No High-Res God of War II for Europe

Blame the languages.

[Note: This article was updated after Sony contacted us to clear up what happened to the high-resolution mode found in the US version of God of War II. You can read the updated version here.]

Americans who bought God of War II, Sony's bloody, new PlayStation 2 action game, got an unexpected surprise last week. As a treat for fans, the developers added in a high-resolution mode, which players can get at through a set of button presses revealed recently on a special God of War II site.

But Sony has dashed hopes of similar treatment for Europe, saying today that the high-resolution mode did not make it into the European version of the game.

According to Sony's Hugo Bustillos, the mode had to be left out of the European version because there wasn't enough space left on the game disc after support for all the extra European languages was added in.

"It's a shame but sadly couldn't be avoided," Bustillos told Kikizo.

In a statement at the Island of Rhodes site, Tim Moss, director of technology at the God of War II development team, wrote that the final decision to include the mode was made late in development.

"It almost didn't make it in and that is why we hid it rather than make it standard," Moss wrote.

Europeans aren't completely out of luck. Sony's Bustillos said that when running God of War II on a PlayStation 3 through a component or HDMI connection, the game automatically scales up to 576p resolution.

"It looks brilliant," according to Bustillos.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo