Q&A included!

Tomorrow is the launch of Bluepoint's Shadow of the Colossus remake. To get people up to speed on what is new, Sony is holding a live stream event in roughly 30 minutes. This will show off some gamep?lay from the remake along with having staff reflections on the original title and some other fun stuff. It should make ?for a suitable way to get yourself hyped for tomorrow.

PlayStation [Twitter]

The post Sony is holding a Shadow of the Colossus launch str??eam appeared first on Destructoid.

Sharper shadows

The Shadow of the Colossus remake is nearly upon us, so Sony is amping up the hype?? train by taking us behind the scenes with Bluepo?int Studios' work. While each video is short, you do get to understand how Bluepoint approached the project and what its decision was for tackling such a beloved game.

What is a real treat is the interview with composer Kow Otani. Shadow of the Colossus has one of the greatest soundtracks ever recorded, regardless of medi??um, so it is very intriguing to learn about why he chose sp??ecific instruments and what his score was trying to evoke. I really wish we could get a half hour video with just him, but I'll take what I can get.

Remaking a Masterpiece: Shadow of the Colossus for PS4 [YouTube]

SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS – Kow Otani Interview | PS4 [YouTube]

The post Sony tak??es us behind the scenes of the Shadow of the Colossus remake appeared first on Destructoid.

Everything to scale means big things are big

DeviantArt member Andrew McGee has visualized each of the various Colossi from Shadow of the Colossus into one image, showing exactly how they compare to one another in scale. It's a breathtaking image, especially when you consider how large your own char?acter is in comparison, let alone how big these dang things would be in real life. Man, that underground s?till gives me creep-crawly nightmares.

Epic does not begin to describe the scope of all of them together, but if you'd so chose, you can adorn your wall with a poster size print from here, or just check out the hi-res version from Andrew's DeviantArt p?age.

The post Colossal S?hadow of the Colossu?s fan art is just that appeared first on Destructoid.

And a plethora of Activision games are on sale!

Shadow of the Colossus is coming to PlayStation Plus ?this week. Members of Sony's subscription service will have the opportunity to download the high-definition remaster of Team Ico's PlayStation 2 ??masterpiece for free starting tomorrow.

Other treats include a heap of discounted Activision games, highlighted by several classic Spyro and Crash Bandicoot titles for $2.99 apiece and Tony Hawk: Pro Skater HD for just $7.99.

PlayStation ????Plus: Shadow of the Colossus Free for Members [PlayStation Blog]

The post ?Shadow of the C?olossus wanders free on PS Plus this week appeared first on Destructoid.

A nice haul coming in the weeks ahead

There you go again, Sony, making me regret? actually buying things. All my favorite games eventually find their way to PlayStation Plus! Sony's subscription service going to be awesome next month, which I guess is just par for the course, really. Anyway, here's a list of what PS Plus members in North America will have unfettered access to in October:

• Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
• Poker Night 2
• Shadow of the Colossus HD
• Hotline Miami (Cross-Buy)
• Sine Mora (PS Vita)

For folks that aren't yet members, now is an amazing time to come aboard. Sony is serendipitously offering a $10 PSN credit to players that sp?end $50, which just so happens to be roughly the asking price for twelve-month subscription. Yep. You should totally get on that.

PlayStation Plus: October Preview [PlayStation Blog]

The post PS Plu?s October: Free Hotline Miami, Sine ??Mora, Amalur appeared first on Destructoid.

I may have confessed to not being a fan of Team ICO's games, but that doesn't mean I can't celebrate its success. The ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Collection has topped the multiplatform sales chart in North America and Japan. Now that's encouraging!

Team ICO's collection actually managed to knock Gears of War 3 from the top of the chart, shunting it to second place. When you consider that neither ICO nor Shadow of the Colossus were particularly successful back in the PS2 era, this is pretty damn impres??sive. ;

Things like this let me know that gamers can have more varied tastes than just wanting the next Call of Duty. We talk about original games dying and single-player ti?tles getting forced into extinction, but then something like this happens and you can't help feeling that thi??ngs are going to be okay. At least for a while.

Saling The World: ICO & Shadow of the Colossus CollectionHeads Domestic Charts [Gamasutra]

The post ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Collection tops charts! appeared first on Destructoid.

The "videogames as art" movement is a funny thing

Artsy wonks like myself love to wax philosophic about the potential that games have in terms of narration or eliciting meaningful, emotional p??layer response?s. We laud innovative game designers for forcing us to make morally ambiguous choices about ourselves and the characters around us. Unfortunately, games fall short in one crucial, yet easily overlooked, way: they only go half of the distance.

What I mean to say is that while lots of the elements of the game are designed and featured in artistically and culturally relevant ways, a huge part of games is left out of the artistic amalgam: the controls. The controller is the fundamental aspect of videogames as a medium, yet developers and fans alike seem to totally overlook it. Unless the control schema is laughably bad or unnecessarily confusing??, it gets nary a mention.

