God of War III Message Board

If God of War were Game of Thrones, then the House of Kratos would be absolutely decimated by now…not counting our fearless Spartan, that is (though that’s debatable at the end of God of War III). Aside from being deceived into tragically murdering his wife and daughter in a moment of uncontrollable rage (“Ares!!!!”), Kratos has quite literally destroyed every bit of his lineage: Cronos (grandfather), Zeus (father), Callisto, (mother), Athena (sister). And, in what is our #2 most epic God of War moment of all time as voted by the God of War Facebook community, his brother Hercules.

The battle with Hercules in God of War III was not about a titan-sized boss encounter. However, you can’t deny the crushing blows and empowering strength you felt as Kratos pummeled his brother in his own arena. God of War is as much about power as it is about scale and spectacle, and this moment had it all. Agree? Disagree? Let us know in the comments below.

If you missed the previous epic moments, hit the links from the list below.

God of War’s Most Epic Moments Ever ??????? Kratos vs. Hercules The Brutal Death of Poseidon Brothers in Arms Destroying Zeus and Cronos

At current count, Kratos has decimated 23 of Greek mythology’s most important gods and people. And so far, the God of War Facebook community has voted three of those from Kratos’ “Olympian Hit List” (Zeus, Cronos, and Thanatos) on to our “God of War’s Top 5 Epic Moments” list. What’s the trend? The most epic moments in the God of War: Saga are always when Kratos is fueled by revenge, moving mountains, and defying impossible odds to destroy any mythological super power that gets in his way.

We’re on to our #3 greatest epic moment — this boss battle is arguably the grandest of them all. The word “epic” doesn’t always mean large in a physical nature, but the battle at the beginning of God of War III personifies the term handily. When I think of God of War III, I always remember the first 45 minutes of the game before anything else because of this epic boss battle. What about you? I dare you to disagree with me…

If you missed epic moments #4 and #5, hit the links from the list below.

God of War’s Most Epic Moments Ever ??????? ??????? The Brutal Death of Poseidon Brothers in Arms Destroying Zeus and Cronos

What you see above is a trailer for God of War: Ascension. "But Alex," you ask, "Sony hasn't announced a game called God of War: Ascension yet!" Oops?

Art may not be final, but art is nonetheless radical.

Blame Amazon for the early leak. They evidently posted up this teaser, alongside some placeholder box art for the game this evening. Considering we've been hearing no shortage of rumors regarding a forthcoming God of War IV (or, in this case, God of War: Ascension) announcement, one can imagine that Sony was prepping some kind of big reveal for the title...at least it was. Until now. I bet it was going to be really cool, too.

Instead, here is your teaser trailer and box art, ingloriously shoved out the door into the harsh reality of the Internet before its time, forced to fend for itself with no major marketing event nor official press release to properly help usher it into a world it never made. Really tragic, that.

On the other hand, there's a new God of War game coming, which is actually rather awesome. Though I am going to have to replay God of War III at some point. I can barely even remember what happened in that game. What about you guys? Anyone else good and ready for some more heavy metal Greek God slaying?

#nsfw The creative teams who've made the God of War games have done cruel things to the members of the Greco-Roman pantheon, with series hero Kratos wreaking jaw-dropping vengeance on Ares, Hermes and Hades. Each god Kratos came up against met a spectacularly bloody end but a talk at last week's Game Developers Conference revealed that Zeus' daddy harbored a secret weapon. In his pants. More »

#fineart A former comic book artist, Andy Park is one of the main men to thank if you liked the look of the last two God of War games, as he was a senior concept artist on both God of War II and God of War III. More »

Quick reminder to all you people who like to win free stuff. This week's Daily Fix Facebook Friday Giveaway prize package is truly epic: The winner will receive a PS3 Move bundle, complete with copies of God of War III, Dragon Age II, Dungeon Siege III and Sports Champions. Wuuuut? Rules belo...

#voiceacting Today is unofficial voice-acting day here at Kotaku. We've considered how important voice actors are to video games. We'll be listening to how their work would have impacted the classics. More »

Today, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) announced the winners for the 2011 Into The Pixel collection, the only juried art exhibition that brings together experts from the traditional fine art world and the interactive entertainment industry to display and discuss the art of video games. We’re excited to share that art from four exclusive PlayStation titles have been chosen to be included in this year’s list of winners – UNCHARTED 3: Drake’s Deception, Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, Killzone 3 and God of War III. The ITP has selected only 17 pieces of art to be included in this prestigious collection, so this is a true honor for SCEA and our developers.

