In order to develop a title for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, or even the PSP, developers have to piece together middleware applications for 3D content editing, audio, user interface, asset management, and more. God of War: Chains of Olympus developers Ready At Dawn are looking to make the whole process a little easier, integrating its own code-base with to tool providers works to create the Ready At Dawn Engine, "the only comprehensive and fully integrated console game development platform."

"At Ready At Dawn Studios, we are faced with the challenges of making a great game everyday," Didier Malenfant, president, Ready At Dawn Studios, said. "We are building something for developers who are tired of the challenges of PC engines shoe-horned into consoles, or trying to stitch together layers upon layers of middleware from multiple vendors. Our solution will be a complete game development platform that simply works."

The Ready At Dawn Engine supports PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PSP development, with the company offering tailored evaluations of each project's needs to ensure that developers get the most out of the package.

It should be amazingly useful to dev teams making the switch from PC to console, and it's great to see this sort of support from one developer to others. Nicely done, Ready At Dawn.

Ready At Dawn writes today that the developer, known for its PSP expertise, was "surprised no one has found this one out yet." The dev also reveals how it's done, saying the player must "finish Chains of Olympus in god mode, [with] no upgrades, and collect all the urns of power twice without dying you open up the companion cube as a hidden character."

That makes this a little strange. I've collected every single Urn of Power at least three times over, even the one you can only get using the Basilisk glitch, yet I've never seen this. I'm guessing that's because it's not real.

Ten new titles receive special packaging and a special $19.99 retail price come April 5th as part of Sony's 2009 PSP push. God of War, Patapon, and SOCOM: Tactical Strike are the only first-party titles to make the cut. Ubisoft represents with Tom Clancy's Advanced Warfighter 2 and Rainbow Six Vegas, while EA brings Fight Night Round 3 and Medal of Honor Heroes 2 to the party. Finally we have Sonic Rivals 2 from Sega, THQ's SpongeBob Squarepants: The Yellow Avenger, and Mortal Kombat: Unchained by way of Midway.

It bares noting that of the ten tiles here, only God of War and SOCOM currently retail for over $19.99 anyway, so eight of these titles are simply getting new packaging. Still, its the thought that counts, and I certainly won't scoff at the chance to get Chains of Olympus for half of the $39.99 GameStop is still charging for it.

The independent developer sounded the call for new talent today, looking for a few folks willing to relocate to sunny Santa Ana Irvine, California to work on their next projects. Projects that aren't PSP games or Wii ports, but for "other consoles" like the PlayStation 3... and maybe even the Xbox 360 and PC.

Sorry, not much info on the developer's new games to be gleaned from the available job listings. But anyone who does find gainful employment there, you know where the tips e-mail is located.

Just sayin'!

Jobs [Ready At Dawn]

You may recall that back in June, Ready at Dawn announced that they were going to stop developing for the PSP after putting out the fantabulous God of War: Chains of Olympus. They even put their money where their mouth was, returning all of the PSP dev kits to Sony.

But recently they posted about the continued success of Chains and Daxter.

According to Gamasutra, 2 out of 5 top PSP games sold on Amazon in the US last week were Ready At Dawn games with Daxter and Chains of Olympus both making the top 5.

Maybe we should reconsider this whole ‘no more PSP games’ thing because we seem to be doing pretty good at it

It sounds like they are kidding, but why not return to the PSP. Maybe Sony should send those boxes back, filled to the brim with cash to help convince Ready at Dawn.

Happy Holidays indeed… [Ready at Dawn]

Ready At Dawn News

What starts out as a pretty slow, actually not so funny take on God of War Chains of Olympus, turns to typical gold after Yahtzee seems to find his stride and knocks it out of the park again and again... as usual.

The Escapist

Ready at Dawn certainly achieved their goals, but they didn't do so without a bit of stumbling.

Loved:
Channeling God of War: This pocket-sized God of War is an amazing reproduction of the big screen version. Everything from the epic scope of the backdrop, to over-the-top battles, to the hidden sex mini-games is packed into this excellent title.
Pacing: As with the original, Chains of Olympus keeps you enthralled with a storyline you care about and the perfectly paced blending of battles and puzzle solving.
Graphics: Miniaturized, Kratos is just as much a bad-ass as he was in the original games. The detail of animation is at times awe-inspiring, and the character design at times almost surpasses the first two in the franchise.
Controls: With the exception of a few quick-time boss battle kills, the controls are flawless, allowing you to hammer out 40 to 50-chain attacks on a screen full of enemies.
Weapons: From the Gauntlets of Zeus to Kratos' mainstay Blades of Chaos, the portable God of War comes packed with an amazing selection of boostable weapons, a half dozen all told.
Bonus Material: While the game's five hours or so of campaign play was more than enough to satisfy my God of War bloodlust, it's nice that the game also includes five challenges that unlock silly bonus material, like being able to play as Kratos in a dress, and a God difficulty.
Addictive: Because of the vagaries of early builds and demos, I managed to play through chunks of Chains of Olympus three to four times, and it never got old. In fact, I had a lot of trouble putting it down. It's rare that a game gets its claws into me so deep. Even rarer that it would be on the PSP.

