Background of God of War III Press Kit
Today I will try something else. Normally I review the collector’s edition you can find in the retail stores and webshops as a normal consumer. But there is a secret market that exists purely to win the hearts and affection of the media in especially the people reviewing new games… Don’t tell anyone! This God of War III Press Kit is one of these editions and was not something you could find in a store. The kit was only handed out to journalists across Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. It is pretty often on eBay for quite high prices – Let’s have a look if it’s worth it.
I was not in the media business at the time of release, so I had to acquire the Press Kit in another fashion. To be perfectly honest it was all luck, but actually, a funny story that I will share someday. To boil it down to one sentence, I won it in a competition on a gaming site.
God of War III was a major AAA title published by Sony and developed by their Santa Monica Studios for the PlayStation 3. It was released in March 2010 to praise from the mass media. To be honest I have not played it beyond the first boss but it looks great on the artwork!
Specs
Dimensions
Width 19,5 cm, Height 25 cm, Depth 4,5 cm
Weight:
616 g
Price*
DKK: N/A| EUR: N/A | USD: N/A | GBP: N/A
*Please note that I worked with Danish prices at the time and all the prices are based on this. Denmark is VERY expensive with their video games, so keep that in mind.
The box
God of War III Press Kit comes in a handpainted wooden box with the “omega” sign stamped on the front. Over the omega, a bloodred line has been handpainted from the top left to the bottom right making all the individual boxes unique. It is a truly special box both because of the pretty grim appearance, but also because of the material. It is my only collector’s edition with a wooden box.
One of the great things about this box not being in retail is that the design is totally ripped of annoying text, logos, and screenshots. This makes it really stand out in the collection.
Build quality
This box is sturdy! I have had it for years and there is no sign of wear and tear on it. All the sides have been glued together without the use of nails, screws, or bolts. I wouldn’t have thought it would have worked, but it seems to do the job. If it can handle a drop to the floor? – I have no idea and to be honest I’m not really interested in testing it. Never the less this might be my most sturdy collector’s box.
I would have loved some kind of details on it though. A locking mechanism (It has none) perhaps? Or some kind of metal frame?
8/10
Box art
Some collector’s editions are made by some of the greatest visual designers in the business and some of them are incredible pieces of art. This one looks like it has been made in an early crafting class by a talented – but uninspired – student. It’s not pretty per se, but it tells a story of a dirty and gritty game where the blood and limbs are flying in all directions.
As mentioned above I would have loved more detail on the box. It does tell its story, but why not go all the way (Budgets I guess)?
5/10
Display quality
There shall be no doubt that this thing will attract attention on the shelf next to the rest of the collection. The sheer fact that the God of war III Press Kit is made out of wood makes it special. The fact that the front is unique and no two God of War III Press Kits are identical also gives bonus points in this category.
In the end, it talks more to the curiosity in all of us than it impresses us with the design. It doesn’t give the viewer any clues to its content other than the kind of bland “Omega” sign.
7/10
The Content
Art cards
Inside the God of War III Press Kit, you will find six art cards showing off some of the game’s incredibly cool art design. They are about the same size as regular playing cards and also have the same thickness in the quality of paper used. I forgot to the take a picture of the backside of these bad boys, but I can tell you that it just shows the logo of the game.
Quality 6/10 I like the matte look with shiny golden details around the edges. It makes them look really great for display! But the build quality is a bit of a letdown with the thin paper being used.
Relevance 8/10 I love game art and art books are some of my favorite things in collector’s editions. So points up for including an alternative to a book. Especially considering the art design of the game is top tier.
Kratos metal coin
As much as I love art books I also have a sweet spot for coins. I like this sturdy, heavy piece of metal that feels great to the touch. However I have never displayed coins out of the box and to be honest, it’s more of a gimmicky inclusion for me. I both like and dislike this coin… Let me explain.
