God of War III! Press Event Q&A and New Trailer

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God of War III is “D-Day + Cloverfield with Kratos smack dab in the middle of it” – Stig Asmussen, Game Director.

Earlier this week, over 50 media outlets from North America and Europe saw God of War III, the “epic finale” to Kratos’ tale of revenge, played before their very eyes for the first time. The game’s director, Stig Asmussen, led off the session by sharing some key features of the game: Titan gameplay, Ride-able enemy characters, a new weapon system, large-scale battle. All of these were demonstrated in this extended trailer, which was shown next:

To further drive home that this trailer was produced in the game’s engine, the audience was treated to nearly 20 minutes of gameplay (which you’ll be reading about all over the internet today, no doubt). After the gameplay demonstration, Stig took questions from the press. Here they are (paraphrased – I can only type so fast!):

Gamespot: How will you catch people up to the story?

    Stig: One of the criteria of the game is to “bridge the series.” Some recent games were confusing if you missed certain chapters in the story. I don’t want that to happen with God of War III.

Game Revolution: Has the ESRB gone too far?

    Stig: People have to stop looking at games like they’re a toy. There are a lot of mature games and a lot of mature gamers. We look at these like movies. I’m a husband with 2 baby twins, and we’re not making this game for them, we’re making it for people like you. Everything we do is in the character of Kratos. We’re not doing gore just to do gore.

Gamepro: I didn’t see red experience orbs coming off enemies, is it just too early to show?

    Stig: It’s just too early to show, expect all that to come back.

UGO: You mentioned this will be the “epic finale.” Is this the final God of War?

    Stig: I don’t know about the future of God of War, I’m just focused on God of War III.

Playboy: Gamers don’t want long load times or storylines, do you plan to recap everything?

    Stig: For the most part in God of War games, we’ve never made people watch very long movies. Don’t expect God of War III to change that. As far as loading, it’s something we take pride in. We’re a streaming game, we don’t have load times.

G4: Are you going to strip down Kratos’ abilities in the beginning of the game again?

    Stig: As a gamer, I’d like to start with everything Kratos has. But as a game designer, it’s not good for gamers who have never played before. We’re still deciding.

IGN: Large-scale puzzle sequences could get people lost because of the scale of the game. How do you keep people focused?

    Stig: I’ve never seen anyone else work on this kind of scale. Because of that, we don’t have anything to refer to. We don’t plan on something where you go to a marker and get a hint. We want to design it so that it has a flow, and we won’t have to drop hints. We also do extensive playtesting. Working on these Titans is tough. When we first started we realized we’re doing something we’ve never done before. When you’re on these titans, it doesn’t change how Kratos handles –he can still pull cranks and ride Cyclopes and fight bosses.

G4: When you’re on the titan, how does his movement affect gameplay. Will that affect gameplay?

    Stig: Perhaps. [laughter]

Now I know you readers had plenty of questions for the God of War team. I spoke with a number of the dev team, and am currently editing those together for you to see on the Blog next week!

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273 Comments

  • Well it looks great, but most important will be the story.

  • After playing GOW1 & 2, I have no doubt this game is going to be awesome.

    However, I surprisingly have to say that I’m not that impressed with what they’ve been showing thus far…

  • After playing GOW1 & 2, I have no doubt this game is going to be awesome.

    However, I surprisingly have to say that I’m not that impressed with what they’ve been showing thus far…

  • That ending sequence of the trailer was really epic…

    And I’m glad I can play this without previous experience of the story.

  • cannt wait

  • Wow, I’m glad we finally get to see some of what people were dropping hints to. That looks like a blast! I’m also happy to read some of the Q&A stuff (no loading screens? w00t!) Can’t wait… 2010 can’t come soon enough!

  • My pants exploded

  • Unbelievable. Just… *Crying* Oh my god.

  • AWESOME! stuff! Cant wait! 2008 year of the PS3 continues into 2009! :)

  • WOW, JUST FREAKING WOW, THAT WAS FREAKING AMAZING AND IT’S IN GAME DUDE, DAAAAMMMMNNN!!! I LOVE THIS SERIES, I HAVE ALL 3 GAMES, NUMBER 4 IS AS GOOD AS SOLD!!! :D

  • freaking beautiful man I can’t wait, in the end there will be war.

  • Probably the coolest video I have ever seen!

  • Wow, Sony Santa Monica really proved me and many other wrong.

    When they showed that teaser at the VGA’s, I was really disappointed. But now I just can’t stop watching that trailer! :D

    Thanks for the blog, Jeff.

  • +++A, Perfection in work!

