Lost, forgotten or just in hiding?

Team ICO’s first PS3 game:

First up is a title I absolutely cannot wait for; it’s the next Team ICO game. After wowing gamers with the stupendously beautiful ICO which received critical acclaim and average sales Team ICO did one better and gave us the truly magnificent Shadow of the Colossus which took us as close to video game art as anything ever released.

Naturally with a new console we all wait eagerly for whatever they bring us next. It’s well known that they take a long time on their games, as Shuhei Yoshida says “I call them the Olympic team, because they make a game every 4 years”. Now there have been lots of rumours and very little substance, Colossus was released in 2005 so we can expect their next title to come sometime in 2009, but here’s the thing; we have heard virtually nothing about this game. With the exception of a single screen shot we have no idea what to expect.

The Facts:

• There is an image of a massive chain going into a hole in the earth
• Contact will be a theme in the game like the hand holding in ICO and the attachment Wander had with his horse Aggro

The Rumours:

• It’s Shadow of the Colossus2
• It’s ICO2 Travelling is done using some sort of air glider
• The world will be a desert/canyon environment and will involve a lot of climbing
• It’s called: “The Last Canyon”
• It’s called: “The Queen”

Super Secret PS3 Game.

On the 24^th February 2008 a chap named Darren Waters, who works for the BBC, published an article which you can read here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2008/02/playstation_bounces_back.html

Stating that he was shown footage of various upcoming games from Sony including Motorstorm2 and Resistance2, he then said he was show a super secret game that was so amazing that: “we could be on the brink of a step change in what games consoles are capable of in terms of story-telling and immersion”.

So of course this got the gaming community into a frenzy and he’s stated the game would be out sometime in 2009 and may be shown at 2008’s E3, but E3 came and went and all that was shown that wasn’t already known about was MAG. Mr. Waters came out and said that he was disappointed that the Super Duper Secret game was not shown at E3, which eliminated big hitters Heavy Rain, God of War 3, and MAG.

There has been no news since then and no inclination as to what this game may be. Assuming Mr. Waters is not pulling our legs and was not the victim of some clever Sony PR plot we have to hope that this game actually does exist and is as good as the BBC man says. Since then we have seen TGS come and go and still no news about this title.

The Facts:

• None

The Rumours:

• Too many to note

Duke Nukem Forever (and then a bit more).

We have seen so many shooters come and go in the last 10 years, some have been poor and some have been awesome. But no matter how poor or awesome they may have been they all shared one common flaw; namely that the character you take charge of has all the personality of a toilet seat. Some have tried to change this with cut scenes and the like but it never works. The reason that it never works is because cut scenes remove the gamer from the character, no longer are you “inside” the character, instead you are removed into a 3^rd person view, no longer are you in-game, now you’re watching a movie.

This is where the Duke steps up and shows everybody how 10 years ago he managed to get it right. Duke would give you classic one liners during actual gameplay, and Duke was funny. Ask any gamer about Duke Nukem 3D and I’ll bet they can give you at least 5 great lines. So we’ve all been waiting for the next Duke to arrive, and waiting and waiting. It’s been 12 years since Duke 3D and talk of a new game has been constant throughout, but that’s all it’s been, talk.

We have seen a little teaser released a few months back but even by teaser standards it was a bit thin. The official word on a release date is simply that “it will be ready when it’s ready” a great philosophy I agree but after 10 years in development you have to start wondering if this isn’t just some decade long inside joke.

What I do know is when/if the Duke makes an appearance the sales will be strong. That should be enough incentive for them to get this thing out.

The Facts:

• It’s been 10 years in development
• They have at least something, even if it’s a crappy teaser from 2007
• They have some cool screen shots
• Duke will be cool and funny when he get’s here

The Rumours:

• There’s a release date, ANY release date
• It’s all just a sick joke

So what do we, the buying public have to say about all this?

For me, i don’t mind if a game takes a long time to develop (okay 10 years is pushing it), but at least tell us how it’s going every now and then. Otherwise don’t tell us about it at all and just surprise us one day. What are your thoughts?

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