Gone Gold are the two best words a gamer can hear.  What it means.  In simple terms (are there harder terms) it’s been finalized and the stamp (gold) is now turned to mass produce the finished product.  The God of War Collection will hit store shelves officially on November 17th.  For those who contemplated on “why” to get the GOW: Collection if you have the PS2 versions, can I say “PS3 Trophies”!  Or maybe 720p Blood slashing Kratos cut-scenes.  Or finally the PS3 Demo for the upcoming title God of War III.

Can’t wait?  Well the trophies have been released for God of War and God of War II by the good folks over at Sony and we got them listed below.  By the way, I’ve always enjoyed the comedic twist for Trophy names.  1.21 Gigawatts… classic!

GOD OF WAR

Bronze

• 1.21 Gigawatts - Acquire Poseidon’s Rage
• Rocking Out - Acquire Medusa’s Gaze
• Bolt Action - Acquire Zeus’ Fury
• Sword Man - Acquire Blade of Artemis
• Soul Search - Acquire Army of Hades
• Matador - Win the first Minotaur fight
• Scape Goat - Win the first Satyr fight
• Roll Over … and Die - Win the first Cerberus fight
• Don’t They Ever Shut Up! - Defeat the Desert Sirens
• Beat a Dead Horse - Complete the Centaur sacrifice to Hades
• Kickboxer - Complete the Spike Room Box Puzzle
• Rockin’ the Boat - Complete the Sex Mini-Game
• Don’t Leave Her Hanging - Rescue the Oracle with 10 seconds to spare
• Get the Ball Rolling - Complete the Challenge of Atlas
• Totally Baked - Complete the Human sacrifice
• Splash - Kiss the Nyad
• Get Me a Beer Kid - Free yourself from the depths of Hades
• Zero Health = Bronze Trophy - Open a Health Chest when your health meter is already full
• Hitman - Get a 100 Hits Combo
• Getting My Ass Kicked - Die enough times to get offered Easy Mode

Silver

• Kratos’ Marble Collection - Collect all the Gorgon Eyes
• Stick it in Your Cap! - Collect all the Phoenix Feathers
• It’s the HUGE One - Retrieve the Captain’s Key
• Take the Bull by the Horns - Defeat Pandora’s Guardian
• God Killer - Kill Ares
• Head Hunter - Obtain the head of the Architect’s wife
• The Power to Kill a God - Retrieve Pandora’s Box
• Hitman 2 - Get a 200 Hits Combo
• Legend of the Twins - Watch the ‘Birth of the Beast’ Treasure
• Seeing Red - Max out all Weapons and Magic

Gold

• Prepare to be a God - Beat the Game on any Difficulty
• You Got the Touch! - Climb the Spiked Column in Hades without taking damage
• I’ll Take the Physical Challenge - Complete the Challenge of the Gods
• Speed of Jason McDonald - Beat the game in under 5 hours on any Difficulty
• Key to Success - Collect all of the Muse Keys

Platinum

• Trophy of Zeus - Unlock all God of War Trophies

GOD OF WAR II

Bronze

• Breaking Wind - Acquire Typhon’s Bane
• Big, Tuff, Buff and Rough - Acquire Rage of the Titans
• Blue Balls - Acquire Cronos’ Rage
• Shiner - Acquire the Golden Fleece
• Rock their World - Acquire the Head of Euryale
• Learning to Fly - Acquire the Icarus Wings
• Shaky Ground - Acquire Atlas Quake
• Death from Above 2009 - Defeat the Dark Rider for the first time
• Resurrection - Climb from the pit of Hades
• Rock Hard - Defeat the Titan Minotaur inside Atlas
• Pick’n on the Little Guy - Win the battle outside of the Palace of the Fates
• Watcha Got on the Hot Plate? - Solve the riddle of the Fire Phoenix Statue
• Whip it Good - Whip the Steeds of Time
• Lift with Your Knees - Topple the Temple in the Bog of the Forgotten
• Swinger - Cross the collapsing Grapple Bridge
• Stoner - Stone and Shatter 30 Enemies
• Super Sized - Get a 500 Hits Combo
• Hitting Your Stride - Power up any item

