Then, this March, the first of two God of War Novels arrive from Del Rey.

Sounds like someone went a little marketing crazy. Here's the break down of the books, the comics and, yes, that fancy set of knives.

God of War Comic Book Series (October 2009): Published by DC/Wildstorm Comics, the series will be written by Marv Wolfman (The New Teen Titans, Crisis on Infinite Earths). The six-issue series will be released on a monthly schedule, leading into the March 2010 release of God of War III for the Playstation 3.

United Cutlery's Blades of Chaos (October 2009): United Cutlery , manufacturer of licensed edged and adult collectibles for the entertainment industry since 1981, will create a scaled replica of Kratos Blades of Chaos. The weapon will be a total of 20-13/16 inches long and have a 12 7/16-inch blade constructed from solid-cast zinc aluminum with a custom-etched mold texture, and unique fantasy grindings that mirror the piece used in the game. The handle grip is injection-molded and surrounded by an intricate, detailed cast-metal guard and pommel. The Blades of Chaos replica includes a custom display stand with the God of War logo.

Del Rey Books' God of War Novels (March 2010): Del Rey will publish two novels based on the God of War series. The first novel, God of War, will be written by author Matthew Stover. In the novel God of War, Kratos, the game's protagonist, is a great warrior who seeks revenge on the God of War Ares for the deaths of his wife and child. On his journey to Olympus, Kratos must battle great monsters of legend—and fight his own inner demons. Kratos' quest will take him through a world of Greek mythology transformed, in which the familiar legends take on a terrifying new life—from the Aegean, where Kratos will grapple with the Great Hydra, to the depths of Hades, where Kratos will face death itself, to the heights of Mount Olympus.

Among the list of games getting future merchandising are The Sims, MySims, Dead Space, Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age, Dante's Inferno and Army of Two.

"Creative Minx is proud to be working with EA, and to be able to represent such a strong portfolio of highly-recognizable gaming titles," Andi Riordan-Scott, President of Creative Minx Marketing. "We look forward to building successful merchandising franchises across multiple categories and distribution channels for EA's top brands and leveraging the awareness of its strong consumer base."

Let's hope this includes Dante's Inferno wind-up babies and Army of Two hockey masks.

[Pic]

Working through the collections provides some rather weird challenges to the discipline of library science. An entire segment of the collection is devoted to items termed as realia, basically commercial products tied to video game concepts or characters. They don't fit on shelves very well, and the exact means of how to preserve these detritus of commercial culture are fraught with an internal debate about their validity to humanity. I think everything should be remembered or recorded fastidiously, but then again I get a thrill out of looking at old Nintendo marketing crud, and I work in a library. That said, these items make my inner child awaken anew and crave some tasty morsels of the past.

I hope we can expect to see more of this sort of stuff — it's fun seeing what librarians at Stanford have decided to add to the collection. Though I would be curious to learn the acquisition backstory — was the cereal just hanging out in someone's personal collection? Two decade old overstock at Ralston Purina?

Errant Nintendo Licensing: Parties, Cereal, and School [How They Got Game]

Next up is a set of Gears of War 2 dolls action figures we first saw some advance shots of in June.There is a new Marcus Fenix figurine, an even 'orribler looking Locust Theron Guard and two more of Marcus' chums from Delta Squad.

As usual, the models are absurdly detailed, not that the people who will buy them will ever take them out of the packaging to find this out. Honestly, NECA could really save on manufacturing costs by only modeling the front bits. The savings on plastic alone could treble their 3rd quarter operating costs.

Gears of War Series 2 Action Figures Revealed [Team Xbox]

If only the little sewn man were wearing a bird on his shirt, Crecente could have some sort of a case during litigation. As for now he'll have to settle for something like unlimited anime patches that look like him, which while not a bad prize (hell, sounds great to me), won't put little Tristen through four years at Harvard.

SCHOOL RUMBLE HARIMA PATCH [gee] Thanks Mooseferatu!

The store, which will be opening this summer, will sock schwag and toes from Master Arms, Mechanical Arts, Play Arts, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts. Hit the jump for the official release snippet.

Square Enix Store

SQUARE ENIX OFFICIAL ONLINE MERCHANDISE STORE
As one of the industry's premiere makers of high end-collectibles, Square Enix prides itself on producing high-quality items that accurately reflect the nuances and facets of the original source material. Previously available only through retail outlets and third-party vendors, Square Enix will be launching an online store that will stock a full selection of popular and hard-to-find items from series such as MASTER ARMS™, MECHANICAL ARTS™ and PLAY ARTS®. Additionally, figures and merchandise from popular franchises such as DRAGON QUEST, FINAL FANTASY VII ADVENT CHILDREN™, FINAL FANTASY XII, KINGDOM HEARTS, as well as online exclusive items will be available for purchase. The SQUARE ENIX OFFICIAL ONLINE MERCHANDISE STORE launches in the United States this summer. For more information please visit http://www.square-enix-shop.com/usa/index.html