Sony May Have Announced The Last Guardian Too Early

[Marshall Honorof]

Sony May Have Announced The Last Guardian Too Early

Team Ico's anticipated action/adventure is still alive and mysterious.

A three-year development cycle is not unheard of for a game, especially a game as hotly anticipated as Team Ico's The Last Guardian. However, when three years go by with nary a new screenshot, fans begin to suspect that something is up. Sony jumped to stifle rumors of the game's cancellation [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/119090-Sony-Exec-Studio-Still-Working-on-The-Last-Guardian], but its conspicuous absence at the Tokyo Game Show left some media outlets wondering whether the game was really still underway. Sony confirmed that The Last Guardian is still very much alive, but wonders if 2009 was too soon to introduce it to the world.

A developer of The Last Guardian who wished to remain anonymous shared some information at TGS regarding the game's lack of presence on the show floor. "I give you my word that it exists," he said. In spite of rumors that the game might have transitioned from a late PS3 to an early PS4 title and director Fumito Ueda's departure from Sony, the developer maintained that The Last Guardian's progress might be slow, but it was steady. "[It's a] very ambitious project," he continued, admitting that Sony may have jumped the gun by announcing the game too early in its development cycle.

Given all of the drama that has surrounded its development and (hopefully) eventual release, one more oddity for The Last Guardian hardly seems out of place. Although Team Ico has dragged its heels in the past, it's been relatively good to its word in the long run. The game might not be out anytime soon, but there's not quite enough evidence to pronounce it missing in action just yet.

Source: Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5944838/the-last-guardian-still-lives-promises-sony-developer]

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[Lord Beautiful]

Has there ever been a game in development this long that didn't suck when it came out?

I'm serious. Tell me if you know. All I can think of is stuff like Galleon and Duke Nukem: Forever.

EDIT: I've received some good examples of games with really long dev times that turned out fine.

Also, for those unaware yet mildly interested, Galleon was supposed to be a Playstation game, but because it spent about seven years in development, it went from Playstation to Dreamcast, and then it finally found its release on Xbox. It was headed by the original designer of Tomb Raider, and it is notable in that it sucked major ass in spite of, or rather because of, its long development period.

 

[Prof.Beany]

Honestly Im just glad that there are still publishers willing to fund such enormous and ambitious titles.

Has there ever been a game in development this long that didn't suck when it came out?

I'm serious. Tell me if you know. All I can think of is stuff like Galleon and Duke Nukem: Forever.

TF2 was 9 years or something right?

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Has there ever been a game in development this long that didn't suck when it came out?

I'm serious. Tell me if you know. All I can think of is stuff like Galleon and Duke Nukem: Forever.

Mother 3? Starcraft 2? Dragon Age: Origins? Fallout 3? Team Fortress 2, and I think Half-life 2 as well? Those are the ones that first come to mind, anyway. Sometimes long or troubled development produces something that shows the work put into it.

 

[Warachia]

Has there ever been a game in development this long that didn't suck when it came out?

I'm serious. Tell me if you know. All I can think of is stuff like Galleon and Duke Nukem: Forever.

Mother 3? Starcraft 2? Dragon Age: Origins? Fallout 3? Team Fortress 2, and I think Half-life 2 as well? Those are the ones that first come to mind, anyway. Sometimes long or troubled development produces something that shows the work put into it.

You're counting those as if development started as soon as the last game was finished, in which case it would be about 7 years for The Last Guardian.

Personally I blame it on the lead designer being a nut who puts too much attention to fixing problems in ridiculous ways that create more problems that he fixes in ridiculous ways that create more problems.

 

[lucky_sharm]

Has there ever been a game in development this long that didn't suck when it came out?

I'm serious. Tell me if you know. All I can think of is stuff like Galleon and Duke Nukem: Forever.

Mother 3? Starcraft 2? Dragon Age: Origins? Fallout 3? Team Fortress 2, and I think Half-life 2 as well? Those are the ones that first come to mind, anyway. Sometimes long or troubled development produces something that shows the work put into it.

You're counting those as if development started as soon as the last game was finished, in which case it would be about 7 years for The Last Guardian.

Personally I blame it on the lead designer being a nut who puts too much attention to fixing problems in ridiculous ways that create more problems that he fixes in ridiculous ways that create more problems.

Oh man, you obviously must be directly involved with the development of this game, and know the lead designer personally as well! Please, sir, tell us more!

 

[DustyDrB]

Spoiler: I'm pretty sure this image was made for this story.

Yeah. You jumped the gun a bit there, Sony. We'll forget all about that if you release a fantastic game, though.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Has there ever been a game in development this long that didn't suck when it came out?

I'm serious. Tell me if you know. All I can think of is stuff like Galleon and Duke Nukem: Forever.

