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Former Last Guardian devs' teaser trailer is so Vane
Friend and Foe Games offered a teaser trailer for one of its two introductory games this week, Vane. The Tokyo Game Show 2014 trailer shows the game's desert-and-ruins environment, following a bird in flight before observing a shadowy sprinting child. The team of five at Friend and Foe Games includes credits on Team Ico's The Last Guardian, Bionic Commando, Battlefield 3 and the Killzone series. Head past the break to check out the trailer. Announced in June, the game's youthful character has an "odd ability" and is stuck in a "strange land." While the trailer doesn't shed any light on Vane's setting other than it being prone to severe lightning strikes, the child does appear to leap off a platform and morph into a bird near the end of the video. Vane is in development for PC with other consoles to follow and does not currently have a release date. [Image: Friend and Foe Games]
Windswept deserts, 80s buddy cops from ex-Team Ico devs
A group of five game industry veterans, including two former The Last Guardian developers, have founded Friend & Foe, an independent studio in Tokyo. Friend & Foe is working on two games in parallel, Vane and Dangerous Men. Vane is the more fleshed-out project, complete with a flurry of images and gifs depicting a windswept desert landscape, and a polygonal, shadowy child running alongside ruins, lightning and a freaky weather vane. The child has an "odd ability," Friend & Foe says: "Vane is a single-player game being developed by a few ex-members of The Last Guardian team. The game focuses on unraveling the mysteries of an unknown land via exploration, puzzle-solving and other features yet to be revealed, in an atmospheric and powerful setting." Dangerous Men takes a different tack – it's an action-arcade game based on 1980s buddy-cop movies. Vane is due out for PC first with other platforms to follow, and Dangerous Men doesn't have any specified platforms. Each is due out "when it's done." Friend & Foe is composed of Ivar Dahlberg, Rasmus Deguchi, Rui Guerreiro, Thomas Lilja and Victor Santaquiteria. Deguchi and Guerreiro are the former Team Ico duo, while the rest have a rich history in AAA game development, including work on Bionic Commando, Battlefield 3 and Killzone. [Image: Friend & Foe]
Shadow of the Colossus fan art has all colossi drawn to scale in one image - spoiler alert: they're big
Shadow of the Colossus' colossi are downright ... well, colossal. But how colossal, you ask? Why not consult DeviantArt member Andrew McGee's helpful visualization of the game's golems that you see posted above? Pro-tip: After consulting the image, walk outside, imagine how big a colossus would be in real life, and change your pants. To see the image in full resolution, you can check out McGee's DeviantArt page or order an A3 or A4 size poster print by clicking here.
Ueda: Puppeteer and Knack 'taking priority' over The Last Guardian
In the "nothing has changed" category of news, The Last Guardian is still in development. In fact, it's "under earnest development," Ico and Shadow of the Colossus creator Fumito Ueda told Famitsu. To help explain the game's constant absence from industry events, Ueda noted that SCE Japan Studio has other projects like Puppeteer and Knack that are "taking priority right now." The Last Guardian was first announced at E3 2009 during Sony's keynote, then received a "holiday 2011" release window before it was unceremoniously delayed and Team Ico was shuffled in with SCE Japan Studio. Sony confirmed Ueda's departure from the company in December 2011, though Ueda reaffirmed that The Last Guardian was under his creative supervision as of February, as he remained committed to finishing the game as part of his contract. Sony CEO Jack Tretton said the game was "on hiatus" in June.
Ico and Shadow of the Colossus producer Kenji Kaido leaves Sony
The man who led production of both Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, Kenji Kaido, is no longer working with Sony Computer Entertainment (the company's Japan-based gaming arm). "This August, I left Sony Computer Entertainment," Kaido wrote on Twitter (via Game|Life). He said he has no plans for now ... aside from continuing his summer vacation.Despite his silence, it sounds like Kaido knows where he's headed next. "I'm also excited about whatever I'm going to be doing next," Kaido said in response to a tweet from fellow Japanese game designer Masahiro Sakurai (of Smash. Bros. fame). It's unclear whether Kaido worked on Team Ico's latest project, The Last Guardian, or what work he's done since shipping Shadow of the Colossus in in 2005.
