We don’t know exactly how many copies God of War 3 will sell, but we can speculate.

Preorders of the game, according to VGChartz, are currently sitting around 487,000 units.  That’s a pretty promising number, and is a higher preorder count than other PS3 exclusives like Uncharted 2 and Final Fantasy XIII.

As a comparison, Mass Effect 2 had the highest preorder count for a single system so far this year at 475,000 (the Xbox 360 version).  It’s gone on to sell right around 1.5 million copies on the Xbox 360 since then.

Digital media will be the future of home entertainment, or at least that’s what Microsoft is counting on. Although, it would be a great coup for Sony to make money off of its competitor and get a Blu-Ray drive in the 360, Microsoft is determined to go without it. Perhaps this is a result of HD-DVD’s failings, or simply Microsoft’s standard of never supporting a competitor.

As CVG reports:

As an avid gamer who is also married, I’ve found myself in the doghouse many times for accidentally ignoring my wife because I was busy concentrating on my computer or television screen. When certain elements of human origin are hitting the fan, what am I supposed to do? I can’t let my character die because someone believes I need to help fold sheets or wash the dishes, right? That would just be unfair to my little virtual hero.

In the newest PS3 commercial for God of War III, it seems Sony understands this. Kevin Butler is a busy man, but sometimes one just has to take a moment to save the world. Or destroy it, in this case, I guess.

Do you get fries with that?  John Hight, director of product development for Sony’s Santa Monica Studio, let slip in an interview with Giant Bomb that the highly anticipated God of War 3 cost $44 million dollars to produce.

Hight noted that the greatest expenditures involved growing studio’s graphics and art teams. He also revealed that the final size of the God of War 3 team, 132 people, was fully double the size of the God of War 2 team.

Although Sony has clearly made a significant financial investment in God Of War 3, the title doesn’t even rank on a  list of the ten most expensive games ever made.  Take a look:

As we know, everyone’s favorite Golden Fleece-accessorizing, horn-blowing, homicidal Greek  ex-god will be back for his final outing on March 16th. But as imminent as the release of God Of War III is,  actual game play beyond what was seen in the trailer and the E3 demo has remained under wraps.

We’ve seen nothing more than a trailer and a 10-minute demo upon which to base our opinions .  That all changed last Thursday when Gametrailers TV host Geoff Keighley got an exclusive  look at the Sony-exclusive title, including new locations, new creatures, new attack moves, and some of the epic Titan interaction we’ve seen hinted at in the trailer.

While many called Dante’s Inferno a blatant God of War rip-off, God of War 3’s director, Stig Asmussen says different. In an interview with UK Official Playstation Magazine, Asmussen had this to say about Dante’s Inferno:

“We’ve been intrigued about Dante’s Inferno. This is my favourite genre, and the more people that are making [these games] the better.”

“And this is a really rich story they’re building on, it’s very interesting. The day that the demo came out we were trying to download it on PSN at midnight. We all wanted to see it”

One month out from the hotly anticipated PS3 exclusive God Of War III and Sony Computer Entertainment America is inviting gamers to the game’s official website.

The site is packed with GOWIII news and gives visitors the chance to sign up for the Spartan Army. Sony promises that those who join will gain access to “exclusive content such as News, Artwork, Screenshots, Wallpaper, Behind the Scenes, Developer Commentary, Community Q&A’s, and many more ‘vengeful’ updates that are truly worthy of the Gods.”

The website is just one of many promotions Sony is running for God of War III.  Those who still haven’t played the original games should know that the God Of War Collection has recently received a price drop – down to $29.99.

With several games already released and God of War III dropping on March 16, it seems that God of War fans can’t get enough of Kratos and the Gods of Olympus.  However, this time around fans will have to open Pandora’s Box if they want the ultimate God of War experience.

Sony has released an image of the very cool God of War III Ultimate Trilogy Edition package, and I must say that it’s a pretty tempting buy. The set comes with a replica of Pandora’s Box, which displays nicely through the clear window on the packaging. I’m not sure if the box itself houses the game discs, but it’s one sharp looking piece for game collectors.

