Until now, all we knew was that the collection, which remasters God of War I & II in full HD on a single Blu-ray disc for the PlayStation 3, was coming out in November. The collection is now slated to be on retail store shelves on November 17.

Along with the release date announcement, Sony has also released a full list of trophies for both God of War games, which we’ve reproduced below, courtesy of the magic of cutting and pasting. Behold our power!

GOD OF WAR

Bronze

1.21 Gigawatts – Acquire Poseidon’s Rage
Rocking Out – Acquire Medusa’s Gaze
Bolt Action – Acquire Zeus’ Fury
Sword Man – Acquire Blade of Artemis
Soul Search – Acquire Army of Hades
Matador – Win the first Minotaur fight
Scape Goat – Win the first Satyr fight
Roll Over … and Die – Win the first Cerberus fight
Don’t They Ever Shut Up! – Defeat the Desert Sirens
Beat a Dead Horse – Complete the Centaur sacrifice to Hades
Kickboxer – Complete the Spike Room Box Puzzle
Rockin’ the Boat – Complete the Sex Mini-Game
Don’t Leave Her Hanging – Rescue the Oracle with 10 seconds to spare
Get the Ball Rolling – Complete the Challenge of Atlas
Totally Baked – Complete the Human sacrifice
Splash – Kiss the Nyad
Get Me a Beer Kid – Free yourself from the depths of Hades
Zero Health = Bronze Trophy – Open a Health Chest when your health meter is already full
Hitman – Get a 100 Hits Combo
Getting My arse Kicked – Die enough times to get offered Easy Mode

Silver

Kratos’ Marble Collection – Collect all the Gorgon Eyes
Stick it in Your Cap! – Collect all the Phoenix Feathers
It’s the HUGE One – Retrieve the Captain’s Key
Take the Bull by the Horns – Defeat Pandora’s Guardian
God Killer – Kill Ares
Head Hunter – Obtain the head of the Architect’s wife
The Power to Kill a God – Retrieve Pandora’s Box
Hitman 2 – Get a 200 Hits Combo
Legend of the Twins – Watch the ‘Birth of the Beast’ Treasure
Seeing Red – Max out all Weapons and Magic

Gold

Prepare to be a God – Beat the Game on any Difficulty
You Got the Touch! – Climb the Spiked Column in Hades without taking damage
I’ll Take the Physical Challenge – Complete the Challenge of the Gods
Speed of Jason McDonald – Beat the game in under 5 hours on any Difficulty
Key to Success – Collect all of the Muse Keys

Platinum

Trophy of Zeus – Unlock all God of War Trophies

GOD OF WAR II

Bronze

Breaking Wind – Acquire Typhon’s Bane
Big, Tuff, Buff and Rough – Acquire Rage of the Titans
Blue Balls – Acquire Cronos’ Rage
Shiner – Acquire the Golden Fleece
Rock their World – Acquire the Head of Euryale
Learning to Fly – Acquire the Icarus Wings
Shaky Ground – Acquire Atlas Quake
Death from Above 2009 – Defeat the Dark Rider for the first time
Resurrection – Climb from the pit of Hades
Rock Hard – Defeat the Titan Minotaur inside Atlas
Pick’n on the Little Guy – Win the battle outside of the Palace of the Fates
Watcha Got on the Hot Plate? – Solve the riddle of the Fire Phoenix Statue
Whip it Good – Whip the Steeds of Time
Lift with Your Knees – Topple the Temple in the Bog of the Forgotten
Swinger – Cross the collapsing Grapple Bridge
Stoner – Stone and Shatter 30 Enemies
Super Sized – Get a 500 Hits Combo
Hitting Your Stride – Power up any item

Silver

Eye Can’t Believe it – Collect all the Gorgon Eyes
Go Make a Pillow! – Collect all the Phoenix Feathers
Eye Sore – Collect 20 Cyclops Eyes
Boss Batch 1 – Kill the Colossus of Rhodes, the Dark Rider, and Theseus
Boss Batch 2 – Kill the Barbarian King, Euryale, and Perseus
Boss Batch 3 – Kill the Kraken and all three Sisters of Fate
Daddy Issues – Defeat Zeus
Rise and SHINE – Awaken the Phoenix
Spread ‘Em – Open the wings of the Temple of the Fates
Shine King – Open the door to the Temple of Euryale
Blowin’ Your Wad – Max out all Weapons and Magic

Gold

The End Begins – Beat the Game on any Difficulty
Feel the Urn – Collect and use at least 2 Urns of Power
Bleeding Thumbs – Beat the Challenge of the Titans
15 Min Fight Scene – Battle your way to the Loom Chamber in under 10 minutes
You Know the Germans Make Good Stuff… – Collect all Uber Chests

Platinum

Trophy of Gaia – Unlock all God of War II Trophies

God of War Collection Ships November 17th, Plan Your Trophy Hunt Now! [PlayStation Blog]

Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb posting on his Xbox 360-centric blog today that Ballmer wasn’t speaking about the Xbox platform during his interview with Gizmodo, instead saying those accessories were bound for the PC.

“As we have said in the past, we have no plans to introduce a Blu-Ray drive for the Xbox 360,” Hryb reiterated. “In fact, the future of home entertainment starts very soon when Xbox 360 becomes the first and only console to offer instant-on 1080p streaming HD movies.”

We have no plans for Blu-Ray on Xbox 360 [Major Nelson]

In an exclusive interview with sister site Gizmodo, Ballmer addressed the question of adding Blu-ray to the Xbox 360, saying, “Well I don’t know if we need to put Blu-ray in there-you’ll be able to get Blu-ray drives as accessories.

