...it probably wouldn't have been that good. One of the other entries from The Independent Gaming Source's Demakes contest is this Shadow of the Colossus throwback. One can make the argument that graphics don't matter, but unless you're moved emotionally by parallax scrolling, some of the "oomph" when Team ICO's game gets ported to the TRS-80 Model III. Like the Portal demake Super 3D Portals 6, this one's freely playable.

Hold me closer, Giant Dancer [TIGsource Forums]

I absolutely loved BioShock. I loved the world, the design, the lighting, the beautiful art direction and cinematography. I’m a fan of Silent Hill, Resident Evil and Devil May Cry. I love them all. The first Silent Hill was so beautiful, almost like a Lynch, Polanski or Romero type of horror experience...

I love the engine of GTA IV. I’m not a big fan of the actual game: I’m not into break-ins or running people over, but the engine is incredibly beautiful, and the sandbox is very complete. The same goes for Medal of Honor Airborne, Call of Duty 4 or Army of Two. There are only two games I consider masterpieces: Ico and Shadow of the Colossus... I have a 12-year-old daughter and we play together, but unfortunately she’s more into Sonic and Kirby.

Sure seems to know his shit!

Hellboy Director Talks Gaming [Edge via Dtoid] [Pic]

...Cheadle laughed and said he doesn't play video games. He and Sandler didn't rehearse their gaming scenes and other than taking the home briefly to let his kids play it, Cheadle didn't touch the controller.

"I brought it home to my daughter and she tried to play it. She could never get past the first Colossus. I tried to help her, but she was better than me."

Perhaps this is a case of a Hollywood actor wanting to sound cool to movie press about gaming geek out, or perhaps he didn't play the game at all. Thing is, those scenes where he and Sandler are playing, actually do look like they're playing — and gaming isn't something that you can easily fake. Maybe they can, maybe that's why they're actors!

What Don Cheadle told me [AZNightBuzz.com]

They are working on a title. I started the ICO project. Ueda-san joined my team in Japan as a cinematic animator, but he created a short movie and presented it to me and said, ‘I want to make this game.’ I said, ‘Yes, let’s do it, but you have never made a game. We have to have experienced people do it,’ so it took a while, recruiting one person at a time. And because Fumito Ueda doesn’t compromise, we had to move the development from PSone to PlayStation 2. Then I couldn’t complete the game because I moved to the United States. It took four years and the second game took four years too. So I started calling them the ‘Olympic Team.’ They haven’t released a PS3 title yet — of course not — they’ll take four years! But they have something really, really good on the way.

Then patient we will be!

They have something really, really good on the way [NeoGAF via VG247]

This is a piece of concept/fan art by user Sammy, over on ConceptArt.org (click for a bigger version). Don't you just love happy endings?
Sammy [ConceptArt]

Team Ico Career Page [Sony Japan via Team Ico Gamers]

The rumor seems to have originated from a PS3Forums posting titled "Game Informer to reveal the Team ICO game?" with a transcribed article, but no scans, photos or links.

Fortunately, Andy McNamara of Game Informer poked his head into the NeoGAF thread on the matter, casting even more serious doubt on the preview. According to GI's Editor-In-Chief "This is not in the next issue of Game Informer. The new GI has something new...but its from another much-loved developer."

Too carefully worded? What if it's in the Game Informer issue after that? McNamara tries to bring sanity to the Team ICO next-gen rumor circus. "Trust me...we'll try to get the next Team ico game....love those guys" he wrote in a follow up post, "But I wouldn't slam the door shut on the next issue yet."

Is Team ICO hard at work on a PS3 project? Most definitely. Is it The Last Canyon? Nah. This rumor is a colossal pile of heart-wrenching lies fabricated by a cruel, cruel man. We continue to wait.

Rumour: Are you ready to glide through "The Last Canyon?" [Team ICO Gamers]

Want to learn more about the movie and how Shadow of the Colossus landed the gig? Make sure you read the Kotaku feature on the matter.

