Sony Santa Monica and Sony Worldwide Studios assisting Team Ico in crafting the long-in-development action game.
The Last Guardian needs help, and it's getting it from God of War developer Sony Santa Monica, as well as Sony Worldwide Studios.
Speaking to Wired, Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida confirmed that Team Ico has enlisted outside studios to help develop the PlayStation 3-exclusive action game.
"It's not just Santa Monica," he said. "We have great tech people in Worldwide Studios. We have a central tech group in the US and the UK so we are giving them whatever help they need. Technically, we have the best engineers in the US and Europe, so these teams are helping them, giving advice."
Earlier this month, Yoshida provided a status update on The Last Guardian, saying development on the title has been "tough," but the vision for the game has not changed, and the title is making "slow progress."
Formally announced at the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo, The Last Guardian tells a boy-and-his-dog tale, where the dog is a giant and feathered, yet seemingly amiable, beast. Team Ico has not been forthcoming with specific plot details, but gameplay will involve the boy manipulating his companion to navigate a variety of environmental puzzles.
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
i fear for this game, not that it won't come out but that when it those that all the hype and anticipation for soo long that it will be impossible to reach the expectations of the gamers.... remember GT5...this dosen't speak well for team ico and sony japan.
I hope it ends up being released like the way we saw it a year ago. I respect the team that made God of War, but please just work on the mechanics/gameplay and not the story or anything.
@slayerSS-3 yeah I saw the remastered versions at Walmart. Really thinking about picking those up. Thanks.
@davetbeau play ico or shadow of the colossus and you will get a notion about how the game will be
I'm trying to understand this game. I don't know what it is. I want it because it looks different.
Ohhhhhhh frickin SWEET. Have that haters.. put that in your mouth, chew it, swallow it, then crap it out. Brilliant news :D
So that's why Santa Monica has been so quiet. Guess we won't be seeing a new GoW until this project is done.
Glad they're finally getting some outside help. I think Team Ico bit off more than they could chew with this one. There's a huge difference between developing a masterpiece for the PS2, and one for the PS3. As long as the vision stays the same, I think this is a wise step to take.
@j_kizi Team ICO is not even half the size of those other studios. Things take longer with fewer people. Yoshida said he likes small intimate teams to keep everyone in touch.
apparently this game has been in production since 2006..... during that time all 3 uncharted games came out, 2 killzone games came out, all the resistance games came out, gears of war 2 and 3, assassin's creed series, the two batman games, demon's souls and dark souls, mass effect series, skyrim started production in 2008... out of these games the shortest one i think is killzone 2, about 8 hours to beat.... ico and sotc took about 5 and 7 hours to beat respectively so team ico doesnt have a reputation for making long games.... if this game comes out next year, it would have been in production for about 7 years.. in my opinion that is way too long for a game, granted im no developer but it doesnt take one to notice that all these other great titles that have high production values did not take that long... i personally think its a good thing that these other developers are going to help speed up the production and help them sort things out, cause we do not want another duke nukem or too human in our hands.....
Dear lord please don't let them have any influence on the final product. Shadow of the Colossus is one of my favorite games of all time, so I really hope The Last Guardian lives up to my expectations.
For better or worse, best PS3 news in a long time... But now they are probably better off making it a PS4 launch title.
I wonder what's going to come out 1st, FF versus 13, Half-Life 3, or Last Guardian. I'm FF versus 13 is going to be first.
I don't see why ppl are so excited about this game the last 2 games put out by team Ico were terrible so I'm not really anticipating this one. Ico and Shadow of the Colossus were the 2 most boring games I've ever played so I have a hard time believeing this will be any better especially with all the trouble it's going through. I don't even think Sony Santa Monica with all there experience with the awesome GOW3 can help this game
*****"Earlier this month, Yoshida provided a status update on The Last Guardian, saying development on the title has been "tough," but the vision for the game has not changed, and the title is making "slow progress."***** Take that KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS!!! As you GAVE UP on the vision of Metal Gear Rising for as TEAM ICO did not. This will be an epic game. Unlike Metal Gear Revengeance.
@deathstream: Well, this is not a case of DNF. Team ICO didn't close down with Sony Santa Monica picking it up. Playing devil's advocate, I'd bring up Skyrim, which they shipped on PS3 in an unfinished form. I'd rather wait than pay for a half finished product.
Sorry, Team Ico fans, but there is nothing at this point to indicate that this will be anything but vaporware or a horrid disappointment. Games with issues like this almost never turn out to be any good. They are going to spend just enough to make the game shippable, in the loosest sense of the term. Think about what Gearbox did with DNF. It wasn't a Gearbox game, they just provided the funds for a bunch of other studios to make it presentable and get it out the door so they could move on. Same deal here.
Atleast they can have the help of other Sony-owned studios, I mean think about, Sony has some freakin' awesome developers: Naughty Dog, Sucker Punch, the God of War devs, the Killzone Devs, etc. Atleast they got good help.
Yay, this is really great news! I want to thank Team Ico for coming out with original, high-quality games -- even if there are years between the games. It is way too often in this industry that we get sequels and clones of the most popular games. Sure, some of the sequels and clones are great -- but they are often so familiar in their play and objectives, that the brain is never stimulated much. There are plenty of games that merely test your reflexes and your timing, it's great to have games that can also test your practical thinking and observation abilities. So, thanks to Team Ico and all of their help.
I'm starting to think Square Enix should do the same for FF Versus. Games shouldn't be in development for over half a decade...
It should be released this fall. If not, by taking so many years, this game will be our next Duke Nukem Forever, not in the way that it will suck, but in the way that so much waiting is creating too many high expectations over the title, expectations that maybe no game could satisfy. It could be at this point right now, but I don't believe it is. Still, I do believe it's almost reaching this limit.
I think we're seeing more and more of this nowadays, especially with the size, and scope of a lot of these titles. I remember 2K had to get some of its other developers to help with Bioshock2. I'm just glad they got a great developer to help out, instead of asking a developer like Grin. lol
Sounds like lotsa bug problems being the cause of the hold up... Guess the dog/bird/wafflemonster isn't doing what they want it to. Hopefully the other teams will be able to solve the problems without changing too much. It'll be a shame if they lose too much money on this, would end up being the last game from a very creative team.
It worries me that this game has been in development for so many years and they're only just now getting help. But hopefully this means there is light at the end of the tunnel as I'd really like to get hold of this game.
I'm getting a Dark Souls vibe with this game, in the sense it could be the next piece of gaming art to take over my soul.
@yomigaeru. as long as last guardian and versus 13 actually get released I'll be insanely happy :| been way too long, worried they'll get too obsessed, nothing's ever going to be 'perfect'
They want to give us a best quality game at the end of this generation and remember this game like other great titles.So most of Sony Studios helping team ico to complete game as soon as possible.I think they will show god of war 4 and the last guardian trailer and gameplay in e3.
I'm with ya, sabresieben. The question is which will arrive first: Versus XIII or Last Guardian?
i just wondered, how complex the game is it until they asking some help from another studio. It must be great :D
Why do I always end up following these kinds of games. Last Guardian, Metal Gear Rising, FF Versus XIII. Good grief.
im sure the god of war developers will respect what team ico is trying to do and will listen and do what needs to be done for this game to become great.
if I recall the PS3 world wide studios R&D group is attached to santa monica so thats probably why
Sony Santa Monica confirms it is not assisting Team Ico in developing long-awaited adventure game.
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