PlayStation LifeStyle » The Last Guardian

Team ICO Takes Art to Another Level with Lifelike Environments in The Last Guardian

Jonathan Leack — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 15:47:34 +0000

Team ICO have gained a strong reputation since 2001 for creating memorable games through the form of uniquely artistic and heavily polished gameplay experiences. It’s nearing six years since we saw a release from the team, but The Last Guardian is creeping toward release, and will continue the team’s trend of straying the pack, this time with lifelike, unpredictable environments.

Popular game director Fumito Ueda explained the vision of the group at Team ICO to 1UP, as well as what could end up being The Last Guardian‘s greatest asset: its environments.

Obviously we need to do the level design, but we don’t want our users to notice the intent of the designer… I think that’s what we’re spending most of our time on right now.

Ueda elaborated with the following:

I think being unpredictable, giving the game unpredictability, is key for The Last Guardian. It has to seem like a natural part of the atmosphere and the world, like it’s been like that forever.

Creating a natural environment is no easy task as we’ve become accustomed to seeing games that throw interactive set pieces all over level layouts. Making game areas look completely natural will likely make puzzle sequences particularly challenging, and the game could be quite suspenseful. This revelation could reveal why the game has been delayed, and why Ueda stated last month that development has been very difficult. We’ll have to wait until 2012 to see how well this translates into the gaming arena, but it sure does sound promising.

Tokyo Game Show Will be Without a Guardian

Cameron Teague — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 14:28:31 +0000

There will be a lot of games showcased at the upcoming Tokyo Game Show, but perhaps one of the most anticipated games will be absent from the show, as Team ICO’s long-awaited The Last Guardian, will not be at the show. Sony Computer Entertainment America associate product marketing manager Brian Dunn confirmed the game’s absence on the PS Blog.

We wanted to confirm that The Last Guardian is not on the schedule for this year’s Tokyo Game Show. However 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.

While we wait for The Last Guardian to finally release, you can pick up The ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Collection, which is set to release later this month on the PlayStation 3.

What do you readers think of this lengthy development time and when do you expect we will finally see The Last Guardian on PS3?

[Source]

Team ICO Relocating to be Able to “Take on The World”

Allen Tyson — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 17:38:06 +0000

Moving is one of the most stressful things you can do in your entire life; cross-country or across town it still requires an inordinate amount of work. Now imagine you’re working on one of the most anticipated games on the PS3 and it’s time to relocate right in the middle of your project—now you know how Fumito Ueda feels.

Fumito Ueda, Director and Lead Designer on The Last Guardian, will take a brief break from work on his current project while his team is relocated from it’s current Aoyama studio location. In a recent tweet Ueda said (translated):

Starting next week, TRICO’s production base will move to Shinagawa. We’re looking forward to a major reformation of our development environment as a video game studio that can take on the world.

With the lack of news on The Last Guardian lately, hopefully the relocation of the team to it’s new home, any distractions can now be eliminated. Ueda-san is typically good about providing updates via tweets, so expect more news once he’s all settled in.

[Via]

Team ICO’s Fumito Ueda Not Attending This Year’s E3

Zak Islam — Fri, 27 May 2011 21:21:29 +0000

Currently in development by Team ICO, The Last Guardian has only received one showing so far during E3: the first official trailer for the PlayStation 3 exclusive. The game skipped last year’s E3 so many were looking forward to some more footage (preferably gameplay) at this year’s gaming convention. However, The Last Guardian‘s creator, Fumito Ueda will not be present at E3.

Legendary developer Fumito Ueda – the man behind PlayStation 2 classics Shadow of the Colossus and ICO – confirmed the news via his Twitter account. Unfortunately for PlayStation 3 owners and gamers alike, Sony have not revealed anything significant regarding The Last Guardian ever since a trailer was released during last year’s Tokyo Game Show.

The Ico/Shadow of the Colossus Collection and The Last Guardian were both delayed by Ueda last month with the reasoning behind the pushed back date for both PS3 games being for quality reasons:

To provide more challenging and better quality of content to users and to fulfill First Party Studio’s obligations, I decided to postpone its release timing.

Are you worried about The Last Guardian not making an appearance at E3 due to Ueda’s absence? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Fumito Ueda Delays Both his PS3 Projects

Corey Schwanz — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 13:32:27 +0000

After both the Ico/Shadow of the Colossus Collection and The Last Guardian were shown off at the Tokyo Game Show last September, gamers were elated to get their hands on the games in the Spring and Holiday of 2011 respectively. Well…

It’s a sad day for gamers everywhere, as not one but TWO games are now being delayed. SCEA Santa Monica producer Tsubasa Inaba shared the news about the HD collection and said that they “will provide more information regarding release timing at a later date.” Word came over at the PlayStation Blog from director Fumito Ueda himself and it is rather unfortunate.

