Archive for the ‘santa monica studios’ Category
Qore Episode 23 – Featuring God of War III, Split/Second, 3D Dot Game Heroes
Posted by Kevin Furuichi in 3D, 3D Dot Game Heroes, Inside PlayStation, PlayStation Games, PlayStation Network, QORE, god of war III, santa monica studios, split second on March 31st, 2010
By now, many of you have unleashed chaos on all of Olympus in God of War III. As you look back upon your adventure of carnage and glory, you’re probably wondering: how did Sony’s Santa Monica Studio create this experience? Veronica Belmont interviews game director Stig Asmussen and lead combat designer Adam Poole about the entire process, from developing Kratos’ character model and enlivening the Gods to creating the scale of the epic Titan battles. This is a fascinating look back from their perspective now that many of us have enjoyed the game. And, if you haven’t played it yet, don’t worry! The feature is spoiler-free—just gorgeous video and insights from Stig and Adam. After delving into the making of the game, you can also test your reflexes in our God of War III interactive quick-time event challenge.
Driving has been incorporated in so many non-racing titles—from Red Faction: Guerrilla to The Saboteur—that some gamers have questioned if the racing genre has any life of its own left in it. According to Disney’s Black Rock Studios, the answer is a resounding yes! Set in the world of reality TV high-stakes racing, their upcoming game, Split/Second, aims to bring the thrill back to the genre with insanely over-the-top environmental events that can alter the track with each lap.
Remember the ‘80’s? Leg warmers. Ray-Bans. Parachute pants. Ferris Bueller. And 8-bit games! Jump back to the future with the totally rad 3D Dot Game Heroes which returns ordinary people to their classic gaming roots. Enhanced by the PlayStation 3’s ability to provide all the right moves, this gem is sure to make a sudden impact especially when you see the character creator that is sure to remind many of us that it’s hip to be square There’s also a 3D Dot Game Heroes “old school” quiz to measure if you’ve still got the hunger for the 80’s.
With so much news this year about new 3D TV technology coming to your PS3, the Qore team talked to the experts at SCEA and Blitz Games about how the technology actually works and how best to develop for this dimension. This is one feature that’s got the complete picture.
All purchasers also receive a free 3D Dot Game Heroes theme, and as usual, don’t miss Audrey Cleo’s preview of the newest Blu-ray releases for April 2010.
Look for Episode 23 tomorrow.
God of War III Out Today!
Posted by Anthony Caiazzo in PS3, PlayStation Games, god of war III, santa monica studios on March 16th, 2010
Fellow Spartans!
The wait is finally over! CHAOS has been unleashed nationwide as the highly anticipated God of War III releases on store shelves today. If you didn’t make it to the midnight launch events last night, make sure to call your store and get your copy fast. God of War III is set to take to the stage as the biggest entertainment launch event in PlayStation 3 history and will be remembered as one of the best action adventure titles of 2010. Now is your chance to take down the Gods of Olympus by wreaking havoc and spreading chaos through all of civilization. I’d like to especially thank our Santa Monica Studios for all their time, hard work, and energy in delivering this award winning video game. I’d also like to give a big thank you to all the fans who have stayed loyal throughout Kratos’ journey and continued to support all things God of War.
In celebration of today’s launch, I’d like to share with you our new trailer called “Chaos,” featuring kick-ass footage from the game.
In the End, There Will Be Only Chaos….
PlayStation.Blog God of War III GDC 2010 Meetup Recap
Posted by Chris Morell in Events, PS3, PlayStation Community, PlayStation Games, gdc10, god of war III, meetup, santa monica studios on March 15th, 2010
Can you say, “Biggest meetup ever?” Because if you made it out to San Francisco on Wednesday, you experienced it first-hand. Not that we didn’t expect an early God of War III hands-on event to draw a mega-crowd. But still, hats off to you guys for making it out in spades. A HUGE thank you to everyone who came out for an entire day’s worth of festivities, culminating in a chance to play God of War III before it hits stores tonight/tomorrow! Thanks also to those who followed along at home — hopefully it will make picking up the game even more exciting!
And you East-coasters that have been asking and asking for us to come to you…well, it’s official. The PlayStation.Blog is coming to New York City and Boston (PAX East) next week! Specific details coming soon.
As for San Francisco, it was a day-long celebration of God of War III. Several of you lined up as early as 5am to secure a spot in our massive tent. (Check out ALL the pictures of our God of War III GDC 2010 Meetup on Flickr!)
At around noon, we unleashed the burrito truck upon the line! Now that spells CHAOS!
