You know what sounds like a bad idea? God of War III with an online cooperative mode. That is, of course, unless Kratos had a wise-cracking minotaur sidekick. That would be awesome. 

But despite rumors which pointed to the upcoming PlayStation 3 title featuring a co-op mode, that doesn't look like it's happening. Speaking with IGN, a Sony spokesperson shot down the rumors, calling the news "unfounded."

"God of War III will not have an online co-op mode," the rep said. 

Wait, the rep only said "online co-op"! What about splitscreen!? Okay, let's give it a rest -- it's not happening, right? This matches what the game's design director, Todd Papy, told me back in February. 

"This is a solo campaign," he said. "Kratos has never really had a buddy for the trip so ... but we are looking at downloadable content, and also Home support."

Yes! A God of War space with Kratos Checkers and Harpy Chess, please. 

Technically this rumor has been around for quite some time, but there's some new evidence that God of War III is going to have online co-op in it. Nick McCandless, from The Gamer Access, played the GoW III demo and loved it so much he desperately needed more info on the game. He thus logged onto Sony's Retail Loyalty Site, where those in retail can learn about Sony products by taking a quiz. There he found a very interesting question: "Will God of War III have online cooperative modes?" The answer was yes.

Before we all get really excited or really disappointed (depending on what you think of GoW co-op) it should be noted that Nick "has quotes from developers just laying around" Chester was told by design director Todd Papy in February that multiplayer is "definitely something we're looking into. But as far as any multiplayer experience, this is a solo campaign. Kratos has never really had a buddy for the trip so ... but we are looking at downloadable content, and also Home support."

Were they lying to us? Why would they do that? We even gave them a friendship bracelet after the last time they told us things that weren't true. Seems strange that Sony would be educating retailers with false information, though. If this turns out to be true, know this: Sony has broken Mr. Destructoid's heart for the last time. He won't suffer their lies anymore, it hurts too much.

_{“The Memory Card” is a seasonal feature that dissects and honors some of the most artistic, innovative, and memorable videogame moments of all time.}

Regardless of their varying types of gameplay, videogames generally portray their most emotional story beats within the confines of a safe and easy cutscene. Not to say doing this is a bad thing by any means -- some of the most incredibly beautiful videogame moments I have ever experienced have occurred in cutscenes (three words: Palom and Porom).

But it’s very rare for a videogame to integrate an emotional story moment into the actual gameplay. Sure, there are examples like BioShock or Half-Life 2 that present very moving, dramatic moments between characters in-game, but those sequences are still more or less just traditional cutscenes with a fancy, somewhat misleading, real-time sheen.

There is one moment in God of War II for the PlayStation 2, however, that manages to manipulate the player into performing a shocking act that completely changes the emotional tone of the game’s story. And it does all of this during the game’s action-heavy gameplay.

Hit the jump to witness a surprisingly brilliant moment in a game that barely gives you time to breathe.

For those of you, like myself, who have never played any of the God of War games (waits for shouts of anger to stop) the GoW Collection is a godsend. Here we have both classic games running on the PS3 with supposedly better graphics and a 720p presentation at 60fps. I knew this was coming, that's why I didn't play them before. But how can we be sure if the graphics are really that much better unless we compare them? There's just no way.

Thank goodness for the guys at Bitmob, who evidently have a lot of time on their hands as they spent 16 hours collecting 14,000 screens in order to deliver a side by side comparison of the original games and the new collection. What was the final outcome? The  new one is better looking than the old one! Shocking, I know. It's pretty clear that the texture upping and improvement to 720p has greatly improved the look of the game. For me, picking this up after I get a PS3 for the holidays (gifts are always gladly accepted) is a no brainer, but what about all of you who have already played through the games? Is the graphical reboot enough to make you purchase them again?

As reported, the God of War III demo is live, with customers who pre-ordered the game already receiving vouchers for the game. 

