The secret HD mode in God of War II has been dropped from the European release as the disc space was required for all the extra European languages.
It didn't take US gamers long to discover that God of War II on PS2 contained a very pleasant upscaling surprise. Fans soon discovered two puzzles on God of War that, once solved, lead to details on how to get God of War II running in 480p.
But just as we're getting excited over the upcoming UK release, word comes from Sony that this option won't be available in our version. A Sony Europe spokesperson told CVG this afternoon, "This option isn't available in the European release because there wasn't enough space on the disc to allow for it. Whereas the US version still had enough room to incorporate this feature it had to be removed for ours because we had to use the final disc space for localisation (all the extra European languages)."
It's a shame but couldn't be avoided, according to Sony. There is hope though if you have a PS3. GOW2 will work from launch on your PS3 and the next-gen console upscales the game to 576p, provided you use the HDMI cable.