Shortly after, we opened the tent “doors” to the masses. Everyone was greeted inside by PlayStation 3s loaded up with God of War Collection, and a special challenged awaited. The test? Complete the God of War II Challenge of the Titans “Blind Fury” the fastest…in one try. You die, you’re out. And the winner would lock down a God of War III Ultimate Edition!
We thought we’d see plenty of quick deaths, but in fact, many of you utterly blitzed this challenge. But only one came through with a time that could arguably last through the ages. 16 seconds! 16 freakin’ seconds! Here’s your winner:
Throughout the day, we raffled off TONS of games, posters and other unique PlayStation goodies. Anyone who brought a PSP took home God of War: Chains of Olympus, but we also gave away MLB 10: The Show PSP, Heavy Rain, Fireteam Bravo 3, Killzone 2 and much more.
The highlight of the meetup was definitely the presence of Stig and the Sony Santa Monica Studio team who stopped by to sign autographs for everyone who came! All attendees also scored a limited-edition God of War III art book!
And finally, there was the chance to take your picture and create a personalized God of War III cover! There are some truly great shots in Flickr, so flip through ‘em!
God of War III Launch Special Tonight on SPIKE TV + Midnight Launch Events!
Posted by Eric Levine in Events, PS3, PlayStation Games, god of war III, santa monica studios on March 15th, 2010
God of War fans -
The day you’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived. At 12:00 a.m. tonight, Kratos will be invading a retailer near you as the widely anticipated God of War III will be hitting store shelves! For those looking to channel your inner Spartan warrior, check out GTTV Presents God of War III: Last Titan Standing on SPIKE TV at 11:38 p.m. In this 30 minute special, action adventure comes to life as 10 of the biggest God of War fans in America get pushed to the limits, both mentally and physically.
These die-hard disciples of Kratos must shave their heads on the spot to show their allegiance, climb out of the underworld, and know their God of War trivia, as asked by game director Stig Asmussen. And, above all else, prove their physical strength across epic challenges and gameplay ability in a battle against Hades from God of War III. In the end, only one titan will be left standing – the one who best embodies the characteristics of Kratos, the God of War.
Here’s a look at the promo…
Here’s a look at the custom Kratos PS3 that the winner will be receiving…not bad!
And for those of you looking to be the first to get your hands on a copy of God of War III, we’ve teamed up with GameStop to host Midnight Launch Events at locations all around the country. Tonight, more than 3,500 stores nationwide will be welcoming Kratos faithful with various contests, challenges, and giveaways. Most participating GameStop locations will open at 10:00 p.m. local time, however, consumers should contact their local store to confirm the exact time of the event as they may vary by location.
GameCrazy and Best Buy are also holding midnight launch events. Click the corresponding links to find the nearest location.
Below are store GameStop addresses in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York to get you started. To learn more about events near you, visit a local GameStop store or go to www.gamestop.com/kratos.
In the End, There Will Be Only Chaos….
Los Angeles
GameStop
7100 SANTA MONICA BLVD
WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA 90046
(323) 845-9685
San Francisco
GameStop
151 POWELL STREET
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102
(415) 362-7601
New York City
GameStop
1282 BROADWAY
NEW YORK, NY 10001
(212) 967-9070
God of War III’s Stig Asmussen: Your Questions Answered
Posted by Chris Morell in PS3, PlayStation Games, gdc10, god of war III, santa monica studios on March 12th, 2010
See, I told you we’d get him! As you could imagine, God of War III Game Director Stig Asmussen is a very busy man. But as promised, we managed to lock him down for about 10 minutes to bombard him with your questions at the GDC PlayStation.Blog.Lounge (also, check out our chat with Designer Director Todd Papy who filled in for Stig last week). With T-minus four days until Chaos, Stig is looking very relaxed, and so he tackles your inquires with ease. And I promise there are no spoilers here, so no need to worry for those of you that are struggling to stay in the dark.
Can you believe March 16 is just around the corner?
Reminder: God of War III GDC San Francisco Meetup is Tomorrow!
Posted by Chris Morell in Events, PS3, PlayStation Community, PlayStation Games, gdc10, god of war III, meetup, santa monica studios on March 9th, 2010
Not like we thought it slipped your mind, but if you’re in the San Francisco Bay area tomorrow, you’re invited to come celebrate the launch of God of War III!
And if you have the means to get here, do it – we have a history of treating our fans to extremely good times. And tomorrow is no exception as you’ll have many chances to win great PlayStation games and prizes, get autographs from members of the development team, create your own God of War III box, and much more. So whatever the means – train, plane, car, bike, rollerblades, horse, camel – get here tomorrow! There’s only one God of War III event and we don’t want you to miss it (In all seriousness, if you arrive on a camel, you’re getting something incredibly cool).
