[UPDATE] Sony reclaims trademark for Team Ico's long-in-development PlayStation 3 game; game still in the works.
[UPDATE:] Sony has reclaimed the trademark for The Last Guardian as of August 9, and the company has issued statements that the game is still under development. The original story continues below.
Sony has abandoned its trademark for The Last Guardian more than three years after it first applied for the rights to the name. The company let go of the trademark on August 6 (via PlayStationLifeStyle), and as of press time, Sony had not responded to GameSpot's request for comment.
In June, Sony senior vice president of product development Scott Rohde offered an update on The Last Guardian, saying it will ship "when it is absolutely ready." He also said Sony has no deadline whatsoever for the game.
"It would be very easy to ship a game when it's not quite ready because we need to meet a business plan," Rohde said at the time. "Gamers are first. And the experience that we provide is first. And that's why we're going to talk about that game when we're ready to talk about it."
While the trademark for The Last Guardian has been abandoned, that doesn't necessarily mean the game is canceled. Earlier this year, Ubisoft abandoned its trademark for Brothers in Arms: Furious 4, a World War II-set shooter in development at Gearbox Software. A Gearbox representative confirmed that Ubisoft had dropped the trademark to avoid administrative confusion, and it was later revealed that the game would be delayed out of 2012.
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 working with 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.
this news is not good for the game developer, so far we (consumers and gamers) have heard absolutely nothing regarding its development progress for the past two years, it's taking way too long. And even if Sony stayed its course and decided to publish this game anyway, many things about this game will already be outdated by the time it's out.
Its ashame Sony has dropped its trademark, the game looks stunning and if it takes longer to get it right before release than surely it will be worth waiting for.
@Razer361 They are undoubtedly worth getting, but I am totally with Indiana, they are not games made for everybody/anybody. Therefore, renting the games (my library has them for lend) may be the better option, or wait until you can find the game on sale for 20 dollars. 20 dollars is nothing to have this in the collection. My friend never played Ico, and he finished it in the weekend (two weekends ago) and he said the game was fantastic and totally worth it. They are games, that with given patience, really stays with you. But they are very non commercial games, so no rainbows or over-buffered with steroids heroes.
1 Like @Razer361 Those games are fucking BRILLIANT. If you believe that video games can have a soul, then play through those games. The last time I played them, I felt like how one feels after a good, long conversation with a close friend you haven't seen for a while.
@Razer361 Yes. Both games have a different approach than the standard action games. they are nostalgic, lonely, visually wonderfull and amazing. it don't go swords (or guns) blazing. they are subtle. some people may find it boring for today standards (they were originally released on the ps2, long ago). But, for now, i think it will be better if you rented before you buy it, since the industry is so keep-the-action-coming.
This is going to end up either being one of the greatest gaming experiences or one of the biggest disappointments ever by the time it ships. I'm still keeping the faith, but you can't help but wonder how much all the protracted 'getting it to work right' time could hurt it. If they're really struggling that much it might still turn out to have been kinder to let it die than push it out the door broken. Only time will tell.
Vaporware. And it doesn't please me to feel that way. I don't play these team ICO games, they don't interest me. I do however, watch "Let's Plays" of someone else doing it, and I was reaaaaally looking forward to watching this one. I had a feeling it was going to be a hell of a tear-jerker. But we're already talking "next-gen" console-wise and they're still not ready to even offer a release date on this thing. Unless they're intending to release it on the next gen (granted, that is actually a possibility) people should probably just move on.
@gowofwarKratos And when I get my hands on this! I will quarantine my self on my bedrom! (Mum please put the food below the door!)