Silver

• Eye Can’t Believe it - Collect all the Gorgon Eyes
• Go Make a Pillow! - Collect all the Phoenix Feathers
• Eye Sore - Collect 20 Cyclops Eyes
• Boss Batch 1 - Kill the Colossus of Rhodes, the Dark Rider, and Theseus
• Boss Batch 2 - Kill the Barbarian King, Euryale, and Perseus
• Boss Batch 3 - Kill the Kraken and all three Sisters of Fate
• Daddy Issues - Defeat Zeus
• Rise and SHINE - Awaken the Phoenix
• Spread ‘Em - Open the wings of the Temple of the Fates
• Shine King - Open the door to the Temple of Euryale
• Blowin’ Your Wad - Max out all Weapons and Magic

Gold

• The End Begins - Beat the Game on any Difficulty
• Feel the Urn - Collect and use at least 2 Urns of Power
• Bleeding Thumbs - Beat the Challenge of the Titans
• 15 Min Fight Scene - Battle your way to the Loom Chamber in under 10 minutes
• You Know the Germans Make Good Stuff… - Collect all Uber Chests

Platinum

• Trophy of Gaia - Unlock all God of War II Trophies

source

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In a leaked document discovered on French website Objectif-sega.com that PlayStation 2 backwards compatibility could be coming to the PSN.  In the past, we reported other reports of BC but this “leaked” document listing games is more evidence of it happening.  We already know God of War and God of War 2 will be bundled on thier own Blu-Ray disc instead of PSN.  But it seems like Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and a Sonic Game will make it’s way to the PSN.

Below is the document leaked in question:

SCEA Meeting Aug 5th Notes
Aug 6 2009 – DRAFT FOR COMMENTS

Objectives of Meeting
Dyer agreed to regular quarterly meetings with SOA

Sony PS3
SCEA reiterated plans to sell 13 million PS3s this year
Big announcement back half of year they can’t talk about (potentially price cut of PS3 to reach hardware goals)
SCEA commented on indexing between PS3 and 360 SKUs, should be around 2:1 to garner most favorable treatment.

Motion Controller
Spring 2010 launch (March in JP)
No bundle/pricing details yet, should come Sept 1
Plan on selling 4-5MM units WW
SCEA agreed to provide a list of Sega IP that would work well with the motion controller, Virtua Tennis was an example
Motion Controller support allows easy way to differentiate PS3 SKU
Other differentiation opportunities include PSP/PS3 interoperability – think of features that would make users want to buy both PS3 and PSP SKUs.

Alpha Protocol
Michael Foster, product evaluator, said AP felt barely RPG. Initial level too challenging for players. “Mass Effect felt more RPG.”
Review notes sent to John Merlino a few weeks prior. After meeting Gerald mentioned AP is a high priority for his team.

Planet 51
Sell in of PS3 SKU – SCEA noted that other movie titles on PS3 had underperformed as well (inc. Transformers) this cycle.
Dyer suggests contacting Susan at Walmart and asking what she wants in the pack to sell this SKU (movie tix etc)
Other possibilities are Hybrid movie disc (BD 25 or 50 with Game and Movie on same disc).

Bayonetta
Collectors edition with Bayonetta Action Figure
Novo recommended launching PSN demo around Xmas based off a Jan 5th Ship date with 2-3 week run out to launch.
3-4 weeks is usually ideal demo timing with fresh content every week leading up to launch (trailers, insider video about PG heritage, video blogs).

Vancouver 2010
HOME, Olympic destination would garner a lot of positive attention from SCEA
Should be doing same with Bayonetta, Marvel etc. Easy to launch in all territories.
HOME merchandizing opportunities (clothes etc).

Sonic Racing
Open to DLC to differentiate PS3 SKU – not ratchet and clank but other characters
maybe characters from Rare or Fable universes

Yakuza
Could put Japanese games directly on PSN for download in a special Japanese Import section (pricing $9.99 to $39.99 for full game).
Might need to localize menus at least with subtitles.
SCEA interested in helping on MKTG side if they can have period of exclusivity.