Mother 3? Starcraft 2? Dragon Age: Origins? Fallout 3? Team Fortress 2, and I think Half-life 2 as well? Those are the ones that first come to mind, anyway. Sometimes long or troubled development produces something that shows the work put into it.

You're counting those as if development started as soon as the last game was finished, in which case it would be about 7 years for The Last Guardian.

Personally I blame it on the lead designer being a nut who puts too much attention to fixing problems in ridiculous ways that create more problems that he fixes in ridiculous ways that create more problems.

Actually, I was talking just development time. Mother 3 was being developed for the SNES, then for the N64DD, and possibly others, before ending up on the GBA. Starcraft 2 was officially in development for seven of the twelve years between it and it's predecessor. Dragon Age was announced in 2004 and released in 2009. Fallout 3 was in development in the late nineties for awhile until Black Isle went under, but even the current iteration by Bethesda was in dev for six years. Looking it up (I wasn't certain) reveals that Half-Life 2 was in development for five years, while Team Fortress 2 was in for nine.

In looking, I even found this list [http://www.metacritic.com/feature/games-that-shed-vaporware-status] of games that had long development times. The first page is great, the second mediocre, the third flops.

 

[Silver Patriot]

Has there ever been a game in development this long that didn't suck when it came out?

I'm serious. Tell me if you know. All I can think of is stuff like Galleon and Duke Nukem: Forever.

Black Mesa just came out.

 

[duchaked]

lol but whatever way to build hype

 

[Phoenix8541]

When it comes out it will be out, if its doesn't there are plenty of other games to care about.

 

[Evil Smurf]

will the game be good?

 

[Warachia]

Has there ever been a game in development this long that didn't suck when it came out?

I'm serious. Tell me if you know. All I can think of is stuff like Galleon and Duke Nukem: Forever.

Mother 3? Starcraft 2? Dragon Age: Origins? Fallout 3? Team Fortress 2, and I think Half-life 2 as well? Those are the ones that first come to mind, anyway. Sometimes long or troubled development produces something that shows the work put into it.

You're counting those as if development started as soon as the last game was finished, in which case it would be about 7 years for The Last Guardian.

Personally I blame it on the lead designer being a nut who puts too much attention to fixing problems in ridiculous ways that create more problems that he fixes in ridiculous ways that create more problems.

Actually, I was talking just development time. Mother 3 was being developed for the SNES, then for the N64DD, and possibly others, before ending up on the GBA. Starcraft 2 was officially in development for seven of the twelve years between it and it's predecessor. Dragon Age was announced in 2004 and released in 2009. Fallout 3 was in development in the late nineties for awhile until Black Isle went under, but even the current iteration by Bethesda was in dev for six years. Looking it up (I wasn't certain) reveals that Half-Life 2 was in development for five years, while Team Fortress 2 was in for nine.

In looking, I even found this list [http://www.metacritic.com/feature/games-that-shed-vaporware-status] of games that had long development times. The first page is great, the second mediocre, the third flops.

My mistake, thanks for the list though, I didn't know about some of those, like neverwinter nights.

 

[Warachia]

Oh man, you obviously must be directly involved with the development of this game, and know the lead designer personally as well! Please, sir, tell us more!

Let me tell you about this little secret thing called interviews, it's where people talk to the lead designer about the projects he's working on. Crazy right? I mean, usually friends and family are the only ones who can know the stuff they do.

I say he's a nut because he wants the engine to render wind on every single feather of the creature separately (whatever it is, I forget the name if it had one).
He also had them redo feeding sections (you throw a barrel of food to the creature and it eats it) because he was unhappy with how the barrel broke, and wanted it to be as "realistic" as possible, he wanted the barrel to break just right so that the creature eats the food but the wood from the barrel breaks and falls away.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

So taking bets
Which game do you think will be released first,

Final Fantasy 13 Versus, or The Last Guardian?

 

[Alfador_VII]

Honestly Im just glad that there are still publishers willing to fund such enormous and ambitious titles.

Has there ever been a game in development this long that didn't suck when it came out?

I'm serious. Tell me if you know. All I can think of is stuff like Galleon and Duke Nukem: Forever.

TF2 was 9 years or something right?

Prey held the title of most delayed game ever until it came out. It was originally announced just before Duke Nukem Forever, ironically by the same company!

When it did finally ship, it was a fairly good game, not great, not terrible, but decent enough.

So anyone know what the most delayed game still in development is now?

 

[The Rascal King]

So taking bets
Which game do you think will be released first,

Final Fantasy 13 Versus, or The Last Guardian?

Definitely FF13V, it's been like seven years since it's announcement. As far as development of The Last Guardian I say let Team Ico take all the damn time it needs to ensure it's the goddamn masterpiece we all want it to be.