Team ICO director Fumito Ueda just took the stage during Sony's TGS presentation and confirmed the consistently leaked ICO / Shadow of the ColossusHD remakes coming to PS3. He didn't share many details – Are they sold separately in Japan? – but did reveal one new addition to the seminal PS2 titles that we didn't know about. In addition to HD graphics, both titles will support 3D on PlayStation 3.
When can you gladly hand over your hard-earned money to Sony? Ueda would only say "coming soon" but didn't share a date. In our dictionary, "soon" is a lot earlier than the April 2011 date most retailers have agreed upon.
Update: At a follow-up press conference, SCEA confirmed that the disc will be available in "Spring 2011." Update 2: We've added some screens, the boxart, and a trailer to the post.
@Ashkental I don't know. Sure these are great games but they weren't designed with 3D in mind - at best adding 3D will be a minor distraction, at worst it'll come off as a lame gimmick that's more hassle than it's worth.
I don't like this whole "slap 3D on everything that moves" thing going on. Adding 3D does not automatically make things better and sometimes it might actually make 'em worse.
Well I don't know about you... but I walk around all day with my 3D glasses on. The world has so much more depth to it now! And, as a bonus, they look great on me B-)
@Ashkental Haha, you're joking, right? They still suffer from the same problems as they have in the past; they're expensive, they require glasses for every viewer (expensive glasses at that), and programming (including game support) is extremely limited.
That 3D TV might be looking "better", but not better than a standard set. Not for a long time, and hopefully not ever until they sort out these problems.
@FredFredrickson Disagree. For one thing, these aren't the same problems as in the past. In the past, the glasses were cheap, color-based cardboard jobs. The 3D itself was what sucked. Now the TV's are pricey, but the prices on those will come down. The glasses are pricey--I don't know when those will come down, it's an obstacle for sure, but it doesn't mean the tech sucks.
I find I don't really like 3D much for movies, but it's nice for games, sports, and things like nature documentaries. Things where the camera doesn't spend 90% of the time focusing on the face of some actor(s) being paid millions of dollars for their presence. You don't need 3D in situations like that. Looking over a cliff is great in 3D. Looking at Johnny Depp in 3D....not so great.
@Kurian I know, I know you can add more depth to a game, but its not like you are making some particles with popping out in mind, o fully taking advantage of depth in the game.
Still a nice addition. Hope that doesnt mean it also adds $
@Ashkental Not necessarily. SotC is all about being right up close to this big massive creature. It might look pretty cool at a distance, but when you get up close 3D is going to be like smashing a rectangle down around play-doh and having just a little section of this huge massive body jutting out at you from the sadly limited frame of your screen.
If they keep the 3D for the long range and make it subtle at close range then it might look pretty decent.
And as long as they don't sacrifice any frame rate. That is the #1 thing SotC needs to get right this time.
3D is well and fine, but it really holds only a minimal interest for me. of course, if i had a 3D tv i might reconsider. I would much rather sacrifice 3D on this collection to get this game earlier by saving whatever development time adding 3D would cause. Ideally, get it by christmas. Still, I've waited this long to try ICO, I am willing to wait a little more. Or, maybe ditch the 3D to focus on getting Last Guardian early next year instead of end of next year? Or maybe I'm greatly overestimating how much adding 3D is slowing Team ICO release dates because I just really, really, really want to get my hands on these games? yeah, it's probably that.....
@JohnAHD I think you're missing the point. Since you are in a 3D world there will always be things coming close to the screen and popping out at you. For example, playing SotC in 3D you can expect a horse's ass to be coming out at you ~90% of the time.
What will happen is the depth between the character and the colossus will be more noticeable. It's true that, clinging right to a giant beast, you won't notice too much of IT in 3d, but you will see the hero clinging and dangling. That'll actually be quite impressive.
One way is to have things 'pop out' of the screen at you (think : jack-in-the-box). This is the most obvious 3D effect, but it breaks down if the object moves out of frame.
The other was is to add depth into the screen (think : diorama) This is more subtle as your TV screen feels more like a window looking into a 3D world.
Most 3D content is a mix of both of these effects. Hopefully ICO and SotC will use more of the latter.
@JohnAHD Making games/movies simply to have stuff "pop out" at you is gimmicky. 3D is best employed when you're trying to show off something that benefits from being in 3D. Tetris in 3D? Gimmicky. Shadow of the Colossus in 3D? I think that sounds great--you've got large, expansive vistas and giant, towering Colossi. If things work like we'd all hope, this will make the Colossi seem even more colossal.
3d schmee-dee. Hi-res schmi-... okay, higher res plus better textures might be nice. But just give me 60 fps Colossus. Do not screw this up just for your latest failed 3D with glasses sucker play.
Play the games in beautiful HD, on a regular 2D screen. Then, 5 years down the track, when it's actually a reasonable time to get a 3D TV, you can play the games again!
To be honest, playing ICO and SotC on a 3D TV does sound kinda cool. Damn you Sony for making me think about jumping on the bandwagon.
@Prboi why the heck would they stop marketing something they put a ton of money into? that's like saying, hey we know you're going to make uncharted 3, so no need to ever mention it, ok?
@ColorblindMonk - I'm with you on not caring about 3D. I won't have a 3DTV by the time the game comes out. I'd have rather had a directors cut version with new features (I hope that we'll get that too) other than 3D.
Still though, my money is already out of my wallet, and has been since the first time the game leaked.
Don't have a 3D TV yet, but Sony working on getting 3D might still be a plus as it probably means they put extra work in the optimisation which means better framerate in 2D :)
They have an artist like Ueda at their disposal who made the original JP/EU Ico box art and they end up with this? Sony do yourselves a favor, give the guy a canvas and slap it on the box....please :)
I played through Shadow of the Colossus for the first time ever just a month ago. There are two things that excite me for this release: 1. Hoping for a smoother framerate, and 2. Shadow of the Colossus would be PERFECT for the Trophy system!
Sony you better give these games the box-art/packaging they deserve. Give the games a cardboard box like the PAL releases with a Plastic Slipcover with the Ico Collection on it. The box opens to show both cover art for the games (Using the PAL Ico one). These then open again to the discs and the manuals. Throw in a few Art Cards, have the "making of" documentary that was on the PAL release and a trailer for the Last Guardian, and I would gladly pay $80 for that.
all this 3D stuff is kinda getting annoying. It's just raising the cost f everything. (movie tickets, tv,s bluray players, etc) If Nintendo can say that only 40% (or something like that) of people have an HDTV, what's the percent of people with a 3DTV? 5%?
I know Sony is trying to get people to buy more 3DTV's but the majority of people won't go and buy a new tv the moment it's out (unlike a game) and I doubt anyone will drop $3000+ on a new tv with glasses just to play a game that's come out in 3D.
Now day's it seems like the current games are 2D and the 2D games and 1D
I upgraded from a monitor with HDMI to a 3D TV over the summer. I am so glad to see something as awesome as this, both because I never got to play Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, but also to get more 3D awesomeness!
The latest HD bundle of PS2 games for the PlayStation 3, the Ico and Shadow of the Colossus Collection brings Team ICO's PS2 classics to the bigger screen.