little about the Shadow Complex controversy, and of course how the G-Force demo is kind of cool. Listen live/stream through iTunes by clicking here or download the mp3 here
All Age Gaming's Phong Nguyen bring's us the 9th AAG "The Week That Was". In this week's edition he talks about a possible Wii price cut, V8's in Forza 3, God Of War and more!
After recently announced the re-mastered God Of War collection, fans cried out with joy. The game will be releasing late fall, but currently only for NA. SCEE have said that EU won't be getting it this calender year. So hopefully early 2010 or you can just import it.
"Thanks to your feedback, we are excited to announce the God of War Collection for this Holiday Season. Now fans and newcomers to the series can experience the epic journey of God of War and God of War II in 720p HD form. Both titles have been remastered with anti-aliased graphics, running at 60 frames per second for a smooth gameplay experience, only on the PS3 system. Additionally, the Blu-ray Disc compilation will bring the PlayStation Network (PSN) trophy support to the franchise for the v..."
"A couple times over the past few years, we've decided to sit down and take a good, cold, hard look at the PlayStation 2's library and select the best of the best to let you know what our favorites were (and are). Even though the system is fighting with every last breath to stay alive, it's still surprising to us that new games continue to creep into our list. So, because it's been a while, we figured it was time to look at our picks again and update our choices for the best 25 PlayStation 2 g..."
"The question of the week this week involves the many different weapons introduced with gaming; some are possible but others are completely too bad-ass to be true. Weapons have been very created especially in the first person shooter genre (Including one of the most creative guns I have ever heard; the Landshark Gun).
For my favorite weapon I’m going to have to go with the Landshark gun from Armed and Dangerous. Actually, it’s better to say EVERY weapon from Armed and Dangerous, but weâ..."
"Blockbuster videogame franchises are no strangers to the realm of comic books, but one of the biggest has eluded print and paper... until now.
Today IGN is able to exclusively reveal that Sony and DC/Wildstorm Comics have partnered for a six-issue mini-series based on the God of War franchise. Debuting in October, and running approximately up to the launch of God of War III for the Playstation 3, the storyline will focus on Kratos' dark past. Comics legend Marv Wolfman is handling the wri..."
"Today, my husband and I were talking about names for our expectant child. I told him since I named our daughter he could name our son. He's decided on a name from 'God of War'. My son is going to be named after a make-believe cartoon character - Kratos. FML"
Director of the God of War movie Brett Ratner has moved on from the project to direct yet another starring Chris Tucker, this time alongside Eddie Murphy (Rattner is behind the Rush Hour movies), sources say.
"The recent barrage of media scarps released for SonyÂ’s uber title is filled with potential and why should it not since it stands as a creation of Santa Monica Studios who are famous for crafting out really good looking and playing games.Here are a couple of screens that showcase the fantastic evolution of the series"
James Walker of Binge Gamer is almost at the finish line for the Top Games Lists, now releasing the 2005 list. While the Xbox 360 did see a release during this year, it was at the end of the year and none of the first generation of titles were able to make their way on this list when compared to what the older systems were still pumping out. Including many franchises that we are still playing today.
"When we sit down for a round of gaming with our console or PC of choice, we're usually on the look-out for extreme action, non-stop thrills and a sophisticated story. One thing we never expected to see was sex. But as the average age of the gaming audience grows ever higher, interactive entertainments are tackling more grown-up topics like the beast with two backs in a variety of different ways. Some games play it for humor, some use it as a plot motivator, and others let you fornicate just f..."
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"Real world definition of "mature": Showing the mental, emotional, or physical characteristics associated with a fully developed person; involving serious thought.
Videogame definition of "mature":
Shits, tits and gibs.
What is adult? According to ratings boards and hand-wringing politicians, the only qualifications necessary are a bucket of blood, a stream of foul profanity and a parade of naughty lady parts. Ironically, the very things that are included to win over immature teenage bo..."
"With some games, ESRB ratings can be either too damning, or not restrictive enough. How many parents buy their children copies of games like Halo 3 and Grand Theft Auto IV, regardless of the warnings on the box, pamphlets shoved into their hands by concerned Best Buy employees, or simple common sense? On the hand, there are plenty of other games that the ESRB just rates poorly. Mass Effect gets an M rating for fictional alien violence, but Call of Duty (which is based on actual military event..."
Yet more bonuses are up for grabs if you pre-order the upcoming PS3 hit LittleBigPlanet at GameStop. As well as the already seen Kratos Sackboy skin two other skins, the 'Minotaur' and 'Medusa' skins as well as a new map pack are avaliable. View the ad below or at the source.
Have you ever gotten so swept up in a game's storyline that you never want it to end? Have you ever played a game and thought, "wow, if only all game plots were this amazing"? GamesRadar has. Here are their top 15 list of best video game storylines ever. One of my personal favorites is in the quote.
Naturally, this list will have major spoilers.
Go to the source for the full list.
"Sony Computer Entertainment America and high-profile game designer David Jaffe have been sued in U.S. District Court in California for alleged copyright infringment involving the best-selling God of War series, GamePolitics has learned.