Check out the art below to see the winning pieces from our SCEA developers as well as a few words from the teams.

UNCHARTED 3: Drake’s Deception

“The Pelican Inn” by Andrew Kim

Naughty Dog, Inc

Everyone at Naughty Dog is extremely proud to have one of our artist’s works of concept art accepted into the Into the Pixel 2011 exhibition! This is the first time we’ve had a piece of art selected and we couldn’t be happier for Andrew Kim and his piece, The Pelican Inn! I caught up to Andrew after giving him the great news and wanted him to say a few words about his art and the honor of being selected for the Into the Pixel 2011 exhibition.

“The Pelican Inn is one of the first scenes you’ll see in Uncharted 3, where Drake will toughen up his fists for the first time. It’s a compact space with mostly drunken brutes and hustlers. What a perfect place to start a brawl!

When I was first introduced to this level, I was amazed at how a typical London pub has so many stories contained within itself. The mix of vibrant colors from the stained glass and muted colors of antique furniture with all kinds of stuff behind the bar, old frames, and personal messages on the wall… wow, I really could picture so many things that might have happened in this pretty small, compact space. We decided to give the pub a boxing theme, as it seemed a perfect fit to have Drake and Sully brawling in a small pub that has been historically patronized by boxers and boxing fans. It definitely was lot of fun decorating the place under that theme. I paid lot of attention to the details knowing that we wanted to show a very authentic looking pub yet very suitable for our game world.

Having said this, it’s a tremendous honor to be recognized by Into the Pixel. As an artist, it’s always very fulfilling and proud when my work is liked and appreciated by an audience and such competition like Into the Pixel just adds that much more magnitude to this honor.” - Andrew Kim

Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One

“Oktonok Cay Cannery”, by Dave Guertin

Insomniac Games

Insomniac Games is extremely proud to have one of our long-time Principal Artists featured in the 2011 Into the Pixel exhibition. David Guertin has been with Insomniac for over a decade, and drew the original concept sketches of one of PlayStation’s greatest heroes, Ratchet. This marks the second time he has submitted artwork to Into the Pixel and the second time one of his pieces was accepted into the exhibition (His first, the Viper Caverns from Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest For Booty can be seen here.

You may already be familiar with Dave Guertin’s work. He creates many of the concept art pieces for the Ratchet & Clank series, and he conceptualized, created and painted the box art for all of the Ratchet & Clank Future games, as well as many of the Ratchet & Clank magazine cover that you’ve seen. If you’ve been a fan at all of the Ratchet & Clank series, you’ve no doubt been exposed to his paintings over the years. If you’d like to learn more about Dave and see some of his non-Insomniac related work, check out his and fellow Insomniac Principal Artist Greg Baldwin’s side project called CreatureBox at http://www.CreatureBox.com/

“Inspired by childhood summers along the New England coastline, Oktonok Cay serves as our ravaged seaport in Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One. Continuing the franchise tradition of exploring vast unique locations, we sought to capture the history and character of a weather-beaten seaside village. Complete with winding docks, alien sea life, and a bustling cannery, the area encourages players to find their “sea legs” while clobbering a host of menacing creatures along the way.

Into the Pixel continues to represent a broad range of spectacular video game illustration year after year. From gritty realism to unique stylization, ITP has always displayed a great respect for the many visual facets of our industry. I feel extremely fortunate to be included in 2011′s collection alongside so many artists I admire.“ - Dave Guertin

Killzone 3

“Stahl Arms” by Jesse van Dijk

Guerrilla Games

“‘Stahl Arms’ shows the main base of operations for Killzone 3’s prime antagonist, Jorhan Stahl. It’s remote location allows for secret testing of powerful new weapon technologies. The architecture of the complex is predominantly industrial: the dark, segmented sections contain the production facilities, while the lighter, yellow-banded sections house the R&D departments. To underline the commercial nature of Stahl Arms as an organization, part of the structure serves as commercial office space.” – Jessie vanDijk

God of War III

“Cronos Battle” by Tyler Breon

SCEA’s Santa Monica Studio

We are absolutely thrilled here at Santa Monica Studio to have a piece in this year’s Into the Pixel 2011 art exhibit. A well deserved congratulations goes out to Tyler Breon, character artist, who created Cronos Battle, the piece that was selected. We are very proud of Tyler and the exceptional work he continues to do here at the studio.