I went out of my way to get my own voucher for a few reasons. First, despite having seen this very demo played multiple times since last February, I had never actually played it. I'm a huge fan of the series -- I'd probably lump God of War I, II, and the PlayStation Portable's Chains of Olympus into some kind of "favorite games ever" file. But at E3, I saw another demo and did a Q&A with the devs, at PAX the lines were too long, and ditto for Tokyo Game Show.

But I'm not totally selfish. The second (and main, I promise!) reason was I wanted to make sure we could bring you guys video of the full demo in action. So here it is, nearly 20 minutes of God of War III in action. A few notes after the jump.

Okay, stupid story time, but the implications are very obvious. The latest edition of Xbox Live's "Inside Xbox" series is a Halloween edition, and as such, it makes use of stereotypically scary imagery. The episode's NXE panel shows some heads mounted on a wall as hunting trophies, but what's this? Isn't that one Kratos? Why yes, I do believe it is.

It appears that Microsoft has killed and beheaded the star of PS3 exclusive God of War III. This is of course a rather cheeky jab at the competition, which is doubly hilarious since I believe Kratos could kick seven shades of sh*t out of any Microsoft executive on any day of the week.

Anyway, what do you think of this? Amusing jibe, or tasteless insult? I guess that all depends on which side of the fanboy fence you sit.

And before you ask, yes it is a slow news day.

Heads up: If you pre-ordered the God of War III or God of War III Ultimate Collection for PlayStation 3, you should be able to download the God of War III E3 demo right now. 

Of course, that's only if you've received a voucher code, which retailers should have today. I checked in with a few local GameStops, some of which hadn't received their codes yet, yet many had. Your mileage may vary, so let us know how it goes. 

The demo weighs in at a little over two gigs and lets pull out a creature's intestines with your bare hands. We'll have some video footage later today, so stay tuned.

[Update: The original story had indicated this was a pre-order with God of War Collection. Clarification from Sony and multiple retailers now indicates codes are available with the pre-order of God of War III and the God of War III Ultimate Collection. The God of War Collection will come with its own code to download the demo... now you can get it twice!

The story has been updated to reflect the clarification, but the point remains -- you can be playing the God of War III demo today if you'd like.]

Sony has announced the God of War III Ultimate Edition, and you'd better make some room for this one -- it's massive. 

The ultimate edition comes in a sculpted replica of Pandora's Box, as well as a Limited-Edition God of War art book with exclusive art, content, and interviews. There's also a bunch of digital content packed in, all of which will be available via the PlayStation Network after redeeming a voucher code at 

• God of War Combat Arena containing an exclusive environment and seven challenges
• Premium Kratos Skin – Dominus
• God of War: Unearthing the Legend Franchise Documentary – a full-length movie documentary depicting the history of the God of War franchise
• God of War Trilogy Soundtrack – God of War, II, and III scores from the game (mp3 digital download).
• God of War: Blood and Metal EP – a heavy metal homage featuring original music inspired by God of War (mp3 digital download).

This massive collection of God of War goodies will run you $99.99.  

Also announced have been pre-order details. Order from GameStop.com, get a "Phantom of Chaos" skin for Kratos. Order from GameCrazy, you'll get a "Forgotten Warrior" skin. Finally, ordering from Amazon will get you a -- wait for it -- Kratos PlayStation Home Avatar "Apollo" skin.

Images of the GameStop and GameCrazy Amazon pre-orders can be found after the jump. You'll just have to imagine what a Kratos PlayStation Home Avatar looks like for now.

[Update: Sony had made an error in its initial announcement -- Amazon pre-orders will not get a Kratos Home Avatar. They will get the Apollo skin. Given the mix up, we checked with Sony to see if a Kratos Home Avatar would be offered through other means, and were told there are no plans "at this time." Boo!]

When I think of shrimp-like aliens who have been oppressed by South Africans, I'm always reminded of Spartan warriors who perform assassination missions for ancient Gods. This is why District 9 and God of War III are a match made in Heaven, with the Blu-ray version of the critically acclaimed movie containing a demo for 2010's big PS3 exclusive.

District 9 is out on Blu-ray on December 29, and God of War III's demo will be packed onto the very same disc. Completion of the demo will unlock a God of War III "making of" featurette. Yes, we know, there is absolutely no discernible link between District 9 and God of War III, but who cares? This is Sony doing what Sony does best -- showing off.

