Shadow of the Colossus Q&A Feature

Shadow of the Colossus is the follow-up title from SCEIâ??s Fumito Ueda whoâ??s previous title ICO is still renowned the world over. Though not a sequel to the 2001 title, Colossus does retain an awesome beauty rarely seen in a videogame with massive Colossi and grand landscapes that fill the screen. Recently we sat down with Ueda-san and Project Manager Kenji Kaido to discuss Shadow of the Colossus as well as its predecessorâ?¦

You said that you wanted Shadow of the Colossus to appeal more than ICO, how do you think you've faired?

We think that we're faired the same, it hasn't changed.

Was it always the intention just to focus on the Colossi or was there more to it?

I don't play complicated games and was wondering whether there were others like that. I do like to play Burnout but that's because it's a game that we cannot make. I like to make games composed in reality.

You have both commented that everything that you wanted for ICO has been accomplished; is this the same for Shadow of the Colossus or there more of a story yet to be explored in the form of a sequel?

ICO occurs in a small environment and we felt that we had finished the product. There may have been faults in the game but we wouldn't go back since a sequel could never live up to the original. It's the same with Shadow of the Colossus.

4. Do you know want to move on from the ICO & Shadow of the Colossus universes?

There are possibilities and we have many ideas for the next game. At the moment we're concentrating on the European version of Shadow of the Colossus. New features for Europe are currently under consideration; at the moment the PAL version will be full screen and will be translated into five languages.

ICO is being re-released to coincide with Shadow of the Colossus in Europe; do you believe that the popularity of Shadow of the Colossus will help spread the popularity of ICO this time around? Was ICO ahead of its time and appreciated in 2005 than 2001?

To have re-released will be great; ICO has been released in Japan as a 'Best Edition' and went on to sell a further one hundred thousand copies. Whether it was ahead of its time in 2001?, maybe, but it represented a new strategy in gaming which takes time to spread.

Both ICO & Shadow of the Colossus are unique (especially in the Western territories); was it always the intention to do that?

Yes it was intended. The structure of telling a story in a game is normally a sequence of gameplay and cutscene. We're still looking for a way to better this.

Does music play a part in the experience of Shadow of the Colossus and was it deliberately considered

The composer of Shadow of the Colossus usually works on PopStars in Japan and has composed music for both movies and TV in Japan. We donâ??t develop a game by bringing large documents, rather we make a pilot movie and movie soundtracks form part of this.

The word 'Colossus' is steeped in myth; where did you draw your inspiration for the Colossi?

For the Colossi we wanted to use elements not used in videogame monsters before. In Shadow of the Colossus we based their design on architecture and industrial forms.

TVG would like to thank Fumito Ueda and Kenji Kaido for answering our questions; Shadow of the Colossus is released in the first quarter of 2006 on PlayStation2. ICO will be re-released in the same period and weâ??ll have more on the Colossi shortlyâ?¦