Department store chain offering preorders for budget-priced Shadow of the Colossus and Ico combo pack with April 2011 release date attached.
With the God of War Collection and the Sly Cooper Collection, Sony has established a line of PlayStation 3 compilations of older games given a new HD sheen and outfitted with modern amenities like trophies and, in the case of Sly, stereoscopic 3D support. Signs are increasingly pointing to a Team Ico collection as the next installment in that line, as Wal-Mart has begun accepting preorders for just such a title on its Web site.
This is the second major retailer to offer such a product for sale. In July, the French site of Amazon listed a "Team Ico Collection" with an expected June 2011 release date and a price tag of €70 ($90). The Wal-Mart listing offers better news for eager fans of the developer, with the game expected to arrive earlier (April 2011), and substantially cheaper ($40).
This week's Tokyo Game Show could be a big one for Team Ico fans. Whether or not an official announcement of this collection is imminent, the developer's next title, The Last Guardian, is expected to be on display in some form. Last month, Team Ico head Fumito Ueda said the studio was hoping to show "something" regarding its next project at the open-to-the-public convention.
Released in September of 2001, Ico cast players as a horned youth who had to escort a princess safely from her prison. His task was complicated both by the princess's comparatively limited agility and by the fact that the two protagonists didn't speak the same language.
Four years later, Team Ico's Shadow of the Colossus followed a young warrior who had brought his fallen love to a faraway temple in the hopes of restoring her to health. According to a mysterious presence that dwelled within the temple's walls, the only way to save this girl was to hunt down and destroy the 16 massive beasts that roamed the surrounding lands.
For more on the PlayStation 2 originals, check out GameSpot's reviews of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. For more on Team Ico's upcoming PS3 debut, check out GameSpot's previous coverage of The Last Guardian.
Brendan Sinclair has been a games journalist since 1999. His tastes are eclectic, though he has a definite affinity for games with arcade roots. He's Canadian, but has also been at home in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, and San Francisco.
Each time I see a video of SotC and Ico, I want to buy them and play them again. I've done it twice now for PS2 (long story) but now I have a PS3 when these HD remakes come out and I buy them it will be FOR KEEPS! Quite possibly the most beautiful, sublime and affecting games ever made.
I have played ICO and loved it , with HD treatment yeah :) beating shodows with the stick :) yeah good old times
This and the GOW hd bundle are making the ps3 really enticing right about now. Since I've mainly owned xbox systems I've been meaning to play those games since I missed out on them before. This could be my last chance to get them. I'm especially psyched about ICO and SOTC.
i loved SotC, it was a brilliant departure from the typical game types on the time, and in my opinion it hasnt been succesfully copied or betterd since alot of people who dont have 2 brain cells to rub together may not have liked it as it done away with the usual little minions that pop up every few feet to just prolong the game experience, it as far as i can remember didnt even have any dialog, not because not haveing characters speak makes a game "artsy" but because theres no need for them to talk, most of the game is just one bloke and his horse, and if he was talking to himself every 20 or so seconds ud wanna shoot him by the end of the 3rd or 4th colosi and the colosi in themselfs are stunningly made, like verticle levels made of fur, hair, stone and glowy stabby bits brillaint game, and packaged with Ico, a defo must have for any gamer with a brain and who can appreciate a tale of one man, his horse and a whole bunch of walking bad ass's
Although ICO and SotC are regulalry trotted out for the tedious "videogames are an art form" tag by dolts who think that Star Wars is somehow equivalent to the Sistine Chapel, these games are fantastic and desrve to be played by more people. If this does that, then good.
@BigJ300 Greatest hits titles are based on global sales...in the US it tanked. There's a lot of weird Japanese games that become greatest hits, especially Sony published titles. Ask you're typical gamer if they've ever played Ico and you'll get mostly no's... then ask them if they've played Metal Gear. It's analogous to movies, where the critics thought "Hurt Locker" was one of the best movies of 2009, yet it didn't connect with audiences and hardly anyone watched it.
what about an Onimusha Collection, MGS collection, FFX-XII collection, i'l give each 100 and still call that profit
SOTC will live on forever...such a sick game so glad i borrowed my buddies PS2 to play it i wont ever forget that game
i just hope they do a decent job with the porting, the GoW collection had freezing issues.
@ ridah_2pac ...it's a greatest hits title, meaning it sold a large volume of copies. how is that not connecting with the audience?
@KaBo0m OH MY GOD THANK YOU. Finally someone isn't blinded by this craptastic rip off that is Shadow of The Colossus. Ico is another complete waste of time. I feel that team Ico hasn't done anything amazing at all so will I be looking forward to seeing what there showing at TGS not really I'm just glad to see I not the only one
SOTC was a awesome game! It goes to show look at all the comments , most people have good memories of this one. Hope they are working on a new one aswell . No stupid coins to collect , or pointless hacking through hordes of pointless minions .
Never played either but I did think about getting them, when this comes out I might just have to :] I like how they are rereleasing older games in a collection like this.
Does any one remeber the epic soundtracks when you fight the colossus and about to beat them i swear i was very happy and felt like i did something great each time i defeat one and when i hear the soundtrack really epic game.
I feel sorry for you kaboom this is the first game you only fight bosses its like boss rush but not castlevania style and the enviroments are beatiful and you could explore the world not just fight the colossus which is really epic, and even the horse physiscs are better than assassins creed 2 btw. and how did the game manage to trick millions are you saying youre smart and were dumb i think its the oppesite i cant wait to get my hands on the collection.:D.