Street Fighter: The Movie, Super Mario Brothers: The Movie, Mortal Kombat Annihilation, House Of The Dead, Postal, Resident Evil Apocalypse, Street Fighter Legend Of Chun Li and the list goes on and on. These were all extremely horrible films and, an abomination in the eyes of video gamers and movie goers alike. I have always been very optimistic about that one golden video game adaptation coming along and helping me to forget these blemishes on pop culture but this is fading fast.

I will admit that this summer’s Prince Of Persia is looking quite sweet but it just looks like Pirates of the Caribbean in Prince of Persia clothing and after the steaming pile that was World’s End this does not leave me hopeful. My dream job in the future is that of a screenwriter, so needless to say that when I hear horrible dialogue and truly terrible stories I want to throw up and scream “why!?” at the top of my lungs. So I started to wonder where could a good, if not excellent, video game adaptation could come from and it lead me to one form; the mini series.

Some new God of War III concept art has been featured on the Universal Gaming Database.

You can view all 31 pieces of the artwork at UGDB, although much of this will undoubtedly appear on the God of War III game disc as supplemental material.

In a recent interview with MTV Multiplayer, John Hight, studio director of Sony Santa Monica, gave us a few hints about what kind of game length we should expect from God of War 3.

Here’s the snippet from the interview:

In a recent interview, Sony rep John Hight discussed the future of the God of War franchise, stating that the series will not be ending with the release of God of War III.

Although Sony’s current focus is the upcoming release of the long awaited return of Kratos, Hight points out that the game engine is constantly evolving. He continues to note that “we’re going to be really careful about what we do next”.

The second game was a nice evolution from the first graphically, and players can expect more advancement from the upcoming God of War III. Hight points out that the newest entry will employ dynamic environments where “Kratos can now navigate, battle on, engage other creatures on, find treasures, you name it.” This is being done through what Hight states is “soft body collision” – a process two years in the making.

From Screen Rant:

A few weeks back the name Joseph Gatt made headlines everywhere when it was reported that he had been cast into a “secret role” for the upcoming Thor movie. We knew nothing more about it other than his history of work on some major video game titles and a few roles on TV and in several films. We had that and some guesses as to which character from the Thor comics he could be playing.

I had a chance to speak with Joe Gatt over the holidays and briefly again on Monday after the first day of Thor’s principal photography where I tried to get some hints on what character he could be playing in the movie, whether or not he could be involved in the game and if he could play the part of Kratos in the God of War movie. In our discussion, we talked about the Thor movie and his character, how he got into the business, his diverse background which includes working as a motion capture actor in some triple-A video game titles, and his favorite films.

The 2009 Spike Video Game Awards are over with, and we’ve been covering a lot of announcement and trailer information coming out of the show, but in case you missed the actual awards themselves, we haven’t forgotten about you – we’ve put together the official list of 2009 VGA winners in each category (as well as the nominees).

Don’t forget to check out our own 2009 Game of the Year Round-Up for a more extensive discussion on the most critically acclaimed titles of the year.

In an interview with Gamasutra, Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg spoke about Halo Reach and his thoughts on the competition. He opened up by taking a few shots at Sony’s Gran Turismo 5, which I have to admit made me chuckle.

“Is it launching next year? I’ve seen years and years of minigames, but I haven’t seen that the game’s done. They just released the PSP version. Maybe that’s what they’ve been working on?”

He continued by voicing his opinion on Halo Reach.

“I feel confident that there’s nothing that will compare in size. Halo Reach will be the biggest game of 2010.”

Rather than spending time with family, Visceral Games is hoping gamers will prefer a short trip to Hell this holiday season. Visceral Games and publisher Electronic Arts recently announced that the heavily promoted button-masher, Dante’s Inferno, will be available as a free downloadable demo via the Playstation Network on December 10, 2009 and Xbox Live on December 24, 2009.

The demo, titled the “Gates of Hell,” will include the entire opening level of the game and introduce players to “Dante Alighieri’s re-imagined past as a crusader who returns home to Florence to discover his true love, Beatrice, murdered.  As her soul escapes her body, she is kidnapped by the dark shadow form of Lucifer.  Sworn to her rescue, Dante must journey to the Gates of Hell and beyond to battle undead monstrosities, unholy boss demons, and Death himself.” Visceral Games is promising that gamers will experience the Nine Circles of Hell at a speed of 60 frames per second.

