For anyone paying attention to next-gen game development, this should come as very, very little surprise:

God of War III won’t be released on PlayStation 3 for at least another two years. A reliable Sony source has told us that we shouldn’t expect to see Kratos blowing his fuse until around Christmas 2009 at the earliest, scotching rumours of a winter 2008 release. That really gets our goat!

Oh, a goat joke. I get it.

This isn’t surprising, because the development cycle on major games has gone through the roof, and lest you forget, God of War II hasn’t even been out for a year. Anticipating a late 2009 release for the title almost seems optimistic through that lens. If I had to bet money, I might even say Spring of 2010, unless of course Sony continues on the path it’s been on for the last 14 months. Sony needs Big Games on the platform, and really, God of War might be their biggest.

However, this:

Barlog also reckoned God of War III would be playable in 1080p and would feature Sixaxis functionality, including rumble support. Too bad we won’t see it for a looooong time.

…is laughable. Except for the rumble support. That we’ll definitely see.

-Aegies

Note: this post contains rumors which are unsourced, because they’re rumors. While I wouldn’t post about them unless i was fairly certain they had some credence, they should not be taken as fact, and should be approached with the appropriate amount of skepticism. The exception to this is the fact that the three studios in question did blackball EGM/1UP (as well as a number of other publishers in Europe as well), and Sony did fuck up last year and try to bully Kotaku into pulling a story.

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Finally the PSP is getting functionality that actually makes it stand out in ways that the DS doesn’t. Here is a list of improvements/add-ons, that are coming soon for the PSP:

1. Skype support (for PSP Slim only): VOIP support for the PSP will hit in the next few weeks. PSP owners will be able to call and receive calls from landlines and cellphones for an additional charge. It will come as a firmware update, but will apparently only be accessible for Slim owners. Sony points towards a memory difference between the two versions of the handheld as the cause.
2. PSP GPS: Sony is officially showcasing a PSP GPS system at the 2008 CES. GPS has been available in Japan, but is now going to come to other countries as well. Users will be able to download city guides, see real time 2D and 3D maps, as well as get driving directions. No pricing has been released at this time, but it is still awesome to see the potential use of the PSP as more of a powerful handheld device.
3. Blu-ray to PSP move download: Sony has been showcasing the PSP’s ability to download a lower-res version of a Blu-Ray movie through the PS3. This makes me actually kinda want some Blu-Ray movies….

Dunno about you, but all these PSP additions make me happy to own the system. I am not happy that I won’t be able to use Skype–though I don’t know how much I actually would have used it, but I still wish I had the option. Maybe I’ll just sell the phat PSP to Aegies…

Anyways, combine these new features with games like God of War: Chains of Olympus, and I think the PSP has a good year ahead of it.

Chufmoney

Jayslacks says that he likes my NPD posts, and who I am I to deny him? Here we are, after the would-be megaton last week that we’d never get NPD numbers again EVAR. It’s a good thing too, because this month’s numbers continue to be interesting. These numbers are taken from 1UP and the confirmed sales numbers thread on NeoGAF. Say what you like about NeoGAF, but when it comes to NPD numbers, they have it immediately and accurately, and often with more in depth sales data then other sites provide. Anyway, enough meandering. Let’s get down to business. Here’s a quick warning: the post that follows, is long. Really long.
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