14th March 2010 - Welcome to our new section, AAG's Developer Profiles. In this section we will pick a developer each fortnight to profile so that you, our readers and avid gamers, can get an insight into the developers that make the games we know and love.
Developer Name: SCE Santa Monica
Subsidiary Of: Sony Computer Entertainment
Founded: 1999
About: Sony Computer Entertainments Santa Monica studio is an award winning studio most famous for creating the undeniably great God of War series. The studio has won multiple awards for its God of War series, including nine AIAS (Academy of Interactive Arts & Science), most importantly Game of the Year for the original game back in 2006. The series’ second instalment was awarded the BAFTA’s (The British Academy of Film and Television Arts) for ‘Technical Achievement’ and ‘Story And Character’ in 2007.
Its been three long years since we last got our hands on a new GoW game, and come March 16th this year, we will get our hands on the third and final instalment of the long running and critically acclaimed series, so what better way to kick off AAG’s new Developer Diary than to take a look at the team behind one of the years most anticipated titles.
But what many don’t realize about these very talented developers, is that they aren’t just responsible for the few God of War games out there, but also assisted in the development of the massive Twisted Metal vehicular combat series, along with innovative Warhawk game released back in 2007 and acclaimed PSN game ‘flOw’. Their first attempt at the gaming industry was the rather unknown PS2 racer, Kinetica, which garnered decent reviews but generally poor sales.
There’s no indication as to what these developers will go on to accomplish after the last instalment of GoW, but given that the rumours of more games set in the God of War universe but of a separate series, one thing is for sure; SCE Santa Monica are some of today’s most talented and promising developers and have a long life ahead of them.
Past Game(s):
Kinetica (PS2, 2001)
God of War (PS2, 2005)
God of War 2 (PS2, 2007)
Warhawk (W/ Incognito Entertainment, PS3, 2007)
God of War: Chains of Olympus (W/ Ready at Dawn, PSP, 2008)
Upcoming Game(s):
God of War 3 (PS3, March 2010)
