The game designer told G4 that he is interested in making first-person shooters. Just listen to him say it: “I have an interest in making first-person game.” Ueda cites Valve’s Half-Life series as FPS games he enjoy, remarking that, “Usually, you have to incorporate storytelling with constraints, but the way…[Valve] implemented constraints was something different that I enjoyed, compared to other games.”

But what kind of FPS would Ueda make?

“[If] …you’re in the middle of play, in the middle of the game, then all of a sudden you’re in a cut-scene [and] you’re not supposed to operate at all – that’s not the kind of game I want to do. If there is some other techniques that will not give them that kind of feeling, that’s something I want to implement.”

Hey man, do it, do it, do it.

Currently Ueda and his time are hard at work on the upcoming PS3 exclusive The Last Guardian.

Fumito Ueda’s A Big Half-Life 2 [G4 via Dtoid via Kombo]

Ueda indicated that he will play some role in the creation of the April-announced Shadow of the Colossus movie. The project would turn into a movie the Ueda-directed 2005 PS2 adventure that featured a boy wandering the plains, hunting quiet lumbering beasts. “It won’t be that I’m completely not involved,” he said of the film.

The developer shied away from providing details about the planned movie.

The spring announcement of the Hollywood project was received skeptically among gamers scorched by a film industry that has failed to make good movies about games half as subtle and respected as Shadow of the Colossus. Ueda’s apparent involvement in the film, if significant enough, could calm some of that concern.

Ueda also provided us a minor update on the future of both Shadow of the Colossus and its predecessor, Ico, on modern video game systems. Both games are considered modern classics and are at least thematically linked to Ueda and Team Ico’s next project, The Last Guardian. (Read Ueda talk more about that game.) The recent announcement of a slightly-enhanced port of the PS2 God of War games to the PS3 has compelled gamers to buzz about their hope for a similar compilation port of the PS2’s Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. The developer wants it to happen too.

“I do have an interest in that,” Ueda said during our Friday chat. “Next week, I’ll have a meeting [about the possibility] … But it might not be so easy, because, with both titles we really stretched the limits of the PS2. It’s complex. So it’s not such an easy transfer to the PS3. But I want to discuss it.”

The work of Ueda’s team lives on in many discussions about the best video games of the past decade. At TGS, Ueda gave signs that that work may also have a good future on the big screen and on the PS3 as well.

Yasuhide Kobayashi, the VP of Sony’s Japan Studio, states at the DICE Summit Asia that the game was given an English title so it would appeal to the US and European markets, reports game site Games Industry.

“There are so many issues we have to solve, and the biggest challenge is that the market in Japan is shrinking—the key is gaining success in the US and Europe,” stated the exec. “At the time of the original PlayStation the Japanese market was one third of the global market, and production costs weren’t that high—so we were able to generate profit from that market alone.

“But now we’re in the era of the PlayStation 3, and the Japanese market is only one fifth of the global market—when it comes to production costs, those are swelling, so it means that unless we gain success in the overseas market our studio will go bankrupt,” said Kobayashi. “It’s a crisis we recognise.”

For previously released Team Ico title ICO, Sony experimented with different ways of promoting the game and packaging the title, and the game did sell 270,000 in the US. Kobayashi thinks the game could have done even better: “If the packaging was designed differently, we think it would have sold more—in fact on the internet many people have said that the Japanese version was better.” That last comment should get Team Ico fans hope and comfort. The Last Guardian, it sounds, is in good hands.

Last Guardian game ‘named for US, Europe’ – Kobayashi [Games Industry]

A listener of the Listen Up podcast recently asked the show’s hosts to talk about the poor quality of game endings. The listener was blue over the arguably poor endings of Metal Gear Solid 4 and BioShock.

The hosts debated whether they should lament the state of game endings or delve into the problematic staying power of end-boss-based design.

Neither.

They settled on a more interesting nuance: What about making the most exciting moment of a game not be the very last thing? Maybe that’s a problem?