The Last Guardian is still coming, still on PlayStation 3
"The team is still working on it very hard," Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida said in response to questions regarding the status of the long-in-development PS3 exclusive, The Last Guardian.Speaking with Eurogamer, Yoshida explained that there are certain "technical issues" that developer Team Ico has been pushing through since last we've heard of it. "That's the period of time when the game, looking from the outside, doesn't seem to be making much progress." In February, Yoshida made similar promises about The Last Guardian but admitted progress on the title was "slow."The Last Guardian has failed to appear at any major industry trade show in years, including last year's Tokyo Game Show, E3 in June, and this week's Gamescom.Trouble started to boil over in December 2011, when Team Ico mastermind Fumito Ueda announced he was leaving his position and would complete work on The Last Guardian with Sony on a contractual basis. Recently, Sony abandoned the trademark for The Last Guardian, but can still recover it by filing a petition by January 2013.Yoshida says that Sony Japan Studio – one of the teams helping with the project's completion – had to completely re-do work to bring the game to a playable state. "...it turned out the technical issues are much harder to solve. So the engineering team had to go back and re-do some of the work they had done," he said.Despite its numerous delays, The Last Guardian has not shifted into a new console generation. "The game is developed on PS3," Yoshida confirmed. Let's hope it doesn't launch as late as some of the PlayStation 2's latest software, which continues to arrive six years after the PlayStation 3's release.%Gallery-102416%
Sony abandons The Last Guardian trademark, can get it back
Sony has abandoned the trademark for The Last Guardian, a game first teased by Team Ico in 2008 that has since been notoriously absent during subsequent conventions, productions and shows. The last we heard of The Last Guardian was when it didn't make an appearance at E3 this year. During the show, SCEA's Scott Rhode told us, "It just wasn't appropriate for us to give an update. That's just how it worked out."The trademark was abandoned "because no Statement of Use or Extension Request [was] timely filed after Notice of Allowance was issued," the USPTO TARR report states. Sony may have unintentionally let the trademark lapse, and has two months to file a petition to retrieve the application, according to its notice of abandonment.The Last Guardian trademark was issued in January 2010, meaning Sony has until January 2013 to prove "use in commerce" and retain the mark, according to sleuth superannuation. "Use in commerce" would mean a completed, marketable game, which doesn't exist, as far as we know. Sony can of course register The Last Guardian in a new trademark if this one lapses.Regardless of whether Sony intentionally abandoned the trademark, accidentally letting it lapse would seem to indicate a lack of focus on The Last Guardian, substantiated by the lack of content shown to the public.
Sony's Rohde explains The Last Guardian's E3 absence: 'It just wasn't appropriate for us to give an update'
Sony's E3 2012 press conference was full of surprises. For one, Quantic Dream's new game was unveiled – Beyond – Two Souls. Just like that!More surprising, however, was a game that didn't make an appearance: The Last Guardian. Since being teased in a January 2008 Sony Japan job listing with a single image, the Team Ico-developed game has only been shown by Sony a handful of times. Moreover, the only news we've heard recently on the long in-development project has been worrisome – the game's creative lead, Fumito Ueda, ended his employment at Sony and began working on the game as a contractor. And then in February, Sony revealed that the company's Santa Monica studio was assisting in the development process.SCEA senior VP of product development and worldwide studios, Scott Rohde, assured me in an interview this week that the game's absence from Sony's presser isn't something gamers should be concerned with. "It just wasn't appropriate for us to give an update. That's just how it worked out," Rohde said. Rather than seeing it as a potential sign that the four-plus year project is stagnating, Rohde said that it's absence was a question of time limitations during the press conference and Sony's approach to internal development. "Almost more than any game that Worldwide Studios develops, it's all about the emotion and the experience that's crafted in what that team can deliver. And there's a vision that must be upheld. And until it can be upheld, it's not gonna ship," he said.
Shadow of the Colossus film still in the works, Chronicle director Josh Trank signed on
Wait, there's still a Shadow of the Colossus film being made? The film is still in progress, according to a report today from Deadline that puts Chronicle director Josh Trank in the director's seat. It appears Sony Pictures signed Trank pretty recently, and the company is already interviewing potential writers to work with him.According to the report, Trank requested the job from Sony. Given the slow-moving process of the project (we've been hearing about it for three years) and the lack of a ... ya know, script or anything, it seems to still be early in production.Team Ico's third project, The Last Guardian, has been just as slow to get out of the gate – the studio hasn't released a game since 2005's Shadow of the Colossus.