It's not cancelled, it never will be, and I'll be able to play it one day and love it to death!*flings himself on the floor and rolls around throwing a tantrum*
4 Like People I would like to let you know the truth behind all this technical problems that are causing the staff running away from the project like rats from from the sewers! Team ICO is not a big team! They actually work with a few members! Fumito Ueda The Master Mind Behind the game is actually The Team Ico ALONE! This great genios and visionary man want the game to be how he want to be !and indeed for that task to be accomplished according to his mind is pushing the boundaries of the noob devs! So parts af the game are being redone constantly to meet Fumito Ueda vision! Shadow of The Colossus were not much different! More than 15 programmers created different types of movement for the Colossi to gain life! Only a single one meet Ueda Vision! He creates a Fantasy World but He Likes everything in the game to meet real physics and life like movements! But in the actual scale of the game and the team being halved it is actually making the game hard to hell to bee finished once and for all! I missed the old days! Games being developed under the most hard work of a team! In a example rareware developing Donkey Kong country for the SNES! These kind of programmers do not exist anymore! Only Few of them are still at work and they are spreaded ! There is no more of those GOLD TEAMS that created incredible master pieces that make ours jaws to drop! I congratulate eternally! Fumito Ueda,Shigeru Myamoto, Hideo Kojima,Shinji Mikami and few others for their great master pieces! It has been quite a while since a game made me impressed! Well That is actually I stell keep my old videogames! Nothing better than a retro gaming to make you forget this new era of gaming.
the average production time for one game has gone up so much these days :( not to say annual releases are that great but eventually you just lose all hype for it with these ones.
These are dark days for the video game industry... makes one really hate video game executives.
2 Like What does it matter how long it takes to release? If they had never said anything about it in the first place we would be none the wiser. If time and funding are available, my vote goes to letting the developers work on it until satisfied.
1 Like I still look forward to this game. Just watching the previews, I can sense that it's going to be different. PLEASE DON'T LOSE HOPE IN THIS GAME!
I've lost interest in the game. taking way to long. When your a sniper, you take the shot or you loose it. They Lost me a long time ago...
i am truly afraid for this game now that when it gets released it will be so heavily critised because of the length of time it will take, GT5 was good but not worth the long delays the devs took to released it
4 Like @edgewalker16 Forgive me, but making a game about a giant dog-bird with art style that is almost identical in character to Shadow and Ico combined with gameplay that doesn't look to be any more involving or different than the previous games were is not a "new IP." At least not in the sense everyone uses the term. In fact, NOTHING is a "new IP" in that sense anymore.
There's hardly any "innovative ideas" in the industry that don't borrow heavily from other sources. Not even a masterpiece like Braid is doing much of anything we haven't seen before. Perhaps there are a couple minute twists to the setup that aren't DIRECT duplicates of other ideas in the industry, but the core of the game--even the time powers--are tried and true territory. We just THINK they're innovative because we have so much fun playing it.
But even if we were to eliminate sequels from the industry--make it completely illegal to release anymore Halos, Marios, Sonics, or Uncharteds--the problems we perceive would not go away. The only thing that would happen is we'd start getting the same ideas provided in the prior franchises under a different label. You can create a new IP called "The Killer Lizard and his Pet Panda" but if it plays exactly like Ratchet and Clank, you're going to be criticized for imitating Ratchet and Clank, even if you're the CREATOR of Ratchet and Clank. Release another Ratchet and Clank and you're accused of being lazy for retreading the same franchise. The developer can't win in those circumstances.
The whole idea that the industry doesn't release new IPs because it's lazy and won't take risks is like accusing Magellan of not discovering the 8th continent of the world because he just wasn't looking hard enough. The imagination--like reality--has limits. When you've explored the entire world, there's nothing left to FIND. All you can do is try the same ideas and try to add some new seasoning. But adding salt to a steak doesn't stop it from tasting like steak unless you dump the whole shaker on it, and that's a recipe for RUINING steak, not creating something new.
I don't think most gamers have any interest in considering this obvious problem. Much easier to blame corporations than to open their eyes and realize the land has all been sowed and reaped. When The Last Guardian releases, I'm sure it'll be great, but it won't be an original IP. It'll be Shadow or Ico with a new twist. That's what I think anyway.
Of course there is no such thing as a completely "new" concept or idea.
