God of War I and II Coming in HD to the PlayStation 3

Sony Computer Entertainment of America has announced that it plans to re-make God of War I and II, the genre defining videogame put together by David Jaffe and Cory Balrog, taking advantage of the upgraded graphics power of the PlayStation 3. The new package will be delivered via the Blu-ray disk in time for the holidays, although no specific date has been announced.

The price of the two games will be just 39.99 dollars, which is pretty low considering that the normal standalone PS3 title is selling for 59.99 on release. Sony is certainly trying to attract attention back to the franchise, which gets its third installment, God of War III, on March 20, 2010.

Both God of War I and II will be offered in the full glory of 1280 x 720 resolution, running consistently at 60 frames per second and the image will be enhanced via the use of anti-aliasing. This means that the games will look as good as a current-gen release and that the bloody exploits of Kratos the Spartan warrior will look more cinematographic than ever.

Sony is also saying that Trophies, which are PlayStation 3's answer to the Achievements of the Xbox 360, will be added to the titles, meaning that players will be able to boast of their exploits against the various Gods to their friends while having proof to back up their claims.

Development duty on the remakes of God of War I and II will be handled by the Santa Monica studio in partnership with Bluepoint Games. Most of the people at the initial studio are still hard at work on God of War III, which Sony hopes will be as defining for the PlayStation 2 as the previous two games were for the PS2. For those who have not yet played the God of War series, the newly announced package would make a perfect gift.