Here’s Listen Up master of ceremonies Garnett Lee and Gamasutra’s Christian Nutt on the last Listen Up at 1:49:40:

Garnett Lee: The exigency of making the game come together at the end and hitting the [development] milestones was what undermined building out the ultimate end of the game. They were working on the journey, they’re building all this stuff. And then they get toward the end and they’re like: “Oh shit, we’ve got to wrap this thing up. Let’s wrap it up, get it done and get it out…” …If you followed a classic story progression, the end of the game wouldn’t be the climax. You’d have the climax prior to the end of the game and then you would have the rest of the run-out.

Christian Nutt: Ico had a denouement…

Indeed it did, Christian. And the denouement was playable, which is more than one can say about the long post-climactic-end-boss-battle of games like Ocarina of Time or BioShock or just about any Metal Gear.

Most games give the gamer little to experience after the final major battle other than a cut-scene or end credits. An exception — that doesn’t satisfy what’s being called for here — are open world games that continue after their story concludes do. They, in a sense, have denouements, just based on the fact that the player can roam a Fallout 3, Fable II or Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas world after the final narrative confrontation. But that’s not quite the classic way it’s done.

What about going back to visit the home town your game started in? Or chatting with the characters who helped you slay the final boss?

Why is the climax the last thing you play in most games? That’s a good question from Listen Up.

07-17-2009 Listen Up Podcast

The Architect’s Journal have posted a list of what they feel are the top 10 examples of architecture in video games. The list itself is partly tongue-in-cheek, so we can forgive its alarming lack of knowledge of gaming environments (no Ico?), but its point is not to authoritatively catalogue the best buildings.

The point is more likely to simply get you thinking about architecture. To stop thinking of the environment in a game as a level, and appreciate it as a building. Its design, the materials used in its construction, that sort of thing.

May sound a bit naff to many of you, but you want games to be considered art, this is part of the deal.

Top 10: The architecture of computer games (part I) [AJ, thanks Greg!]

Yes, the teaser image did mean something. Everyone’s favourite little horned boy and gaming’s most annoying princess ever join the ranks of Sony properties transformed into adorable little sackboys and girls this week. Now two friends can work together to recreate classic moments from the PlayStation 2 game, with Ico leading the way and Yorda sitting there, staring at him uncomprehendingly, only now you can smack her. Lovely!

Team ICO Pack – Ico and Yorda [Media Molecule - Thanks James!]

Media Molecule has big things planned for LittleBigPlanet, including a batch of new Shadow of the Colossus themed content coming next week.

On June 11th, Team Ico fans will get their first taste of Wander and Colossus Sackboys and Shadow of the Colossus stickers in LittleBigPlanet. Expect something Ico related as well. But if Media Molecule throws in LBP items from the newly announced The Last Guardian, expect the PlayStation Network to buckle.

Stay tuned for more details and cross your fingers for a two-part Agro Sackboy costume.

Shadow of the Colossus Teaser [Media Molecule]

A full-size version of the Ico LittleBigPlanet mash up is available at fan site LittleBigPlanet Central. And yes, it’s legit, as confirmed by Media Molecule themselves.

With E3 right around the corner and the “Project Trico” teaser possibly having blown a show announcement, the timing is… interesting.

LittleBigTeaser [LBP Central via NeoGAF]

First details on the ICO and Shadow of the Colossus developers PlayStation 3 project may have just leaked online, just a few weeks before the game was expected to make an appearance at E3.

The alleged trailer for “Project TRICO,” by way of PlayStation Lifestyle, begins with a scene that might be familiar to followers of Team ICO’s work. The PlayStation developer teased the opening imagery in a job recruiting ad that ran last year. The rest will look completely new.

Project TRICO shows the interaction of a young boy who bears a striking resemblance to the lead character in ICO and a giant animal that looks part feline, part rodent, a giant feathery, furry thing that has clearly had its wings clipped. The trailer shows off possible gameplay mechanics that fit in with previous Team ICO games, namely cooperative platforming.