“The Cronos Battle is another one of those epic scenes that doesn’t exist anywhere but in God of War’s insanely over-the-top universe. A monster larger than a mountain with a temple chained to his back attacking you while you try to kill him in the middle of a ravaged wasteland as enemies sprout from his skin…how could that not be awesome? Plus he’s your grandfather so it’s really twisted.”

“God of War defines the word epic and working on this game moment, for me, defined our studio. There is no quit in the Santa Monica Studio vocabulary and I have nothing but admiration for all of the hard work everyone on our team put into making this battle completely unforgettable. Thank you!”

“Finally, like any artist, I appreciate having my work liked by others! Receiving this award from Into the Pixel is a great honor, and I look forward to doing it again.” – Tyler Breon

Call me late to the party, but I’ve been flipping through Ballistic Publishing‘s 272-page opus The Art of God of War III — and I like it. It reads like a cookbook for wannabe creature creators, chronicling God of War III’s evolving monster designs throughout the game’s extensive development process. The luscious artwork is accompanied by insightful commentary and anecdotes from the game’s visual development artists and the phenoms at Sony Santa Monica Studios.

In addition to pages and pages of unseen concept art and reference sketches, The Art of God of War III showcases characters and creatures that didn’t make it into the final version of the game, including several monster designs that were (sadly) left on the cutting-room floor.

Which creature design is your favorite? Let us know in the comments!

Art by Andy Park

Chimera

“This is a creature I initially designed way back during the previous game, God of War II.… I designed the Chimera thinking of the three personalities of the creature: lion, goat, and snake. They are one being, but they have three different brains and therefore, three different personalities. This illustration showcases the creature in all its vicious glory; with three heads vying to be the one that gets to kill the infamous Kratos. It’s a battle against Kratos and its inner self.” — Andy Park, Visual Development Artist, God of War III

Art by Izzy Medrano

Argus

“Definitely the tragedy of the game for the character department….After lots of sketches, including a pretty bad-ass multi-limbed elephant, the final design was a monstrosity covered with eyes meant to look like a very uncomfortable viral outbreak. It was this freakish frog-type thing with no mouth. I imagined that it would make an awful deep rumbling when out of camera, and all you would hear aside from that was the buzz of blood-bloated flies that follow it everywhere it went. I gave him the name Argus to tie in with the hundred-eyed shepherd from the old myths, and it stuck.

After he was modeled and built, he got scrapped because it was felt that he was too alien-looking. So I went back to the drawing board and came up with a hulking monster with one huge arm that also had tons of eyes all over his body in a herpes-like pattern. We even got the tech working so that all the eyes would follow Kratos, but he was scrapped again due to time constraints.” — Izzy Medrano, Visual Development Artist

Art by Andrew Kim and Cecil Kim

Hades

“The God of the Underworld needed to be a big imposing guy….There were a lot of discussions regarding what would be revealed when Hades’ helmet was finally pulled off in the game….Here, we experimented as if Hades took the souls into his own body and used them as some kind of weapon. The original concept called for these horrifying tentacles — each with their own head — almost as if Hades had all these demons within him trying to escape. In the end, this design felt out of place and we gave Hades a simpler, but still terrifying, skeletal burn-victim-like face.” — Andrew Kim, Visual Development Artist, God of War III

Art by Andy Park

Centaur General and Female Centaur

“I wanted to create a look that was a departure from the original Centaur in the first God of War. I designed a more intelligent, and more imposing, Centaur that would act as a general in the Olympian army…He ended up feeling raw, brutal, and very intimidating.

I also got to design a female version of the Centaur that was unfortunately not used in the game. This time I gave the horse part of the creature white fur and tried to have a more slender feel to it while still maintaining a bulk necessary to keep it intimidating. These were really fun to design.” — Andy Park, Visual Development Artist, God of War III

Art by Andy Park

Satyr

“The Satyr is half-man and half-goat. I did a bunch of variations on what this character could look like, but I also kept in mind that this creature needed to be very agile, and even acrobatic…In the end, I gave the Satyr a more man-like, creature-esque face, and gave the armor a more goat-like feel. I saw it as the Satyr hiding his true visage with him denying his more human side.” — Andy Park, Visual Development Artist, God of War III

Art by Izzy Medrano

Cerberus

“The Cerberus was a really exciting project. I eventually came up with this really awesome burnt and tortured beast that was pregnant with little magma fireballs that would launch out of the central blind head’s throat. I wanted them to feel like they were so violent and aggressive because of they constant pain they were in, hence the chains woven through and underneath their skin and the awful burn scarring. In the end, this version got scrapped in favor of a concept from the very first game. I was really sad to see her go.” — Izzy Medrano, Visual Development Artist

Art by Andy Park

Poseidon Tentacles

“This is the design of the tentacles that protrude out of the main body of the Poseidon creature. It’s an amalgamation of the Hippocampus, crustacean parts, and water. In its open state, I designed the crab-like legs protruding from its back to mimic the shape of Poseidon’s Trident. In its closed state, it acts simply as a crazy claw-like creature that then opens up to reveal the sea horse within.” — Andy Park, Visual Development Artist

Want to see more monsters, character concept art, environment paintings and weapons that didn’t make the cut? Check out The Art of God of War III from Ballistic Publishing and let us know what you think!

