Drumroll, please…

We’ve tallied up the votes, slipped into our tuxedos, polished up the trophies and are now ready to reveal the winners of the second annual PSN Gamers’ Choice Awards. Votes were cast this year across 10 categories in the PlayStation Store, including the community award for Best PSN Indie, which was voted online by the community.

First off, we’d like to thank all of the nominees for being a part of this year’s PSN Gamers’ Choice Awards. All of the games that we showcased were some of the highest and most user-ranked games released in 2011, which is an honor in and of itself. Second and most importantly, we want to thank all of you for casting your votes both online and in the PlayStation Store to determine our winners.

We had an incredible turnout during the voting period this year, which made for an intense competition. Things got so heated, in fact, that the battle for Best PS Move Game literally came down to the last day between Dungeon Defenders and Dungeon Hunter: Alliance. But only one could come out with top honors.

Without further ado, here are your winners for the 2012 PSN Gamers’ Choice Awards:

• Best PSN Exclusive: inFAMOUS Festival of Blood (PS3)
• Best PSN Game: Resident Evil 4 (PS3)
• Best PSN Game Playable Online: Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition (PS3)
• Best PS3 Full Game: Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (PS3)
• Best PlayStation Move Game: Dungeon Hunter: Alliance (PS3)
• Best 3D Game: God of War: Origins Collection (PS3)
• Best PlayStation Classic: Chrono Trigger (PS3/PSP)
• Best Mini Game: Angry Birds (PS3/PSP)
• Best PSP Game: DISSIDIA 012 [duodecim] FINAL FANTASY (PSP)
• PlayStation Community Award – Best Indie: LIMBO (PS3)

The celebration continues as the award-winning titles will be discounted 30% in the PlayStation Store for one week, starting later today, with a 50% discount available to all PlayStation Plus subscribers. Don’t miss out on the chance to score these great games! And don’t forget to start rating the games that you’re playing throughout 2012 so your favorite games can get nominated next year.

Starting tomorrow, head into the PlayStation Store to cast your vote for your favorite games in nine of the 10 categories and receive a free Gamers’ Choice Awards XMB theme for each vote cast. New this year, you can also cast your vote online in one special community category, Best PSN Indie, and you’ll receive a voucher code to be redeemed in the PlayStation Store for a free exclusive XMB theme. Your votes exclusively pick the winners in every category, and your award winners go on sale.

Don’t go too far because the winning games in each category will be announced right here on the PlayStation Blog in just one week–on March 6, 2012–and that same day, the winning game in each category will be discounted 30% in the PlayStation Store for one week, with a special 50% discount for PlayStation Plus subscribers.

Drum roll, please! The 2012 nominees for PSN Gamers’ Choice Awards are:

Best PSN Exclusive:

• inFAMOUS Festival of Blood (PS3)
• PixelJunk Shooter 2 (PS3)
• TETRIS (PS3)

Best PSN Game:

• inFAMOUS Festival of Blood (PS3)
• Plants vs. Zombies (PS3)
• Resident Evil 4 (PS3)

Best PSN Game Playable Online:

• Hard Corps: Uprising (PS3)
• Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition (PS3)
• TETRIS (PS3)

Best PS3 Full Game:

• Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (PS3)
• Assassin’s Creed II: Deluxe Edition (PS3)
• Midnight Club LA Complete Edition (PS3)

Best PlayStation Move Game:

• 4Elements HD (PS3)
• Dungeon Defenders (PS3)
• Dungeon Hunter: Alliance (PS3)

Best 3D Game:

• Dungeon Defenders (PS3)
• God of War: Origins Collection (PS3)
• The Sly Collection (PS3)

Best PSone Classic:

• Chrono Trigger (PS3/PSP)
• Parasite Eve (PS3/PSP)
• Xenogears (PS3/PSP)

Best Mini Game:

• Angry Birds (PS3/PSP)
• The Impossible Game (PS3/PSP)
• PAC-MAN Championship Edition (PS3/PSP)

Best PSP Game:

• DISSIDIA 012 [duodecim] FINAL FANTASY (PSP)
• DISSIDIA 012 Prologus FINAL FANTASY (PSP)
• TACTICS OGRE: Let Us Cling Together (PSP)

PlayStation Community Award – Best Indie:

• Dungeon Defenders (PS3)
• LIMBO (PS3)
• PixelJunk Shooter 2 (PS3)

Don’t forget to head into PlayStation Store tomorrow to cast your vote. You decide the best of PSN, so make your voice heard!

Fellow Spartans -

The wait is over! Kratos storms store shelves everywhere in the form God of War: Origins Collection—the compilation of God of War: Chains of Olympus and God of War: Ghost of Sparta on a single Blu-ray Disc, available today! Now fans and newcomers to the franchise can complete the God of War experience on their PS3 for the first time. And so far, members of the media have given God of War: Origins Collection a strong thumbs up. GameTrailers.com called the game “a gift worthy of Olympus,” while MTV.com said “God of War: Origins Collection is an absolute steal.” Other early reviews include IGN.com (9/10), GamesRadar.com (9/10), GamePro (4/5), Game Informer (9.5/10), 1UP.com (A-), Machinima.com (9/10), Complex.com (8/10), DigitalTrends.com (9/10), DualShockers.com (9/10), PlayStationLifestyle.com (9/10), CraveOnline.com, and the Arizona Republic—just to name a few.

In case you forgot, here’s a quick refresher on what this package includes:

-Two award-winning PSP classics (Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta) on PS3 for the first time
-Both games running in high-definition 1080p resolution with full stereoscopic 3D support
-Only $39.99, and just in time for the holidays making it a great gift option
-PSN Trophy support that will challenge even the best players
-Dolby 5.1 / DTS surround sound
-Full DualShock 3 Wireless Controller compatibility with rumble support

Bonus content includes the God of War Game Directors Live round table video, Legionnaire Kratos skin, and the Forest of the Forgotten combat arena—all on the same Blu-ray Disc

Last, but certainly not least, in honor of today’s God of War: Origins Collection release, we’re releasing a new launch trailer; Watch it above and let us know what you think!

Hey everyone. With God of War: Origins Collection due to hit stores next week (September 13th!), I thought it would be fun to share my recollection of what went down at the Game Directors Live round table discussion last year prior to the launch of God of War: Ghost of Sparta, but before I do, here’s a quick teaser trailer of the event. Remember the full video is part of the bonus content that is included in God of War: Origins Collection, along with a Legionnaire Kratos skin and the Forest of the Forgotten combat arena, all on the same Blu-ray Disc.

Now back to the event…it was September 1st and we were deep into the final stages of completing Ghost of Sparta when the taping occurred. Do they even use tape anymore? Anyway, it was apparently the only time when all five of us could be in the same place at the same time. So, Ru and I drove up to the El Portal Theater in North Hollywood from the Ready At Dawn office, tired and battered, but ready for what would be an interesting evening. When we pulled up to the theater, there were already fans lined up outside waiting for the doors to open. That was a cool sight and it gave me the first clue that this was going to be memorable for all of us. We snuck in through the side entrance and went down to the green room so that they could throw some HD-compliant makeup on us and make sure we were fit for filming. While that was going on, Cory (who I hadn’t seen for quite some time) strolled in and we caught up a bit before David arrived. I had never met him before that night, so I was really looking forward to it. He was cool and we all kinda sat around and got acquainted before we moved up to the stage area where preparations for filming were still underway.

Several media outlets were shooting before-and-after coverage of the event and each of the directors had an opportunity to answer some quick questions. I saw Stig being interviewed and made my way over to him after he wrapped to say hello. Since God of War III and Ghost of Sparta had overlapping production schedules, it hadn’t been very long since we last spoke or saw each other. Once all of the directors were accounted for, we were bounced from camera to camera doing interviews while the crew worked on the lighting, sound checks, video playback, and final stage dressing. By the way, the stage was crazy looking, but what I remember most of all is that they pointed out several fake stone tiles that we should avoid stepping on because they were made of thin, flimsy plastic that we could fall through. How very God of War…where are the spinning saw blades flying across the floor? I’m feeling real good about this now. Rehearsal is about to start.

None of us knew exactly what was going to transpire. I mean, we had an idea because a rough outline of the show had been sent to us, but until we got on stage and started running the plays, I don’t think we had a good idea of what the show entailed. Alison Haislip was hosting the show and I think she did a great job. I had met her briefly at E3 while I was giving press demos of Ghost of Sparta in the PlayStation booth. She seemed into our game and the whole God of War franchise so I think it was a good fit. Practicing the director intros took forever. Seriously. Alison would say a little bit about each game/director, a screen would drop from the ceiling, a short video for the relevant game/director would play, and then we’d walk from stage-left onto the set and take our seats. Of course, there were numerous issues that required a full reset and we’d have to start all over again. Practice makes perfect. I remember the first questions were directed to David as they were about the beginning of everything. He basically said he wasn’t going to answer the questions during rehearsal because he was saving the good stuff for the actual show. I’m glad he did because it made the discussions more interesting and real. Some of the answers were really interesting and made me look at God of War from completely different angles. That’s what I really enjoyed about this night. Each of us attacked this game from a different perspective. We are in these games. Five different people guided incredibly talented teams towards a unified goal. And we talked about how that was made possible.

