First, an apology for it taking forever to post this. I had a lovely little photo corruption issue and so it took sometime to retrieve these photos and unwreck my 17,000+ iPhoto library.

On September 1st, Sony decided to throw together a small panel and bring the 5 directors of the God of War series together for the first time. The meet included David Jaffe, Cory Barlog, Stig Asmussen, Ru Weerasuiya, and Dana Jan for a roundtable-like discussion as well as audience questions and prizes.

After a long two-hour wait in line and some interviews with Playstation’s own Audrey Cleo, we finally got to go into the decked out theater and sit down for the upcoming panel. One look at the set and you could tell that for their own upcoming God of War documentary, Sony was not holding back, using top camera equipment as well as sparing no expense on a beautifully constructed set.

During the three hour event, one of the interesting myths that was busted is the story that Sony actually wanted a different director for each title. The pitch has always been that Sony wanted this, to give each story its own unique feel and taste. As David Jaffe went on to say “this made for a fantastic PR spin, but the truth was that it just never worked out”. Going on to say that each time a project was ready, each game director was busy with their own creation and projects so they couldn’t be brought onto the project. A great example of this is director Ru Weerasuriya who helmed God of War: Ghost of Sparta for the PSP. Sony and Ru were working closely together on this project but unlike God of War 1-3 which were made in house at Sony Santa Monica, Ghost of Sparta was actually made at Ready at Dawn Studios. After Ghost of Sparta was completed, Ru Weerasuriya went on to head the company, and because of that, he could not direct the upcoming GoW: Ghost of Sparta, thus Dana Jan took over the project.

Another talked-about subject was the reasoning for God of War 2 to be placed on the Playstation 2, versus a debut title for the Playstation 3. Cory Barlog, director of GoW 2, went on to explain that the reasoning was one that was debated for a while. Sony really wanted to have the game a launch title for the PS3 but there were a few obstacles. By the time God of War 2 came in, it was near the end of life for the Playstation 2. This made it hard to release a game for an upcoming system when the PS2 already had such a huge install base. From a business standpoint, all fans had to do was to purchase the game, not dedicate a new system just to experience the game. The other was a true technical standpoint. By then, everybody (developers) knew the innards of the PS2. They knew all the tricks and how to push the system to do what they wanted while the PS3 would have been a new language that they would have had to learn.

Another conversation that David Jaffe struck up and was quite passionate about was God of War at 7-11. This had to do with an audience question on how he felt about the face of Kratos, showing up at 7-11, during the God of War 3 launch. Jaffe felt about this subject as I did; from a creator’s standpoint, he loved the idea of seeing something he had created be seen everywhere and to have a 10 year old kid show up to a 7-11 and get excited because he saw his favorite game character there was something truly exciting. As Jaffe put it “when I was a kid, we would go to 7-11 and get excited when there was a new Boba Fett cup and I would collect them,” so why can’t a mega hit franchise like God of War get the same treatment? This I think is an inevitable path for video games and a sign of the maturing market place for them. To me, I view video games the same as movies, just one that I can control. The movie studios have figured out that a movie is a property and not just a single theatrical release. The video game industry needs to be in the same mindset if it wants to survive. As production costs rise on games, game studios need to look to else place to offer bring in income and merchandising is one of them. From a business perspective, this makes perfect sense and if handled properly, this is something that fans should embrace as well. Why not have access to their character beyond the video game. God dammit, if I wanted to have a Kratos stuffed toy and there is a demand for it, why not have it offered to me. I as a fan get what I want and the game studio is able to expand and continue to offer all things God of War.

You know what to do if you want to read more about God of War and news on God of War 4 and a God of War movie.

God of War: The Movie

The God of War movie has been a topic that has been discussed plenty of times by the series fans. Who would direct? Who should star and how should the plot unfold. Should they follow the game or come up with their own new story. A name that was also once attached to the movie was Brett Ratner (X3: The Last Stand, Rush Hour 1-3) but that sense has been debunked or he has moved out. Again, David Jaffe chimed in, “There is an actor who is signed right now. He just recently starred in a sequel that came out this year. I’ll give you a hint, each film did worse then the previous one. When I first heard it his name, I didn’t see it until I thought about it and thought, “thats fucking Kratos”. David Jaffe went on to express that although there seemed to be somebody signed, this didn’t really mean that the God of War movie was going to be made and or if thats for sure who the studio would be sticking with. Also for those wondering, it’s not anybody from the Predator movies.

Another opinion from the outspoken David Jaffe was that he would love to see Sony gain back its property. Currently, Sony does not actually own the film rights to series like God of War or Twisted Metal. Jaffe thought that Sony should gain back these rights and either make the property themselves via a movie, or release smaller animated and TV series, directly on PSN. This is actually a brilliant idea that I fully support. A Twisted Metal movie might not be huge at the box office and releasing it as an animated movie can get lost in midst of so many other titles on DVD and Blu-ray. Why not create the content like Qore and Pulse and have them be original content, on PSN. After all, PSN exists where your core demograph for that content are so what better way to release and promote that material, then to release it directly to them.

God of War 4:

Another topic that was touched upon during the discussion panel was the possibility of a God of War 4. For those who have yet to beat God of War 3, I won’t include any spoilers but the story that has been setup from God of War 1 was concluded at the end of the GoW 3 and the story arc is indeed complete. However, this by itself does not mean that further stories cannot be created as both GoW games on the PSP are prequels (although I doubt a 4th entry would be a prequel). GoW 3 director, Stig Asmussen seems to think so as well. Although he came just shy of announcing God of War 4, it does seem like the team at Sony Santa Monica is indeed discussing ideas for a4th entry into the series and expect it to be a Playstation 3 title, not PSP. Of course with how big the franchise is, how could Sony not want another offering in this Playstation exclusive franchise. If we look into the past cycle, it would be a leap to expect this game in about three years time which would put it towards the end of the Playstation 3 cycle, exactly how God of War 2 concluded itself. This also would give the developers plenty of time to create another master piece, because if there is one thing that the GoW series is known for, it’s quality and don’t expect the team to just push out another title, just to meet some form of deadline.