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A giant rat bird was the closest I got to 'The Last Guardian'
Well, I got to tease it with a giant pink ball. To promote The Last Guardian, which is very much happening and also very not playable (so far) at the Tokyo Game Show, the team at genDesign hooked up a 20-foot screen with a projection of the lovable / grotesque (delete as applicable) Trico. The feathery giant rodent is projected at fictional life-size, while two hidden depth cameras pick movement of anyone near its cage. We seemed to get the best reactions when the organizers brought out that aforementioned pink ball to catch its attention. It still roars a lot, which only scares the crap out of you the first... twelve times. It's a simple little technical demo that doesn't reveal anything more about the game, but it's better than watching similar gameplay videos again. Hand me a controller.
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.
The Last Guardian is 'alive,' with no release in sight
There have likely been more articles devoted to the constant reaffirmation of life in The Last Guardian than to detailed description of its contents. The latest round comes from PlayStation's Scott Rohde, Software Product Development Head for Sony Worldwide Studios America. "So, we're not talking about when The Last Guardian is coming out, but it is still a game that there's a lot of love for inside PlayStation walls, because everybody sees how emotionally driven that the entire fan base of PlayStation always responds with when we talk about The Last Guardian," Rohde said in an interview on Tuesday. "That's something that's very important to all of us, but we're not announcing any details on it." The exact status of The Last Guardian has become a mystery, exacerbated by a leadership shakeup and a long, unprompted absence from the public eye. Sony America CEO Jack Tretton was recently quoted as saying the game was on "hiatus," which Sony Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida countered, saying it was "in active development." Meanwhile, Scott Rohde puts it in simpler terms: "It is alive."
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.
Look! There are new The Last Guardian screens
We're not going to pussy-foot around this (ha, you said -- nevermind): Team Ico's highly-anticipated The Last Guardian finally has an honest-to-goodness website now, chock full of saliva-inducing high-res screens. Aside from that, there isn't really much there at the site now -- apart from the trailers we've all seen way too many times but, hey, you might as well watch them again because it's been [insert any amount of time here] since you last watched them and why not? Anyway, go to the site and look at the new screens. What? No more words! The only thing we want to hear is you going "awwww" at the beautiful relationship between a young boy and his catbird thing. [Via VG247]
TGS 2009: Interview: The Last Guardian's Fumito Ueda
We had a few minutes to chat with Fumito Ueda, director of Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, and the upcoming The Last Guardian. He explained the game's unusual Japanese title to us, and talked about the possibilities of PSN support. Read on for more:The Japanese title of The Last Guardian is much longer than the English one. Can you explain what the Japanese title means?Initially, the project started as "Project Torico." In the past, we haven't used the project name in the actual title of the game. For example, Shadow of the Colossus (Wanda to Kyozo) had a different project name, "Nico." I wanted the project name to be in the title this time, but it wasn't so well received by the international crew. They said a more simple, more direct title would be better. My hope, or my intention is that the Japanese title is the original title of the game.[A literal translation of the title, as suggested by Sony in the presence of Ueda, was "Man Eating Giant Eagle: Torico."]
Call the waah-mbulance: Tretton talks PSP Go leaks
Sony's Jack Tretton is a pretty upset guy. Before last week's E3, two major surprises were spoiled for Sony, in the PSP Go and The Last Guardian leaks. That's made Tretton somewhat bitter -- as one would expect -- and he's told CNBC that the industry needs to do a better job of keeping a lid on it."People don't respect confidentiality in this industry," said Tretton, who is now concerned for the future of his company down the line, where he sees leaks once again beating Sony to its own news. "You have to prepare for people to know things in advance. The frustrating thing is they only know a part of the story and that opens up a lot of conjecture and misinformation that ultimately waters down the reality when you roll it out."Sure, it's tough, but it's all part of the game (sorry!). If Sony is so concerned with the confidentiality of who it trusts with this information, then it needs to do a better job of policing leaks and encouraging silence. To us, it's as simple as that.
The Last Guardian full trailer, screens, and our love
Since Sony's E3 press conference last week, we've been watching various versions (albeit, in less than ideal quality) of the company's The Last Guardian trailer pretty much non-stop. Thankfully, over a full week later, Sony has finally released the high quality version shown at E3 -- you know, the one where the kitty dragon makes us weep with joy and wish we were riding on its back? Oh, right! That's the only one! Why aren't there more?!The graphics have been updated since the "Trico" trailer leaked a couple weeks back and for those of you who'd like a side-by-side comparison, we've put together a handy little video after the break. Watch the trailer above and then watch it again. It's not getting tired any time soon -- that we can assure you.%Gallery-65152%
Video comparison: 'Trico' leak and 'The Last Guardian' debut
When we first saw the year-old leaked footage for Team ICO's third game – then known only as "Trico" – we had only one thought: we really want a kitty dragon. Okay, fine. We had two thoughts. First: we really want a kitty dragon; and second: we wonder what the game looks like now. Lucky for us, Sony's E3 keynote answered the latter, with a fresh dose of video footage of the game, newly dubbed The Last Guardian. Here's the thing though: the first three and a half minutes of the trailer were shot-for-shot identical to the leak, with obvious visual enhancements and that got us thinking: a video comparison! Our very own Richard Mitchell painstakingly stitched the two videos together above for your enjoyment. On the left: The Last Guardian. On the right: Trico. Bon appétit!
'Trico' revealed as The Last Guardian
digg_url = 'http://digg.com/playstation/Trico_revealed_as_The_Last_Guardian'; Attendees at Sony's E3 keynote were treated to some quality kitty dragon time as Sony announced the real title for the Team ICO PS3 project: The Last Guardian. The presentation started off with old footage, but then it segued into gameplay footage which revealed stealth gameplay and kitty dragons.Sure, the kitty dragons have already been revealed, but kitty dragons.
Rumor: Team Ico's third project 'Trico' revealed
A video of what is allegedly 'Project Trico,' the third game from developer Team Ico, has surfaced on rumor-site PlayStation Lifestyle. We've no idea when the video was made, but it shows off almost four minutes of footage from the game. The art style is very similar to Ico and Shadow of the Colossus -- particularly the environment and character design, which lends credence to the idea that this is an official video. (There's also the fact that its opening scene looks exactly like a teaser image released by Team Ico last January.)Hopefully this leak means we'll be hearing more about this game soon. We'd be happy if the entire Sony E3 press conference was a video dedicated to this amazing kitty dragon (LOLCATs go!). That thing is too adorable for words. Check out the video for yourself after the break.[Update] When contacted by Joystiq, SCEE stated it's "not making any comment" regarding the Trico video.[Thanks, Simon!]
GDC09: Team ICO's new game is 'close to ICO' in essense
During this morning's GDC 2009 panel on Eastern vs. Western development philosophies, Team ICO head Fumito Ueda was asked -- by Grasshopper Manufacture boss, Goichi "Suda51" Suda -- what the deal is with his crew's next game. You know, the follow-up to Shadow of the Colossus that everyone (even other Japanese devs!) are eager to know anything new about. Ueda couldn't say much, but we found his comments interesting.After joking (or was he?) that his bosses were in the room listening, Ueda said that his next game -- widely referred to by the nickname "Trico" -- will be "something in-between" ICO and Shadow of the Colossus. "It will be similar to those past games, the essense is close to ICO," he added.Suda51 then excitedly asked if he'd brought screenshots -- anything -- of or about the game. Ueda laughed slightly and conveyed the non-verbal equivalent of "next!" with his face.