Project Trico – HD [YouTube]

In honour of Mother’s Day, we celebrate mums in gaming – from the bit parts to the big players. Some are examples of the best parenting you could imagine; and some are so evil, they’re unfit to be called “Mom.” Join us now as we separate the June Cleavers from the Joan Crawfords of video game mothers.

Mothers in… Role-Playing Games
Role-playing games have the highest number of mums of any video game genre. This is because RPGs have huge, sprawling plots with huge, sprawling towns and a huge, sprawling casts of characters who you may or may not encounter depending on how you play the game. In most RPGs, you see mums as non-playable characters in towns, in flashbacks depicting the hero’s reason for revenge. Some RPGs even have them as playable characters or main villains. Sadly, RPGs are also the number one “mom dies” offender, as nearly every RPG features a plucky youth out to avenge a destroyed village that usually has within it a dead mother – or at least one that’s been turned into a monster.

There are way more mothers in RPGs than we could count – especially if you’re going through side quests, all PC RPGs, all Japanese RPGs that were never released in the US, Final Fantasy X-2 and every single optional flashback for every possible playable character. So we’ve populated this list with mums who 1) had the most impact on the game’s main plot or that 2) appear in the game beyond a single expository cut scene. This leaves us mostly with mums who appear in Japanese RPGs; but be sure to apologise to your dead mother in Fallout 3 for us.

Mada, Dragon Quest V – Mother of the main character: Mada gets kidnapped and becomes the subject of his quest.

Matriarch Benezia, Mass Effect – Mother of Liara T’Soni: Benezia is enslaved and later killed by Shepard in battle, but she makes up with Liara right before dying.

Polka’s mum, Eternal Sonata — Mother of Polka: this country lady is very well adjusted to time loops and apparently never taught her daughter not to talk to strange 19th Century composers she might meet while wandering around at night.

Yohn, Suikoden Tactics — Mother of Kyril: Yohn is a mute demon trapped in the wrong world who sticks around to care for her son, even though he doesn’t know who she is for pretty much the whole game.

Gina , Chrono Trigger — Mother of Chrono: In one of the game’s endings, Gina accidentally goes into the time portal, thus restarting the whole plot from the beginning.

Jenova, Final Fantasy VII — Mother of Sephiroth (sorta): Jenova is… an alien? We’re not even sure she’s a she, but “she” spends a lot of time in a jar and looks creepy.

Angeal’s Mother, Crisis Core — Mother of Angeal: This small-town lady is very nice to all of her son’s friends from the army, even the ones that turn evil and cause her matricide.

Queen Brahne, Final Fantasy IX — Mother of the real Princess Garnet and foster mother to her lookalike of the same name: Brahne gets fat, turns evil, tries to kill her adoptive daughter and later repents and dies in Garnet’s arms.

Sarah Sisulart, Lost Odyssey – Mother of Liram: Sarah goes a little crazy and turns herself into an old woman when she thinks her daughter’s been killed, but turns back into a hot nerdy chick when she finds out she has grandkids.

Seth Balmore, Lost Odyssey – Mother of Sed: Seth is immortal, but her son isn’t, which is sort of weird for both of them. But they’re both pirates, so there’s some common ground at least.

Best Mom: Yohn… because she’s selfless as only a mother can be.

Worst Mom: Jenova… because she’s emotionally unavailable. And responsible for Sephiroth.

Mothers in… Fighting Games
Fighting games have a fair few mothers among their playable characters. The plot structure (or lack thereof) leaves room for all kinds of people to enter whatever world championship fighting tournament of the week is going on for various reasons that don’t necessarily make any sense. So if you can have a panda, a geisha, a cyborg and whatever the hell Voldo is supposed to be enter a tournament for personal gain, a mother doesn’t seem like such a weird contender. Here’s a list of a few prominent mommies:

Sophitia, Soulcalibur series – Mother of Patroklos and Pyrrha: Sophitia is an Athenian who fights on behalf of the Greek God, Hephaestus, to regain Soul Edge. The sword entwines itself with her daughter’s spirit, forcing Sophitia to spend eternity defending Soul Edge from anyone who tries to claim it. She’s protecting her daughter.