The suit was filed in late February by Jonathan Bissoon-Dath and Jennifer Barrette-Herzog, both of Davis, California. SCEA and Jaffe filed responses with the Court on August 29th.
In the complaint, Bissoon-Dath identifies himself as "the author of a seri..."
""The movie script was written by David Self, known for Road to Perdition, and will be produced by Brett Ratner, known for the Rush Hour movies, X-Men, and various Prison Break episodes. There has no date been set to start shooting, let alone an estimated theatrical launch.""
"A brief trailer toward the end of Sony's news conference at E3 today gave a glimpse of God of War III, just announced for the PS3. The trailer was all pre-rendered, featuring Kratos atop the rubble of a ruined city, bellowing "In the end, there will be only chaos!"
Of course, more on this as it moves. Just wanted to get word out that yes, God of War III is in the pipeline."
"Sony Computer Entertainment disclosed, throughout the Interactive event and Digital Entertainment Festival that is to elapse in Paris, that God Of War III goes to be presented in the E3.
The company did not want to give many details, but probably, no longer next month to July, we will go to know the first details and to see the first trailer of so waited game."
"On June 5, 2008, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock will be receiving a free track exclusively for the PLAYSTATION 3 version of the game. That track, which will be available on the PLAYSTATION Store, is the God of War theme track, fully playable in Gutar Hero III. The news comes from the latest PlayStation Underground e-mail. We can't wait!"
"On a personal note this was the hardest list I've ever attempted to write. All of these girls are villains in some way, with exception of the Horde. It was a ridiculous quest to find a female in a video games who wasn't attractive. And not just attractive, drop dead, unrealistically gorgeous. I hate to ruin a simple list like this, but why? Why are there no normal to ugly looking females, let alone fat ones. I mean I hate to break it to you people, fats real. People are bitching about how the..."
Thompson's back... Again.
In an e-mail sent to GamePolitics last night, Jack Thompson has claimed that there's a possible lawsuit pending over the God of War shooting that was reported on by various media outlets, but which GP chose not to cover because they didn't see a direct link to the game.
It seems as though Jack Thompson might, however. Due to confidentiality concerns he's not saying anything. Yes, I know, it's a miracle; Thompson's actually playing by the rules. However, the ...
"- The BBC reckons sony has an amazing secret game in the works for 2009
- Capcom is developing Dead Rising 2 for mulitple platforms including PS3
- Team ICO's new game has links to Norse myths
- Mass Effect and its Sequels will come to PS3
- Sony already has a in-game version of PS3's XMB up and running
- Netflix will soon offer movie downloads straight to your PS3"
IGN takes the concept of Super Smash Brothers and makes a list of the top characters for a PlayStation version of a multi franchise cross-over. While this is supposed to be a bit of a parody, the "Sony Skills" actually sound like they would work if a game like this was ever made. If they went the extra mile to get specific with each character's moves, it would make a perfectly legitimate rip off.
"“Can anyone explain to me how having ONE console would be bad for gamers? Or game developers for that matter?” asks Jaffe. “One game publisher would be bad. One giant game developer would be bad. I get how those things would hurt gamers. But why would one unified hardware platform?”"
I bet you came running after seeing the articles title didn't you? Well sorry to sadden you with the news that the game will be released in 2009. Such a long time away. TheGameReviews Got a confirmation after speaking with a Dev at the Video Game awards and they also learned that the game will be running at 1080p and will support SIXAXIS and Rumble.
I'm assuming the latest EGM is going to be rolling out soon, and thus, we get some more Quartermann rumors, and these are pretty good. They've been on a roll recently.
The rumors start off with what we would expect: God of War 3 and Gears of War 2.
However, the zinger is that there's the possibility of a Skies of Arcadia 2.
Good God, I hope that comes true.
Encompassing everything from Halo to Sonic, big bands and beautiful voices lead this Top 10 countdown of some of the very best video game music covers YouTube currently has to offer.
This is so insane, that you can't even imagine it. Morpheon Mods have created a custom PSP that has been airbrushed metallic bronze and then it was tarnished to give it a worn and old sort of look. There are hand-sculpted symbols that have been copper-leafed onto the PSP and there are even real chains that edge the system. Even the buttons were removed to be replaced with copper ones.
Even crazier is that the shoulder buttons have been removed and then crystal red buttons are added with s...
"After the news made the rounds today, David Jaffe responded in a posting on the NeoGAF forums: "I can promise you guys I am still part of SCEA...I just got a paycheck from them! I am still 100% a Sony employee and unless I got fired today and they didn't tell me, I'm still working for them. Also, I love working with the guys at Incog and hope to work with them for a long, long time but I sure as s**t ain't moving to Utah...nice as it is, I don't think I could live there long term and I don't ..."
![Box shot of God of War [Europe]](http://i.neoseeker.com/boxshots/R2FtZXMvUGxheXN0YXRpb25fMi9BY3Rpb24vQWR2ZW50dXJl/god_of_war_frontcover_small_aWiujazmd4rlBj6.jpg)