I announced at last year’s Tokyo Game Show that the release timing of The Last Guardian which is currently being developed would be holiday 2011.
However, to provide more challenging and better quality of content to users and to fulfill First Party Studio’s obligations, I decided to postpone its release timing.
All the members of my production team are working together at a fast pace to develop and release the game in First Party Studio quality.
I sincerely apologize to all the customers who have been waiting for “The Last Guardian” for so long, but I beg for your patience. I will also announce the new release timing at a later time.

It isn’t surprising for The Last Guardian, as the GDC viewing of that game had been cancelled at the last minute, but both games? That’s certainly surprising. A while back Amazon had been sending out delay notifications for the games to those who pre-ordered them but they weren’t back up by anything. This is always the news that developers, publishers, and gamers dislike the most. Hopefully we’ll find out more at E3 in just two short months.

The Last Guardian Uncovers Full Potential of the PS3′s Hardware

Jonathan Leack — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 15:43:21 +0000

When was the last time we heard the PlayStation 3 was at its full potential? It seems that every time a developer doubts the PlayStation 3′s limit, another developer spits out fire with games like God of War III and Killzone 3. But can Team ICO’s The Last Guardian truly be the last line of the PS3′s graphical progression?

When asked about the potential for 3D support, Fumito Ueda replied with both positive and negative news to Official PlayStation Magazine UK. Fumito said the following:

“The game will support 3D but it depends on how much the PS3 has left.”

He followed up by stating:

“…in terms of machine power, I have to say we are quite at the very limit.”

The Last Guardian has shown itself as fully capable of upping the bar for visuals, and Team ICO is nothing short of extremely talented. The title is supposed to release later this year, and we’ll see just how far the cell has been pushed when it arrives.

[Thanks OPM UK for the quote]

The Last Guardian May Be Hitching a Ride with the Team Ico Collection

Corey Schwanz — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 22:17:30 +0000

Sony has been tight-lipped about any information on The Last Guardian, other than its initial expected release date of Holiday 2011. But what if players could get a hands-on before that?

The Ico and Shadow of the Colossus Collection is still a few months off, but it very well could be coming with something unexpected. It wouldn’t be out of Sony’s character though. The God of War Collection included a demo for the third entry in the series. A secret teaser trailer for a Sly 4 was packed in to The Sly Collection for those intrepid gamers who achieved all three platinums for the game – so it would totally make sense if the next collection contained SOMETHING related to The Last Guardian, right? Fumito Ueda was asked that same question by 1UP, and while he didn’t confirm anything, he didn’t exactly deny it either. Merely admitting the idea had occurred to them:

We’re considering it, but we haven’t come to a conclusion.

While that may just sound like PR talk for “no comment,” previous history indicates this might be a good thing. The last time that Ueda said that he would “consider” something, the question was “Will there be an Ico/SotC collection?”

Seemed to work pretty good for that one, no?

[Source]

New Details Emerge for The Last Guardian

Josh Fernandes — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 09:29:53 +0000

Fumito Ueda has kept very quiet about his upcoming game, The Last Guardian. When gamers got a glimpse of the teaser trailer at E3, they couldn’t wait to hear more. At TGS, Ueda released new details on the game as well as a very short gameplay trailer. Now, Ueda has made even more known about The Last Guardian.

In their latest issue, PSM3 had an entire feature dedicated to The Last Guardian. They sat down to play through the first level of the game, and here is all the important information from their playthrough.

The Last Guardian will be similar to Ico
The game’s original music is not the one presented in the trailer. It’s just a test track being used.
Ueda stated that he’s allowed to achieve things with the PS3 which he couldn’t manage to fulfill due to the tech on offer with PS2.
Torico’s feathers, butterflies, dust, particles, everything is managed in real time, many great animations were all made by hand.
The game we will not be as confined as in Ico.
Torico can apparently eliminate the guards, the child however can’t do that (so he will be playing undercover when he is alone)
Ueda didn’t reveal who the Last Guardian is, Torico or the boy. He said we’ll have to find out.
Team ICO has sought technical advice from all in-house Sony Studios wherever possible.
Torico-AI will focus on that moods and reactions to the environment. The game will be based on its relationship with the child to solve puzzles and explore the fortress.
Guards in armor are actually shadows, when their armor glows, they can vanish.
Ueda, does not consider his work as art. It could go much, much further in the concept art but that would make it difficult for some fun and commercial viability of titles. He must find the right balance.
Ueda would love the game to release on time, however he won’t rush things.
Ueda is wary not to make the game’s puzzles too difficult, however, he wants to maintain a good amount of challenge and hence they’re constantly beta-testing to measure the difficulty of puzzles and find the right balance.
There will be less fighting sequences in TLG than in ICO
Ueda has assured that the game will be released by the end of this year, atleast in Japan.

