A couple of rumours are doing the rounds relating to God of War III and the series' protagonist, Kratos.

Firstly, it is being reported that the third, new-gen game in the series will be on show at E3. Sony apparently confirmed as much at the Interactive & Digital Entertainment Festival currently taking place in Cannes^†. Quite who at Sony confirmed it, however, no one seems to be saying. The chances of the game being playable are low, given that Sony has yet to say much of anything about the title, but footage of the game could be on show.

The other rumour to crop up suggests that Kratos may be set to make an appearance in Namco Bandai's Soul Calibur IV. This one comes from the August issue of US dead tree mag, Electronic Gaming Monthly^††. Presumably if this slice of rumour and speculation is true we'll only see him in the PS3 version of the game. Maybe we'll see Master Chief in the 360 version to fill his spot?

Non-Namco Bandai characters currently slated to appear in Soul Calibur IV include Darth Vader and Yoda from that Star Wars series that time.

SPOnG contacted Sony regarding the rumours and was told, "I'm afraid we cannot comment on rumour or speculation."

^{Sources: jeuxactu, EGM via PSU}