AVP
Another great HOME candidate
AVP avatars
Hybrid BD disc with movie

Iron Man 2
Great candidate for HOME space – explore Tony Stark’s lab etc.
Should have one for Marvel in general.

PSU2
Could do bundle at GameStop with PSP 30-35K units on UMD, Go, or both.

Valkyria 1937
Could bundle with PSP as well.

Vanquish and Aliens: CM
Opportunity for PS3/PSP interoperability (see Eidos Batman, Army of Two, Assassin’s Creed for good examples).
If we offer that SCEA would be really interested in having us at their booth next E3.

Thor
SCEA would like a look at the code soon.

Sonic Anniversary
Could put out collectors edition with all old sonic games on one BD disc.
“Best of Sonic” for around $99.
SCEA would love PSN exclusive power ups/different game modes (like Castlevania’s flip it over/backwards)

PS2 emulator for PS3 (confidential)
SCEA wants to sell all PS2 titles on PSN (GTA Vice City/Sonic/etc)
For co Marketing money show PS3 controller on TV ads – similar to EA Madden Spots, NCAA, etc…

London Olympics
Perfect opportunity for Motion Controller integration.

DC Digital Titles
If we provide a list of DC titles SCEA will let us know which ones they’re interested in having exclusively.
If we give them a long period of exclusivity they’ll give us more marketing support.

PSP Titles
For SKU differentiation it’s best to offer features that are slightly different from PS3 version.
Titles that are coming up on PSP are Assassin’s Creed II, GTA China Wars, Resident Evil, Little Big Planet – all massive franchises.
SCEA has a specific PSP deck which they can send up with their hardware director for a chat.

source

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Last year, I wrote an article on the 7 Top Video Game Urban Legends.  I got flak for some of them, (jumping over the flagpole in Super Mario) and some we well remembered.  I figured, I’d bring back the post with some much needed fixup.  So without further ado…

We all have heard of them, swore to have done them or know someone whose cousin has. That’s right, I’m talking about Video Game Urban Legends (VGUL). No, I’m not going to talk about the munchkin in the back of “Wizard of Oz” who supposedly hangs himself from the tree. Not also talking about how there is a ghost in the window in “3 Men and a Baby” who died in that house. Not Bigfoot or Loch Ness. I’m talking Video Games…. I’m talking Urban Legends in Video Games.

I have searched high and low to bring to you, our latest installment of these Urban Legends, and finish up with a wide known but not seen VGUL.

Tomb Raider

The Urban Legend – Lara Croft appearing Nude in Tomb Raider

The System – PSone

This story goes as far back as the game was first launched. It was almost like every video gamer wished this one to be true. I’ve heard it all from, “if you go in the water, you’ll see her nude”. Sorry to tell you folks, this one is a big fat lie.  With Tomb Raider making it’s way to PC, we know patches have revealed Ms. Croft in the nude (pic above) but not on the gaming console PSOne.

Street Fighter II

The Urban Legend – Beat every character without losing a round or match let’s you play as the four bosses Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and M. Bison

The System – SNES

Well, this is an urban Legend that I believe all Street Fighter 2 players have tried. Now, while it isn’t that impossible, is was very hard. The rumor of playing as one of the bosses, went cross country. It always seemed that the more you went unbeaten the tougher the opponent got. I recall playing one whole day trying this one out, and after going unbeaten straight through Balrog, Vega became impossible. He would hang off the fence and “huaaahhh” with his blades onto my head. Of course, I used Ken and the timing of a shyruken was hard.

No doubt, once I completed the game unbeaten I realized it was a hoax. With people then saying “You have to perfect every round” back I went to the SNES and 15 years later…

PlayStation 2

The Urban Legend – Iraq had purchased 4,000 PS2’s to launch missiles.

The System – PS2

World Net Daily claims that both the FBI and the US Customs Service are investigating the transfer of thousands of consoles to Iraq. According to a secret Defense Intelligence Agency report, 4,000 PS2s had been bought in the US and shipped to Iraq in 2000.

Some US military experts believe that several PS2s could be linked together to form a “supercomputer”, which could control a missile or an unmanned aircraft. They fear that the console, which contains a 128-bit CPU, could provide the power for Iraq to launch chemical weapons at its enemies.

