PS3 Fanboy

You know you've got an iconic piece of artistry when an Academy Award winning filmmaker has nothing but praise, respect, and admiration to show. "There are only two games I consider masterpieces: Ico and Shadow of the Colossus," said Guillermo del Toro in an interview with Edge magazine. Both titles are creations of SCEJ's Team ICO, who are currently working on an unnamed title.

Guillermo, director of the widely acclaimed Pan's Labyrinth and the Hellboy movies, is himself a gamer since the Pong era. He's even a video game director, having worked with Konami on adapting the Hellboy series ... which unfortunately didn't do too well.

With such a prominent figure giving the thumbs up to Team ICO, we're sure they're happy to hear that their hard work is getting noticed outside the realm of gaming. We're also sure, whatever they have in store next would probably be pleasing del Toro -- and us for that matter.

With all the excitement going on with PlayStation Day in Europe, we're going to turn your attention to another conference coming up soon. The Nordic Game 2008 conference. It's a little more technical of a conference, but it's still got some great developers giving speeches. Sony's own Fumito Ueda, creator of ICO and Shadow of the Colossus will be taking part in the "Game Creation and Technology" program. This program focuses on new game niches and continuing to innovate creatively.

Other celebrated panelists in the discussion include the creator of Silent Hill and Siren, Keiichiro Toyama, Rock Band's Roby Kay and Ninja Theory co-founder, Tameem Antoniades. We don't really expect any announcements out of these folk, but they might bring something new to the table when giving their presentation. Like whatever direction Ueda is taking with his third game. We'll keep you posted.

Initially coming from Sony's website seeking applicants for Team ICO's new project, and getting spread across the interwebs by TeamICOGamers, we've been teased with a strange piece of CG artwork for what appears to be the next game from Team ICO. What is it? It seems to be a giant hole. With a big chain going down it. It seems we can expect another insanely clever concept from the group that brought us ICO and Shadow of the Colossus. Perhaps the worlds the games take place in will somehow make sense in relation to one another after this new title. Perhaps not. Forgive our giddiness over such an abstract, vague piece of artwork -- but we'll look forward to new information!

This less-than-a-confirmation statement from a Sony executive is shaky evidence at best, but fans of ICO and Shadow of the Colossus will grasp at any new information on the team's current project. OPM UK grilled Kaz Hirai and friends for as much as they could, but that's apparently the best they could unearth.

Shadow of the Colossus was set in the same mythos as ICO, but played very differently. Whatever Team ICO has ready for PS3 is undoubtedly going to impress -- but couldn't they at least tease us with even the tiniest preview of what they're working on?

[Via Joystiq]

There hasn't been a whole lot on the news front about Team Ico's next offering for the PS3, at least until now. The PS3 forums are alive with whispers of not one, but two new games from the team that first brought the critical darling Ico our way, back in 2001. At the recent Motorstorm event in Germany, a source claims to have, "talked to a product manager of Sony PlayStation Germany" who advised, "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." The claim is pretty rich, but if it bears fruit, we'll have two more PS3 games to get excited about. No official word on such claims from the Sony front yet, but if we wish hard enough, maybe we'll hear something during E3 in July.

[Via hiddenawaygames]

I've got something to admit. I have only just recently beat Ico. It was awesome, especially looking at it as a prequel to Shadow of the Colossus. Or is it a sequel? The two games lace into one another so arbitrarily that they may just be two distinct adventures taking place in the same game-universe. Anyway, the latest Famitsu held an ad for... well... Sony's ad agency. They snagged a two-page spread for a simple job listing. The job? Team Ico is seeking developers... for their PlayStation 3 project.

They want programmers and engineers. Lots of technical qualifications, but chances are they wouldn't be too interested in those outside of Japan. Although there are some people (me) who would love to take the translated text and make sure it's not a shoddy translation! You guys can take a look at the online entry form for the multitude of positions at Sony's website if you'd like... but we're more interested in thinking what Team Ico will churn out next. What do you guys think? Another game set in the same or similar world? A story that more clearly relates the other two games to one another? Or something completely new and different? Ready... theorize!

[Thanks, Sean!]