#books Ballistic Publishing, the team behind the excellent Uncharted 2 art book, are back with another tome for a Sony franchise, only this time it's God of War. More »

#art Can't afford the big, beautiful God of War III art book? Make do with these free internet pictures of the game, showing the concept art skills of Jung Park. More »

Want to see the new outfits for the Ghost of Sparta? We have them.

Deimos voucher available in God of War: Ghost of Sparta.

#psp At a PlayStation event in New York this week, I played the PSP's God of War: Ghost of Sparta and learned some details. More »

#nsfw For some reason, I decided to take a look at depictions of physical intimacy in four recently released games. More »

#art IGN's Jessica Chobot recently went topless for charity, allowing a Sony artist to do a mold of her chest and then giving the cast a "God of War" paint job. More »

#godofwar Renowned for its blood, glares and exposed breasts, the God of War series is also famous for having some rather exquisite artwork associated with its games. Fans of this art should keep Saturday night free. More »

Nintendo continues strong software sales performance.

The God of War trilogy ended in the recent God of War 3 with Kratos [redacted]. But each God of War game before 3 (directed by Stig Asmussen) had a different director, and, as Asmussen told GamePro, each director had a different idea of how to end the saga of Angry Man Kratos.

Series creator David Jaffe had stories in mind beyond Greek myth. "Basically, you destroy Greek mythology and then Norse mythology is right around the corner," Asmussen recounted. "That's the next thing that Kratos would go after. It becomes clear at the end that he's going to become this harbinger of death across different mythologies in the world and maybe carry the series on from there." God of War 2 director Cory Barlog's ending, according to Asmussen, would turn Kratos into Death. "He pretty much becomes the Grim Reaper at the end of the game and his blades become sickles."

1UP points out that Jaffe had issues with both claims. On Twitter, Jaffe said that the Norse mythology idea was more complicated than Asmussen made it sound. "There is an element of truth but it goes far beyond." Later, he clarified further: "For the love of the Gods, I was NOT proposing Kratos go thru each mythology one by one and milk the series with new myths each time. It was to be a focused singular story that INVOLVED Norse myths- among others." He also mentioned that the "Death" idea attributed to Barlog was actually his.

#godofwar God of War is a unique series, in that three different men lead the development team for each of the three games. How, then, would David Jaffe - original creator of the series - have ended things? More »

Click to enlarge A mystery figure has appeared in the latest update to the God of War teaser site "SpartansStandTall." His reflection (captured above) momentarily flashes on screen during the video loop of the site's rendered thunderstorm. This is the second update to the site; its URL is revealed to players that unlock the God of War 3 Platinum Trophy.

The apparent meter that circles the icon in the upper right corner of the full screen (not pictured) is now three-quarters full (it was one-quarter full to start and was filled to halfway upon the first update), suggesting that the next update will display a full meter and perhaps the ultimate reveal. (DLC? Spin-off? 3D Blu-ray movie? It's anyone's guess.) The icon itself is thought to be representative of the Spartan army's shield; the upside-down "V" being the Greek letter Lamba, standing for "Lacedaemon" (what the ancient Greeks called Sparta).

So who is this mystery man? He certainly looks like he could be angry. And anger has always fueled this franchise, which still has some venting to do.

[Thanks, Geoff]

Just because you're out killing Gods doesn't mean you can't have a threesome.

Reported Wii shortage can't stop Nintendo.

The ill-timed announcement of the 3DS wasn't enough to scare consumers off from purchasing new DS systems. Thanks to the combination of a new hardware variant (the big, big, big DSi XL) and new Pokemon games, the dual-screened platform sold like gangbusters. Meanwhile, hardware shortages kept the PS3 from massive sales despite the fact that it had the best-selling game of March (God of War 3).