It’s also very unlikely that bundling any number of PS2s together would actually work, as it would be extremely complicated to have a number of processors accessing shared memory and splitting up the computation. The complex software required would take years to develop. Sony refused to say whether it was possible to link PS2s together to form a supercomputer, explaining that it did not comment on speculative stories.

Super Mario Bros.

The Urban Legend – Jumping over the flag pole at the end of the level

The System – NES

In 5th grade, Kevin Diley once told me how he jumped over the flagpole in Super Mario Bros. I’ve called him on the telephone while I tried, he came over to try, I even asked him to video tape it on his VHS camcorder. He was never able to reproduce it. Till this day, I do not know a single person who was able to jump over the flagpole. I’ve heard of mods, and hacks that allow this. But until I see this:

1. Cartridge being blown into the bottom
2. Popped into an original NES
3. Original NES controller used to jump over flagpole

This will not hold true to me and Kevin Diley will continue to be a liar!

Legend of Zelda

The Urban Legend – There is a dungeon level in the Legend of Zelda that is a swastika.

The System – NES

Now although this is not completely an urban legend, it is more of a terrible version of the game telephone. It starts off with one person saying what they say, and it gets turned and twisted into an Urban Legend. So, let me explain. The third dungeon has the shape of what appears to Western audiences as a left-facing swastika. This shape is actually a “manji”, which is a Buddhist symbol of good fortune. In Japan, where this game was initially released, swastikas and similar shapes are relatively benign, which explains why a symbol so offensive to many Western audiences could be included. In the United States, there were surprisingly few complaints about the manji, but years later, when Pokémon became popular in the United States, Nintendo was forced to alter one of the cards due to complaints regarding a manji.

So take a chill pill, it’s just some Manji – Word of the Day.

Mortal Kombat

The Urban Legend – A code that enabled the “Blood Code” instead of a grey smokey splat

The System – SNES

This one is fairly easy to explain because it never existed nor was it an Easter Egg. Nintendo was/is very censored so they never allowed blood in their Mortal Kombat game. It was said that the Genesis version of MK sold better because of the fatalities and blood. Nintendo then tried using Genesis’ decision of incorporating blood as a negative, but that never flew. So now you had those Genesis freaks soaked up to their ankles in Hawaiian Punch and it was cool.

Polybius

The Urban Legend – A government run arcade cabinet was used to collect data. Once played this game would cause seizures, memory loss and people were brainwashed.

The System – Arcade

This game was out for a very short trial run of one month in small arcades in Portland Oregon in 1981. Produced by the company Sinnesloschen ( A German term meaning “sense-deleting,” or “Loss of senses.”), the game gave many players nightmares and many who played it completely swore off all video games afterwards. Others complained of having blackouts and memory loss. Employees of the manufacturer, in black coats came and collected data from the machines as part of a lease agreement. After only one month, all of the machines were removed. ROM’s of this game are rumored to be in the hands of some collectors but at this time they are not generally available. Check out more info here at Polybius Theory.

Game-play: There are two explainations for game-play.

1: Action/Puzzle game. Rumored to have a rotating 3D Puzzle, along with logic puzzles, and mazes resembling the playing style of Pac-Man.

2: You were flying through a tunnel and had to dodge things in your path. Lights flashing at rapid rates to heighten the effect. Said to resemble a pro-type for Atari’s “Tempest.” (Which was a shooter game. In an article about Tempest, it was said that the prototype caused motion sickness after a period of time.) The basis of the game was to get through a maze without being caught in a trap or a mine. Apparently, the further the levels went, to make the game more difficult, the background would start flashing much like a strobe light, and the spinning of the mazes.

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Q. What do these things have in common? God of War, God of War 2 and Final Fantasy X. A. They’re all games made for the PS2 and not playable on the PS3 unless you have a Backwards Compatible (BC) PS3. Those PS3’s include the original 60gb PS3’s (hardware emulation chip) and the original 80gb PS3 (software emulation).

