The Grand Adventure: Sample Column
Jun 14th
Removing the ‘artificial’ from A.I. – giving Yorda personality actions, an awareness pattern and interest values
The Grand Adventure (Out this week!) Redmond Busuttil Sample Column (PDF version)
There are two terms which describe Yorda as a character in a game like ICO:
N.P.C., Non-playable character - A character which the player does not directly control but can sometimes influence through direct, or indirect actions
A.I., Artificial intelligence - Programming routines intended to give a character a semblance of intelligence and to obey all rules imposed in the game
Since she’s only an A.I.-controlled N.P.C., naysayers may argue that Yorda is nought but a bunch of pixels More >
DIME Magazine: Fumito Ueda at the forefront of the entertainment industry
Mar 9th
Japanese trend magazine DIME has included Fumito Ueda among the creators at the forefront of the Japanese entertainment industry. The magazine described him as one of the only game designers today whose games have earned the right to be treated as works of art.
“If I can finish The Last Guardian even one day earlier than planned, it will be the reward for all my hard work.” – Fumito Ueda
Post now open to comments!
With GDC around the corner, are we getting news?
Mar 3rd
This year’s GDC will begin in a few short days – on the 9th March – and I was wondering if we’ll get some news about The Last Guardian. I know I said I’m not hoping for anything new, at least not until God of War 3 is released in a couple of weeks, but GDC and Team ICO have always had an interesting relationship. Last year, for example, Fumito Ueda was part of a panel and while he didn’t reveal anything about the then still unannounced game, he let slip a few details. So let’s see what happened at last year’s GDC:
“Let’s More >
Team ICO Spotlight: Kazuhiro Numata
Mar 2nd
TEAM ICO SPOTLIGHT: Kazuhiro Numata
Kazuhiro Numata is 43 years old and joined Team ICO in 1997. He worked on ICO as an artist and helped with background modelling. The windmill, chandelier, the idol gates, Yorda’s cage, the elevator and the light sword players receive as a reward for completing the game once (and then finding the secret room) are all things he did. He also worked on effects and gimmick animations including the crumbling castle, suspension bridge, the waves, the waterway and the Queen’s Sword’s lighting.
Numata-san loves the fact ICO does away with all on-screen furniture and the lack of music throughout the More >
Team ICO Spotlight: Tsutomu Kouno
Mar 2nd
TEAM ICO SPOTLIGHT: Tsutomu Kouno
Tsutomu Kouno is now 38 years old and joined Team ICO in 1998. He worked on ICO as a planner (designer) and was Fumito Ueda’s assistant. He helped with map planning and management, 3D modelling, camera adjustments and facility management.
Kouno-san ‘graduated’ from Team ICO in 2001 and proceeded to create the Locoroco series first on PSP and later on PS3. He still works on the same floor as Team ICO though and from time to time he goes nosing around seeing what they’re doing.
He did not work on Shadow of the Colossus and is not part of The Last Guardian’s More >
Team ICO Spotlight: Chika Fukui
Feb 28th
TEAM ICO SPOTLIGHT: Chika Fukui
Chika Fukui joined Team ICO in 1999 when she was only nineteen years old, making her the youngest person who worked on ICO. She was the artist Fumito Ueda asked to fine-tune the models for the female characters in the game, i.e. Yorda and the Queen. She also worked on the smokemen’s, priest’s, soldiers’ and horses’ models. She really did quite a number of things.
Fukui-san did not work on Shadow of the Colossus and is not part of team making The Last Guardian.
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The Grand Adventure Competition
Feb 28th
The Grand Adventure Competition
The first 1000 readers to buy the book will have the chance to win one of a dozen Team ICO-related collectables. The grand prize is a limited edition Japanese Shadow of the Colossus White Box and a limited edition bag. Only a thousand of these were made by Sony at the end of 2005!
The other ten prizes up for grabs are:
- A Shadow of the Colossus limited edition Wander and Agro shirt - A Shadow of the Colossus leather-bound notebook - An ICO/Shadow of the Colossus double-sided poster - A Shadowofthecolossus.com promotional shirt - Three Shadow of the More >
Welcome to the ICO Blog!
Feb 9th
Welcome to the ICO Blog, the new companion blog to the main site. Here I’ll be posting various articles about different subjects related to Team ICO and their games.
Read as much as you like, leave your comments and generally enjoy yourself!
Shadow of the Colossus awarded at CEDEC 2009
Sep 3rd
After last year’s CEDEC (CESA Developers Conference), where ICO was lauded with the Special Award for Visual Arts, it was now time for Shadow of the Colossus to have the spotlight.
Fumito Ueda, Junichi Hosono and Hajime Sugiyama accepted, on behalf of the entire Shadow of the Colossus team, the much sought after Programming Award. All three went on stage to receive the honours but it was Sugiyama-san who gave the acceptance speech:
“When we actually played the game we discovered there was a problem with the organic collision deformation pattern. The director, together with the planners worked hard with everyone else to follow up this problem More >
Miyuki Miyabe’s ICO The Castle of Mist reprinted
Jun 6th
Japanese publisher, Kodansha, has today announced the second edition of Miyuki Miyabe’s popular game-based novel, ICO The Castle of Mist. This new edition will receive not only an new cover made by art house NEONVISION, but also an insert illustration created by the same artist. The reprint will go on sale as of 19 June 2008.
First screenshot for Fumito Ueda’s new PS3 game
Jan 24th
Sony Computer Entertainment Japan’s job section was today updated with a new page for Fumito Ueda’s new PlayStation 3 game.
The positions open are for planners, animators, artists and effect designers. Interested parties are being asked to send in their application online, together with material relevant to the position being applied for by post. Planners need to provide an original game concept and their opinion on video games created in the last five years. For the other positions, applicants should send in a video demo reel of any project they worked on in the past.
In conjunction with these positions, there are also More >