Naughty Dog has quickly become known as one of the premiere developers this generation when it comes down to excellence and quality. Its two releases, Uncharted and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves were both Game of the Year caliber titles with the sequel winning a handful of accolades in that very category. So, when the team behind those masterpieces comes out and reveals that Ueda’s classic PlayStation 2 title, ICO, is a big inspiration to the team — it’s saying something.
Evan Wells, boss at Naughty Dog, recently described Shadows of the Colossus and Ico as “influential titles in the industry.” In fact, Wells stated it would probably be one of those games as his #1 game of all time.
“They’re pretty different games, but they’ve both influenced the industry tremendously,” said Wells. “ICO’s the kind of game – that linear, narrative-driven experience – that we’re focused on making right now.
“Everyone in the office has been influenced by it greatly; it’s just a fantastic game. Story-driven games are very difficult and costly, but I hope people are now realising how story can really elevate the gaming experience.”
It’s awesome to see Naughty Dog pay respects to the games that have influenced them up to this point. It’s no shock as to why Uncharted has been such a successful franchise if its main influence is classic PlayStation 2 games like ICO. With Uncharted 3 in development, it will definitely be exciting to see how this influences continues its trend through the Naughty Dog studio.
A linear, narrative-driven experience . . . that sounds exactly like Uncharted. 😛
I’m really interesting to see what they’re making. Unfortunately, it probably means Jak 4 is going to be released much later on.
Okay it’s pretty obvious they’re making Uncharted 3 but…..did they ever confirm it?
@TRF game dev’s can always work on 2 project at the same time just look at Sucker punch they are working on infamous 2 and sly 4 look at insomniac
p.s… they dont have to confirm it for it to be real
well, seeing how much i loved ico and shadow of the colossis
just the mear mention of inspiration of those games would be enough to make me skip my research and go straight to buying uncharted3
I expected no less… Ueda’s games are BIG influences on any artist that comes across them.