Sega’s Bayonetta has certainly made waves over the last few months. It even has the support of Cosplayers who’ve dressed up like the protagonist before the game was even released. Famed Japanese gaming magazine, Famitsu, awarded Bayonetta a 40 out of 40 and U.K.’s Edge magazine gave it a 10 out of 10.  Released in Japan on October 29, 2009, the title has sold over 270,000 combined on the Xbox 360 and PS3 in its first four weeks of release according to VGChartz.com. But is the title any good or is this just hype?

I had the opportunity to play the demo yesterday, and if it is representative of the entire experience, I think gamers will be impressed. This is one insane idea for a game.  If Kratos (God of War) and Dante (of Devil May Cry fame) had a baby, it would look like Bayonetta. In my short time with the game, I was killing and torturing angels, collecting what appeared to be their halos, using a dodge-activated bullet time system to get the jump on my enemies, and losing my character’s clothing every time she used her magic.  And talk about magic… I had Bayonetta summon a dragon who then promptly bit the head off of my enemy. The action was fast-paced and Bayonetta’s moves were easily accessible.

According to IGN, God of War 3 will not have online co-op play, dispelling previous rumors that had been floating around the web. When asked about whether or not the rumors were true, a Sony representative had this to say:

“This news is false.”

Short and to the point. Once again, another single player game is coming out for the PS3. Don’t get me wrong, the game will be amazing, but how much better would it have been if it was two player? That’s right, even better. How great would it have been to perform co-operative attacks against huge mythological enemies? We can only dream now.

Spike announced today on the VGA 2009 website, the nominees for this year’s program. Voting is now open so be sure to stop by and vote for your favorite games! Something a little more interesting though is the announcement of the first of several world exclusive premieres for the VGAs; The first being the world exclusive premiere footage of Halo: Reach that will air on their annual award ceremony.

While the other world exclusive premieres have yet to be announced, this is certainly one of the biggest games they could have grabbed an exclusive from! As for all the nominees and categories, you can check them out below (thanks to 1up).

Now that Modern Warfare 2 has been released, we’ve got a little more time to start speculating on future blockbuster titles. Today, Nick McCandless of The Gamer Access is reporting that God of War III will feature cooperative gameplay elements. The story is tagged as “official” but the validity of the information is certainly contentious.

McCandless claims that after completing the demo, he logged into a Sony site that educates retail employees about future titles. According to the article, a questionnaire for God of War III contained the question: “Will God of War III have online cooperative modes?” with a corresponding “Yes” answer. A screen-grab is included in the article, though its authenticity is certainly questionable.

Back in October, Stig Asmussen, director of God of War III at SCE Studios Santa Monica, spoke with GamePro and denied that God of War III would have multiplayer: “With God of War III, there’s a story we want to tell and an experience we want to deliver, and multiplayer doesn’t fit into that.” Though, he focused his comments more on the single player campaign, “Imagine two Kratos characters running around at the same time. Once you do that, the story becomes something more about an experience between two players and less about something that we’re scripting.”

The official PlayStation Blog has been updated with an announcement regarding the God of War III demo. On October 29th when you pick up a Blu-ray copy of Peter Jackson’s District 9 you’ll also be treated to the playable E3 demo of the upcoming PS3 exclusive God of War III. The demo will be included in the actual disc as a special feature, making the game the first hybrid videogame-movie bundle ever.

In addition to the God of War III demo, the District 9 blu-ray disc will feature the usual assortment of special content: director’s commentary, an interactive map of Johannesburg, a three-part documentary: The Alien Agenda: A Filmmaker’s Log, as well as featurettes: Koobus Big Gun, Metamorphosis: The Transformation of Wikus, Innovation: Acting and Improvisation, Conception and Design: Creating the World of District 9, and Alien Generation: Visual Effects. Even the special features have special features: users who complete the God of War III demo will also unlock a special making of God of War III featurette.