Because Shadow of the Colossus has already hit Sony Computer Entertainment Japan's "The Best" line of budget re-releases, so a re-issue means... well, we're not sure. That they're simply out of copies and that someone in Japan is hungry for Colossus slaying on the cheap?

The bad news is that this is not a a God of War Collection-style release for the PlayStation 3, giving ICO and Shadow of the Colossus a high-def once-over to drum up interest in The Last Guardian. But it may be a good sign that Sony sees value in Team ICO lead Fumito Ueda's desire to give the first two games in the series a PlayStation 3 caliber presentation.

Shadow of the Colossus re-release next February? [Team ICO Gamers via One Last Continue]

In Seattle, last month, I talked to Mac Walters about this. He's writing next year's Mass Effect 2 from BioWare. The studio he works for is known for telling long, detailed stories through its video games. The Mass Effect and Jade Empire, to name a pair of recent releases, are crammed with optional, explanatory text. The games' characters are often ready to provide richer detail about their lives, their tribes, or their home planets than the plot requires.

"A lot of the reason that stuff is in there is because we have players who want to know everything and love that," Walters said. He believes that the details BioWare provide bring some of their players back to "the days they picked up their Dungeons and Dragons [source]books and read about every character in there."

That deep level of extra narrative detail may be a BioWare signature, but it's not a BioWare exclusive.

Consider this sampling of late 2009 games: If you find hidden treasures in Naughty Dog's Uncharted 2, you'll be prompted to press a button to learn background information about them. Snoop through the spaceship Ishimura in EA's Dead Space Extraction and you can find text and audio logs that elaborate on the events that preceded your arrival. Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham Asylum overflows with dozens of discoverable recordings of its colorful secondary characters revealing their deranged states of mind.

It is so common for games to provide all these extra details that I had begun to look at Fumito Ueda as the most unusual of game creators.

The Sony developer's games, Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, explain almost nothing. Their heroes are ciphers, their side-characters almost mute. They include no scrolls, no tablets and no scannable objects.

They let you wonder. Or, to put it another way, Ueda's games seldom explain anything.

I talked to Ueda about the propensity of other developers to include a lot of background detail. They do it differently than you, I said. They explain the backgrounds of every character and every sword.

"But I think what it's trying to achieve is the same goal [as me,]" Ueda said. "I think having information about the sword or the character history is trying to add realism to the game as much as possible. And that's just one method of doing it, to have text and characters speaking. But that's not the way I chose to go with my games. I'm focusing on realism of the image itself." His realism, as he put in the context of developing his team's next game, The Last Guardian, comes from a style of graphics and animation that can convey emotion and a sense of presence in an imaginary world.

Back in Seattle earlier in the month, Walters from BioWare had advocated a sense of mystery but explained the challenges of not explaining things. "It's always a balancing act between what can be mysterious and what can't be," he said. "If it's something the player has to know, we need to find a way to make sure a player knows it. Sometimes that even involves repetition because, if the player misses it, then they're just confused and frustrated. But there are things we can sort of leave hanging. That's something I'm personally a fan of. If I see it in my work or the writer's work, I'm fine with leaving it in there. As long as we resolve it at some point or there's a plan to resolve it at some point."

Explain the key stuff, he said. Leave the rest of it optional.

It's at the end, past the Team Ico retrospective, but then, that's worth watching in its own right.

After all, it's not like the set is being released out of the blue. There's a new God of War game coming, and what better way to drum up (or dredge up) interest than to get people playing, and talking about, the first two games again?

So it got us thinking: since this is as much a marketing move as it is a service to fans, what other upcoming PS3 games are there to market that have PS2 prequels you can repackage on Blu-Ray?

These (for GT5, FFXIII and The Last Guardian) are the obvious ones. But moving beyond the marketing side of things, are there any other series you'd like to see thrown together on a single disc, cleaned up to 720p and given a second chance on the shelf?

I'm still not sold on the Catbat. I'd have liked something cuter. Something cuddlier. More cat, less bat. But hey, it's Team Ico. I'm sure heartstrings will be tugged regardless.

If you're having trouble seeing the pictures below, access the main gallery by clicking here.

