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We're all pretty familiar with the half limbo, half terrible transition the world of video games turning into movies is. Someone always has the rights to some venerable franchise, but progress is rarely ever made. When progress is actually made, though, the movies turn out pretty disappointingly, with the best the genre has ever done being the slightly-above-mediocre Prince of Persia movie. The God of War movie rights have been floating around for quite some time, but now the writers responsible for four Saw movies, Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan are set to helm the project.

If you know the gaming industry, you know the outspoken, oddly creative David Jaffe. If you don't follow the people behind your favorite games, he created God of War, but left Sony shortly after to be a part of casualish gaming studio Eat Sleep Play. Well, he recently left Eat Sleep Play, and took to his blog to explain exactly why.

Not too long ago, Sony unveiled the next main (read: Not portable installment) God of War, God of War: Ascension. Each main God of War has had some incredible event happen in the game, be it technical, game play, or story related. God of War's feat was a PS2 game that looked as good as it did, but somehow featured virtually no load times. God of War II featured the surprising cliffhanger ending, and God of War III featured the Titan fights and the camera from the point of view of the victim you're currently brutally murdering. Though we know God of War: Ascension will feature Kratos' past, before the the series takes place, it seems the big feat of this game will be multiplayer. That's right, God of War will have a fully fledged multiplayer component, and from what little we know, it doesn't look too shabby.

If you were hoping and praying to all the gods that you couldn't pray to (because Kratos savagely killed all of them) for a new God of War game featuring Kratos on the PlayStation 3, those dead gods must've somehow listened. Sony has unveiled God of War: Ascension, what will be a prequel to the entire God of War series, back before Kratos became the titular god of war and went on his rage-fueled quest that spanned three console installments, two PSP adventures, a surprisingly decent cellphone adventure back before smartphones were prominent, and a very sufficient amount of dismantling the entire Greek mythos via his temperament issues. Check out the teaser for the game below.

The Spike VGAs have come and gone, leaving an aftertaste of pandering and lots and lots of cinematic trailers. Oh, and also they gave out some awards, with Red Dead Redemption claiming a respectable four categories, with the God of War franchise also being a strong contender. Winners, and their competition, below.

The January issue of the Official PlayStation Magazine is reporting that Kratos, main character, rage personified, and unstoppable murder machine from the God of War series, will be a playable character in the PlayStation 3 release of next year's Mortal Kombat reboot, which is currently set release in March. Not only will Kratos be a playable character, but he'll have his own combat moves (Cyclone of Chaos, anyone?), fatalities, and a God of War themed combat arena. Not to mess with the canon of the new Mortal Kombat's story, Kratos won't be playable in story mode.

As part of a campaign to be on the PlayStation Network show The Tester, this video shows us how Kratos, brutal murderer of most of the pantheon of Greek gods, makes lunch. Aside from being funny and the guy in the video happening to have scary-looking knives on hand for some reason, the video actually displays a very sophisticated understanding and familiarity with the God of War quick time events, from the camera angels, to the zooms, right down to Kratos' struggles.

(technabob via Kotaku)

 

The folks at Gamervision have answered a question we'll admit we never really asked: What would happen if God of War was a precious Wes Anderson-style indie movie? Their answer is likely to appeal even to people who've never played the Sony-published game: It involves an awkward badminton racket-wielding oddball named Kratos, estrangement issues with his pops Zeus, a Manic Pixie Dream Girl named Athena, and, of course, quirky, handwritten font.

Video below:

This anime still comes from what I would call an unlikely source. Or at least a source with unlikely inspiration. The image comes from Dante's Inferno: The Animated Epic, a series of anime shorts inspired not by Dante's original Divine Comedy, but by the video game Dante's Inferno.

Also mysteriously in existence is Halo Legends, an anime series based on the Halo franchise. Because when someone says "film adaptation of the Halo franchise," the first thought I have is "anime."

And now this morning brings the announcement of yet another anime adaptation of a western video game: Dragon Age. Like all these other game animes, it'll be direct-to-video, with a 2011 release date.

While I find this trend to be downright odd, there's undoubtedly some potential. Halo, at least, has a sufficient fan base that there could be an audience for the anime, and it's not a stretch to guess that there would be overlap in the anime and Halo markets. But Dante's Inferno and Dragon Age are each a bit of a stretch to justify. But who knows, they might be great.

Which brings us to the bulk of our exercise. Here are 10 Western games that I know would make for sweet anime adaptations, ranked from how much I would salivate over it, in ascending order:

God of War III and the pricy God of War III: Ultimate Edition hit stores in North America today, with Australian and European releases slated for March 18th and 19th, respectively. To sate the fanboys and also fuel the flames of their desire, Sony has released this launch trailer for the game, complete with Kratos happily murderin' some mythological hellbeasts, in 3D. The end of Greek mythology, indeed.