  • Im wondering if its gonna have online. I’d rather they dont and use that time and resource to make this game longer then other two.

  • OK Lets be serious here … who the heck can compete with Sony’s exclusives SERIOUSLY! Sony covers all genre
    ACTION – GOW3, Uncharted 2, Heavenly Sword
    FPS – Resistance, Killzone
    Racing – Gran Turismo
    Platformer – Ratchet, Jak, Sly Cooper
    RPG – White Knight, Valkyria, FF versus XIII, Disgaea, Folklore
    Wierd – Locoroco, Nobi Nobi, Patapon
    Puzzle – Echocrome
    Party – Buzz, Singstar
    Card – Eye of Judgement
    Family – Little Big Planet, Eye Pet
    Zen (Relaxing) – Flow, Flower
    Downloadable – Most everything on PSN
    MMO – Free Realms, The Agency, DC Universe
    Social – HOME
    PS3 has you covered on any genre.

  • This must have been what Jaffe was talking about… Wow that was awesome.

  • My first comment on the PS Blog (but I read everyday).

    All I have to say is: GAME OF THE YEAR. PERIOD.

  • played prequel n almost beat the 1st one…barely played it last year…was getting into it towards the end but then I had to reformat the hard drive and didn’t feel like goin through it again…really just looked like a hack n slash with guy looking for vengeance with no real story,,,but graphics on ps3 should be amazing

  • Wow! magnificent trailer! Can’t wait for it!
    Are those all in-game graphics? & Is it true that its release date will be announced at E3?

  • agreed 65

  • Yeah i agree with post #65

  • Another great reason to own a PS3.

  • I really can’t wait for this game!
    I hope you’ll be creative with the trophies!
    I want some custom music!! For the first playthrough, I will listen to the original score which is always awesome but second playthrough, maybe if i wanted to play some metal.

  • Sony is sealing the deal this year. Killzone 2 + God of War 3 + Uncharted: Among thieves so far announced this year. If you haven’t bought a PS3 yet, what the heck are you waiting for?

  • One word best defines what I just witnessed: Epic

  • Some people’s comments are so weird about how pants-explodingly exciting this game is.

    This video was smokin’ balls tonight!

  • amazing game congrats sony

  • that was AMAZING!

  • ok that blew my mind

  • Sugoi do like!

  • Wow.

    It was totally believable it was ingame and I could see myself playing it right until that Titan (?) came up.
    This is going to be a great game, if there is one game that won’t disappoint it has got to be this one.

    Epic is the only word to describe it, and the word epic still doesn’t give it enough credit.

  • simply AWSOME.
    I read somewhere that the GOW3 release date will be announced by Sony at E3 ’09 in June. I bet since all the previous GOW games were released in the month of March, this will too. Meaning March 2010. That works for me, as long as the game is nice and polished.

    Thanks for the update

    SPARDA

  • I really want to see a well thought out story. Something that just ties all the loose ends together, which you don’t find often in games, or even in movies. I think emotions add a lot to a game and feeling those emotions may add a little something something to the gameplay itself.

    As for the video. It looks awesome. I like the seamless feel it portrays going from one battle to the next with no pause or breathing room.

  • Please tell me you guys are going to make this trailer available on PSN soon.

  • Man I love that trailer

  • Just downloaded and watched the HD trailer…oh man it looks AMAZING!

    If you think this compressed version looks good, get the HD version…

  • @84
    I hope they do cause I wanna see it in 1080p, I mean I wanna enjoy Kratos in all it’s glory!!!

  • I really hope this game can release by holiday 2009, but I guess I’ll have to wait till E3.

  • Hey @86…(lcmnick)
    Where did you got the HD trailer at?

  • Awesome Love KRATOS!

  • Please put the trailer on PSN.

  • “Playboy: Gamers don’t want long load times or storylines, do you plan to recap everything?” – why are they even invited to this if they claim such nonsense? There are more then enough people who like a good story and don’t want the multiplayer shooter of the moment.

  • two words…HOLY [DELETED]!

  • This is one of the reasons I bought a PLAYSTATION 3 at launch. Amazing trailer, now the wait…

  • “Another” PS3 game i’m looking forward to. Wow! all these great games i have to buy. LOVE IT!!

  • SONY needs to get with MCFARLANE TOYS and produce figures from this series once and for all. NECA made some and they were plain crap that looked like cheap plastic. Bring It!

  • when is E3??

  • THIS LOOKS F**KNG AMAZING!!!!!, cant wait to pre-order it, GOD OF WAR FTW!!! :D

  • OMG, PS3 is absolutely killing it. I am in Awe.

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