That young whippersnapper isn't the first to get such a mark; I had this done in Edinburgh in the year of our Lord 2005, shortly after finishing the game. As far as I know, I was the first bold dumbass to go ahead and do it. I've also attached a photo of my Ico tattoo as well, because ... well how many other people are there with Ico tattoos, I ask you?

It's just as enjoyable as the translated Ueda piece , but might have less of an immediate impact, partially because we get to hear from Barlog and his peers fairly often, while it's a rare treat to have the opportunity to hear from the creator of two of the best PlayStation 2 games of all time. Regardless, it's a good read, only because Barlog's entry about his personal discovery of the beautiful intricacies of SotC's gameplay is so easy to relate to.

God of the Colossus [Don't Play Games With Me!]

Unfortunately, some of Ueda's comments are rather vague—his comments about the recycling of game assets and code, for example—possibly with some of the finer details lost in translation, but it's still a good read.

This—video game developers discussing their own work in the terms of their peers—is something I'd definitely like to see more of. You can read the translated interview with Ueda at God of War II director Cory Barlog's blog.

Ico of War! [Don't Play Games With Me!]

I've also got a few Virtual Console games collecting virtual dust, so some ActRaiser and attempts to take out Mr. Dream in Punch-Out!! will also dazzle my television. They may even bedazzle it!

Other than that, no real plans but to take it easy and get some work done. Any new purchases this week? And what are you playing this weekend? Michael McWhertor

...(H)e told me that Team ICO is actually developing two games at once with one being close to Ico and Shadow of the Colossus in terms of atmosphere and setting."

It's no secret that Team ICO have been working on a game for Playstation 3 that will probably stay close to the nature of their previous games, but a mystery project that some guy told another guy could kind of possibly be in the works?! I can't wait to find out. Kim Phu

Rumour: Team ICO is developing not one but TWO games [N4G]

The thing about how the D&AD Awards works in advertising is you have to pay a truckload of of money for every entry (your creative work) you submit, in hopes that you win a yellow pencil so that your work can then be bound in a $150 book called the D&AD annual that showcases that the "winners". Winning a yellow pencil is how everyone is advertising knows they're the nacho chip with the most cheese, and the annuals are always "a way to steal a good idea" (thanks expensive art school teacher for the tip - I know why you went so far in life!).

What will be interesting to see is how Playstation and Nintendo can actually pick up a D&AD Award for their innovative work they do without winning an award for the way their games are marketed. Kim Phu

Sony, Nintendo nominated for D&AD awards [Games Industry Biz]

By: Brian Ashcraft

Jeremy Roush let the game do the talking. Adam Sandler watched the plasma television as filmmaker Mike Binder looked on. They were demoing a video game for the Hollywood actor in hopes of convincing him to include it the upcoming Reign Over Me, co-starring Don Cheadle. In-game save posts were far from the action, and the graphics were last gen. If Sandler didn't bite, the game was out. "One of the hard things about showing Shadow of the Colossus is that if you are not a real game player, your first glimpse of it is that it's blocky," Roush, an avid Kotaku reader, tells me. "You don't see how much artistry that's behind it because it's not Pixar perfect." So he turned up the music, the aspect ratio narrowed, and Sandler saw the feet of a Colossus for the first time. The music started to crescendo, and Roush gripped the DualShock he brought from home as the game's hero Wander climbed the giant.

And promptly got tossed on his ass. "You can feel that tension, sitting there, trying to demo this in front of people," Roush recalls, laughing. "And you're climbing up this guy, and you get knocked off. It was really tough." Once again, the music began to crescendo, and this time he finally brought down the huge Colossus in a slow motion collapse. Adam Sandler was sold, asking Roush for the game's name and immediately calling up his staff to buy it. Next up, was convincing the developer to let them use it in the film. No problem, right? Reign Over Me was produced by Sony-owned Columbia Pictures, and Shadow of the Colossus was created by, well, Sony. But this PS2 game inclusion wasn't just clever product placement on Sony's part.