I think mostly the future of movies is on-demand, actually, as opposed to distribution via physical media,” Ballmer continued. “So we’re just gonna keep driving forward and try to make it the best entertainment — overall entertainment, not just gaming, but overall entertainment experience we can.”

In the post format war, Microsoft has continued to push digital distribution, which seems contradictory to the idea that Microsoft would pursue a Blu-ray add-on accessory.

When Xbox spokespeople were asked about Ballmer’s comment, they told Gizmodo, “Our solution for HD quality video on an Xbox 360 is coming this fall with Zune Video and 1080p instant-on HD streaming. As far as our future plans are concerned, we’re not ready to comment.”

Ballmer Talks Natal, Says Blu-ray Add-On for Xbox Coming [Gizmodo]

According to a report from Blu-ray.com, the first Blu-ray releases to feature said PSP copies of the films will arrive with Matthew Broderick vehicle Godzilla and sassy, sexy screwball comedy The Ugly Truth, both due November 10 in North America. And to get said PSP copies, you’re going to need a PlayStation 3 to transfer them.

Looks like digital copies for the PC will still be happening on some Blu-ray releases, with the PSP option looking more like a matter of convenience.

PSP Digital Copy Included on Sony Blu-ray Releases [Blu-ray.com via Gizmodo/Joystiq]

The Blu-ray releases of the original Star Trek come packed with extras, as well they should, because when you make something very old very clear it generally makes it look even older than it is. Along with rare pilot episodes and various other bells and whistles, Star Trek: The Original Series season three on Blu-ray comes packed with a special code that will unlock an Admiral costume for your character to wear in Cryptic’s Star Trek Online.

“For a limited time, sets will include an exclusive free offering in Atari’s Star Trek® on-line game. Each set will include an insert that includes a unique code that will allow game players to outfit their avatar in an exclusive Admiral’s outfit available only with this offer.”

That’s certainly one motivational extra for fans of the series and serious MMO fanatics. I just hope they keep things authentic, so when players don the Admiral outfit they suddenly find themselves trapped behind a desk, desperately trying to give orders to starship captains who have no respect for authority – for example, all of them.

The third season of Star Trek: The Original Series on Blu-ray ships in December.

Star Trek News [TVonDVD.com via Big Download]

At this point you’ve read about everyone and their brother getting some hands-on time with the E3 2009, Comic-Con, and PAX God of War III demo. Isn’t it about time you got to take Kratos out for a spin yourself? Each copy of the God of War Collection, due out this November, will come packed with a voucher allowing players to download and experience the third game in the series well in advance of its March 2010 release date.

If you don’t pick up the collection now that the demo is included, you’re just a heartless person who wants to see Kratos cry.

God of War III E3 2009 Demo Included in God of War Collection [PlayStation Blog]

After all, there are plenty of popular PS2 games/series that—provided they were upgraded visually and included a few bonus features—people would be willing to spend money on. And not all those games/series are published by Sony. So we asked around, to see if the God of War announcement had lit a fire under any other publishers.

“We are constantly exploring unique ways to expose players to some of our legacy titles such as Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill” a Konami representative told us. “Re-releasing games on Blu-ray presents an exciting opportunity for a publisher, however we have no announcements at this time”.

“I don’t want anyone reading this the wrong way (as I’m not saying anything like this could happen) but I’m seeing some interested for DMC to get this treatment” said Capcom’s Christian Svensson, posting on the company’s Unity forums. “Are there other titles you’d like see go this way? I’m looking for some temperature readings”.

“We’re always looking at new ways of getting content on PS3″ Sony’s Patrick Seybold told us, “but as of now, [God of War] is the only one planned.”

Square Enix, sadly, refused to offer comment.

So, as you can see, no outright confirmation that similar projects are in the pipeline elsewhere (or indeed at Sony for other series), but definitely some encouraging words. You can bet somebody, somewhere is looking at the God of War collection and imagining something similar for Silent Hill, or Metal Gear Solid, or even Onimusha.

Movie fans love the Criterion Collection because it takes old movies and breathes new life into them; it’s about time video game fans were given something similar.

After all, it’s not like the set is being released out of the blue. There’s a new God of War game coming, and what better way to drum up (or dredge up) interest than to get people playing, and talking about, the first two games again?

So it got us thinking: since this is as much a marketing move as it is a service to fans, what other upcoming PS3 games are there to market that have PS2 prequels you can repackage on Blu-Ray?

These (for GT5, FFXIII and The Last Guardian) are the obvious ones. But moving beyond the marketing side of things, are there any other series you’d like to see thrown together on a single disc, cleaned up to 720p and given a second chance on the shelf?

There are two of them available, both of which bundle two Blu-ray movies along with a PS3 remote control. One offers you 300 & Batman Begins, the other offers 300 & 10,000 BC.

The interesting part comes in the retail price; both are sold for AUD$60 (USD$50), even though the remote retails for AUD$50 on its own and both Blu-rays would set you back at least AUD$30 each.

So if you like any of the three movies on offer, and are without one of the excellent PS3 remotes (and are…in Australia), it’s a pretty good deal.

ULTIMATE BLU-RAY MOVIE KIT [JB Hi-Fi]

Sony recently opened a new Blu-Ray factory in Sydney, and threw open the doors for the media to come in and take some photos. While most took the opportunity to take cheesy snaps of Sony executives, News Limited’s Charlie Brewer did us all a big favour and came back with shots of the production line so nice they border on the pornographic.

For reference, of the Blu-Rays produced at the factory in Huntingwood, in Sydney’s western suburbs, around one third of them are PS3 games (you can see PAL copies of PAIN rolling off the production line in the top shot).

There are 16 shots in all, taking us from silicon grain to artwork printing to packaged product, and you can see them all at News.com’s site at the link below.

Inside Sony’s Blu-Ray Factory [News.com.au]