Sony has recently filed for a new patent that could make those backwards compatibility issues a thing of the past. Submitted back in December of 2008, this patent would allow the PS3’s Cell chip to translate code from the PS2’s Emotion Engine. What does this mean for you? Well, since Sony is against commenting on rumors, this could be several possibilities.

1. This patent could be for the new PS3 slims that has also been rumored to hit store shelves soon.

2. PS2 discs could be played flawlessly on any model PS3.

3. Only PS2 titles available on the PlayStation Store would be playable thanks to the patent.

So while there are many speculations, know that Sony IS working on some sort of PS2 emulation. In the meantime, keep your eyes open for any PS2 discounts that are PS3 worthy. Did I mention God of War yet?

source

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Well, we posted the rumor yesterday about the PS2 skew claiming the hardware would be dropping to $99.  And now it’s official.  If you’ve waited to get a PS2, and don’t have a PS3 yet… why?  Many claimed the PS2 software titles would stop being made after 2008, and 2009 would see all titles going exclusive to the PS3.  That’s incorrect.  Sony’s Playstation 2 keeps the price gap even wider compared to this next generation consoles.  Believe me, for $200 dollars you can pick up the Playstation 2, along with some PS2 Greatest Hits at $20 a piece.  Make sure you pick up God of War and God of War 2.

Any PS2 lovers care to leave a comment on what other PS2 games you’d reccomend?

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PUBLISHER: Tecmo
DEVELOPER: Tecmo
GENRE(S): Action
PLAYERS: 1
ESRB RATING: T (Teen)
RELEASE DATE: February 3, 2009
RATING: 7.5/10

Tecmo has brought Rygar back from the NES grave he once was enshrined in.  Rygar: The Battle for Argus is a port of Rygar: The Legendary Adventure made originally for the PS2. The PS2 port of Rygar was a very good action adventure game that was held back from popularity.  Why?  It could have been the fact that many ‘Rygar’ purists did not enjoy their 2D hero upgrading to 3D.  Or even more loyalists who want their ‘Rygar’ on Nintendo grounds.  My speculations, but those purists and loyalists should check their calendars because Rygar: Battle of Argus is a great representation of a Wii controlled action-adventure game.  And that’s a good thing.

Rygar embarks the ruins of Argus, an island in the Mediterarian Sea, battling Titans and trying to rescue Princess Harmoina.  The controls for the Wii port of the game, are very easy to understand without the over use of the Wii-motes annoying motion control sensors.  You wield a shield like weapon called the diskarmor that resembles Kratos’ God of War Blades of Chaos.  As a matter of fact the two have very much in common with their game play and leveling up.  In Rygar, you collect orbs that allow you to upgrade your weapon, the diskarmor.  As you progress, you will acquire new diskarmors that will assist you to defeat foes and bosses.

Now onto the graphics, this is more an issue with the Wii, than Rygar.  I know this game is a port of the PS2 game, but Rygar for a Next-Gen release should have looked better.  A couple of problems I did notice were, camera angles, lack of direction, and an empty feeling… I’ll explain.  The camera angles were a pain to get a grip on.  At one point you were using the down stick to enter a doorway, then the camera angle changed and down made your character go back up into the doorway.  The lack of direction or not a clear sense of what to do next, or where to go were challenging.  I found myself all over the map, trying to figure out which door i unsealed.  As far as empty, ironically I felt Rygar needed more cut-scenes.  I use ironically, because most reviewers despise too much, but Rygar needed a bit more.  At some points, I really felt like I was playing with the mute button on my LCD because of the lack of dialogue.

The old-school feel of the menu was a feel of a classic NES game.  The music has a Nintendo sound to it, and it was a great touch to an already great Action game.  The addition of the Gladiator mode throws you into a pit of never ending enemies which can be exhausting after 15 minutes.  I’d pass on that.

Overall, if you’re looking for a good reason to dust off your Wii and you enjoyed the God of War series (yes, I’m mixing them in here) then I’d say Rygar: The Battle of Argus is an above average game you’ll enjoy!

Pros:
Weapon upgrades
Music
Difficulty
Minimal Wii-mote controls

Cons:
Camera angles
Unclear objectives
Gladiator Mode

7.5/10

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