Finally, it’s show time. The crowd was excited. We came out and did our thing. Check out the final cut and see for yourself. There was actually quite a good deal of content not included because of time, but I think they edited it down to what was important. The Q&A session at the end was really fun. One of my favorite things is fielding questions from people in the audience. You never know what they’ll ask and sometimes they can catch you off guard. It probably also makes for good television.

After the show, Cory and Stig had to head out, but Ru, David, myself, and some great folks from PlayStation stopped over at a little restaurant for some relaxation and more conversation. We ate, drank, and talked about the past and the future. You know… standard industry stuff. Actually, the discussions we had after the show were just as entertaining as those we had on stage. I had a great time and I’m excited that more people will get to share this experience when they get their copies of God of War: Origins Collection. Until next time, I’m out.

Fellow Spartans! We are now just over two weeks away from the September 13th launch of God of War: Origins Collection—an epic compilation of two of the most critically acclaimed PSP titles of all time, God of War: Chains of Olympus and God of War: Ghost of Sparta. Since I know many of you can’t wait to get your hands on this package, we’re going to sweeten the deal a bit and let you play God of War: Ghost of Sparta early. PlayStation Plus members will have access to the our demo starting tomorrow, August 30th, allowing you to play Ghost of Sparta on PlayStation 3 in HD and stereoscopic 3D for the very first time. This demo will then be available to the general public next week on September 6th. It’s a treat playing both games with the DualShock controller, and they look and feel like they were always intended for the big screen. If you missed our PSP vs PS3 comparison video, watch it now for a deeper look at how we’ve enhance the visuals.

I’d also like to take a moment to thank all of our friends in the media for their flattering impression thus far. If you pick up the September issue of Game Informer, there’s a great preview calling God of War: Origins Collection “a visual treat.” Here are links to a few other recent write ups and mentions about the collection: Wall Street Journal, Yahoo! News, Playboy.com, USA Today, CNET, IGN, Joystiq, Kotaku, Games Radar, and Game Informer.

Thanks, as always, for everyone’s support. Don’t forget: the war begins on September 13th!

Re-mastering both of the God of War PSP games in full HD for the PS3 God of War: Origins Collection definitely had its share of challenges for us. The first goal we had was simply the daunting task of up-rezing the engine and content authored on a PSP running at 480 x 272 resolution and 30 frames per second to 1920 x 1080p at a steady 60 fps on the PS3. This required a custom PS3 version of our engine, coded in-house exclusively for the Origins Collection, as well as a painstaking process by art team. We ended up going through every single character in the game and doubling or tripling polygon count by hand, as well as up-rezing and re-painting every texture across both games at 4x resolution on both characters and environments.

Being gluttons for punishment, we also decided from the beginning of the project that just re-mastering content from PSP resolution to 1080p wasn’t necessarily challenging enough (as a quick aside…we were wrong), so we also wanted to take advantage of our custom PS3 engine and try to implement full stereoscopic 3D support. After a first pass of 3D implementation and careful playthroughs of both games in 3D, we identified certain trouble areas with and addressed them with techniques such as near-screen fading on certain particles and camera focal plane compensation for a smooth and enjoyable 3D experience. The quality of the final result of the 3D on the Origins Collection so surprised us that it actually sold myself and a number of others on the team 3D TVs in general. Personally I wouldn’t want to play the games any other way after being able to experience it firsthand.

Besides adding upscaling in-game content and 3S support, there was one other challenge that is worth noting (and elicited groans of despair from both artists and programmers alike). Between Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta we had over an hour of pre-rendered cinematics, and the gap in video resolution between our PSP source footage and full HD was so extreme that no matter how many custom video up-scale solutions we tried, there was just a glaring quality difference between the 1080P real-time gameplay and the video. It was pretty demoralizing for us to play the game in beautiful HD and hit a cinematic trigger where Kratos looked like he was rendered through a dirty sock, so we realized we would just have to bite the bullet and properly re-render all cinematics in full 1080p. To do this we ported all of our cinematic scenes to the PS3 and, months and terabytes of data later, had every single frame re-rendered in HD through the new Origin Collection’s engine. From there we had to up-rez all of the post production effects and re-composite every single cinematic again in HD, giving us a final result that blended seamlessly with the in-game quality.

Needless to say, all of the above made for quite a laborious process for us, but we were set on doing justice to the original games that we put so much blood, sweat, and tears into. We hope this effort really pays off for God of War fans able to experience both PSP games in glorious 1080p!