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You know how Kratos’ battle against the gods of Olympus is known for its massive, insane action sequences spread throughout? Well, some genius (or likely several geniuses) at Sony’s Santa Monica Studio had the brilliant idea of making a whole game just out of those incredible moments. It was rare that I went 15 minutes without my jaw dropping at the immense size, stunning beauty or sheer creativity of the set piece I was now scaling or destroying.

I’m willing to agree that God of War III is just “God of War HD,” provided that “HD” stands for “Holy Shit.”

Continue reading Review: God of War III

Review: God of War III originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Eric Ruth, an independent developer who more than proved his prowess with Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead, recently showed off the fruits of his latest labor: A completely renovated, high-definition version of Mega Man 9. Ruth managed to recreate every single character, enemy and background by hand, programmed the game, and used a number of fan-made remixes of the original game’s tracks. You can check out a video demonstration of Galaxy Man’s stage just past the jump.

Ruth has decided not to complete the game for a number of reasons; the fear of a C&D from Capcom being a substantial one of them. He’s already working on his next project — and after making an HD game into an 8-bit game, and then an 8-bit game into an HD game, we can’t wait to see what he does next.

Continue reading 8-bit Left 4 Dead guy’s latest project: Mega Man 9 HD Remix

8-bit Left 4 Dead guy’s latest project: Mega Man 9 HD Remix originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A patent dug up by Siliconera details a new system conceived by Sony for limiting the content found in game demos. “Degradable” game demos, as described in a patent filed by SCEA, would initially include either a full game or a large amount of content, but that content would gradually disappear over playtime, to unlock again once the full game is purchased. Examples in the patent document include a weapon that becomes less effective over time, and race tracks that become unavailable one at a time.

Essentially, it’s the DIVX rental system, but downloadable and for games. You know, DIVX, the system in which you “bought” a cheap disc that would only work for a short time unless you paid a fee to “unlock” it. That lasted less than a year because it was too popular, right?

Sony files patent for game demos that lose features over time originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A common refrain from many (including us!) about God of War III is: “It’s God of War … in HD.” And, as our last preview attested, that’s not such a bad thing. In fact, while the demo was impressive in its own right, the game’s director tells us they’ve added depth of field, motion blur, and high dynamic range lighting to the finished product. Too technical, right? We’ll just use our fallback word: awesome.

For this hands-on, we went all the way up to the first boss and beat him … err, after several tries. It’s none other than a certain God of the Sea, and he’s pretty moody on account of Kratos and a bunch of Titans trying to scale Mount Olympus. In fact, there’s a gathering of the Gods up there and they’re all pretty miffed: Zeus, Helios, Hermes, Poseidon, Hades, and a mysterious someone else. Based on this preview, they’re going to do everything they can to try and make sure Kratos doesn’t play king of the hill on their precious mountain.

Read on for our experience with the opening of God of War III up to, and including, the first boss battle. If you’re hoping to go into this game spoiler-free next month, you might want to stop here; otherwise, press on!

Continue reading Hands-on: God of War III (well, the first boss battle at least)

Hands-on: God of War III (well, the first boss battle at least) originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Before The Collectors ever took humans, they took our days! In a WORLD EXCLUSIVE reveal, we can tell you that Mass Effect 3’s plot revolves around Commander Shepard retrieving every missing 31st day of the calendar year. For February, however, it’s a personal mission for the month’s missing three days (don’t tell us you’ve never noticed). The only reason it gains the 29th day back every four years is an insidious rip in the space-time continuum devised by The Reapers. Next time, Shepard isn’t just fighting for humanity, he’s fighting for time itself.

What’s everyone playing this weekend?

Continue reading WRUP: Fight for the lost days of February edition

WRUP: Fight for the lost days of February edition originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just as promised, operative, you’ll soon get your chance to bone up on your rocket car skills before entering the field, as the Just Cause 2 demo has been set for release next Thursday, March 4. The demo will arrive on Xbox Live, PSN and Steam and will grant access to 35 square miles of the Lautan Lama Desert — one of the islands making up the game’s promised 400 sq. miles of explorable Panau archipelago. So oil up that grappling gun and get your best black ops duds off to the dry cleaners. We want Rico looking mucho suavé out there!

Just Cause 2 is set to dive into retail on March 23 for the Xbox 360, PS3 and Games for Windows platforms.

Just Cause 2 demo drops in March 4 originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 11:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Even without the PlayStation Motion Controller to back it up, Resident Evil 5 has struck gold for a second time. The PS3 version of Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition (Alternative Edition in Japan) hit the top of the Media Create sales chart in Japan following its February 18 release, selling 143,339 copies. God Eater continues to gobble up attention, taking the #2 spot with 64,192 units sold (while passing 500k units sold to date).

Another big PS3 game also debuted in the top ten this week: Heavy Rain, which fell in at #6, selling 26,775 copies. In a way, the Japanese version is the superior release, because the voice acting doesn’t seem to have been performed by French people faking Japanese accents. See the full top ten after the break.

Continue reading RE5 Gold tops Japanese charts; Heavy Rain floods top ten

RE5 Gold tops Japanese charts; Heavy Rain floods top ten originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One of the best things about the Yakuza series is its detailed reconstruction of Tokyo. The exact details might be fictionalized, but Yakuza’s Kabukicho still feels like taking a walk in the genuine article. Yakuza 3 is an even more convincing replica of Tokyo (and also Okinawa!) thanks to the increased detail capable in the PlayStation 3.

Soak in the atmosphere in this new trailer, set to a stirring karaoke performance by protagonist Kazuma Kiryu. Yakuza 3 will be available March 9, at which point you’ll be able to explore virtual Tokyo for yourself — except for the hostess clubs.

Yakuza 3 trailer takes you on a trip originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As if you didn’t have enough to play this week, RTS fans, with Starcraft II in beta and Command and Conquer 4 about to drop, here comes the Supreme Commander 2 demo, now available for download over on Steam. The demo features 4GB (!) of complex Gas Powered Games RTS goodness, in which you’ll be able to try two levels of the tutorial, as well as play through two missions as the United Earth Federation faction. You’ll also get to see some of those new units at work, and, we presume, do some supreme commanding. No peerless or incomparable commanders here — supreme only!

One of those new units you can try out is a sea-based experimental submarine for the Cybran faction that’s modeled and named after a legendary sea monster. So what are you waiting for? Go download the demo and get kraken!

Supreme Commander 2 demo now available on Steam originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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