So, if you're not planning to get God of War Collection, this is an alternative for you.

Sony has announced that the God of War Collection -- the "remastered" Blu-ray collection featuring God of War I and God of War II for the PlayStation 3 -- will hit stores on November 17. Oh, and it's only $39.99. 

If that weren't enough for you, both games will feature their own sets of PlayStation 3 trophies. According to God of War III's design director, Todd Papy, some of the trophies were based on inside jokes and behind-the-scenes God of War shenanigans. 

The trophy "Speed of Jason McDonald" refers to one of the game's combat designers who would blow you away with how fast he could complete the game, for instance. If they were to name a trophy after me, it would be called "Do Want," and I'd get it when Sony sent me this game as soon as humanly possible. Anyone out there listening? Is this thing on?

I've invoked the true journalism powers of "copy and paste," and have put the full trophy list after the jump. For more details, head over to the PlayStation.Blog.

We kind of had an idea that God of War III was going to rock, but now it's official -- it's actually going to rock. 

In an interview today with Baltimore radio station 98 Rock, the lead singer for Orlando, Florida-based metal Trivium dropped the news that the group had just finished recording an original song for the upcoming PlayStation 3 exclusive.

"I don't know if it's been announced yet," said singer/guitarist/gamer Matt Heafy, "but it is now."

No other information was given, but we can only assume that guitars will crunch, beats will blast, and Heafy is going to growl some stuff... possibly about Zeus. When it comes to seeing Kratos do what he does best -- ripping things to shreds -- all of that sounds just about right.

Given the choice, would you choose to tear of Helios head in God of War III (pictured above) by shaking your controller? According to the game's director, Stig Asmussen, that's something you just might get to do when the game ships for PlayStation 3 next March.

"We're not currently using it," he told GamePro about the PS3 controller's SIXAXIS support, "but that doesn't mean we won't get something in there by the time it ships. I can see a lot of different uses for it."

Assumussen assures it won't be used for balancing on beams or anything, but uses the example of shaking the controller to yank of Helio's head.

As for the future of the game via downloadable content, Asmussen says that it "would make a last of sense" to be able to download additional challenge rooms. In previous games, a number of challenge rooms shipped on the disc; with DLC, Asmussen feels it could be "a good way to keep the series going."

More over at GamePro.

There's not much to say about the God of War Collection that hasn't already been said about the two games -- God of War and God of War II -- that will ship as part of this single Blu-ray Disc collection. The games are both amazing, and on a personal level, two of my favorite videogames ever. Yes, I'm a God of War fanboy -- I admit it. 

So outside of the games themselves, here's what you have to look forward to when the game ships this November. 2X anti-aliased graphics, Trophies, and 720p resolution, all at 60 frames per second. Basically, it's the sexiest the original games have ever looked, and that's saying a lot, since the original games looked pretty damned good on PlayStation 2 hardware. The bottom line is, if you loved the originals, you'll love these. If you didn't, fancy upgrades probably won't change your mind. 

The game will also include that voucher for the God of War III demo that should be available before the year's end, which basically makes this a must-have for God of War fans. Like me. Gimme now, Sony. (P.S. Nice new logo, Sony Santa Monica.)

Everybody's favorite Ghost of Sparta will be donning the Blades of Chaos and cutting Gorgon heads off next month, when a God of War III demo comes to the PlayStation Network. Here's the catch, though -- despite being a Western-developed game, this will be for Japanese customers only.

Annoyingly, obtaining the demo won't just be a case of logging into your obligatory Japanese PSN account, locating the demo, and downloading it. Sony has confirmed that this demo is part of a promotion to help sell copies of inFAMOUS, which launches in Japan today. The demo needs to be unlocked with a code that comes in the inFAMOUS box.

The demo will be available on November 19, and Sony is yet to confirm any details for we filthy Roundeyes.

Once again, Sony has made my life bad. This is punishment for me laughing at the PSPgo, I know it.