Sony Santa Monica (and more) helping with The Last Guardian
Sony Senior VP Shuhei Yoshida has confirmed to Wired that Sony Santa Monica team members are contributing to The Last Guardian -- along with a few more. "Well, you know, it's not just Santa Monica," he says. "We have great tech people in Worldwide Studios. We have a central tech group in the U.S. and the U.K. so we are giving them whatever help they need. Technically, we have the best engineers in the U.S. and Europe, so these teams are helping them, giving advice."Progress on The Last Guardian may be slow right now, but Yoshida assures us the game is still coming. The departure of Fumito Ueda was exaggerated, he says, as the famed designer is still going to finish The Last Guardian on contract with Sony."At one point the progress was great, so we talked about the timing of the launch in the past. But now it's making progress, but still not to the level -- it's playable, but not to the point that we can talk about the timing of launch." But now, "the progress is slow," he says, and "sometimes the team has to go back and review things."The Last Guardian is still planned for 2012, but there seems to be little certainty over that time frame. "There's a vision that we want to realize but it's very very tough and technical issue that the team is tackling and some plans have to be made to evaluate and go through the process," Yoshida says.
Yoshida: The Last Guardian still happening, but progress 'slow'
We've had assurances of The Last Guardian's continued existence, but in the absence of empirical proof we could always use one more. 1UP received a rather authoritative one from Sony Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida at DICE, who said he's "been seeing it."Yoshida reports that, after leaving Sony and becoming a contractor, producer Fumito Ueda continues working on the game as normal. His departure was "an arrangement so he could focus on the creative side," Yoshida said. "But his work and his presence on that team never changed, so it was just more a contractual rearrangement, and that was taken [by many] as 'he left.'"Ueda is still in the office, "probably one of the people who works the longest hours," Yoshida said. Progress is still taking place on The Last Guardian, "but slow progress."
Sony confirms Ueda's departure; The Last Guardian to be completed on contract
The real news, of course, is that Sony is publicly promising The Last Guardian will be finished ... at some point. The respected creative force behind the project, Fumito Ueda, is "committed to completing" his third major game with Sony on a contract basis. Sony confirmed his departure with Gamasutra, concluding a swirl of rumors from last month. The Last Guardian has yet to receive a solid release date after being bumped out of holiday 2011. "I sincerely apologize to all the customers who have been waiting for 'The Last Guardian' for so long, but I beg for your patience," Ueda said in April. "I will also announce the new release timing at a later time." The game's other notable departure, Executive Producer Yoshifusa Hayama, has joined social gaming studio Bossa Studios. Ueda hasn't provided a clear indication of his post-Guardian future yet, giving us enough time to envision dream team-ups with Grasshopper Manufacture's Suda 51, or Shinji Mikami at the Zenimax-owned Tango. Who's going to say no to Mr. Shadow of the Colossus?
Rumor: The Last Guardian lead Fumito Ueda quits Sony, working as freelancer to complete game
Apparently, The Last Guardian creative lead and Team Ico head Fumito Ueda has quit Sony and is working on Team Ico's latest project as a freelancer. Eurogamer is reporting as much, saying that Ueda's departure from the team has accentuated the ever-growing delay of the project's launch. The Last Guardian was pushed out of a "holiday 2011" release window earlier this year, and the development team were said to be moving offices this past summer, getting up close and personal with SCE's main HQ. Requests to Sony for comment have gone unreturned as of publishing. Update: A Sony rep told Joystiq, "Sony doesn't comment on rumors or speculation."