After Mike Binder finished early drafts of his scripts, he passes it along to people he trusts for feedback. Roush was in the director's inner circle — He had previously done a title scene for Upside of Anger and helped the filmmaker design and build his own Mac-based edit suite, which was used for Man About Town. Binder's latest script was called Reign Over Me, and Roush was slated to co-edit it along with Steve Edwards. It followed the story of Charlie, a New Yorker who lost his family during the 9/11 attacks. The character tries to avoid his problems and cover them up. Says Roush, "It had Charlie, Adam's character, playing a video game that was very much the typical fake game that you see in TV and film." The game was an arcade-type shooter with aliens. An avid gamer himself, the editor's first instinct was that Charlie should be playing an MMO. He could have a social life, but not have to interact with people. "That was in my first set of notes I didn't give to him," says Roush, "because that night it occurred to me that this was the same thing my own father was doing."

The Vietnam War left his father 100 percent mentally disabled with post-traumatic stress disorder. After getting treatment at a V.A. hospital for several years, his father was discharged. Unable to work, he spent the days and evenings watching sci-fi thriller Aliens over and over again until he actually had to buy a new VHS tape. "Aliens is a thinly veiled kind of Vietnam veteran kind of story," Roush explains, "and watching it is a way of thinking about it without telling yourself you are thinking about it." The movie was visceral therapy for his father. That's when it hit Roush. Refusing to accept the death of loved ones. Seeking out an escape from that truth. Giants falling in slow motion. "You could see where someone who was dealing with 9/11 would be engrossed by a giant that keeps collapsing over and over again," he says. Charlie's therapy was Shadow of the Colossus.

Roush took his slim-line PS2 and personal copy of Shadow of the Colossus to Binder's office. Binder's no gamer and coming from a different era. Childhood friends with Sam Raimi, Binder spent his free time deep in comic books — Perhaps explaining why Hollywood of late has had better success with comic books than with video games. According to Roush, it's merely a generation gap. "It's just how much exposure they've had to games as a kid," he says. But Binder was receptive — Not just to Roush's personal experiences with his father, but also his advice on including Shadow. As the game was demoed, the filmmaker saw how it worked thematically. And when Adam Sandler finally came on board, the script was changed so that it specifically mentioned the game's title and sent to Sony Computer Entertainment to get the game's lead designer, Fumito Ueda, to approve of Shadow's inclusion. Weeks later, his reply came through: Greenlight.

What if the Shadow of the Colossus was a Nintendo title? Or a Microsoft one? Sony connections or not, Roush says, "The job of people at Columbia is to make great film. And they've been given the freedom to do that." What's more, he adds, Sony had long moved onto the PS3, and Shadow is a PS2 game that just happened to directly parallel Reign Over Me. A timeline of all the Colossi was created. Roush recorded himself playing through the entire game, fighting each of the giants. From that footage, Binder then selected which Colossus he wanted on screen at particular moments. During the shoot, a mix of pre-recorded footage and live play was used, and Sony Computer Entertainment even sent a staffer to play up to each particular giant. Because of the game's save points, the crew had to wait until he arrived at the Colossus.

Stars Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle were Shadows experts by the time they arrived on set. In one scene, Sandler's character Charlie explains to Cheadle's character Alan how to play Shadow, giving a detailed description of the controls. "That scene wasn't in the script," says Roush. "If you needed to learn how to play the game, Adam could teach you." In order to capture the reality of the characters playing video games together, that's precisely what Sandler and Cheadle did: Played video games together. "Some of the moments where they failed, we used in the film," says Roush. "The failure, the frustration and the happiness are all a part of playing the game. It's hard to act in some ways."

Reign Over Me must be one of the first Hollywood films, if not the first, to deal with games thematically and intelligently. While other industry pundits try to figure out how to take the latest blockbuster game and turn it into a movie or vice versa, Reign Over Me already has an insightful leg up: Let the games speak for themselves. Characters bond through games and lose themselves in them, only to find themselves again. They enjoy the simple act of play. "We're starting to get people in Hollywood who have perspective of what the video game experience is like," says Roush, "what it can feel like. And all that gets integrated into Reign Over Me."