Tbh ICO and shadow of the collosus were brilliant games but most people nowadays probably wouldnt enjoy the pace of something like shadow of the collosus even though it was ******* epic. Still i may invest since i got rid of ico and the collosus' (collosi? idk) in hd would look pretty awesome.
I ve prayed this series would rear its beautiful head again on the ps3... absolutely wrapped its going to see a HD brush up to boot. With an obvious respect for unique and innovated games like braid, its good to see the best returned for those who missed it first time around. Good to see real art in games being supported by gamers. I am pre ordering this one for sure
Seeing SotC running in HD at a 60 fps will fix the little blemishes that made of this game a short-from-perfect experience. I can't wait, I own both Team Ico games and I would gladly buy this to show them my support. @KaBo0m - You are on your right not to like the game, but stop trying to convinced other that somehow they should not like the game as well because you didn't.
KaBo0m Totally agree with you KaBo0m, glad to see others can see past the critic's hype. If you look at game sales (not that it's always a judge of game quality), clearly the game didn't connect with your average gamer. So critics and commentators here are a vocal minority...the games are overrated, for real!
@Black_Adder_ this game has many elements that made it unique. there was some slow downs but the game was a piece of ART. beside i wonder how far into it did u get.
anythin team ico throws at me, im sold... so if you like team ico like i do, click the thumbs up icon NOW
I played a little of Ico & never played Shadow of the Colossus. A Team Ico collection would be awesome for people who missed them on the PS3.
@Kabo0m It doesn't "pretend" to be an action-adventure game, it is an action-adventure game. You should realize that not every game in the genre is going to follow in the same footsteps. Some action-adventure games are known to be light on action, while having more emphasis on exploration and puzzle elements, namely, SotC, Ico, and Shenmue . Furthermore, SotC is only tedious if you have no idea how to play it. I mean, if you're playing it on the default difficulty, you shouldn't have too much trouble staying on the colossi. Also, there's a good reason why the world's so empty; it's a forsaken place. The developers wanted you to feel ALONE, and left faced with a perilous task. I don't exactly know what you're on about, but SotC has an incredible atmosphere and innovative gameplay. If you can't appreciate that in the slightest sense, you're probably a bit naive.
Kabo0m, chillax. No one's being "fooled". In case you haven't realized it yet, people love the game. Still, if there are people who didn't enjoy the game, that doesn't justify shredding their opinions; everyone cannot be pleased with the same thing, after all. I thought Shadow of the Colossus was epic for it's simplicity and the wanderer's unwavering determination and love to undo what fate did, despite sixteen behemoths. Oh yeah, the enviroment was cool, too.
I definitely felt guilty downing each colossi. Kind of a genocide-of-extremely-rare-and-beautiful-giant-creatures-type-simulator of a game. If the art style and nature of the game wasn't so hypnotic maybe more gamers would've been crying guiltily into their controllers as the felled each creature.
2 of my favourite games ever. I hope they really sort out the SOTC frame rate, I loved the game but PS2 couldn't run it smoothly.
People get all excited about these collections but they cost just as much as buying the games themselves. however, i slightly understand liking this collection more than others because ICO is so rare.
@ Kabo0m Wow. So you're saying that SOTC managed to fool pretty much every gamer who bought it and all major reviewers into thinking it was artsy? Maybe everyone thought it was "artsy" and "epic" because, oh...i don't know...IT WAS. The empty, barren world creates an atmosphere of isolation and desperation, two MAJOR themes of the game. It meshed beautifully with the utter hopelessness felt whenever you faced the next colossus, which made each victory even more satisfying and, dare I say it, epic. The entire point of the game was to take a minimalist approach when it came to combat and exploration in order to focus on the Colossi and the sheer sense of awesomeness that overwhelmed you whenever you defeated one. Complaining about that is like complaining about call of duty because it has guns in it. And why does everyone call it artsy? I could go technical and talk all about the beautiful lighting and graphics (when it was released), but I'll focus on the cathartic impact of the game. Here you have a hero, doing what he believes is right to save the one he loves, but he is basically committing murder, being possessed a little more each victory by evil. This raises moral questions and makes one question human nature in general, so basically, this game made you THINK, which, when combined with the beauty and the powerful atmosphere of the game, created a truly unique artistic experience. Yes, artistic. Art makes you think. This game made you think. See that logic right thur?
I wonder if they will make the trophies really easy to get like in the God of War collections?
@ ridah_2pac Sounds like u just totally described the Call of Duty and Halo series single player
@ KaBo0m You know, you CAN run everywhere if u want, u dont have to use the horse if thats upsetting u
This will be one awesome collection, I'll buy it along with the Sly collection.:D Now, can Atlus release a Shin Megami Tensei collection?:) Thank about it. Nocturne, Devil Summoner 1 & 2, Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2, and Persona 3 & 4 or better yet, add in the first western version of the original Persona 2 along with Eternal Punishment, all with HD and trophies. I would buy it for $100 even, and it STILL would be cheaper and easier to find then their originals. If you think this is a AWESOME idea, give this comment a thumbs up.:)
Never got to play Ico and only had a breif session with Shadow of the Collosus, but this is a deffinate buy for me.
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