"IN THE END...THERE WILL BE ONLY CHAOS". Hahaha. Oh man, this is hammier than a triple ham & cheese sandwich on bread made from ham. And today, I had a hankering for some ham, so this is going down a treat.

God of War III Announced for PS3

A brief trailer toward the end of Sony's news conference at E3 today gave a glimpse of God of War III, just announced for the PS3. The trailer was all pre-rendered, featuring Kratos atop the rubble of a ruined city, bellowing "In the end, there will be only chaos!"

Of course, more on this as it moves. Just wanted to get word out that yes, God of War III is in the pipeline.

Your guest editor would like to share with Kotaku some of his favorite things in gaming.

Near the top of that list is a chart of mythological creatures, graphed in terms of badass-ness. It was used to make a point about the Pegasus-riding part of God of War II.

The chart is the work of Chris Zukowski, the funniest FAQ writer I've ever encountered and proprietor of the Game Intestine. The site hasn't been updated in a while, but it's the place to go if you're playing Final Fantasy XII, Assassin's Creed, or a number of other games he's written up.

Some FAQs just tell you what to do. Zukowski's walkthroughs do that and make fun of everything ridiculous in the game along the way. I highly recommend his site the next time you're stuck or in need of a laugh. Read his FAQs. (Full disclosure: Zukowski once saved several hours of my life by telling me when to abandon FFXII)

Full badass chart after the jump:

Sony Talkin' God of War III At E3

What we know: Last year, Sony officially said God of War III was for the PS3. Back in February of this year, a Sony teaser ad said God of War III was "coming soon." A job announcement popped up in April was seeking an online game programmer for the team that created God of War and God of War II. According to a post on game site Eurogamer, Sony will be announcing God of War III for the PS3 at E3. This s unconfirmed, but makes sense! Surely, Sony will want a big AAA exclusive to face off with Gears of War 2 this holiday season. But just because something makes sense doesn't mean it's true.

God Of War III vai ser [Eurogamer.pt via N4G Thanks, Thorsten!] [Pic]

If Darth Vader wasn't enough to sway you toward the PS3 version of Soulcalibur IV, perhaps the God of War will. According to the latest issue of EGM magazine, by way of 1UP, Kratos may be joining the line-up of souls in Namco Bandai's newest weapons-based fighter. Considering that Yoda versus Voldo fights will be commonplace, we're nonplussed at the concept. It's a surprisingly good fit.

Sure, it's a rumor, but that "expect confirmation soon" and a hint about Xbox 360 owners getting their own platform-specific fighter — Joanna Dark? Marcus Fenix? Banjo?! — makes us wonder if this is less of a rumor than it is a tease.

Quartermann: God of War Meets Soul Calibur? [1UP]

Spider-Man Deserves Better, Yo

Kratos Was Originally Dominus, Twisted Metal Originally More Awesome

Nestled gently at the bottom of one of his most recent blog posts, David Jaffe has spoken a little on a topic that I've always found interesting as hell: the previous/working titles of some of his games. Something about how a different name can alter your entire perception of a title...anyways. Some of them are really interesting! Like the fact one of God of War's possible names was Ω. Just the symbol. And the fact Kratos was for a long time going to be called the much-cheesier (especially with ham and pineapple) Dominus. And that one of Twisted Metal's original names was the brilliantly evocative Cars and Rockets, which Jaffe said "nobody else" liked. Nobody? Oh Sony.

Why the do we even try? [Jaffe's Blog]

Ready At Dawn Is Serious About Dropping The PSP

Daxter and God of War: Chains of Olympus developer Ready At Dawn was dead serious when it said it was moving on from PSP development. Proof is in the form of the boxing up and shipping out of dozens of PSP development kits and the continued teasing of what's in store after the Japanese release of the PSP version of God of War. With three solid games under its belt, we're appropriately psyched about where the dev is going next.

Ready At Dawn News

It was swell of Sony to bring a little parity to Guitar Hero's DLC, let PlayStation owners get their own console-specific, mascot-endorsed anthem to play with. While they made the initial announcement a few weeks ago, they neglected to tell us just which GoW song it would be. They have now: it'll be called "The End Begins (To Rock)", a guitar-heavy reworking of God of War II's title theme. There's a preview clip above (and it looks surprisingly excellent!), and if you dig it so much you just want to listen without playing, it'll be made available in "downloadable form" (an mp3, then) on the PlayStation Store as well. Both the DLC and song will be free, and they'll be part of the PSN update tomorrow.

PS3 Guitar Hero Gets Free God Of War Song

360 owners got a free Halo song, it's only fair PS3 owners get a similar deal. And they are. An email just went out to PlayStation Underground members, announcing that on June 5, a "Free GoW song for Guitar Hero III" would be released. No word on just which song it would be. Surely this signals the beginning of a "free, exclusive track" arms race, which can only end when players are subjected to weekly updates like "The End Credits Music From Heavenly Sword" and "Bomberman Zero Main Menu: Ibiza Party Megamix".

[thanks everyone who sent this in!]

Zero Punctuation: Chains of Olympus

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

UAE State Enforces God Of War Ban

A UAE national said he was one of the people who was shocked to discover that the game was distributed in commercial areas, including the Central Souq, Al Rolla and sports shops in Nuammiya. "I knew that it was banned, but many of my friends were able to buy pirated copies from Dh5 to Dh10. I was shocked to see how much it contradicted Islamic values," said Khalid Bin Deemas, adding that it was dangerous as the video game was popular among children.

Texas Shooting 'Game Related'?

You have to love how vague this stuff is; to me, leaving off the 'And they were playing a video game' part wouldn't diminish the story at all.

A 15-year-old boy from Marble Falls is at Austin's Brackenridge Hospital after suffering a gunshot wound to the head. [...] The boy was playing a video game with a friend when that friend loaded a gun and shot him in the head.

Police said the 13-year-old shooter is being held at the juvenile detention center in Belton and is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

The newspaper said the boys were playing a video game called "God of War".

Hopefully this won't lead to a media frenzy - news is sparse right now, but we'll see how it continues to develop.

13-year-old shoots friend in the head [News 8 Austin]

God of War: Chains of Olympus is a stunning and portable prequel to the much touted God of War franchise. Taking place ten years before the original God of War, Kratos is delivered to gamers in a title that can be played on the go. While the story-driven gameplay and over-the-top action of previous God of War games made them nearly instant classics, developers Ready at Dawn had to try and encapsulate all of that screen-filling glory on a 4-inch LCD without losing any of the pizazz.

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

Download the God of War: Chains of Olympus Demo

I've been playing (replaying parts) of God of War: Chains of Olympus on the Playstation Portable for a week or so now and so far it strikes me as one of the best games to hit the system to date. I'm about five hours in, nearing the end of the game, I believe, and there's really not much to complain about. Sure, it's God of War on a PSP, but what more would you expect? Yes, a review is coming Monday.

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]

Ready At Dawn Moving On To "Other Consoles"

If you want to play God of War: Chains of Olympus, you're going to have to do it on a PSP, because a PlayStation 2 port ain't happenin'. That's what Ready At Dawn says, smashing rumors that it would follow the PSP-to-PS2 precedent set by games like Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories and Silent Hill Origins. Seriously, get a PSP already!

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]