landsoflightanddark - Tumblr blog

[landsoflightanddark]

When I saw the title of this vid from Sakurai on "ambient sounds", of course the first thing I thought was "It'd be sacrilegious not to include an Ueda game." I was not disappointed!

[landsoflightanddark]

Did not know Bluepoint's version of Wander starred in another game before that

[landsoflightanddark]

Oh wow, I missed this on twitter. It's cool that a lot of the best Japanese game devs seem to know each other pretty well.

Two legends! Ueda went to visit Goichi Suda's (aka Suda51) Grasshopper studio recently!

[landsoflightanddark]

Context:

"The first round was that I had to submit a written concept to Sony. The second stage awarded me the allowance to make the instillation. It was around $1,000 or so. After that, I’d go off and create this thing. (...) In terms of the project itself: imagine a worn down small cage for a pet rabbit or parrot. It was intentionally aged and worn. At the bottom, there was a layer of soil. Beneath the soil was a series of small motors. They were hidden. The surface structure of the dirt maybe looked like a mole hill. It was patchy and churned up. The sides and the ceiling of the cage had scratch marks, like an animal had tried to escape.

The motors hidden in the dirt were controlled by a radio controller. The idea was that there was a cat that lived under the earth in the cage. There was a sign to that effect. So people would walk up to the cage and peer in to look for this animal. I’d secretly control the motors, and it would spit out dirt onto people’s faces or noses.

I wanted to make something that would have more of a lasting impact than a painting. I wanted people to go home and find soil on their shirt or in their hair. That would be memorable art, I thought.”

From Ueda's interview with Simon Parkin: https://medium.com/@SimonParkin/fumito-ueda-colossus-in-the-shadow-80e200a727dd#.b9flhk420

Me watching the baby sandworm scurrying under the sand in Dune 2 and thinking "You know doing an art piece with an effect like this could be said to be the start of Fumito Ueda's career as a creator"

[landsoflightanddark]

Me watching the baby sandworm scurrying under the sand in Dune 2 and thinking "You know doing an art piece with an effect like this could be said to be the start of Fumito Ueda's career as a creator"

[landsoflightanddark]

I attempted to post about this when it was tweeted but I hadn't posted from my phone in so long that tumblr had logged me out.

The thing that's cut off or mirrored at the top of the screen I didn't notice. It looks like Japanese text so could even be the game's logo maybe.

Something that caught my eye is the left and right side of the image have one big circle and four little ones, which resembles the configuration of modern gaming handhelds. It makes me wonder if one or more of the mechs in this game will be ride-able, with the controls the character is using displayed in the HUD like that. Those could also be elements that are used by the designers to see what buttons are being pressed during QA and stuff, that will end up being hidden in the actual game itself - the "75" meter is right over one of them, so something there is definitely not where it's supposed to be.

In any case, it looks like this game will be even more sci-fi than I imagined.

Happy new year to Japan!

As usual, GenDesign have greeted us with their yearly new year’s message, and it even has a little hint of humor this time.

“Happy New Year!

We look forward to working with you in the New Year!

We at genDESIGN are currently working hard on a new project while experiencing the birth pains! (note: the online translator mentions either birth pains/birth troubles: not sure exactly which but I think we all get the idea lol)

We are also looking for people who can help us get through this together.

In particular, we are urgently looking for [QA (quality control)] and [sound programmer] positions!”

Although the image in the card seems simple, upon closer inspection there are a few things to unpack: the frame around the image closely resembles a console, there’s a small compass-like element, and the most interesting: a “75” at the bottom left. Curiously, their logo features a long line that makes it look like a progress bar, which is at about 3/4 of the way through — so 75%! The funny mention to “birth pain” is also curious… one would think this baby game is about to see the light of day!

Could this be an easter egg that tells us Game 4 is entering the last quarter of its development? Only 2024 will tell!

