A video of what is allegedly 'Project Trico,' the third game from developer Team Ico, has surfaced on rumor-site PlayStation Lifestyle. We've no idea when the video was made, but it shows off almost four minutes of footage from the game. The art style is very similar to Ico and Shadow of the Colossus -- particularly the environment and character design, which lends credence to the idea that this is an official video. (There's also the fact that its opening scene looks exactly like a teaser image released by Team Ico last January.)
Hopefully this leak means we'll be hearing more about this game soon. We'd be happy if the entire Sony E3 press conference was a video dedicated to this amazing kitty dragon (LOLCATs go!). That thing is too adorable for words. Check out the video for yourself after the break.
[Update] When contacted by Joystiq, SCEE stated it's "not making any comment" regarding the Trico video.
EvinTheSwift - Oh, excuse me. If something isn't done yet, then it obviously shouldn't be criticized. I forgot.
Also, I wonder if you need to improve your reading comprehension. I clearly stated the game looks really cool, and made no comment on the quality of the graphics. I only pointed out that the kid runs in a way that is really awkward looking, with his arms almost horizontal. I think it looks stupid. And this is obviously something Team Ico created - no one would create a placeholder running animation looking like that only to change it completely again. Watch at about 1:25 and then, if you still think the video is absolutely perfect, well good for you. Sorry my differing opinion gave away my "squishy brain"... douchebag
First of all, I'm guessing you're not much of an animator. If that's the worst animation you've ever seen, you haven't seen many. Second, character animations fall into the graphics category, so your first rebuttal there is incorrect. Obviously it's not a place-holder, and they might not completely change it, but there's no reason they can't tweak and adjust it, assuming it's going to be used in the game. Evin never said it was perfect, he just mentioned that the game's not finished, so it might not look so awkward in the future.
It's obviously not a place holder? Weren't they still hiring staff to work on the game less than a year ago? It could easily just be a place holder. For all we know, the kid AND the giant beast could be placeholders. The original Shadow of the Colossus (Nico then) trailer used the character model from Ico, and had three characters riding horses and taking down a colossus in tandem. If this is real footage (my gut says yes. It's too good to be a student project or something) it doesn't necessarily reflect the final game in any way shape or form. Even the music seems out of place with a game in the series. It doesn't seem like Kow Otani's type of thing, but I could be wrong.
Knowing Ueda, I have a hard time believing that any leak would be intentional. If it is a leak, someone is probably getting fired. A leak this close to E3, when this would have been the "OMG OMG!" story of E3, seems like it would be a giant thorn in Sony's side. We'll have confirmation of the video right about the same that Sony sends out C&D's.
I don't want to discuss what I think about the video until I know if it's real or not, but all I can say at this point is that I'm patenting a name for what that creature is; Paramouse. (Parakeet/Mouse hybrid)
Yes, it's obviously not _just_ a placeholder animation. It's too finished and refined. Some people think it looks a little awkward, but it's still much too high quality for something temporary.
I'm not saying they won't edit or replace it, but trust me, it's not a placeholder animation.
When I hear the term placeholder being used, I generally take it to mean things that are currently within the game that won't be there by the time it is finished. There is another school of thought that believes a "placeholder" to be a temporary husk of a graphic that wouldn't be fit for public consumption. Strip semantics from the argument, and I believe we agree.
Semantics are the fuel that keeps this tire fire we know as the internet burning.
Oh, and I know I said I didn't want to talk about it...but...I hope that isn't the final version of whatever that beast is. It looks like a shop. A bad shop. As others have stated below, I'm sure I'll weep like a little girl when that thing eventually dies in some horrific fashion, but I want the thing I'm weeping over to be either two shades cuter, or two shades uglier. One would say a lot about our capability to love even the most hideous of creatures/not to judge a book by its cover. The other would sell plushies. They've got a hard choice to make.
I personally thought the running animation looked incredibly good and realistic.
Why?
Because my son runs almost *exactly* like that. For some reason, running as fast as he can makes him put his arms out like that. I think it`s for balance.
Sure, experienced runners and adults likely don`t. But I am going to guess that they actually took a look at real kids running for the animation. If a kid were running like a pro sprinter, I`d just raise my eyebrows.
This is test footage done in late 2007 and shown in January 2008 internally and to some press. For a comparison, look at the early Nico (SoTC) test footage on youtube and see how much it has improved in the final product. I'm sure when we see the current/finished Trico product, it will have VASTLY improved. (I personally think this footage is amazing as it is)
The engine that Team ICO use for their games run certain character animations under a physics engine. It's how they have the character climb slopes without improperly clipping polygons and gives the player the ability to hang to moving objects from any angle (while something is moving, no less). Unfortunately, it's VERY hard to make animations look incredibly realistic with that much code latched onto it, so you tend to get that gangly-swingy look to it.