I know I’m not the only one hoping for a worldwide release of The Last Guardian instead of delayed release in the west.

[Source]

Up-skirt Views Led The Last Guardian Lead to be Male

Cameron Teague — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 02:46:02 +0000

Developers have a lot of decisions to make when it comes to creating a new game, the setting, story and most importantly the main character all must fit the ultimate vision. For the upcoming PS3 exclusive The Last Guardian, its developer, Team ICO, had one such decision to make: would the lead be male or female? Of course by now we know the answer ended up being male, but originally the game was to feature a female lead. The female lead was eventually nixed due to the frequency of up-skirt shots…

Team ICO boss Fumito Ueda recently revealed to PSM3 the reason for this change.

“The Trico is a very powerful creature,” said Ueda. “If we’d had a beefed-up, powerful hero, it would have thrown off the balance a little bit, so the design naturally drove me to create an adolescent female character who was light on her feet.
But in the end I decided a boy would have a little more grip to climb the Trico. Another problem is that girls tend to wear skirts, and The Last Guardian features a lot of climbing…”

So there you have it, girls often wear skirts and thus cannot climb in the world of The Last Guardian. It’s hard to question the decision since the game has yet to release but would you rather have seen a female lead?

The Last Guardian is currently scheduled for release Holiday season, 2011.

[Source]

Fumito Ueda Interview Puts The Last Guardian on Display

Jonathan Leack — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 14:34:08 +0000

The Last Guardian was announced over 20-months ago during Sony’s E3 Press Conference, and since then gamers have had to muster some patience. Very few details have been revealed since the announcement, but thankfully a new video from Japan puts several Team ICO masterpieces in the spotlight.

Some never-before-seen footage of The Last Guardian has arrived along with a preview of the upcoming Team ICO Collection. The video features an interview with Director Fumito Ueda and while it is only available in Japanese, the footage is enough awaken the anticipation for both PlayStation 3 exclusive titles.

Have a look at the footage below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ueda’s Work Spotlighted on Trico Portal

Allen Tyson — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 14:55:39 +0000

Fumito Ueda is hard at work on The Last Guardian, with the game set to finally grace the PlayStation 3 next year. His other seminal works will also make their début on the PS3 to expectant fans as well as a whole new audience. If you happen to fall into that later group, Sony Japan has a web portal setup that may be just for you.

While all in Japanese at the moment, there is enough content is their to get the overall idea – Sony has a Trico portal setup to show new fans, or remind old ones, of just how engaging the work of Team Ico is. With galleries, screenshots, and gorgeous videos, Sony isn’t shy about pushing what should be a major release of not only TLG but re-releases of Shadow of the Colossus and Ico.

It won’t be long before we are playing these titles on our PS3 – and with the content on the portal it’s hard not become even more anxious over when that will be.

[Source]

Fumito Ueda Talks The Last Guardian and the Team ICO Remakes

Thomas Williams — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 02:16:56 +0000

Of all of the first-party titles Sony Worldwide Studios has in-production right now, none look more amazing than Team ICO’s The Last Guardian. Breathtaking graphics and production values that would rival any major $100 million blockbuster fantasy film, The Last Guardian is looking to blow away the competition come Holiday 2011. Fumito Ueda has kept details regarding the game close to his chest, but after the games ‘re-introduction’ at the Tokyo Game Show 2010, he has opened his mind and is more willing to talk about it.

Ueda-San talked about why he feels fans were attracted so much to his past games, ICO and Shadow of the Colossus and how he hopes to gain the attention of a much wider audience this time.

Ico and Shadow of the Colossus were both set in fantasy worlds, and I think movie fans, at least, were attracted to the games because of those fantasy elements. However, I thought about how to have a wider group of people relate to our games, and I figured that introducing more physically-oriented scenes like that would help with that effort. I also thought it was an element of design we haven’t really tackled before.

If you missed the TGS 2010 trailer for The Last Guardian, check it out. Did you notice something about the enemies? They appear to be floating armor. Wait a minute!!