That's it, all the information we've got on the subject. There's no when, what, how, etc. Still, good to know. I would be satisfied with a dejaggified version of Shadow of the Colossus myself. I've always said that the game was too ambitions for the console it was on. Sure, it was beautiful and compelling, but think how much more awesome it would be in 1080p. We'll be sure to keep you posted on any developments from the developers! Michael Fahey

Shadow of the Colossus team working on PS3 [CVG - Thanks NinjaBall!]

Thanks for the tip, Keith! Michael McWhertor

Reign Over Me [Apple Trailers]

Maybe for your next LAN party? Michael McWhertor

Shadow of the Colossus map mod for HL2 [bit-tech via 1UP]

With the advent of Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, one classic Zelda character has been all but forgotten about. Of course, I'm talking about that green suited, ugly as sin, fairy wanna be, Tingle.

Torokun, who claims not to be neither a drug user or gay, has made this amazing piece of Tingle fan art. He felt that poor, maligned Tingle needed a slightly more masculine image and so inspired him to create this hilarious and grotesque Tingle meets Shadow of the Colossus image. At first, I was little disturbed by the thought that Tingle was taking a piss on poor tiny Link. Then I realized it was just Link's sword pointing to the colossal Tingle's "power spot", which is in the end, I think, even more disturbing. Flynn De Marco

Tingle Fanart [Torokun's Deviant Art Gallery Thanks, Tim!]

The kids over at the Weekly Geek have put together an interesting little piece about games as art. We all know that games are art no matter what Roger Ebert has to say about. (What the hell does he know from art, anyway? He made Beyond the Valley of the Dolls for corn's sake.)

But, there's no doubt that some games go beyond the typical to create a truly unique gaming experience that is based in part by the outstanding look of the game. Two of the best examples that I can think of in recent memory would be Shadow of the Colossus and Okami. Colossus' almost minimal approach and limited color pallette are in sharp contrast to Okami's painterly look and broad spectrum of colors, yet, each of these games are made great by the overall feeling one gets when viewing their visuals.

Frodo, The Geek and Caspian all weigh in with their separate lists in the article. I agree with most of their choices, but I also think that limiting it to five makes it a bit difficult to choose. What would be on your list for the Top 5 Games as Art? Flynn De Marco

Top Five List: Top Five Games As Art

Shadow of the Colossi Statues? How neat. If only that first Colossus had his club erected into the sky, ready to smash down upon that punk-ass Wanda bitch. In that case, my purchase would be assured: an excellent toilet paper roll dispenser, even at the lofty price of $119.90. Florian Eckhardt

Shadow of the Colossus - The First Colossus Statue [Play Asia]

Siliconera has collected a series of YouTube videos portraying strange happenings in Shadow of the Colossus. In the clip above, we see Argos not only dead, but buoyant, his reins and mane dangling limply.

Strange behavior for a horse that is not only supposed to be immortal, but earthbound. Eliza Gauger

See complete collection here [Siliconera]

Dan Zuke from bits & bytes & pixels & sprites recently cut together a music video using scenes from Shadow the Colossus and music from Gnarls Barkley. It's surprising how well St. Elsewhere clicks with the vibe of the game, it makes for a very trippy video. Brian Crecente

Gnarls Barkley Shadow of the Collosus [The BBPS]

Okay, Ape Escape as a PSP Greatest Hit isn't going to have anyone tearing their panties off in one deft rip and shrieking in excitement. But the new PS2 'Greatest Hits' actually aren't too shabby. Thanks to a Circuit City leak, it looks like they are:

• Jak X: Combat Racing
• SOCOM 3
• Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves
• Shadow of the Colossus
• Ratchet: Deadlocked

That's right: Shadow of the muddafuggin' Colossus! For 20 bucks! Now that's a 'Greatest Hit'. A Ratchet game and SOCOM 3 don't hurt, either. Florian Eckhardt

New greatest hits games leaked by Circuit City [Silicon Era]

Beautiful and haunting, Sony's PS2 title Shadow of the Colossus was a breath-takingly special game. It's good to see it getting a figurine equal to it in every regard. This 195mm statue goes on sale in Japan this Octorber for 10,290 yen (around US $88). Pre-orders are being taken now, but go ahead and gush. You know you want to. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Kotobukiya]

I was recently watching an interview with the guys who created Ico and Shadow of the Colossus where they mentioned that for Colossus they were trying to evoke the same emotion as they had managed to evoke in Ico, which was difficult since they they didn't seem to know what emotion that was. That emotion is the dreamlike quality of an almost unbearable beauty, and outside of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, Cave Story is one of the only games I've ever played where I feel the same.