The trade-off is a more realistic reaction to the environment (resulting in better gameplay) at the cost of a perfectly hand-animated character (who would simply use the same walking animation no matter the environment).
"Even the music seems out of place with a game in the series."
That's because it is part of Carter Burwell's friggin' amazing score to "Miller's Crossing", which is why I really liked it (even if I'm sure it's temporary for the trailer). It's one of my favorite films meeting my favorite design team - what's not to like?
Sad as this may sound, there is actually nothing on this earth that I am looking forward to as much as this game. I'm kinda freaking out right now.
@Zampano - It's not that I don't like it, rather that it's clearly (to my ear) not the work of Kow Otani (the guy that scored Ico and Shadow of the Colossus). Thanks for clearing up the source of the music.
Oh, I definitely agree - even if I was unfamiliar with the music, it would have been obvious that it didn't 'fit' with the scores to the previous Team ICO games, and I know you weren't dissing the music (sorry if it came off that way - damn the internetz and the inability to convey proper tone). It just happened to be a snippet of one of my favorite scores, so I recognized it immediately (and while it is, indeed, incongruous with Ico and SOTC musically, the more times I watch the video the more I like it with this trailer). Cheers!
Correction, apparently Kow Otani didn't do Ico. He did SOTC though, which had one of the best OST's of any game I've ever played (yes I know this story is a week old and no one is reading it, but I don't like to leave inaccurate information in the bowels of the archives).
SOTC's OST is worth a purchase for anyone that loves OST's (without vocals). Ico's OST is good, but not nearly as good.
Quote any wikipedia article you want. In the game I played my character was yelling "Argo", so that's what I know him as. Others may have heard different.
Which is part of why I love that game, they explain nothing and leave you to fill in the details. I hope that Trico has the same limited dialog and lack of back story.
Actually now that I think of it, your correct, I beleive the horse's name was in the manual. But who actually reads those things right? :)
No, I'm not gonna quote any wikipedia article (anyone can edit those, so who takes a wikipedia article as 'truth' anyway?).
But the thing is, I beat SotC last week for the first time (a shame, I know) and I remember Wander (or Wanda, don't wanna start a debate on this name xD) distinctly shouting 'Agro'.
Regardless, I think we can both agree that it was awesome that when Wander was close to the horse, he would simply say his name, when he was a bit far he would shout his name and when he was far away he would whistle. And the echo when Wander was inside the temple was pretty good too. This kind of detail made SotC more realist and immerser.
Awesome! I actually just picked up Shadow of the Colossus today. I needed an inexpensive game to hold me over until Infamous.
I've managed to take down 3 of the so far, but the fourth is proving to be tricky. Everything gets an A... except for the camera. It's a bit wonkey and can be disorienting while fighting the Colossi.
Haha i did the same thing! im on # 7 which is the hardest for me to FIND so far...
the damn horse gets a 2/10 but the rest of the game is awesome. I just wish the horse wasn't such a pain in the ass.
I forget which is 4 so i can't help you, but all the ones i think it is. just wait for it to duck, fly, or squat down to your level and jump on its beard, wing, tail.
Ashitaka - Actually I adjusted the settings for the left stick and it's better. The default was inverted, so I changed it to "inverted" and now left makes the camera go left, so it's not as bad.
Eric - Yeah, the horse is a little hard to control, but the graphics and animations for it are great. And you're right about 4. Hide out underground, and then climb up him while he's looking for you. I was close, but messed it up a few times. At any rate, I'm loving the game. It's a cool mix of puzzles, platforming, & Acton and Adventure.
The horse isn't hard at all to control (am I the only one who thinks so? xD)
The only thing you can complain about is that he loses speed after a while, but there's a trick for that. If you keep pressing X, Wander keeps kicking Agro and making him go faster. However, he will make a lot of noise while kicking him, so first, hold L1 so that Wander leans forward, and then keep pressing X. The horse will speed as long as you keep pressing X (think of this as a mini-game xD).
Oh, and don't forget to pat Agro in the end (Press O when the horse is standing still).
I totally thought that picture was photoshopped. The kitty dragon didnt seem to fit in.. and it looked ugly as hell, but when you see it moving in the video... God DAMN that thing is adorable
That's what has made Team ICO's games so great. There different than anything that has come before. There not afraid to break the mold and try something new in gaming.
And when I saw it man I was blown away. This game looks AMAZING. and for those who say the animation looks crap on the boy I say go look at the video again. I will give you that the first time you see the boy running it could have been done better but the rest of his animations (and I'm assuming that entire video was in-game) looked amazing.
Also the way the creature moved as well was just mind blowing to say the least. And having underwater travel levels looked just outa this world. Seriously this is going to be another hit by Team Ico and they deserve every piece of praise they will get from this game.