Speaking of software, we've learned a lot about you from this month. For example, Final Fantasy fans strongly prefer PS3, Battlefield fans strongly prefer 360, and Pokemon fans' dollar votes went to SoulSilver over HeartGold by quite a lot. How do you even decide something like that? Seriously, one of the 1.78 million or so of you who bought it -- take us through your process!

-DS: 701K88K (14%)
-Wii: 558K160K (40%)
-360: 338K>84K (-20%)
-PS3: 314K46K (-13%)
-PSP: 120K13K (-10%)
-PS2: 118K16K (16%)

See the top 10 games after the break.

#sales March was a battle between one very pissed off Spartan, a girl named Lightning and too many Pokemon to count. Who came out on top in U.S. video game sales for the month of March? More »

There seems to be a tiny bit of confusion going on over in Europe after the God of War Trilogy bundle was removed by some retailers. Eurogamer clarifies that the set isn't canceled, but that Sony is still working out who the retail partners will be for the special edition. The takeaway here is that not all shops will sell the item, which explains the pre-order cancellations we've received tips about.

Barring any hiccups, the Trilogy should release the last week of April in PAL lands for €89.99 (£64.99). Oh, and if you're wondering about picking up God of War 3, well, we liked it.

[Thanks, Miguel B.]

#screengrab Another Malaysian Wall O' Games (see Modern Warfare 2). Sent in by reader Darren L. More »

With the recent release of the God of War III Ultimate Edition, many of you, when not busy swinging those double deadly Blades of Chaos, have been rocking nonstop to the sounds of the God of War: Blood & Metal album. One of the tracks in particular has been gaining rapidly in popularity, “Even Gods Cry” by The Turtlenecks. With its haunting melody and thoughtful lyrics, it’s no wonder that it has many fans tapping their feet and scratching their heads. After much pleading and begging Matthew Cappiello and Noah Belson, the illusive Turtlenecks themselves, agreed to allow the PS.Blog to have the world exclusive premiere of the “Even Gods Cry” music video. Better yet they were kind enough to sit down with me and answer a few questions providing some true insight to the men behind the music.

What Inspired you to write “Even Gods Cry”?

Noah Belson: What inspired DaVinci to paint The Last Supper? Or Mike Angelo to take brush to the Sistine Chapel? No one knows where inspiration comes from, but in the case of “Even Gods Cry,” it’s as though some divine force placed the seed of an idea in my head, then poured thought juice on that seed and then that seed grew into a mighty oak, inside my head.

Matthew Cappiello: Also, someone said we could make $100 off this and that’s pretty decent walkin’ around money. If you think about it, that’s probably why DaVinci painted. I mean the guy had to eat, right?

How do you think you are most like Kratos?

NB: Kratos and I both have slight anger management problems. Ask anyone on the highway that fateful day when I smashed 11 windshields with a 9 iron if they think I have anger issues and they’ll probably go “and how!” So there is a little Kratos in me, yes. But you know, another trait the K man and I share is vulnerability. The big guy may be tough as nails but inside he’s hurting and I know what it is it to hurt. But I also know that ripping the heads off monsters (literally or figuratively) isn’t the way to deal with that hurt, so that’s where Kratos and I part ways. Frankly I think if Kratos were around today, he’d benefit from calming influences such as yoga, pilates and maybe even a course of hug therapy. You don’t need a prescription, you just need arms, and heck you can even hug someone if they don’t have arms.

MC: Let me tell you a secret. We’re ALL Kratos. Every single one of us. Some of us are Kratos because we’re fighting internal demons like alcohol, chocolate or heroin. While others of us are the REAL Kratos, fighting demons and shooting lasers (he shoots lasers, right?) at evil demons and demigods and what not. I never actually played the game because I’m still using a Playstation 1 and I just can’t swing the upgrade right now. In any case, to answer your question- yes, I had a lot of fun writing “Even Gods Cry.”

Why do you think this song has such universal appeal?

MC: We write songs for the common man. When we ride in the Turtlecopter and point down at the tiny people below us, we point to them and say, “That guy. That’s who we’re writing this song for.” and I think it shows in our music.

NB: But in this song we did something different. This song was written for the gods. We wanted this to be the kind of song that when people heard it for the first time they would finally understand what ears are for. We wanted lovers to kiss harder after hearing it. We wanted mothers to weep for the joys their children will know. Flowers to bloom brighter. Cotton to feel softer. This song has universal appeal because the universe needed this song, just like the universe needs the Turtlenecks.

#art Of course it is. And if you would prefer to hang such a gruesome and great thing on your wall, you can order it as a print from the Art of God of War III show at Nucleus gallery. More »

Third installment flying off store shelves.