That beauty is largely evoked by Cave Story's wonderful music. Unfortunately, I think the remix with its synths and wailing guitars largely fails to make the listener feel the same heartrending sadness and innocent wonder as the midi tracks it is trying to ape. The best 'remix' of Pixel's songs I've ever heard was them being played faithfully on a piano. Still, I'll take any excuse I can to further promote this wonderful game. Florian Eckhardt

Cave Story Remix Project [Official Site]

E3 is next week. Seven days from now, we'll all be chomping at the bit for games that today we have no inkling of. That means this weekend is the last weekend for quite a while where you can play current games without its luster being slightly dimmer by the chronic disease of every gamer — anticipation comes next.

So what will you be playing this weekend? On my part, it's probably well past time I finished up Shadow of the Colossus, a game which I find a lot more brilliant to watch than to actually play. Oh, it's poetically beautiful in its own way, saturated with a despondent sadness and wonder that actually moves. But I must admit I've never found it particularly interesting to gallop through Colossus' dead, empty world. When the Colossi emerge, shedding scales of stone, roaring ancient and chthonic roars... when I climb up its fur, plunge in my sword and the green ichor starts to spurt, I find the game amazing. It's everything in between that bores me. Even the designers themselves seem to recognize the problem: without the context of a world, it would just be an endless series of boss battles. Unfortunately, they only made a cursory attempt at a world... and so all you look forward to seeing are the bosses.

What about you? Tell us about the old games you're revisiting or the new games you've just purchased in the comments.

The ever-good Cathode Tan links to an article that discusses the making of Shadow of the Colossus. How exactly did the PS2 manage such breathtaking visuals? It's a techy read, but fascinating nonetheless.

Making of SotC [Cathode Tan]
The Making of Shadow of the Colossus [DyingDuck]

Art house gamers rejoice! Esoteric Japanese adventure game Shadow of the Colossus has landed in the UK and knocked EA's Need For Speed: Most Wanted off the top spot in the charts.

Most Wanted has been camped at the number one UK spot for 10 weeks running, leading some to wonder at the tastes of the UK gaming population at large. Shadow's debut is actually Sony's first number one seller since the PSP launch of Ridge Racer.

SCEE's budget re-release of adventure classic ICO faired less well, debuting at number 23. What are you waiting for foolios? Buy buy!

Here's Why You Care [Eurogamer]

PS2 Shadow of the Colossus for $36.95 [Amazon]

While America has its ESRB-style "T for Teen" and "M for Mature" ratings, Australia has a color-coded ratings system. Kotaku reader Matt describes it as "kind of like a US terror alert for paranoid games buyers." What does this mean? Bright designs with vague thematic contents grace the front of every Oz-released game. And no, it's not a sticker on the cover. It's part of the packaging.

Ecko Banned in Australia [Kotaku]

The good Nintendorks at 4 Color Rebellion, whose Web site at time of press was down, put together some nice V-Day cards for you, as we mentioned earlier. Unfortunately, only one was salvageable in the heavy traffic massacre, and hosted by Waxy.org, king of bandwidth. Hurry up and print these things out before you wind up empty-handed!

Your more hardcore boyfriend, girlfriend, wife, husband, guild leader, or Hitomi statue may appreciate some of the offerings from Beavotron, which include beautiful renditions of Warcraft and Katamari faves — plus catchy lovey catchphrases!

You Complete Me [4CR with help from Waxy]
WoW, Katamari, Shadow of the Colossus V-Cards [Beavotron]

I wasn't its biggest fan, but tons of people got really into Shadow of the Colossus, here stateside. Game Gossip has the press release up on their site that announces the EU release date. When will those across the pond get to start killing giants? February 17. In case you didn't get a chane to play it when it was first released, Ico will also see a re-release when Colossus lands in Europe.

