At the time, Sony Europe explained that this was down to a lack of disk space, and that the need for more than one language in the PAL version meant the higher resolution mode would have to be given the Kratos treatment, i.e, sliced open down its bloody middle, before being ripped clean in half, remains flying everywhere.
Now, Sony has also pointed out that having multiple languages wasn't the only obstacle; there was also the fact that everything in God of War II - right down to the in-game cutscenes - has been optimised for PAL screens.
They even went to the effort of giving an (exceedingly long) statement on the matter, explaining that, "Even if the game only featured English, it would still not have been possible. This is because everything in the game has been optimised for PAL (576i), including the movies. The God of War games are famed for the seamless transition between gameplay and cutscenes, and if we had kept the movies in NTSC resolution, there would have been a very noticeable, very jarring transition between the two display formats.
"The only compromise would have been to have featured the movies in both PAL and NTSC resolutions, but as evidenced by the struggles the development team had to even fit localised audio onto the disc, this was clearly not an option.
"Ultimately, the decision fell to what would benefit the majority, and the number of European PS2 owners who own a component cable and the necessary equipment to display 480p output is extremely low compared to those who are playing on CRT sets, or indeed on HD sets via a composite/RGB SCART connection. It was a necessary measure that was taken with a great deal of consideration."
So there we are. For the full, looooooong statement, pop over to CVG. Then come back here again, please. We do miss you, you know.
I find quite a few conversions to be pretty poor. Surely it wouldn't be hard to let us have km/h and ms instead of ft.
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