Michelle Chang, Tekken series – Mother of Julia: Michelle fights in one of the Iron Fist tournaments to rescue her kidnapped mother and then adopts an abandoned baby named Julia. Then Julia goes on to fight in an Iron Fist tournament to save Michelle when Michelle gets kidnapped. Circle of life.

Dural, Virtua Fighter – Mother of Kage: Dural probably started out as a good mum when she was human, but then she got kidnapped and turned into an evil cyborg. That knocks her out of the mum of the Year running.

Jun Kazama, Tekken series – Mother of Jin Kazama: Jun is the Chosen One, a wildlife activist, and a single mum. Over the course of four games, she somehow found time to save pandas, birth a son, thrash a bunch of her extended family and possibly fake her own death or perhaps dies for real when her house burned down.

Nina Williams, Tekken series – Mother of Steve Fox via in-vitro fertilization: Nina is a world class assassin who gives birth to a son while in cryogenic sleep. Though it appears she couldn’t care less that she has offspring, she does neglect to assassinate him. That counts as maternal instinct, right?

Maria, Dead or Alive series – Mother of Helena: Maria is a world class opera singer who had an affair with the head of a sinister corporation. She later took a bullet for her bastard daughter onstage in the middle of an aria… what a way to go.

Crimson Viper, Street Fighter IV – Mother of Lauren: C. Viper is a working mother in the spy profession. Her life’s goal is destroying the weapons produced by a sinister corporation, but somehow she made room in her busy schedule to have a daughter.

Justice, Guilty Gear – Mother of Dizzy: No one’s really sure how it happened – least of all Dizzy, who was found abandoned at age 3.

Best Mom: Maria… because nothing says “Mommy loves you” like taking a sniper’s bullet to the heart.

Worst Mom: Crimson Viper… because she’s a workaholic. Did she even call her kid after fights? No!

Mothers in… Action/Adventure and Survival Horror Games
Here’s where the role of the mother in video games become complicated. Because these types of games usually have a more focused plot than fighting or role playing games, adding a mother usually means casting her in a narrow role that doesn’t include speaking parts. Occasionally, these mums even wind up as antagonists by default. However small their part, though, these mothers sometimes make an appearance worth mentioning. Here are a few notable examples:

The Queen, Ico – Mother of Yorda: She basically had a daughter so she could sacrifice the kid and live a bit longer. I guess some species do eat their own young, but jeez…

Annette Birkin, Resident Evil 2 – Mother of Sherry Birkin: Depending on how you play the game, Annette either hid the G-Virus in her daughter’s locket or cures her daughter of the T-Virus. Either way, she did abandon her kid during a zombie apocalypse. Poor form, mum.

Amelia Croft, Tomb Raider series – Mother of Lara Croft: Like her daughter, Mrs. Croft has issues with touching ancient artifacts she probably shouldn’t. Luckily, Lara learns from her mommy’s mistakes and everybody’s happy… until Lara has to shoot zombie Amelia when they meet up in Underworld.

Mrs. Sanderson, Chibi Robo – Mother of Jenny: Mrs. Sanderson has real marital problems that cause her to lock herself in a bathroom and threaten divorce, leaving all the housework to Jenny and her toy robot.

Ex-Mrs. Hopkins, Bully – Mother of Jimmy Hopkins: This woman lacks both fashion sense and parental priorities. She ditches her kid at a boarding school to run off on a honeymoon with a new husband and then sends Jimmy a fugly sweater at Christmas.

Maggie Monday, Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse – Mother of Andrew Monday: Like Jimmy Hopkins’ mum, Maggie could use some priority adjustment. She lets her son’s city get sacked by zombies and then becomes a zombie herself so she can marry Stubbs. This basically leaves Andrew with a wrecked city and a zombie for a stepfather. Thanks, Mom!

