God of War: Ghost of Sparta Heading Your Way

I’m pleased to confirm that God of War: Ghost of Sparta will be available this week.
Mainland Europe from 3 November.
Australia and New Zealand from 4 November.
UK and Ireland from 5 November.
RRP of UMD €29.99 / £24.99.
RRP of digital version €26.99 / £16.99 and will be available in this weeks PlayStation Store update.

For those that have missed the blog posts and announcements, please find a quick recap of what’s been happening in the world of Kratos!
So, the guys that made the multiple award winning and highly acclaimed God of War: Chains of Olympus, Ready At Dawn Studios, have been working their magic on God of War: Ghost of Sparta over the last few years to deliver yet another epic to the PSP.

Storyline
This new journey picks up after God of War concludes, telling the story of Kratos’ ascension to power as the God of War. In his quest to rid the nightmares that haunt him, Kratos must face his dark past to prove his worthiness to the Gods — a journey that will reveal the origins of lost worlds, and finally answer long-awaited questions about Kratos’ tattoo, scar and family. Armed with the deadly chained Blades of Athena, he will once again have to overcome armies of mythological monsters, legions of undead soldiers, and amazingly dangerous and brutal landscapes throughout his merciless quest.

[viddler id=1f6ae34d w=545 h=327 playertype=simple]

Bonus Items
Remember: everyone that buys a full copy of God of War: Ghost of Sparta* will receive a code to download a playable ‘Deimos’ character skin for God of War III.
Here are a few words on the skin from Dana Jan, Game Director of God of War: Ghost of Sparta:

During the production of Ghost of Sparta, we discussed the idea of making Deimos an unlockable costume to be used in God of War III on the PS3. We wanted to give players who had both games (and systems) some content that crossed platforms. We provided the team at Sony Santa Monica Studio our assets used on the PSP, and we are really pleased with how Deimos looks in God of War III. I’m particularly happy with the way his glowing ‘mark’ looks on his body. I’m looking forward to playing through the game again and seeing Deimos tear through some of my favorite moments.

For those that preordered God of War: Ghost of Sparta with their local retailers/etailers there were various goodies on offer at participating retailers.
Digital downloaders don’t despair though: I’m really pleased to confirm that anyone who downloads the full digital version of the game will be entitled to all the items below – make sure you get in quick though as the offer is only for ONE WEEK!*
1. Kratos PSN Avatar
This Kratos PSN Avatar was created by none other than Cecil Kim – Visual Development Lead for the God of War franchise. The same Kratos artwork is featured on the home page of Cecil’s site.

2. God of War: Ghost of Sparta Original Soundtrack

I’m Joel Yarger, Music Supervisor on God of War: Ghost of Sparta, and I bring the sound of music to the PlayStation.Blog today. As you probably already know, God of War: Ghost of Sparta is the second God of War game from Ready At Dawn Studios and I think it outdoes their previous effort, Chains of Olympus, in pretty much every way! I’ve personally been involved with the music for the God of War franchise since God of War II and it’s always fun to see where we can go with it.
The original music for Ghost of Sparta was written by Gerard Marino and Mike Reagan, both of whom have worked on the previous God of War games. They really had the hard jobs of creating something new yet keeping it all within the God of War musical universe. That’s no small task as there are four other games worth of music written, so kudos to Gerard and Mike for nailing it! Dana Jan, the game director for Ghost of Sparta, really wanted the new music to contribute to the game’s identity: You know you’re playing a God of War game, but it still feels fresh. Some quick factoids: There were roughly 13 minutes of new music composed for Chains of Olympus (all Gerard writing) and then we re-worked music from the other titles. Ghost of Sparta features roughly 37 minutes of new music and uses significantly less cues from the previous games.

There were many new elements in this game to draw inspiration from, everything from the new story and main characters to the new environments and cities. We had plenty of concept art, good screenshots, some gameplay videos, and of course both the script and game director (Dana) to help us along the way. Here are four samples from the game that I think help showcase some of the inspired work both Mike and Gerard contributed.

[audio:http://blog.us.playstation.com/files/2010/09/Atlantis-Blog-Edit.mp3]
[audio:http://blog.us.playstation.com/files/2010/09/Gerard-Emo-1.mp3]
[audio:http://blog.us.playstation.com/files/2010/09/Gerard-Emo-2.mp3]
[audio:http://blog.us.playstation.com/files/2010/09/The-Caldera-Blog-Edit.mp3]

Atlantis and The Caldera are both pieces written by Mike Reagan. Mike did some really interesting things given our tight budget on the project. Since we weren’t able to record most of the music with live musicians, Mike took it upon himself to record some of his own live elements. He bought a double bass, a cello, a didgeridoo, and even modified a hammer dulcimer to have a curved bridge so you can reach individual strings with a bow. The sounds he achieved were just awesome and worked very well for establishing that “fresh feeling”, but sounded much older, even ancient. The hammer dulcimer especially lends itself to Atlantis, an ancient, mysterious city that has hints of splendor and regality. In The Caldera you can hear the cello and bass as they carry both the melody and rhythm that are very much inspired by the ebb and flow of lava.
For Gerard’s contribution we should mention the story for a second (don’t worry, it’s all vague and spoiler free!). The story in Ghost of Sparta has some very strong emotional moments and we felt that the music needed to pay appropriate attention to them. Kratos goes through what amounts to an emotional roller coaster and that was yet another opportunity to introduce something musically new for this title. We leaned heavily on Gerard to turn on the emotion for the 2 pieces highlighted here. Both cues are based on the same theme but they each showcase very different emotions, and different character’s perspectives, which was essential for this score in order to have a good balance. One more factoid: If you listen even more closely you can hear that these themes are based on non-other-than the original God of War melody – one part of it, anyway. Because much of the actual story in the game is for you to discover when you play it, I won’t say any more than I already have.

3. Ghost of Sparta Static PSP Theme

4. Legionnaire Kratos
Here’s a little sneak peek at the Legionnaire Skin:

5. God of War: Ghost of Sparta – Palace of Hades Dynamic Theme
Using the Palace of Hades from God of War III as the main inspiration, this exclusive PS3 Dynamic Theme captures the grand vista moment of Kratos as he is betrayed by Gaia at the top of Mount Olympus and ripped of his godly powers. It is at this moment where he obtains the Blades of Exile from Athena and seeks out to destroy all of Olympus and the mighty Zeus himself.
With full active movements of multi-layered clouds and lightning, flowing lava, and fogs!

Cool God of War: Ghost of Sparta Stuff
Facebook App
For those who always fancied themselves as the ultimate Spartan warrior check out the Kratos Facebook App : ) remember for those that enter the gallery competition you have the chance to win a PSP 3000 and copy of the game, so make sure you go and Kratos yourself!
Media and Review Kit
Just wanted to share with you the media kit we’ve distributed to a limited number of journalists across PAL Territories. It consists of:

• ‘Omega’ Hessian Sack
• Digital version of God of War: Ghost of Sparta
• Illustrated brochure
• Kratos wooden coaster
• DVD with screenshots, artwork, concept visuals etc
• Mini poster
• God of War: Ghost of Sparta t-shirt

Here is a visual of the actual media kit itself.

For the fans out there, I’m pleased to be giving away some kits through a competition on eu.playstation.com/PSN/competitions*, so make sure you enter to grab yourself a slice of the action!
That’s all from me guys; hope you enjoy the game!
*T’s and C’s apply, please check eu.playstation.com/legal