Deja Review: The Ico and Shadow of the Colossus Collection
We're of the firm opinion that your time is too precious, too valuable to be spent reading a full review for a game that was already reviewed many, many years ago. What's the point of applying a score to a game that's old enough to be enrolled in the sixth grade? That's why we invented Deja Review: A quick look at the new features and relative agelessness of remade, revived and re-released games. It would be difficult to think of two games that have so unanimously been labeled as masterpieces by gaming critics and consumers alike than Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. Each possesses a unique beauty possessed by (regrettably) so few other games: Ico with its sense of childlike wonder and grand adventure, Colossus with its abject desolation and foreboding. They're poignant, and sad, and (fortunately for Sony and Team Ico) inimitably timeless. The Ico and Shadow of the Colossus Collection pairs HD-remastered versions of the two titles in one tidy $40 package. Their visual revivification -- the most substantial improvement over the PS2 originals -- isn't quite as thorough as ground-up reconstruction of Halo: Anniversary or the total reskinning of Ocarina of Time 3D. But it's certainly enough to make these once-beautiful games even more staggering. %Gallery-130949%
Preview new bonuses for the old games in the Ico/Shadow of the Colossus Collection
Next week's ICO and Shadow of the Colossus Collection will have HD ports of both Team ICO's beloved games -- as you might have guessed from the name, and the box. It also has a lot of bonus content, including some new video material, as detailed by the PlayStation Blog (and sampled above). The disc includes the concept video for "NICO," a prototype the team worked on before ICO, as well as a new roundtable discussion and behind-the-scenes developer video. Oh, and there's new footage of The Last Guardian, the new game allegedly being worked on at the studio. But what we really want to see is Fumito Ueda and crew discussing "the original US packaging for ICO." We don't know whether to expect an attempt at justification, or just an apology.
ICO and Shadow of the Colossus has reversible boxart, Last Guardian not at TGS
The North American box art for the ICO and Shadow of the Colossus Collection is ... not super great. We're no graphic designers or anything, but we do prefer our game cases to be a tad less hideous than that. Fortunately, the flipside of that cover plays host to a much more appealing vision: A stylish representation of the Japanese and European cover for ICO, and a slightly modified version of the European version of Shadow of the Colossus -- neither of which are obstructed by gaudy frames or signage. We hope the inclusion of this good-looking cover is enough to fill you with goodwill towards Team ICO, because this next part certainly won't: PlayStation Blog has revealed that The Last Guardian won't appear at the Tokyo Game Show. The blog explains, "we can assure you that Ueda-san and the rest of the development team are hard at work to bring his lofty vision to life and deliver the very best gaming experience possible." We just hope they can do so before the heat death of the universe.
Eurogamer compares ICO, Shadow of the Colossus PS2 and PS3 incarnations
Eurogamer's Digital Foundry previously speculated what Team Ico's ICO and Shadow of the Colossus would look like in HD, but now they've gotten their hands on the real thing. Obtaining Bluepoint Games' conversions allowed the site to match up the PS3 and PS2 versions side-by-side. "The good news with the PS3 version of Shadow of the Colossus is that the performance is much more consistent, with none of the sudden lurches between 30, 20 and 15 frames per second that characterized the PS2 original," the site notes. "Both Ico and Colossus on PS3 run at 30 frames per second ... and while we might have hoped for a locked 60FPS, quite why Ico can't hit that target is a bit of a mystery, the final code that Bluepoint Games has handed in ticks pretty much every box that Ico and Shadow of the Colossus fans would want." Head on over to Eurogamer for the comparison videos for ICO and the full 13-minute Shadow of the Colossus opening.
Take a look at the gorgeous openings of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus HD
Sure, you've already shed dozens of sympathy tears over Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, but have you ever shed tears of joy from the sheer beauty of the games, now updated to high-def? Well, these two videos, showcasing the opening to each game from the upcoming Ico and Shadow of the Colossus Collection re-release, may cause a bit of eye-born precipitation. At very least, they'll serve to get you extra pumped for the September launch of the remastered duo on PlayStation 3.
Ico and Shadow of the Colossus HD trailers are too pretty, too soon
As legendary singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka kind-of-almost said: Waking up is hard to do. If you, like us, are still bleary-eyed from the shock of no longer being unconscious, you're probably not ready for the potent, otherworldly beauty of these Ico and Shadow of the Colossus (HD) trailers.
Team ICO moving to main Sony offices in Japan
Studio head Fumito Ueda of Team ICO (the folks behind the much-awaited PS3 title The Last Guardian) tweeted that the developer is moving offices in Japan this week, into Sony Computer Entertainment's main building in the Shinagawa ward of Tokyo. Ueda said that the move was part of a "major reformation of our development environment," designed to set up Team ICO for even bigger and better things in the future. Here's hoping the move goes well. Just be sure, guys, that the first box you open says The Last Guardian on it, so you can get that title out and into our hands. That box that says "Failed Colossus Ideas?" That one you can leave taped up for the time being.