Yes, the teaser image did mean something. Everyone's favorite little horned boy and gaming's most annoying princess ever join the ranks of Sony properties transformed into adorable little sackboys and girls this week. Now two friends can work together to recreate classic moments from the PlayStation 2 game, with Ico leading the way and Yorda sitting there, staring at him uncomprehendingly, only now you can smack her. Lovely!

Team ICO Pack - Ico and Yorda [Media Molecule - Thanks James!]

On June 11th, Team Ico fans will get their first taste of Wander and Colossus Sackboys and Shadow of the Colossus stickers in LittleBigPlanet. Expect something Ico related as well. But if Media Molecule throws in LBP items from the newly announced The Last Guardian, expect the PlayStation Network to buckle.

Stay tuned for more details and cross your fingers for a two-part Agro Sackboy costume.

Shadow of the Colossus Teaser [Media Molecule]

Rumour was that the leaked clip was from around a year ago, so Team Ico have had plenty of time to pass a few more renders over the thing. Which they have. And to good effect!

It'll be known by the far more respectable title of "The Last Guardian". While the footage shown to attendees at the conference was similar to that in the leaked video from a few weeks back, it was a lot more presentable. As you'd expect, with the leaked footage rumoured to be around a year old.

So, yes, totally real, totally coming to the PS3. Cannot. Wait.

The alleged trailer for "Project TRICO," by way of PlayStation Lifestyle, begins with a scene that might be familiar to followers of Team ICO's work. The PlayStation developer teased the opening imagery in a job recruiting ad that ran last year. The rest will look completely new.

The Project TRICO trailer shows the interaction of a young boy who bears a striking resemblance to the lead character in ICO and a giant animal that looks part feline, part rodent—a giant feathery, furry thing that has clearly had its wings clipped. The trailer shows off possible gameplay mechanics that fit in with previous Team ICO games, namely cooperative platforming over architecture that fits in aesthetically with the series.

The purported teaser also highlights thematic elements present in ICO and Shadow of the Colossus—the latter, at one point, code-named "NICO"—and looks like it could fit in the same universe.

Team ICO lead Fumito Ueda spoke briefly about the still unannounced game at this year's Game Developers Conference, saying "the essence of the game is similar to ICO."

We've contacted Sony Computer Entertainment America reps to verify if the trailer is genuine.

Project Trico - HD [YouTube]

Fumito Uedo will be on hand at the 2009 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco next month to speak on a panel on evolving game design, along with Goichi Suda of No More Heroes and Killer 7 fame and Fallout 3 lead designer Emil Pagliarulo. Just getting those three minds into one room is exciting enough, but it raises the possibilities that the new PlayStation 3 game from Team Ico could be revealed at the show.

Last we heard regarding the next ICO game was back before the Tokyo Game Show last year, when Uedo said that the game would be shown sometime soon. Is next month sometime soon enough for you guys?

ICO creator to speak at GDC [Eurogamer]

When asked if Fumito Ueda’s followup to Ico and Shadow of the Colossus would be ready by thi year's Tokyo Game Show, Sony Worldwide's Shuhei Yoshida could only say "I cannot tel, but But I can say that they’ve been working very hard since the release of Shadow of the Colossus."

Well, I should flippin' well hope so. But come on, a little detail about the game would be nice. Is it long? Short? Is it 3D? Does it have corners? How does it taste? Anything?

“Soon you’ll see,” says Yoshida. Gaaah.

All we can say for sure is that it is out of critical production and will be ready 'soon'. Honestly, if they ever hold a proper press event for this thing they will probably make journalists traverse a mysterious landscape populated by mute PR reps to get to it. It will be shrouded in mist, and there will be limited internet access.

Yoshida: Team ICO’s PS3 game will be shown “soon” [VideoGaming 24/7]

I’m not feeling any pressure at the moment because time is not critical yet...Production has not reached the critical stage. The company is very reasonable thanks to my achievements in the past. So, although I do get pressurised, that’s not happened yet [on the current project], and that’s something I feel gratitude for, that the company gives us the opportunity to focus by giving us time.

Reasonable? REASONABLE? Goddamnit, Sony, you get in there, and you crack that whip. On a related topic, Ueda also said that, given the time, he'd love to someday work on a small-scale game for the PSN. Yes. Given the time.

Team Ico boss: My PS3 game hasn’t hit critical development yet [gamesTM, 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.

...(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]

Thanks for the tip, Keith! Michael McWhertor

Reign Over Me [Apple Trailers]