I would guess this coin is made of copper. Both because it’s quite heavy but also because it has gotten a scratch which would indicate it’s a soft metal. in that scratch, I can see that the true metal (you can see it in the middle picture) color is orange/red. The reason that this is interesting is that copper was the first metal to be smelted in a mold c. 4000 BC. This fact somehow makes it appear more like a real product. To further this it looks like a coin that has changed hands for a long long time. It looks old! And that is a good thing!
On the other hand, this coin is only 50% completed. It has a blank backside! You can feel how it has been made in a mold as it has really sharp edges on the back. I don’t think I have seen this lazy design of a coin in a collector’s edition before. Why not just add the logo or a picture of Zeus or something? This thing is so close to being the perfect collector’s coin and yet so far…
Quality 5/10 I’ll give 5 points for the material and the design on the front. It’s really good! I’ll give 0 points for the forgotten backside.
Relevance 7/10 Somehow it makes sense to create a coin based on a game about old Greece. I wouldn’t be surprised if they engraved their gods into their coins back then and Kratos was the god of war… at some point, right?
Mini poster
Posters will never be my favorite inclusion in any collector’s edition. Most of them will be neatly folded inside the box and will NEVER lose to folds ever again, making it a pitiful display on the wall. This poster is rolled around itself and hold together with a “bloody” piece of cloth. It looks really great and authentic in that state and really enhances the look of the content when you first open the box.
This is where the positives end though. The small two-faced poster is made of the thinnest paper I have ever seen used as the material for a poster. On the front, we have this greek inspired motive of Kratos doing his thing in golden colors on a black background. It looks great from a design perspective but the sheer size of the poster (It’s the size of a regular piece of A4 paper) and the easily crumpled paper makes this piece of content fall flat. Hurry up and roll it back, put on the cloth and leave it in the box.
Quality 3/10 A small poster that crumples slowly while you stare on in disbelief.
Relevance 5/10 The design is good and authentic to the setting of the game. The bloody cloth is a really cool touch which is why I would leave it rolled up.
Illustrated brochure
This brochure or pamphlet is included in the God of War III Press Kit for the audience of this box; the press. It’s more or less a promotion for the game as seen in the text on the image above. It shows the art of the game, some really great looking screenshots and a bunch of text sweet-talking the game. This thing has to be included – It was made to help score better reviews! But I do like how they realized it with this blood-spattered look and wax seal.
Unfortunately, the front and back of the brochure have been glued to the pages with a type of glue that did not stand the test of time. In the end, it is now in three pieces because of this. A pity.
Quality 4/10 It’s a cool way to produce the promotional part of the box but it’s unforgivable to make any collector’s item that breaks all by itself over time.
Relevance 5/10 It is indeed relevant for the purpose of the box, but not for the collector. The collector will enjoy the execution of the design and hate the execution of the build quality.
Media disc
Besides the game disc, the God of war III Press Kit includes a media disc with various interesting content aimed at the journalists producing articles about the game. There is 1.13GB of content on this baby including trailers, concept art, screenshots and Photoshop files of different renders and logos from the game.
It’s pretty cool to get a look behind the scenes of production and marketing of a game with this scale.
Quality 9/10 The content is of great quality but I could have wished for much more concept art and information. it’s that good!
Relevance 9/10 This content gives value to both the audience of the Press Kit and also the curious collector. Great inclusion!
Game case
The game case is pretty much the same as the whole box because there is no classic case for the game. The promotional disc for the game is bundled together with the media disc on a soft foam nipple that holds them in place. That is when the glue it’s fastened with actually holds, which is kinda rare, unfortunately.
Verdict: God of War III Press Kit
It’s kind of hard to score a collector’s edition that really isn’t a such. It’s a really really fine Press Kit that has happened to become a collector’s item. Not that they didn’t know that would happen though. This box was free when it was made and is now a pretty expensive product on sites like eBay. As a free box this would score much higher because of the great and neat looking content, but as a box more expensive than most collector’s editions I can not give God of War III Press Kit more than…
6
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