The news yesterday that "Shadow of the Colossus" might be made into a major motion picture, brought to you by at least one of the people behind the recent "Street Fighter" movie, didn't worry me a bit. Watch Lunchtime Video to find out why -- and to look outside my window. (And read the Ben Fritz piece I linked to for a few more details on the film.)

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At the start of the Q&A session during the "Evolving Game Design" panel, Suda51 had questions for his fellow panelist, Fumito Ueda, the lead designer of revered titles "Ico" and "Shadow of the Colossus."

"I think I'll represent everyone here by asking Mr. Ueda: When is your new game going to happen?" Suda said. After some laughter and applause, Ueda replied, "The Japan studio bosses are here so I can't say anything specific, but it might be something similar to what's been done. ... The essence of the game is rather clsoe to 'Ico.'" As Suda asked more questions, Ueda then pleaded, "I can't talk about this anymore! Don't ask anymore questions please! As soon as I stop talking they're going to shoot me!"

Homage? Inspiration? Or a case of Grand Theft 'Shadow'?

Before I played Ubisoft Montreal's magnificent new "Prince of Persia," I saw that comparisons were being drawn between it and Sony's cult favorite PS2 game "Ico." Both games are platformers the present a hero who is accompanied and assisted by a lovely woman. In both games, the mechanic of holding hands in fundamental.

But if you thought the "Prince of Persia" team drew a lot of inspiration from "Ico," then wait until you see how much they drew from the other celebrated game made by Fumito Ueda's team at Sony, "Shadow of the Colossus."

Without going into spoilers, let's look at some striking similarities: Read more...