Before 2012 rushes upon us we wanted to take a moment to say Happy Holidays from everyone here at the Naughty Dog kennel!

As you can see from our holiday card we’ve welcomed Joel and Ellie from The Last of Us into our cast of characters to play among with Drake, Sully, Elena, Chloe, and our UNCHARTED personalities. The year has brought about tremendous change as Naughty Dog has grown into a two team studio for the first time in our 17 year history. This shift is terrifically exciting as it signals an expanded talent pool in which we can share ideas, know-how, and techniques. As future projects evolve, we will continue to strive to maintain our high Naughty Dog standards and always endeavor to do whatever it takes to raise the bar for gaming.
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It’s almost here! With the release of ICO & Shadow of the Colossus HD Classics coming this week, I hope you guys are as excited as I am to be able to help Yorda escape the castle with ICO and, as Wanda, to take down some massive Colossi in full HD (and 3D for those of you lucky enough to have a 3D TV).

ICO & Shadow of the Colossus are two of my favourite games with some of the most innovative gameplay and beautiful art direction seen in gaming to this day. If you missed them first time around or if you don’t know anything about these games, don’t just take my word for how great they are; we’re currently running at a metacritic of 90% (at time of posting), based on 32 reviews. Some of which I’ve added below (please forgive me on the quote translation):

10/10 – VideoGamer.com

“You’ll be rewarded with an experience that will stay with you for a very long time. For under £30, you’ll be picking up two of the most important games ever made.”

9.5/10 – Vandal.net

“A must-buy for anyone with a passion for video games.”

9.5/10 – Multiplayer.it

“Two works of art for less than the price of one game”

9/10 – Eurogamer.net

“This HD collection is such a delight.”

9/10 – gameover.gr

“Two masterpieces / clear proof that games can be art”

9/10 – gamereactor.se

“Do yourself a favour now, and get this collection”

9/10 – CVG

“Two PS2 legends; one epic PS3 makeover”

9/10 – meristation.com

“Gaming poetry, now in HD and 3D”

ICO & Shadow of the Colossus are true gaming masterpieces created and developed by the amazing team headed up by gaming luminary Fumito Ueda. Along with the two dynamic themes (one for ICO and one for Shadow of the Colossus), for fans of Ueda-san we’ve also included two videos which are available via an in-pack voucher.

The first video is an original concept video for NICO. NICO was originally planned to be spiritual successor to ICO and was an online game where teams of Colossus hunters would track, battle and take down huge Colossi together. The core gaming experience and ideas ultimately became what we now know as Shadow of the Colossus.

There’s also a 12-minute behind-the-scenes video filmed on location by our US colleagues at the Sony Japan offices in Shinagawa. This video features interviews with key production staff members about the making of ICO, Shadow of the Colossus and, of course, The Last Guardian. The video includes the team’s thoughts on the HD Classics, as well as concept art and prototype footage of all three games. Plus you’ll get to see some exclusive never-before-seen footage from The Last Guardian.

Below is a short preview of the videos, to give you an idea of what to expect

Unfortunately, due to some technical issues, you will not be able to download this extra content using the in-pack voucher until Monday 10th October. Please accept our sincerest apologies.

Finally, thanks for reading this post and be sure to pick up your copy when it’s out in stores this week.

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It’s been a while since we’ve updated you on the remastered ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Collection, but we did want to remind you about its upcoming launch on September 28th! As a special treat, we’re proud to unveil the final box art and inside packaging for the collection, depicting stylised artwork from both titles. In addition to full 1080p HD, stereoscopic 3D support, and 7.1 surround sound, we are also including some exclusive video content featuring gaming visionary Fumito Ueda available via an in-pack voucher to enable you to download from the PlayStation Store. Full details are available here.

Additionally, we wanted to confirm that The Last Guardian is not on the schedule for this year’s Tokyo Game Show. However we can assure you that Ueda-san and the rest of the development team are hard at work to bring his lofty vision to life and deliver the very best gaming experience possible.

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ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Collection is coming this September 28th and I wanted to take this opportunity to give you a little more detail on the bonus content we announced last month, as well as giving fanc a sneak peak at the trophies for both ICO & Shadow of the Colossus.

We will be including two dynamic themes for your PS3, designed by the team (one designed around ICO and Yorda and one designed around Shadow of the Colossus).

We are also including some exclusive video content featuring gaming visionary Fumito Ueda. All items will be available via an in-pack voucher enabling you to download the content from the PlayStation Store.

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We’re just a few short months away from the release of the ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Collection for PlayStation 3. As mentioned in the original announcement, this new collection features two of the most highly acclaimed video games of all time, now with full 1080p HD and stereoscopic 3D support, 7.1 surround sound, and full PSN Trophy support.

As if that wasn’t enough reason to pick up this collection in September, I’m happy to announce that the disc will also come with some amazing bonus content. Packed in every new copy of the game will be a voucher for two XMB Dynamic Themes, one for ICO and one for Shadow of the Colossus. In addition, on the disc itself will be a ton of exclusive video content from ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, and The Last Guardian that fans won’t want to miss. We’re busy finalizing the videos as we speak, and will have more details to share next month.

Don’t forget to pre-order your copy before it hits stores on 28th September 2011!

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