God of War III demo included in God of War Collection

One of the centerpieces of Sony's press briefing at June's Electronic Entertainment Expo was its demo of God of War III. (See below.) Sony served up the same demo to crowds at Comic-Con and the Penny Arcade Expo, but gamers who couldn't make it out to any of those events will soon be able to play through the sample for themselves.

Today, Sony Computer Entertainment announced that November's God of War Collection will include the God of War III demo, four months before the game itself goes on sale. The demo will not be on the game disc but can be downloaded from the PlayStation Network with a code included in the game.

Of course, the main draw of the $40 God of War Collection will be its inclusion of the first two God of War games with remastered 720p high-definition graphics. Given the PS3's current lack of backward compatibility, the God of War collection will be the only way gamers without a PS2 or early PS3 model can enjoy the two games.

When it launched on the PlayStation 2 in 2005, the first God of War drew critical accolades and commercial success, selling more than 2.4 million units in the US alone. In 2007, God of War II drew similar high praise from reviewers and sold nearly 2 million units domestically despite being on a legacy platform. A PSP prequel, God of War: Chains of Olympus, has sold more than 800,000 units domestically since its 2008 debut.