Even worse, the control scheme is almost exclusively relegated to a basic function and f?ails to convey any sense of artistry or contribute to an overarching metaphor. I'm not talking about good, responsive controls, or button mapping that is particularly intuitive; I mean a control scheme that, in and of itself, has something artistically important to say.

Fumito Ueda's Shadow of the Colossus does just that.

It's hard to appreciate just how creative the control scheme for Shadow of the Colossus is -- particularly in the way it achieves an artistic goal -- without comparing it to other games. To simplify, ponder this question: How does mapping "jump" to the X button contribute to the overarching theme of a game? Well, by and large, it ??doesn't, and that's fine.

However, I want to argue that Wander and Agro's controls contribute in some important way to the artistry of Shadow of the Colossus.

Take the grabbing mechanic, for example. In order for Wander to grab onto things -- ledges, walls, colossi -- the player must hold down the R1 button. The distinction is subtle: you don't just push R1, you have to hold it. The p?hysical associations between holding onto a ledge and holding down th??e R1 button allow the player to always have a connection with Wander.

Similarly, to attack a colossus, the player must press the O button once to raise his sword, and O again to strike. Again, the player is never separated from Wander and controls all hi??s physical actions. That is to say there is never a rift between what's happening on-screen and what's happening in your hand.

Compare this to a game like, say, God of War -- you press X once, and you've killed 8 skeletons, deflowered a virgin, and ransacked a city -- and you realize what a feat Ueda's accomplished. The blurring of the line between Wander and the player becomes particularly important with respect to the titular colossi. Unlike God of War, killing your enemies is far from automatic or easy -- ??it's a concerted effort ?and a pre-meditated choice.

This choice is inherent in the rest of the game as well. You have to find the colossi, ride across an entire continent, and then figure out how to kill them. You have to want them to die. The game forces you to make decisions about whether or not to attack the colossi, a choice you have to make over and over, at each step of the way. Even when you've climbed the colossus, found his weak spot, you have to choose again -- will you push O a second time and strike? Will you push O a last time and actually kill the colossus?

These moments can be incredibly poignant, and I would go as far as to say that Shadow of the Colossus is the only game in?? which "no" is an acceptable answer to those types of questions -- all because of the way the controls are mapped.

When Shadow of the Colossus was released, some reviewers criticized it's controls for being unresponsive or clumsy, especially in regards to Wander's trusty steed, Agro. Treated like a traditional mount, Agro handles with all the grace and precision of a battery acid enema. Most vehicles are relatively straightforward: you get in, get around, and get off. Furthermore, cehicles are usually treated, thematically and mechanically, like extensions of the playable cha?racter -- it's really just a more efficient way to get from point A to point B.

Agro, on the other hand, has muc??h subtler controls. Once you get him pointed in the right direction, just tap X a couple of times and let him do the rest. Agro makes turns, navigates obstacles, and generally keeps himself out of trouble, allowing Wander to enjoy the scenery and shoot arrows at birds, lizards, and the giant colossi that are trying to kill him. However, if you try to "steer" him , he just spazzes out.

Agro's AI and his ability to take care of himself become crucial later in the game, as some colossi are impossible to beat without his help. By giving Agro the necessary for tools him to make decisions while Wander fights enemies, Shadow of the Colossus feels like a one-player co-op campaign. Wander fights the colossus, and his distinct, separate, intelligent partner Agro helps him out. In contrast to Wander's controls, Agro's purposefully put distanc?e between horse and player, reinforcing his individuality and downplaying his ?function.

The implications of such freedom, and the dependence on Agro that the player develops, are far reaching and important. By creating several situations in which the player is dependent on Agro's independence, Shadow of the Colossus forces you to develo??p emotional ties to him. This relationship (coerced or not) lends pathos to both Agro's fall and his triumphant return.

This, in turn, ties into all sorts of overarching themes of the game: loneliness, isolation, and the nature of love and friendship. Granted, other elements in the game also contribute to these themes -- the fact that Agro is the only character with a name, or the sprawling, sparse landscapes -- but Wander and Agro's relationship is, at its core, bas?ed on how Agro is controlled.

What's happened here is that a really well-done gameplay mechanic (fighting the colossi with Agro's help) has engendered and contributed to a very compelling artistic metaphor (friendship). What's even more impressive is that said mechanic, and therefore said metaphor, is dependent on Agro's control scheme. Just let that sink in for a second: the artistic merit of Shadow of the Colossus is inextricably linked to its control setup.

Given that most designers don't seem to give a second thought to the way game characters are controlled (or, in Agro's case, not controlled), this feat is particularly impressive and goes a long way in showcasing the artistry of Shadow of the Colossus and Team Ico's vision.

Sacrificing intuitiveness or gameplay to make an artistic statement is obviously a risky move and a tough decision, but Fumito Ueda made his choice, for better or for worse. For Shadow of the Colossus, I am of t?he firm opinion that it was for better.

[Image by meiwen.]

The post Shadow of the Colossus’ controls are an exercise in art appeared first on Destructoid.