God of War Collection strikes PS3 Nov. 17
While game publishers frequently use the holiday release window for their biggest titles of the year, next month Sony will focus on its biggest games of previous years. The company today announced that God of War Collection, a high-def compilation of the first two God of War games, will debut on the PlayStation 3 November 17.
Slaughter a celestial host of deities again...for the first time.
The games' 720p visual overhaul won't be the only new feature enticing gamers to trek through Kratos' first two adventures again. Sony is also including a full slate of trophies for each game. Each copy of the game will also include a code to download a demo of God of War III from the PlayStation Network months before the full game's March release.
When it launched on the PlayStation 2 in 2005, the first God of War drew critical accolades and commercial success, selling more than 2.4 million units in the US alone. In 2007, God of War II drew similar high praise from reviewers and sold nearly 2 million units domestically despite being on a legacy platform. A PSP prequel, God of War: Chains of Olympus, has sold more than 800,000 units domestically since its 2008 debut.
A full list of the trophies for God of War Collection is available on Sony's official PlayStation blog.
Modern Warfare 2 casting players as terrorists
SPOILER WARNING:The story below contains information which could potentially reveal major plot details about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The game's developer, Infinity Ward, is recommending a total media blackout for those who wish to play the game without any prior knowledge of its story.
Source: Leaked video viewable (for now) on CNN's user-submitted iReport section and on Mapmodnews.com. The same video has been pulled from YouTube "due to a copyright claim by Activision Games Inc," indicating its authenticity.
What we heard: In every trailer released for Modern Warfare 2--including the almost image-free teaser released at the 2009 Game Developers Conference--one event has loomed large. Each trailer depicts a group of Russian ultranationalist terrorists massacring civilians at an airport with assault weapons.
Now, footage has leaked which appears to show that the game will indeed depict the massacre, reminiscent of last year's mass killings in Mumbai, India, which left nearly 200 people dead. In a move sure to ignite controversy, the footage indicates the game will cast players as one of the killers, having them shoot civilians en masse from a first-person view.
Several sites have posted footage showing the same group of five terrorists (including the player), wearing body armor over business suits, as has been shown in every trailer for the game. (See screen comparisons, which have leaked, lower-resolution footage on the bottom.) The killers first emerge from an elevator, as the sound cues in the very first trailer portrayed. Once out, they open fire indiscriminately into a crowd by the security lines, before moving up a series of body-draped escalators shown in the "Infamy" trailer released earlier this month.
From there, the terrorists move through shopping level--with the player dispatching wounded civilians squirming on the ground--before moving down another escalator. Then, the scene shifts to the airport's tarmac, where they encounter a group of security personnel under a large passenger jet with red, white, and blue stripes. The same jet appears to be shown in the "Infamy" trailer, but from the opposite viewpoint of the security personnel moving to stop the killings.
At that point, the leaked footage ends. However, despite being of low quality, the footage bears several telltale signs which indicate it is authentic--or an extremely elaborate mod. First is the fact the terrorists shown look identical to those in the last two official Modern Warfare 2 trailers. Second is the fact the blurry subtitles appear to show the name "Makarov"--the last name of the game's primary antagonist, Vladimir Makarov.
Third is the on-screen heads-up display, which appears to be the same as that in preview versions of the game shown to the press. Fourth are indications that the footage came from the same European source which posted video of a third-person multiplayer mode in Modern Warfare 2. Reflections on the screen showing another monitor and PlayStation 3 menu cues are the the same as footage which appeared on YouTube before being pulled.
That same yanked third-person footage was confirmed as being legitimate in Twitter postings by Robert Bowling, director of communications for Modern Warfare 2 developer Infinity Ward. In a tweet today, Bowling also indicated that footage from the game's campaign had leaked out. In response to a message from a user asking "Do you think the leaked SP footage is too much?" he responded, "I know man. Media Blackout! I'll keep this Twitter feed and the official Infinity Ward YouTube spoiler free. Singleplayer leaks suck."
Interestingly, the footage shows a multiplayer icon over another terrorist's head, indicating the level could be played in the game's Special Ops co-op mode. One rumor circulating is that the player will be an undercover operative who is forced to participate in the massacre or blow his cover.
The official story: Reps for Modern Warfare 2's publisher, Activision, had not responded to requests for comment as of press time.
Bogus or not bogus?: Not bogus. Infinity Ward is known for taking major risks to surprise its audience, and comparisons between official Modern Warfare 2 trailers and the leaked footage leave little doubt of the latter's legitimacy.
The bigger question is, will the sequence impact Modern Warfare 2 sales? Sure, players can commit similar mass killings at any time in almost every Grand Theft Auto game. However, the brutal nature of the airport massacre and the ever-sensitive subject of terrorism might prove a toxic mix, publicity-wise, if the mainstream media decides to pounce on it.
Honestly, I would still be stuck at stage one without it. At the part where you gotta disable the signal jammer. 