Check out our initial post for all the fine details, but here’s a quick recap. We’ve got a couple HUNDRED tickets for our very special community (that’s you!) to get you in to the amazing and mega-exclusive God of War III event, where you’ll get to go hands-on with the final version of God of War III, enjoy some epic food and hospitality, and watch a still-secret-but-guaranteed-to-be-super-awesome band perform.
And all you need to do is show up. But we HIGHLY recommend arriving early. The hands-on event doesn’t start until 7pm – so we’re setting up a community-only pre-event party that goes on all day. What does that entail? Free food from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m, awesome schwag giveaways and raffles, free wi-fi (In the words of Triumph, “For you to Tweet on!”), the chance to put yourself on the God of War III box, autographs and more! So if you haven’t already signed up, RSVP on our Facebook Page!
Important Details:
- The hands-on event goes from 7-10pm on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at the SF Concourse Exhibition Center. The pre-party meet-up begins at noon (you’ll see our tent in venue’s parking lot). Directions here. Don’t even think of strolling up at 6.30pm – you ain’t getting in!
- Keep in mind that you must be 21 or older to get into evening hands-on event, but anyone 18+ (or with their parent/guardian) can come to the all-day meetup. ID *will* be checked!
- Parking is rough in the area, so try to take BART or Caltrain – both very close to venue.
- Once you’re in, you’re in — no ins and outs (don’t worry, we will have bathrooms). Unless of course you don’t want to stick around for the amazingly awesome hands-on event at 7pm. Then you’re free to leave at will…but you’re making a HUGE mistake!
- You must RSVP via this Facebook event invite
- Be sure to leave your replica Blades of Chaos at home
- You might wanna think about bringing your PSP ;-)
The End Begins at GDC…
It Only Does Epic Trilogies
Posted by Peter Dille in Inside PlayStation, PS3, PlayStation Games, ads, god of war III, santa monica studios on March 9th, 2010
Hi everyone,
It’s been fun to watch all the speculation on whether or not God of War III would get its own spot with Kevin Butler. The answer? Of course, how could it not? We’ve been looking forward to the launch of God of War III for some time now (as you all have) as it’s one of the best examples of “It Only Does Everything” that you’ll find. Where else can you get epic storylines, groundbreaking depth of scale, dynamic 3D realism, and our signature gameplay that is God of War. Yes, God of War III will be one of our biggest sales drivers this year, selling multiple millions of copies and becoming a system seller for PS3. It’s that good and everything you’ve heard is true. With more than 35GB of Blu-ray gaming goodness, it’s truly a shining example of “Only on PlayStation.”
The early reviews are echoing what we already know, that the wait for God of War III will not have been in vain. PlayStation: The Official Magazine has given God of War III a score of 5 out of 5 while Game Informer has followed suit with a 10 out of 10, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg as we expect an onslaught of positive reviews to hit newsstands next week.
Some of you already know what to expect from the final installment of this Olympic-size trilogy. For those of you who don’t, comparing God of War III’s scale and scope to previous chapters is like comparing Kratos’ Blades of Chaos to a letter opener. We are confident that if you haven’t jumped on board yet, this game will certainly be the incentive you’ve been waiting for to get a PS3. Our hats are off once again to our studio organization for creating another amazing experience. I’ve been saying it for awhile, but the depth and breadth of content on PS3 is unrivaled and will continue to be a catalyst to our sales all year long.
While the game itself won’t be in stores until March 16, many of you dedicated God of War fans have already been feeling the Fury of Kratos at your local 7-Eleven. Already, thousands of vouchers from the cups have been redeemed for exclusive downloadable content. Kratos will also be invading the world of NASCAR. On Saturday, March 20, the No. 20 car will be sporting a brand new God of War III and GameStop themed paint scheme driven by Joey Logano during the Scotts Turf Builder 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway. For our die-hard fans, we’ve produced our first collector’s item with the “Ultimate God of War III Edition” which comes packed with exclusive collectibles and downloadable content (priced at $99.99). Several retail partners are seeing huge demand on pre-orders for this edition, so make sure to grab yours on launch day.
Which brings us back to our good friend Kevin Butler, who will also play his part to promote God of War III with a new TV commercial that begins airing the end of this week. Suffice it to say that Kevin can’t possibly ignore the game’s star power. We will also have a 15 second commercial highlighting all the glowing accolades this game is already garnering. We hope you all enjoy your exclusive access to both commercials here before they hit the airwaves:
I look forward to hearing your feedback on the commercials and this amazing game.
