The Sony press conference for E3 2009 is set to prepare gamers for the return of a juggernaut. Sony’s had a tough year for its PS3 console, but things are looking up. This is Sony’s year to make the most expensive console on the market profitable. With God of War III, Heavy Rain, Batman Arkham Asylum, Modern Warfare 2 and MAG on the horizon, this year’s E3 press conference promises to give gamers a reason to pick up a PS3. I’ll be blogging live as Sony wows gamers with 364 new PS3, PSP and PS2 titles. Check out the running commentary after the break.

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Sony has revealed through a recent press release a bittersweet announcement of sorts for fans of the God of War series. According to the company, God of War 3 is the last installment of the franchise and will mark the “epic conclusion” to the tale of the heroic and brutal Spratan, Kratos.

Anyone who watched the teaser trailer that was unveiled during the Spike TV Video Game Awards can tell you that the video was decently cool, but if this is the last of the series and they are expecting him to go out with a “bang” they better do Kratos and gamers a solid by literally giving us something that we can be satisfied with and more than anything worthy of His Destructiveness.

This time around, Kratos is rampaging through Mt. Olympus and Hell itself, reeking havoc on the gods who have betrayed him. Per his usual way of slaughtering his foes, he will be wielding his double-chained blades against mythological creatures and any other poor sap who has the misfortune to cross his bloody path of revenge.

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Blitz Games Studios achieves a world-first with the public unveiling of its ground breaking, proprietary technology showing true stereoscopic 3D games running on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 at the 3D Entertainment Summit in Los Angeles.

Andrew Oliver, co-founder and CTO of Blitz Games Studios, is the only game developer to be talking at the summit alongside movie industry executives from Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group, DreamWorks, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Dolby Laboratories and Real-D.

Blitz Games Studios’ in-house technology demonstrates that current generation consoles can replicate the full HD 3D experience seen in 3D movie theaters with the 3D images ‘popping’ out of 3DTV screens and into living rooms for the first time.

Andrew Oliver, CTO of Blitz Games Studios said:

“This is an incredibly exciting and huge step forward for videogames. Our BlitzTech technology will prove beyond all doubt that we are already doing what some industry experts have said is impossible on today’s game consoles. Our highly tuned engine is capable of producing real-time interactive graphics that are close to offline rendered CG movie quality.

Many TV manufacturers are already selling sets capable of displaying 3D imagery and we envisage that these sets will rapidly gain popularity as content in the form of movies and games becomes available. Our technology allows for our games to run in both 2D and 3D in one version – by simply flicking a ’switch’ between them. It really has to be seen to be believed.”

Oliver states that games are already arguably more immersive than films, but when created in true 3D will be even more immersive.  However, he admits that the games industry still needs to understand design issues and learn lessons from Hollywood studios which are now producing 3D movies in volume for release in 2009 onwards.

I guess this means that the possibility of seeing the womanizing antics of Kratos up close and personal in the near future is not so far fetched. Or imagine, if you will, a rallyracer in DiRT coming out of the screen as if to run you over. Sounds like loads of fun.

(Thanks Kezins)

David Jaffe and Sony have apparently had a lawsuit filed against them for alleged copyright infringement in the God of War series. The suit was filed by Jonathan Bissoon-Dath and Jennifer Barrette-Herzog in the U.S. District Court of California, who are alleging that God of War is too similar to their written works, Olympiad and The Adventures of Own: Owen’s Olympic Adventure. The two say that they sent their works to Sony in hopes of getting them made into motion pictures, as well as to several agents that work with the SCEA. This happened around three years before the first God of War game shipped, which is also the time that David Jaffe said the game took to make. Here are a few examples of the similarities the lawsuit describes:

• Plaintiff’s works tell the original story of how a champion saves Athens from destruction by the invading Spartan army that has been sent by Ares… [GoW]… is the story of how a champion chosen by Zeus and Athens saves Athen from destruction by an invading army sent by Ares…
• In plaintiff’s original work and God of War, the Champion’s family is hacked to death in a one-room building in a small peaceful village. In both stories the Champion feels partially responsible even though he is not really to blame…
• In exchange for Kratos’ pledge, Ares gives him… the Blades of Chaos… two massive, glowing, sword-like blades fastened to chains fused to Kratos’s wrists… These Blade of Chaos are taken directly from a scene in Bissoon-Dath’s work… “As Zeus strides forward… his hands MORPH into two massive swords that glow like light sabers…”
• …Owen must cross the Bottomless Valley over a long, sagging suspension bridge, shown on Barrette-Herzog’s map… in God of War Kratos must cross the Bottomless Chasm on a long, sagging suspension bridge…

Wow, a bottomless pit, swords for hands, and a family being killed. I’m surprised the writers behind Indiana Jones, Terminator, and Bambi aren’t in on this lawsuit. Or the Greek poet, Homer, for that matter. I just hope we hear another fun-filled rant on David Jaffe’s blog about this some time soon.