The "uniqueness" of a game comes from how familiar concepts are handled or combine with others to make something that ultimately feels fresh and innovative.
But in a rudimentary level, no idea is ever truly unique. No man is an island.
@cachinscythe You're telling me that corporations and their profit-first model AREN'T, at least partially, to blame? And don't use the excuse that a corporation has only one model--the one for profit. If companies didn't want to rush projects at the quality-assurance stage (Diablo 3) or make an unnecessary sequel in the same genre (Black Ops 2) then you wouldn't have a stale market. You keep the fresh, seldom used ideas creeping up every now and then so that gamers and the INDUSTRY get a reprieve from all the trash on the shelves.
You can say Tim Schafer borrowed all his ideas from past platformers, but Psychonauts is still perceived as mind-blowingly original. It's whatever the gamer wants to think. Perhaps there are very few new ideas out there, but that doesn't mean that they've all been done well. You can compare Uncharted to Tomb Raider, but the quality of game play in some Tomb Raider games (not taking graphics into account) is just...BAD compared to Uncharted. People will always perceive something as "new" if it has a borrowed element that works so much better than its predecessors.
I can apply your conclusion to architecture (something I'm legitimately well-versed in). People always say, "there is no NEW architecture, only borrowed ideas from past architects." They're wrong. NEW, in the meaning of the word, implies having some kind of change so as to make it different from the original. All buildings are different and you can apply that to video games. The real problem is that the industry is becoming so bogged down with games that look and play EXACTLY the same that gamers can no longer tell the difference. The Last Guardian, while having a similar art style and setting to SotC and Ico, is still very different. In other words, it's NEW.
@edgewalker16 Your comparison of architecture to games may be fair, but you've actually revealed the whole problem with your argument. You're saying that because all buildings are different, they are therefore new, even if they borrow elements from other places. But then you say that many games play exactly the same way others did. Really? Try comparing the level design of Black Ops to Black Ops 2 when it releases. By the logic you've just presented, they have to be IDENTICAL for us to say they play exactly the same. And that's just one part of the experience. The art design also has to be identical. There can be NO differences. If there are any, then it's a NEW and DIFFERENT experience. If you're going to argue that all architecture is distinct by nature of simply not being the same building--even if it borrows all its ideas from somewhere else--then you can't argue that games with different titles and level designs and art styles are identical at the same time.
What I think you mean is that the games FEEL like they play the same way, but it isn't solely because of the developer's effort that you FEEL a certain way. In some cases its not even the developer's responsibility. I can feel like the world is out to get me. That doesn't mean it is. I can feel like my wife is cheating on me. That doesn't mean she is. I can feel as though life is going perfectly today. That doesn't mean my life is actually perfect. And we as consumers can play a game that feels like nothing else on the market, but that doesn't mean it's any different at all. All it means is that your dopamine receptors have decided to function a certain way. That COULD be because of the game, or it could be because your fiancee just agreed to marry you. Our FEELINGS during an experience are not directly related to the experience itself. Indirectly perhaps, but not directly.
Let's get something clear. I'm not saying that the alleged "profit-first" models have no blame in this supposed epidemic of "staleness." Of course they do. But the attitude of many gamers--though happily that number is beginning to shrink--is that it is COMPLETELY to blame, and that's total BS. Provide me with irrefutable proof that original ideas are being squashed by the corporations. Provide me with irrefutable proof that they continue to publish sequels merely because they want money, and not because it's stuff that consumers actually want and there's nothing else worthwhile that people have come up with. Does it ever occur to people that if all that ever got published were "unique ideas" that it would inherently negate them actually BEING unique? Or that we'd get tired of uniqueness and want familiarity instead? Uniqueness isn't rare because the majority don't care about trying to do something different; it's rare because the ideas themselves are almost impossible to come by. THAT'S WHAT MAKES THEM UNIQUE.