God of War III Path To Olympus Experience Launches on GodofWar.com
Posted by Malcolm Berman in PS3, PlayStation Games, god of war, god of war III, santa monica studios on March 8th, 2010
Hey God of War fans. We are excited to unveil Path to Olympus today, a new exclusive feature on GodofWar.com.
So what is it?
In short, it’s a primer to get you prepared for March 16 when Kratos will storm retailers. Kratos has come a long way since his days as Captain of the Spartan Army, and the Path to Olympus episodes will take you through some of his most prolific and darkest moments, while providing the back story leading up the beginning of God of War III.
Who is it for?
This feature is for you if:
- You are a new player and want to learn what all this Kratos mania is about.
- You’re a gamer who has played the God of War games but are scratching your head trying to remember who Kratos killed, who has killed Kratos and everything in between.
- And lastly, if you’re a hardcore fan that wants to experience, once again, some of Kratos’ most exciting and brutal moments before plunging into God of War III.
What to expect
We will be releasing new content leading up to launch that will quickly get you up to speed on the story, preparing you to take control of Kratos as he catapults towards his destiny in God of War III.
Take a look at some of the video content from the first chapter:
Click to begin!
One last thing to share. Many of the God of War developers are now on the GodofWar.com forums answering questions. Head on over to the community section of God of War and hear what they have been saying.
Want to Play God of War III Early? Come to our GDC San Francisco Meetup!
Posted by Jeff Rubenstein in Events, PS3, PlayStation Community, PlayStation Games, gdc10, god of war III, meetup, santa monica studios on March 4th, 2010
Come celebrate the release of the most anticipated game of 2010 – by playing it early!
Earlier today, we sent this God of War III invite out to media, industry luminaries, heads of state, space marines, surviving Greek and Roman gods, and select reality TV show stars (nobody from celebrity rehab shows, thankyouverymuch).
Assuming you don’t fit into one of those categories, we did what we always do here at PlayStation.Blog: score extra tickets for you community members. We’ve got a couple HUNDRED tickets to get some of our close, personal friends (this means *you*) into this super-exclusive event, where you’ll get to go hands-on with the final, polished version of God of War III, enjoy our legendary hospitality, and watch a Really-Awesome-Band-That-I-Can’t-Name-Yet perform.
What do you need to do? Well – just show up.
Based on previous meet-ups we’ve held, we know some of you will get there early. For this event – we’re expecting it. Heck, we’re practically demanding it!
While the hands-on event doesn’t start until 7pm – we’re setting up a Community-Only pre-event party that goes on all day. We’ll have free food from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. (Tacos of the Gods, anyone?), limited edition schwag giveaways, free wi-fi (we expect you to Tweet!), the chance to put yourself on the God of War III box, autographs with the developers and CHAOS…in the form of games, of course. We’ve got some really good stuff planned, so take the day off, make the drive from LA/Vegas/St. Louis, and get there early!
This event will be limited, so if you want to go, be sure to RSVP on our Facebook event page.
Here are some important details:
- The hands-on event goes from 7-10pm on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at the SF Concourse Exhibition Center. The pre-party meet-up begins at noon (you’ll see our tent in venue’s parking lot). Directions here. Don’t even think of strolling up at 6.30pm – you ain’t getting in!
- Keep in mind that you must be 21 or older to get into evening hands-on event, but anyone 18+ (or with their parent/guardian) can come to the all-day meetup. ID *will* be checked!
- Parking is rough in the area, so try to take BART or Caltrain – both very close to venue.
- Once you’re in, you’re in — no ins and outs (don’t worry, we will have bathrooms). Unless of course you don’t want to stick around for the amazingly awesome hands-on event at 7pm. Then you’re free to leave at will…but you’re making a HUGE mistake!
- You must RSVP via this Facebook event invite
- Be sure to leave your replica Blades of Chaos at home
- You might wanna think about bringing your PSP ;-)
The End Begins at GDC. Will you be there?
God of War III Interview with Design Director Todd Papy
Posted by Chris Morell in Developer Corner, PS3, PlayStation Games, god of war III, santa monica studios on March 3rd, 2010
Last week, I was lucky enough to attend our God of War III event in Hollywood, where we revealed the opening portion of the game to press. Yes, as you could imagine, jaws dropped.