They are non-human creatures, you could say. The boy definitely isn’t able to defeat them by force — he can manage the feat only by taking advantage of the environment or the objects around him. I may have mentioned this before, but there’s a rock-scissors-paper relationship between Trico, the boy, and the guards, so generally you’d want to have Trico take care of them for you.

Ueda even talked about the differences of developing on the PS2 and PS3, and the added advantages it presented.

Before, we’d have a single artist work on every aspect of a stage, right down to the little details. But the world is larger in this game, and the PlayStation 3′s a more powerful machine, and so the sheer amount of work has skyrocketed. So we aren’t making the world like that any longer. Instead we’re devoting our efforts to building a bunch of small parts, like LEGO bricks, and putting them together to build stages. This streamlines the production process while still enabling us to make HD-quality graphics.

Enough about The Last Guardian..what about the Team ICO Collection? Ueda confessed his team is too busy with TLG to work on them, but that he is still ‘directly involved’.

I’m overseeing everything in a supervising position, receiving updates each week and checking over them. The company handling development is extremely talented, and they’re doing great things with the material, things that never even occurred to me. The PS3 versions are in no way going to be inferior to the PS2 originals, and they’re making it even better in places where it’s necessary, which I’m very glad to see. Reworking the games for 3D is a trickier process than I even imagined — how much should the images pop out; how much depth they should have; where the focus point should be. I’m glad we found an opportunity like this to tackle the idea.

So we have a release date for The Last Guardian, Holiday 2011, but what about a release date for the Team ICO Collection??

I can’t say exactly when yet. But the PS3 port announcements created more buzz than I ever imagined, which made me both surprised and very happy. I’m hoping gamers will want to play both of them through to the ending, and I’m also hoping they get some sort of emotional reaction along the way.

If there is two games the entire PlayStation LifeStyle staff is interested in, The Last Guardian the HD re-release of ICO and Shadow of The Colossus are easily it. Make sure you check back for news regarding both titles here at PlayStation LifeStyle as we can promise you, no matter how big or small it may be, we will cover it!

[Source: Famitsu]

Fumito Ueda Looking at Move Support for The Last Guardian

Adam G — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 19:34:03 +0000

With PlayStation Move functionality being included in more and more core games, it was only a matter of time before the question motion control support was popped to director and lead designer at Team ICO, Fumito Ueda.

Speaking with Dengeki Online, Ueda-san said that Move support for The Last Guardian would be a possibility, although if it was implemented, it would be Move compatible, not Move exclusive.

No definitive answer but we’ll keep our hopes high. We’ll bring you more news on The Last Guardian as we get it. Although, we do wonder if Move support simply would make this into a “Honey, I blew up the pet” version of Eyepet.

[Source/Via]

Ueda Talks Lack of Control in The Last Guardian

Allen Tyson — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 22:48:37 +0000

Even with just a new trailer, The Last Guardian took center stage at the Tokyo Game Show and captivated fans looking forward to its release. Fumito Ueda, the Games Designer, provided a few more details for those hungry for anything and everything related to his latest title.

Ueda-san spoke with Famitsu on his choice of music used in the latest trailer. Because of the expectation some fans have of an un-happy ending, the team decided to go with a more cheerful happy score. Also, more realistic actions were shown such as the Trico burying its dropping and being playful. Ueda-san elaborated further on the reason for this realism:

ICO and Shadow of the Colossus were set in fantasy worlds. People who like movies were hooked in by the fantasy parts and bought the game and played it. However, we wanted to evoke feeling in a greater range of people. While the selection of an animal theme does this, we also thought that in addition to this, showing such physiological occurrences would reach that broader base.

Ueda-san also touched on a very interesting aspect of the game: the lack of control. “The inability to control is one of this game’s concepts,” said Ueda-san, he added:

“Not that you’ll be totally unable to control things, but there will be some areas that you can’t control. This connects with the game’s reality, and also with the mystery of the game design.”

The Last Guardian is set for release next year.

[Source]

The Last Guardian Tokyo Game Show Footage

Zak Islam — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 13:51:13 +0000

During Sony’s Tokyo Game Show press conference, they unveiled more details on Team ICO’s upcoming PlayStation 3 exclusive, The Last Guardian. Now, the artistic title has received a brand-new trailer which showcases exuberant real-time gameplay. We can’t wait.

Check out the trailer below, courtesy of the PlayStation Blog.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Last Guardian is currently scheduled for a release during “holiday” 2011.