The Last Guardian Official TGS 2010 Trailer

New trailer for The Last Guardian, from Tokyo Game Show 2010. I'm so damn excited for this game but also so very pissed that it's taking them so long to finish it. I was hoping I'd be playing it this holiday but it looks like I'll have to wait until next year.

Title: The Last Guardian
Genre: Adventure
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer: SCE Studio Japan
Release Date: Q4 2011
Exclusively on: PlayStation 3

The Last Guardian - Interview

New very short interview with Team ICO's Director and Game Designer Fumito Ueda, as well as a new even shorter video of the game. Impressions so far are that I really admire how humble Japanese game developers like Ueda are despite being in the absolute top echelon of game development. Peter Molyneux could really learn a thing from this guy and not keep japing his mouth so much about how everything he does will cause a gaming revolution, but that is for another blog entry. The Last Guardian, yes, despite having about a year left in development the game already looks amazing, the physics and animations look to be the best on any console yet not to mention that the lightning looks absolutely stunning. This doesn't come as a surprise really because I've seen what kind of magic these guys can do with the old hardware of the PS2, I mean Shadow of the Colossus was an incredible technical achievement on the outdated hardware of the PS2. I can only imagine what they'll achieve on the PS3 hardware next year and I wouldn't be surprised if this game might be a future console graphics king.

However the great graphics are still pretty low on my list for why I'm so hyped for this game. I'm mostly interested in the gameplay and how the interaction between the boy and the creature will be like, but it's really hard for me to imagine the gameplay at all. I mean, sure, it looks like an adventure platformer and puzzle solving kind of game but the presence of a huge monster-like creature really sets all conventional expectations ablaze. This newness of experiencing something different is also the reason I've turned into such a Team Ico fanboy. The other thing I noticed in this video is a pattern with all Team Ico games and that pattern is that none of the companions to the protagonists in the games are able to communicate conventionally. In ICO Yorda speaks in an unknown language, in Shadow of the Colossus Wander's only companion is the horse Agro and in the Last Guardian your companion is the imaginary beast. I can only speculate on why but I think it's a way to bring attention to the unspoken bond of trust between these imaginary living beings. This is why I adore these games, they really have the smallest details that you only notice after some examination. The Last Guardian can't come soon enough to my PS3.

My Most Anticipated Games 2009/2010

10. Batman Arkham Asylum - PC/PS3/360

I don't think I've ever played a proper Batman game in my whole life but after playing the demo around twenty times I am convinced that the true Batman game is just around the corner. I love the mixture of stealth and action that this game presents, as well as how dark and brutal they have made it. Don't be deceived by the comic look of the game, this game has more in common with Alan Moore's and Frank Miller's Batman, rather than the Batman you've seen on Cartoon Network. The only gripe I had with the demo is that it felt a little too simple but I hope it's due to it being the first level and that the challenge will increase in the full game.





9. Bioshock 2 - PC/PS3/360

It's not often that you get to see an intelligent shooter and it is even rarer to see one become successful and have a sequel. Bioshock came out of nowhere and charmed a whole game scene with it's mad dystopian underwater world of Rapture that was based on Ayn Rand's philosophies gone wrong. It was at the time of it's release a breath of fresh air in a first-person shooter genre that was going stale but to be fair one should class Bioshock as an Action-RPG due to the different skills that your character could develop depending on your choices. Bioshock 2 is already looking like it will be a worthy sequel but my only concern is that the "newness" of the first game will be lost in a sequel.