I’m not going to spoil anything here, and frankly, I made sure to keep my head turned for the majority of hands-on time because I’m all about going in fresh when I finally have retail copy in hand. But, in addition to hosting the event, key members of the Santa Monica Studio development team were on hand to chat. Last week you sent me questions for Stig, but unfortunately, he was sick and very limited during the event. So we’re saving most of those up for when we talk to Stig during GDC next week. But Design Director Todd Papy was nice enough to fill in (and he’s an insanely cool guy), so we sat down to talk God of War III, and I couldn’t help but throw a few of your questions his way. Hope you like it.
And make sure that if you do have more questions for Stig, drop them in this post via comments, as we’re definitely getting some time with him next week during GDC.
Was there a lot of stress when it came to living up to the previous God of War games, not only in the fans eyes, but with the developers too?” – Vaughn Johnson via Twitter
Well I think we put more pressure on ourselves. There’s always that stress, and you don’t wanna be known as the guys who F up God of War [laughs]. You really don’t want to be known as that! You know, it’s one of those things where I think we were able to pull it off and hopefully exceed expectations even though the bar is set so high.
And you’re setting your own bar.
Yeah, and that’s the thing that’s always scary…how are we going to outdo ourselves. So when we started talking about God of War III, it was like, “What are we going to do with the Titans and how are we going to change the weapons to make things new and interesting?”
At what point do you reach a level that you’re happy with in development? When do you know when to stop?
Obviously time. I think all of us are artisan in a way and being able to noodle the game to death…there’s got to be a point in time where we say, “This is enough, let’s get it out the door.” But with that, we want to push the envelope, so we do a lot of play tests to see if we’re getting the reaction we want out of players. Are they getting it, and are are they enjoying the experience. But also, we have cameras on their faces when they are playing so when they get to that kill — what’s the reaction? Some people are stone cold and we can’t read them, but when they’re filling out the paper, they’d say they loved it. Others are like, “Ohhh! Oh my god, I can’t believe I just saw that!” Then we know, alright, we’ve got something special
What has been most challenging about the game, handling the tech or the story/gameplay?
I think the Titans, just because the way that we design the levels is under designer control. So we can do iterations really quick, say adjust the jump if it doesn’t feel right, change it and get it into the game quickly. Versus the Titans, when we’re designing in T-pose. We have to figure out what the arms is going to look like, or how the shoulder is going to look when its climbing. And basically, it’s the designer working with the animator to say, “Hey bring that down a bit.” There’s a lot of working back and forth, and it’s just very time consuming.
Well, it’s paid off because you’ve really done some amazing work. Are you happy to be done with the game?
I love it. I am very happy to be done, but at the same time I’m like, “Oh sh*t, what are we going to do next!”
It’s something that you’ve lived with for song long, just the process of creating a game, right?
Yeah, we’ve been doing it for 3-plus years and 10-plus months of crunch. We actually had a couple of designers come in today and we said, “No, no, you’re supposed to be on vacation, go home!” Really, we all love it, and even when we finished this one somebody was noodling around creating new ideas and new designs. It’s something that we live for.
What is the most difficult thing about adapting mythology to a video game? – Brandon Gedrich via Twitter
Well, it’s our take. We don’t follow mythology to a T. It’s us taking what we want and what we think is interesting, and basically weaving a story around Kratos. And with Greek mythology there’s a lot of inspiration to draw from, but it’s, “What do we think is cool? What wrapper can we put around that?” And if it happens to be something in Greek mythology, we’ll say, “OK, that’s cool. Let’s use that.”
Was there anything you were influenced by with UNCHARTED 2 during your development process?
Well, we didn’t really see the game [during development]. But we did have design meetings with them like Richard and Neil, and we’d basically talk and say, “Hey, how do you guys do things?” Their system versus our system is completely different, even in the way they handle their big wow moment which was probably the train sequence. And now this [the opening] is one of our big wow moments. They saw one of the titans early on and saw what we were doing, and hopefully our communications with them and they way we talk about our enemies…hopefully that will influence them. And the way they tell stories, I would hope that we would do some of that stuff in the next game.
Knowing God of War, though, God of War III will probably bring a lot of those “wow” moments, right?
Right, and that’s the thing. In the beginning of the game, Stig and I went through and listed our all our wow moments once we knew the locations and set pieces. And we listed out how many of those moments were wanted to hit, and said, “We’ve got to be in this range.” And I think we hit it.
Well, congrats on being done! Without revealing any spoilers, is there anything you want to say to the PlayStation fans? These are some of your biggest fans who will be reading this.
I hope you love it. If there are things that you like about it, or anything that you dislike about it, trust me – all of us read the boards and we watch out for that stuff. So if there’s something that irks you, write about it. And we’ll find it, look at it and review it.