Hated
The Thumbstick: There are a number of big monster, quick time event kills in which you have to do timed swirls with the thumbstick and often it just doesn't register. There's nothing as annoying as failing in a boss battle or creature fight because of the hardware.
Save Points: There are a couple of unforgivable save points in the game. Why on earth would you put a save point right before the unskippable cut-scene that introduces an incredibly hard boss battle?
Story: This prequel to the original God of War has a wonderful, potentially emotional plot marred by disjointed delivery. There are moments in the game that could have truly touched gamers, but felt too forced to work.

God of War: Chains of Olympus delivers more to the Playstation Portable than I thought was possible. The game is nearly flawless in its production value and what minor issues it does have has more to do with the irritating difficulty than any real design flaws. My only disappointment lies in the story, which had such great potential for evocative gaming, but never fully delivers.

Set aside a chunk of one day to sit down and enjoy this experience uninterrupted from beginning to end. If I could only buy one game for the PSP, this would be it.

God of War: Chains of Olympus, developed by Ready at Dawn, published by SCEA, released March 4, for $40. Available on Playstation Portable, played to completion.

If you didn't get the free Demo on UMD when it came out, you can still grab it directly over on the Playstation Store. I point this out because the downloadable demo isn't exactly easy to find and some of you may not have realized it's out there.

God of War: Chains of Olympus Demo [PS Story, thanks Brad]

The RAD team also says that after a short, post game launching break, they'll be working on new projects that aren't for the PSP, with Chains of Olympus being their "last PSP game." What's next? "Other projects and other ideas on other consoles" is all they'll say. Who wants to make some guesses?

Two Rumors, One Stone [Ready At Dawn]

Considering rumors are pointing to a 2009 ship date for God of War III and Sony has a habit of showing these games a year (or more) in advance, we'd say that if you want a Kratos fix in 2008, it's probably going to be on UMD.

God of War III Ad [IGN]

The bundle ships, as we said earlier, in June for $199.99. For a look at the reverse side, with a lovely Kratos silkscreen, keep on clickin'.

Oh, I'm absolutely bringing this thing to my next threesome. (Just kidding, honey!)

The God of War package will come bundled with God of War: Chains of Olympus, a UMD version of the hit comedy Superbad as well as a gift certificate for a PlayStation Store downloadable game. Pricing is said to be set at $199.

Note: The image shown was one we created and does not depict the final color of the PSP.
Note 2: Turns out we were pretty damn close, here's the first look at the new PSP.

[Thanks, Cadaverine]

Here's something you should've seen coming a mile away—a nipple-filled threesome mini-game in Ready At Dawn's PSP title God of War: Chains of Olympus. Outside of a polygonal pair of boobs, don't expect much more than a suggestive candle-as-phallus bobbing about on a crate, occasionally ejaculating hot wax. Suffice it to say, it's not safe for work, if only for the banging and moaning sounds, but mostly for the digital ta-tas.

I just played through the short, but rather sweet God of War Chains of Olympus demo being shipped out to fans of the game and the PSP.

The Battle of Attica gives you a taste of what to expect from the game when the full version hits the portable next year. And from what I saw, it looks like a game that mostly lives up to the God of War name. The pacing of the game remains frenetic, but not so over the top as to be exhausting.

The game still manages to deliver the sort of heft in both movement and actions that make you feel like your watching and controlling something real. While the attacks from the console versions of the game to be mostly intact, I was disappointed to see a bit too much repetition in some of the animations. The straight grab attack, for instance always delivered the same couple of second scene that grew tiresome over the short length of the demo.

The boss battles, there are two included in the demo, are again very reminiscent of the console versions of the game. You have to carefully wear down your opponent while avoiding damage until you get them to the point that you can jump into a animated death scene that is moved along by following a series of on-screen button prompts.

While the animation is still quite nice, it does appear that the PSP doesn't quite have the oomph to deliver the goods on the last boss's death. I liked what they were going for, but the graphics didn't quite match up with the concept, I suspect.

The demo includes enough of a mix of boss battles, very simple puzzles and fighting to, I believe, give you a sense of what to expect from the game. And what I come away with is that Chains of Olympus is going to be a nice addition to the God of War franchise. One that hits all of the notes, but doesn't try to change the tune. And that's fine. It would have been nice to see a bit more innovation edge into this production, and maybe we will come the release of the end product, but that's not necessary to ensure that the game will be well received and fun to play.