Ma Cipriani, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories – Mother of Toni: Toni never called his Ma while he was in hiding. Given that she dates guys who are into paraphilic infantilism, I can see why. Ma puts a hit out on her son and then calls it off in a fit of maternal pride when Tony finally becomes a made man.

Best Mom: Amelia Croft… because not even good mums get it right all of the time and how was she supposed to know that sword would teleport her, her husband would die and her daughter would be left an orphan?

Worst Mom: The Queen… because what she did to Yorda is way worse than what Joan Crawford did to her daughter. You think being hit with wire hangers is bad? Try being turned to stone.

Mothers in… Shooters
Here’s where you barely see any mums at all. The shooter genre is reserved for masculine things like guns and aliens and spies and other stuff that doesn’t leave much room for maternal influences. You’ll find a lot of dads in shooters, though – but Father’s Day isn’t for another month, so sit tight.

*SPOILER WARNING: BioShock, F.E.A.R. 2, Metal Gear Solid 4*

Jasmine Jolene, BioShock – Mother of Jack: Jasmine was Andrew Ryan’s mistress and a “dancer” which is 60s code for “prostitute.” Even if she didn’t accept money for sexual favours, she was certainly in a hurry to accept money for her freshly-conceived embryo. That’s worse than the fairy tales where parents trade firstborn sons for magical enchantments.

Dr. Bridgette Tenenbaum, BioShock and BioShock 2 – Mother of all the Little Sisters and the Big Sister: Tenenbaum didn’t give birth to any of the poor darlings, but her research created them. She eventually stepped in to foster them and shower them with toys and secondhand cigarette smoke to make up for the brainwashing.

Eva, Metal Gear Solid 4 – Mother of Liquid and Solid Snake (kinda): Eva would have gladly had Naked Snake’s babies the ol’ fashioned way, but the Patriots had other plans. She eventually serves as surrogate mother to the clone babies Liquid and Solid and starts calling herself Big Mamma to compensate for having nothing to do with mothering them.

The Boss, Metal Gear Solid 3 – Mother of Revolver Ocelot and the US Special Forces (which one do you think she’s more proud of?): The Boss probably had no business leading the Battle of Normandy while nine months pregnant. But despite being a bad mum to Ocelot, The Boss wins major motherhood recognition as a Mother Goddess figure to at least half the cast of the Metal Gear Solid series.

Alma Wade, F.E.A.R. and F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin – Mother of Paxton Fettel, Point Man and countless telepathic clone soldiers: Alma became a mother at the tender age of 15 against her will. It’s hard to tell if she harbors any feeling for her offspring conceived in captivity – bloodlust sort of obscures any tender intent. However, in Project Origin, Alma’s grown up a bit and appears to have invested in being mother to the protagonist’s baby, which she deliberately conceives.

Best Mom: The Boss… because out of this sorry lot, she’s easily the best role model.

Worst Mom: Jasmine… because she sold her only son to his father’s enemy before the son was even born. That’s like the opposite of mother-like behaviour.

(Dis)Honorable Mentions
Sora’s mum, Kingdom Hearts — She has one line and the whole first part of the game is about her son trying to build a raft to run away from home. Clearly the parenting thing isn’t working out.
Mother Brain, Metroid — “She,” if that’s what that thing in the jar can be called, is an alien with no maternal feelings whatsoever.
You, Fable II, The Sims games and Harvest Moon games — Even if you play as an upstanding paragon of parental vigilance, you’re going to be guilty of neglect at least half of the time in these games.

At this point, you’re probably wondering why Cooking Mama isn’t anywhere on this list. Apart from the lack of a convenient genre into which to cram the game, there’s no evidence that Cooking Mama is even a mother. Do you see her kids at any point in the game? For all the player knows, she’s just calling herself “Mama” so she doesn’t have to call herself a chef, the poor self-hating hash slinger.

That’s all we’ve got for the best and worst mothers in video games. Think we missed somebody important? Drop a line in the comments. And don’t forget to call your mum on Mother’s Day!