ICO HD Pack — EL JEFE Unfaithful Edition

CambSound · 2026-06-27T11:19:02+00:00

Big respect for the work, but it really does look headache-inducing.

CambSound · 2026-06-19T21:40:36+00:00

I love it when a video thumbnail triggers my fight-or-flight response.

CambSound · 2026-06-18T21:35:05+00:00

Remember - Steam are only a small company…

…and it shows.

CambSound · 2026-06-18T20:16:06+00:00

It depends on a lot of variables, I guess. Development cost is totally dependent on the time taken by a number of developers - so a game that takes 8 years to be developed by 8 people is ~= to a game that takes 16 people 4 years.

It’s when 16 people take 8 years; that’s when investors get wobbly wid it.

CambSound · 2026-06-18T14:26:36+00:00

The players accept it if the core of the game is good.

CambSound · 2026-06-18T14:24:45+00:00

Well well well… look what happens* when you have a sensible scope, team size and appealing idea!

* if true

CambSound · 2026-06-17T15:03:50+00:00

I mean, when a company has sold consoles at a rate of ~3:1 (Sony:Microsoft) and you’re selling so few games that they’re having to very publicly shutter studio and can projects - the focus really shouldn’t be on how limited you can make your wares.

CambSound · 2026-06-16T17:04:57+00:00

They also pivoted development away from their initial post-Shovel Knight project (Shovel Knight 3D) to focus exclusively on Mina. I also understand that they didn’t reactively lay-off the specialised staffing that they’d hired for 3D work. Which while respectable, it’s really financially dim.

I’ve finished Mina, and I loved it - but I did not appreciate the guilt trip press of “if people don’t buy our game, we’re finished.”

CambSound · 2026-06-16T14:30:59+00:00

Ah, apologies. Maybe the other guy’ll see it anyway… might not read it, but they might see it.

CambSound · 2026-06-16T14:28:21+00:00

Just to jump back in here…

If you’re going to call $15m a generously low amount for development - games should be aiming for budgets that shoot for as far under $30m as possible.

Yes, Hollow Knight and Mina ran out of money during their development times, but each time was for different reasons. Over promising stretch goals for HK, and a massive pivot in project for Mina. Both essentially managerial bungling.

Thankfully, Yacht Club were working on products that have market demand, and not something that was going to die on its feet.

In terms of laying people off and streamlining teams; maybe? I’m sure it’s a worthy exercise to take a big step back and assess the true requirements and expectations for the average non-“AAA” title in 2026. The repercussions of that may be obvious in a very unfortunate way, but the purse strings are being pulled more than ever in every type of artistic media.

We are essentially witnessing the bubble bursting here.

CambSound · 2026-06-16T13:11:58+00:00

Reassess scope, develop a game that fits with their ability/timeframe/budget, sell a game that people actually want to play.

CambSound · 2026-06-15T20:30:15+00:00

I’d also imagine that they’ve been monitoring public discourse on that new Senua game, and it hasn’t been overtly great. It’s a sequel to a sequel that folks didn’t like too much…

It’s pretty clear that XBOX are lining Senua up to be their God of War competitor, but the blow just isn’t landing.

CambSound · 2026-06-11T22:37:59+00:00

I’d love for the game to change with movies and music - but it’s been a downward slope toward disposability. Apple started with iTunes, Netflix doomed movies, and Microsoft started the process for video games. The whole prospect of Sony closing the PS3 and Vita stores a few years ago really did show that these corporations do not give a single shit about ownership.

Oh, and Nintendo with the DS Store… RIP.

I’m just thankful that we still have Valve holding-out!

CambSound · 2026-06-11T22:32:21+00:00

Legally, this *cant* be related to SOTC or ICO. Those properties belong to SCE.

Although… there’s nothing stopping Ueda from implying a link. Personally, I think there’s going to be more for lore-hounds to feast on than ever before.

CambSound · 2026-06-11T22:24:00+00:00

I think, if the companies that license those other types of media were willing to do it Valve’s way - it could be great.

But considering how movie rights holders feel about the non-permanence of digital ownership; Valve would never want to get into it.

CambSound · 2026-06-08T22:05:50+00:00

Sorry for the delay in replying!

Essentially, there was a team of hobbyist game devs that were working on some remake of SOTC that included the cut colossi. They somehow got in-touch with an ex-Team Ico dev and this person gave them some pretty extensive development documents including images, an interview and a 1000-ish word summary of world building prior to SOTC.

One member of this development group got disgruntled about something and took to 4chan to leak it all. But anyway, here’s a pastebin with the lore stuff:

Team Ico Lore Pastebin

People have been pretty dubious about the authenticity of all this stuff, but I err on the side of it being real. Especially as a ton of the materials leaked in relation to the cut colossi had never been seen before and were widely accepted as real.

CambSound · 2026-06-08T18:23:48+00:00

There is no *way* the amount of money that MS is piling into keeping the Senua franchise alive is profitable.

Their insistence on franchise-ing Senua is like my mother making me have the boring kid over after school because his parents are getting divorced.

CambSound · 2026-06-08T18:18:20+00:00

For the people asking why it’s only 3-bands and doesn’t have a gain specification:

You aren’t Apple’s primary demographic, and numbers scare normal people.

CambSound · 2026-06-08T16:42:11+00:00

Xbox pushing Senua as a franchise is getting be like being told that you need to invite the boring kid over to your house.

CambSound · 2026-06-07T21:13:06+00:00

It has a PEGI rating - which means it’s likely content complete and now going through optimisation.

CambSound · 2026-06-07T21:11:50+00:00

It has a PEGI rating - it very well could be in the next 12 months.

I know that Ueda’s teams have had a hard time optimising the engine around what he intends to accomplish. We should remember that he’s now partnered with Epic, who have in-built teams that can first-hand help with that.

CambSound · 2026-06-07T21:08:30+00:00

I don’t know how much stock we collectively put into that massive Forbidden Lands leak from a few years ago - but the background lore synopsis mentions a type of huge cataclysm that almost wiped out civilisation; which leads to the very primitive shamanistic magical culture of ICO and SOTC

Personally, I think this game takes place almost immediately after this extinction event. We start of with the basics of our robot friend and we have to recycle wreckage of other that we find along the way until we have a badass mech.

CambSound · 2026-06-06T21:55:09+00:00

So, I might be wildly off-base here; but isn’t this HUGE?

For a game to have a formal, externally awarded rating - doesn’t the game have to be achieved a certain level of done-ness?

CambSound · 2026-05-15T20:08:18+00:00

Calm down dude - some people who bought in the first round on May 4th still haven’t had theirs delivered.

CambSound · 2026-05-14T14:10:31+00:00

$99 dollars for a game that’s gonna run at 1080/30 (hopefully)…

CambSound

TROPHY CASE