GenDesign’s original post

[landsoflightanddark]

The post-credits scene ends on such an optimistic note...I have to believe they see each other again.

my roman empire is that trico knew exactly where to find the boy and he probably never visited him again because humans were cruel to him once and did not understand their bond, and he knew he had to sacrifice seeing his little best friend so both of them could stay safe for the rest of their lives

[landsoflightanddark]

I played MGS2 for the first time a few weeks ago!

saw this thread on twitter this week and found it pretty cool:

"In the E3 2000 trailer for MGS2, there was a scene not in the main story where Snake fights RAY on a tanker, and Fumito Ueda said that this footage was the inspiration for Shadow of the Colossus."

[landsoflightanddark]

I didn't get to vote on this but, it being kept in a cold area with a fan definitely makes me think it's supposed to resemble a computer, so, a magical artificial intelligence. I don't remember if Ueda alluded to this in the TLG companion book or not.

[landsoflightanddark]

Ico // Shadow of the Colossus // The Last Guardian

The trilogy of illos for Lost in Cult all together!

[landsoflightanddark]

It never ends, like 5 people have seen the new Ueda game and apparently at least one of them was like “Uhhhhh this has got to be Mono”

A new post under r/GamingLeaksAndRumours, where you can often find real information about upcoming games and updates, suggests that GenDesign's new game is set to be revealed this summer.

Upon reading it, I personally suggest taking it with not just a grain, but a full spoon of salt, as this rumour has no source and some things do not seem to add up with what we already know.

Either way, and even if it's fake, it might not be entirely too far from the truth as there's a good chance the summer showcases will be the devs' choice to reveal Game 4. As for the alleged content of the game, I'm skeptical.

What do you guys think?

[landsoflightanddark]

What are your thoughts on Planet of Lana?

I think it looks pretty cool, though I've only seen the first trailer. Clearly there are Ueda similarities there that go beyond having Takeshi Furukawa as a the composer - it, like Ico, seems inspired by Eric Chahi's Another World, which evolved into the subgenre today that I call "Limbo-likes". I worry that it may end up being a little TOO similar to Another World and similar games, and that it won't do anything new. So, I'm gonna wait for some reviews on it. But I'm happy for Furukawa, the dude's having a great period in his career right now.

[landsoflightanddark]

Today we have a State of Play from PlayStation inbound. If we get no new news on genDesign's next game, it's understandable. Anything you're looking forward to apart from perhaps that?

Thanks for the message, sorry I didn't answer in time. There's not too much I'm looking forward to Playstation-wise aside from Death Stranding 2, which we got something on fairly recently so I didn't expect that. The We Love Katamari remaster was already announced at the Nintendo Direct a few weeks ago, and that was the thing recently that I REALLY got hyped about...

Multi-plat stuff I'm looking forward to that's a little more Playstation-Leaning includes Little Devil Inside, Hideki Kamiya's Project GG, Capcom's Pragmata, the game Tchia which did show up during the State of Play, and Kingdom Hearts IV. I'm sure we'll get news on most of those during future State of Plays.

[landsoflightanddark]

OH SHIT THEY SHOT IT DOWN THE TRICOS ARE FREE

[landsoflightanddark]

I'm forever #TeamWander, but I think Dormin is more evil than Emon, so I had to vote for the fourth choice. I never thought that what Wander did was entirely noble, but he did it for love, and suffered the consequences.

Okay, okay, here's the one we've been waiting for, huh?

I'll leave this running for a week.

@icology

[landsoflightanddark]

Have you seen the New Years Greetings card from genDesign for 2023? It doesn't seem like much, but I wonder if they're trying to throw fans off into thinking it'll be more ancient stone ruins. The game seems like it will be tapping into Ueda's sci-fi roots. Really want to know what's up with that gigantic robot carrying it's head and missing 1 arm.

I have seen it.  I doubt they’re trying to do anything with it expect wish their fans a happy new year, as cool as it would’ve been to have another tease.  If Game 4 doesn’t have futuristic elements I’ll be pretty surprised at this point.  It probably will still have plenty of ancient stone ruins too though :P