Via GamePolitics

Well, this is certainly the strangest piece of DLC I’ve seen in awhile. Sony has announced that Kratos, the scourge of the immortals in God of War, is coming to the PSN today as a downloadable character for Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds. Apparently, the team at Sony worked very closely with the God of War developers to get his animations and voice-work right, so he’ll act and sound like the god-kicking badass we all know. He also comes equipped with a special set of “chain drivers” and apparently a shrunken torso. Let’s just hope they don’t try and incorporate his golfing skills into God of War III, whenever that comes out.

Via Playstation Blog

We previously reported on Little Big Planet’s pre-order goodies, which include in-game costumes of Kratos and Nariko.  It seems 2 out of the 5 pre-order items were revealed this week.

If you want your Sackboy to resemble God of War’s badass main character Kratos, then it seems you’ll have to preorder with GameStop. The costume will come as a voucher with a promotional code that you can input on the Playstation Store.  It should be noted also that the costume consists of four seperate items, which you can interchange between other costume items: Kratos’ signature skin, goatee, Blades of Athena, and Kratos’ garments.

The other pre-order item is one that you folks who are planning to take the creation process in Little Big Planet very serious.  Amazon.com will be offering a digital mini-guide from Brady Games which will allow you to take your creations to another level by giving you tips and tricks for the tools you’ll be using in Little Big Planet.

There you have it folks.  As of now, those are the only pre-order details that have been released.  There’s still 3 more pre-order items, so if you have your eye on any one of the other ones, you’ll just have to sit back and wait a bit longer until those details are released.

[Via Little Big Planet News]

As if Littlebigplanet did not seem awesome enough to me, apparently one of the pre-order goodies you can get for the highly anticipated PS3 title is Kratos – or Nariko from Heavenly Sword if she floats your boat instead.

PlayStation.Blog has detailed the pre-order bonuses that are being offered with Littlebigplanet at various retailers – which retailers will have what has yet to be announced so check back with us or call your local gaming outlet. The coolest of these pre-order bonuses are the SackBoy costume of Kratos and the SackGirl costume of Nariko.

I only wish that these were real SackToys that you could touch, feel, and play with. I can just feel the inspiration that SackBoy Kratos would bestow upon me now if I were to be able to gaze at his silly face adorning my work station. The pure badassedness of the God of War would probably overwhelm my system though and turn me into a puddle of jello-like goo instead, then what use would I be?

I know that a lot of people were a bit “meh” when God of War III was announced yesterday at the Sony press conference, and I understand why they were, because we all already knew it was coming. However, invoking the name of Kratos is enough to get me all bubbly, giggly and twitterpatted all at the same time. Who cares if we already knew it was coming? Its God of War III people, and may I say that Kratos looks dead sexy in next-gen. So sexy in fact that I would eat Ramen noodles from here until release just to be able to afford a PS3 for the game. There, I finally admitted my devotion to the lusciously brutal Spartan despite his heart being blacker than an abandoned coal mine. Admission is the first step to recovery, ya know.

Anyway, sometime this year expect to see more goodies regarding God of War III because it will supposedly be out sometime around Q1 2009 – if rumors are to be believed. No matter, I would wait until Q4 for it as long as it was finished and worthy of his godliness.

Gaming Today is in the trenched at E3 this week, and yesterday may have been pretty exciting, what with FFXIII being released for the Xbox 360, Resident Evil 5 getting a release date, all the Halo Wars and Gears of War Footage (will be posted soon) and other nice nuggets – it is only going to get better today.
The Nintendo press conference will start off the morning, and the day will close with the Activision private party (away from E3) taking place around 7:00 pm PST. So for those of us on EST, we can expect some info to start arriving 10pm this evening as far as that event goes. Again, Jonathan and Shawn will be blogging live, so expect more information throughout the day and into the evening.

Meanwhile, what are you excited to hear about? Personally, I am curious to see what else Bethesda has to offer other than more Fallout 3 info, and Activision will more than likely be talking up the Guitar Hero franchise and possibly be giving us the first real look at World Tour. They released a press statement yesterday during the Microsoft event about the new Metallica coming to Legends of Rock, so hopefully the guys will have more information on that later. What I am anxious to hear about is the new Wolfenstein title because there is nothing more fun than shooting Nazis ate up with the occult bug.

As far as the Sony press conference goes, I am keeping my fingers crossed that God of War 3 is mentioned or at least shown in rough form. Of course, I am a total Kratos groupie, and anything regarding a future title starring the angry Spartan piques my interest very much. I am sure we will also hear more about “Home” and LittleBigPlanet and many other titles along with future firmware updates coming, so keep your eyes peeled.

As if Vader and Yoda weren’t enough to get gamers excited about Soul Calibur IV, rumor now has it that Kratos from God of War may also be showing up in the game. Quartermann, EGM’s gossip guy, has heard rumblings that the infamous pasty-faced God-killer may be showing up exclusively for the PS3. That’s awesome by itself, but it also begs the question of what the Xbox 360 might get in return. Master Chief with an energy sword? Marcus Fenix using the Lancer’s chainsaw? I don’t know, but odds are it’ll be equal parts ridiculous and badass.

Via 1UP