One last thing: Psychonauts IS a standard platformer. The setting might be different, but the mechanics are the same. And try asking some people--like Darknessthecurse on YouTube--if Uncharted is actually better than Tomb Raider. He'll tell you that's nuts. Underworld's engine allows you to do a LOT more than Uncharted's engine does. To even begin to call Uncharted "NEW" makes me laugh. It's certainly a good experience, but I think it takes quite an imagination to stretch it into the realm of "NEW." Unless we're using your example from architecture as a template. Perception, as I already said, does not equal reality.
@cachinscythe I'm man enough to admit when I've been beaten in a debate. You win, sir. +1
@cachinscythe What you are describing is really general as if it applies to all sequels and new IP. It's not known if the land has been sowed and reaped for the Last Guardian. Multiple factors could make it a great game (sound, story, huge moments, lighting, atmosphere). Until the gamer has experienced it themselves, opinions of the game are moot as of now.
There wouldn't be anything wrong with having a new twist either. Games like Dark Souls, Super Mario Galaxy, Resident Evil, have individual styles that make them stand out and become enjoyable sequels. If The Last Guardian wasn't anything like Shadow or Ico, would you still buy it?
@00LiteYear You're right. Given that it hasn't released yet, I could be wrong. I apologize for that. And I want to reemphasize that even if it IS the same old stuff, it's probably going to be fun, and I'm definitely going to buy it. I never meant to suggest that because everything has already been done, it means everything is BAD. My stance is actually the opposite: that people need to stop looking for ways in which everything is the same in the industry and actually look for the fun in things. That's what I've been doing for years and it's almost always paid off for me.
And you're also right that there's nothing wrong with having a new twist. What I take issue with is players who see that twist and think it completely changes the whole experience. Maybe it FEELS like it does, but mechanically it's not that different. Remove the spherical planetoids from Super Mario Galaxy and it's just a clone of Super Mario 64. It's a great game, no argument there, but it's still the same thing we've played before. There's nothing wrong with FEELING like it changes the whole experience, but there are plenty of developers who add twists like those to their games and find those twists getting dismissed as "gimmicks" or "unnecessary." It's like players want to pretend there is some completely distinct mechanical difference between twists that make things feel different and twists that just feel arbitrary and stupid. I maintain that there isn't any difference except in the mind of the player.
Why is this significant? I'll show you. Take Super Meat Boy, a clear example of a game that many people love for being unique and different, and one that the creators allegedly designed with that intention. The creators have themselves been very vocal about how fed up with the industry they are. But I've played the entire first world of Super Meat Boy and all I see is a game I've played countless times before with slippery controls and a different art style. A long while ago I made this exact point on a comment page about the game and got a lot of thumbs down for it. When I asked someone to explain what made the game so unique, the answers amounted to, "It's like nothing I've ever played before." When I asked for further clarification, pointing out that the wall-jumping and platforming are mechanically the same stuff that's been done for years, the response amounted to, "Yeah, but that stuff has never been done the way it was in Super Meat Boy!" That's it. No explanation about what makes the game mechanically different from anything else. The reason this is a problem is because for gamers to complain endlessly about a lack of originality in the industry, then praise a game with mechanics very similar, call it unique and original, and then NOT EVEN EXPLAIN HOW, effectively eliminates anything useful a future developer can get from the praise. It's like a chef asking a customer what they liked about the meal s/he just prepared and having the customer respond, "It was delicious!"
While I'm not going to say I wasn't being, as you said, general with my statement, the reality for me is that I can see the same elements in places where others can't seem to. I take a look at the "wildly original" Okami and I see a Zelda clone with DS functionality thrown over the top. I take a look at Mirror's Edge and see a platformer mixed with a first person shooter. I look at Viewtiful Joe and I see PoP's time powers mixed with a beat-em-up. This stuff may FEEL unique and be well made--I enjoy all those games--but it ISN'T unique from a mechanical standpoint. That's my stance anyway.
Further proof that sequels are more important than new IP's. No wonder the market is growing stale.
Kevin VanOrd travels to the city in the sky to bring you this video review for BioShock Infinite. (This video may contain spoilers. If you want to experience this game yourself, please come back later.)
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