Shadow Of The Colossus - European Release Date [Game Gossip]
SotC Reflections

Last night, chatting with Crecente on AIM, we got on the subject of Shadow of the Colossus while having one of those "Games of the Year" conversations. While Crecente's favorite game of 2005 is no real secret, talking about Shadow of the Colossus made me realize it's definitely not my game of the year and made me remember a piece I put together on how games approach conflict.

For all of Colossus' stoic beauty and sense of adventure there's an overwhelming absence of substance to the game. Sure, the designs of the Colossi are tremendous — each one is supposed to be a virtual adventure all its own, but the repetitive method you use to find each Colossi is pretty droll.

Furthermore, when a game hinges so much on each boss battle — the swirling themes and epic camera angles that come notwithstanding — if a boss isn't compelling, there's nothing else for a game like Colossus to fall back on. The fights in Colossus were designed so that navigating the giant was supposed to be a world all its own. For me, I don't know if it was particularly successful. I loved my first few Colossi simply because they were so novel, so cinematic, so fresh. But by the seventh or eighth time getting ported back to the temple, reraising my sword and heading back out on my trusty steed — I was tired.

I enjoyed Colossus. It just wasn't as good as it could've and should've been.

Conflicting Views [Metro Times]

It looks like our reader poll for best game of the year is shaping up to be a two horse race with Resident Evil 4 and Mario Kart DS duking it out for the top spot and God of War trailing a distant third.

Make sure to get over to the link and vote, besides having an impact on a completely meaningless award you can also enter to win a $500 Circuit City gift certificate.

Personally, I think the best game of the season, and perhaps the year, was Indigo Prophecy. While I loved God of War it was in many ways perfection of the status quo and while Shadow of the Colossus is also a stupendous title, it was a fantastic experience punctuated by moments of repetitive tedium. (I'll pause for a second to let you shout at me.)

The thing about Indigo Prophecy is that it delivered a genuine cinematic experience to gaming. If you haven't played it, make sure you at least rent the title. I'm going to post a review of the game in a bit.

I guess it all boils down how you define game of the year. Should it be the title you had the most fun playing or the one that you think got closest to tipping what you consider gaming on its ear?

Discuss among yourselves.

The $500 Contest

Makes a lot of sense, what with the tremendous success of SOC on the PS2.

Kotaku buddy Jesse just sent us a heads up on these beautiful Shadow of the Colossus tees. They're part of a promotion connected to the game's launch in Japan. Yeah, if people didn't need a reason besides "Colossus kicks arse" to buy the game.

Details Here [PlayStation Japan] via Human In Box Thanks Jesse!

A reporter once asked French filmmaker Jean Luc Godard, "What do you mean exactly?" The director replied, "I mean, but not exactly..." and gave his answer. Creative combi Kenji Kaido and Funito Ueda aren't as frustrating as Godard, but are of the same bred. Vague and evasive, the pair don't show their hand, instead keeping their cards close. Eurogamer did a pretty good interview with the pair. When asked where the art inspiration came from, Kaido replied, "Maybe it was something I saw before, in a film, in a cartoon. Maybe it was something I read in a book or something I played when I was little — that sort of mixture might be the inspiration." Might and maybe pepper the interview, making the reader fill in the blanks and make sense of what they're saying. Same holds true for Ico and Colossus.

Full Interview [Eurogamer]

Insert Credit reports that Shadow of the Colossus has posted impressive numbers over its first few days, selling over 100,000. Likewise, the recently re-released Ico is almost sold out. Folks that think gaming is all about violence and sex need to play both these games. Rather, they should be required to play them.

Find Tim's Wanda Review [Instant Credit]

The disturbingly humorous Geek on Stun has word of a Shadow of the Colossus Japanese upskirt weblog. Though strangely he has no link. No, instead he has a bunch of screenshots of "The Wanderer" trying to catch a glimpse up his dead love's skirt. What makes me think there is no Japanese weblog?

Shadow of the Colossus Upskirt Perversion [Geek on Stun]