Shadow of the Colossus E3 video

By Tom Bramwell Published 6 June, 2005

See clearly now.

Perhaps the thing we found most exciting on Sony's stand at E3 this year (with the possible exception of Sly Raccoon 3's 3D glasses) was Sony Japan's Shadow of the Colossus, the game that was once known to many of us as NICO.

Playing it was glorious fun, and so we came home and wrote lots of nice words about it including "beautiful", "excited", "intense" and "counting".

But we didn't just play it. We filmed it too! And thanks to the wonders of the Internet (and Eurofiles) we can now offer you that recording - of someone completing the entire demo in one go - in XVID format on Eurofiles here.

It's about 72MB in size, and if you listen carefully you can hear people who aren't us talking in the background. Enjoy!

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (25) Latest comment 7 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Blerk #1 7 years ago

    Are you sure those people aren't you? :-)

  • Galvanizer #2 7 years ago

    Judging by peoples opinions of the original ICO and the anticipation for this game and it's gameplay elements.

    Could this actually be Sony attempt at a Zelda style franchise?

    If it is, they've done an awesome job. To bad the franchise isn't widely cherished amongst PS2 owners like Zelda is amongst GameCube owners.

    It shows potential and is the ONLY 1st-party Sony game I've ever been interested in playing (ok, I wanna play the original too). I really gotta take ok my Ninty fanboy cap one day and get a bloody PS2, just to get the AAA exclusives of course. Those and most of the games Squenix keep on making exclusive for the system.

    Just gotta save the pennies now...

    Getting back on topic. Can anyone confirm as to wether the original ICO played like a Zelda game?

    Thanks for the assistance in advance! :-)

  • Thamuhacha #3 7 years ago

    >Can anyone confirm as to wether the original ICO played like a Zelda game?

    Not in the slightest. No collecting. Very linear. No sub-quests ... no quests, really. Not in any way Zelda-esque IMO.

    Except that the control system for both games is exceptional. And you care about the characters

  • Blerk #4 7 years ago

    Ico is about as 'not Zelda' as you can get. It's more like a puzzle game than anything else.

    It's also absolutely beautiful and one of the best games I have ever, ever played on any platform. I seriously doubt Colossus can best it, but fingers crossed.

  • Galvanizer #5 7 years ago

    ^ Oh... :-O

    Doesn't sound like a Zelda game at all. And yet soo many people like it and it's regarded as one of the best games on PS2.

    I have no idea what it will be like, but I'm even more interested in finding out why this game is soo looked up at by almost everyone that's played it.

    Thanks for clearing things up Thamuhacha & Blerk. Much appreciated. :-)
    Edited by Galvanizer at 06/06/05 @ 11:17

  • Blerk #6 7 years ago

    Also bear in mind that although Colossus is by the same people, it's not a sequel to Ico. It looks similar in graphical style, but there's no 'franchise-building' here because the games are completely unrelated.

  • Galvanizer #7 7 years ago

    So basically the developers go for innovation in games over constant sequals?

    OH MY GOD! Even the developers are awesome! People with views on the games industry like that should be working for Shigeru Miyamoto :-D

  • Blerk #8 7 years ago

    Yep, they're officially 'the best developers ever'. I'd rather they didn't work for Nintendo, though - we'd only end up with Mario in it. :-)

  • absolutezero #9 7 years ago

    Blerk is'nt Colossus set in the same universe as ICO? Im sure I read that they are'nt related in as much as storyline but they are in the same universe and its possible that the little boy with horns will make a cameo.

    Or maybe that was just a teaser trailer or something. That or im confused.

  • symmetry #10 7 years ago

    Oh. My. God.

    /buys PS2.

  • Blerk #11 7 years ago

    Blerk is'nt Colossus set in the same universe as ICO?

    They're not said that officially, as far as I'm aware. Just internet froth until someone who's actually working on the games confirms it.

  • riz23 #12 7 years ago

    I haven't downloaded this video, no bit torrent at work, but I remember seeing a HUD in this game. That's a real shame, I loved the absence of a health bar and other stuff in ICO. I hope they work on getting rid of this.

  • absolutezero #13 7 years ago

    The games to complicated to work without an HUD, and as far as I know the bar is'nt health its balance, helping you to work out when to hold on and when to move on. The circle thing seems to be a measure of power/action of some sort.


    Plus was it just me that was weirded out at Franz bloody Ferdinand playing in the background?

    I also heard the Kingdom Hearts music, and it fits worryingly well with Shadow, still can't wait to sit down and fully immerse myself in it.

  • riz23 #14 7 years ago

    "The games too complicated to work without a HUD" well I don't know if this holds true or not, but surely the way Ico worked without a HUD with intuitive actions such as grabbing ledges is what made Ico so unique. It is thoughtful design that makes great games, not complication. The removal of such obvious 'game' features made Ico totally immersive, as well as a sparse yet effective audio score. To shy away from this in Shadow of the Colossus may break that immersion. Just a thought. I want to love this game as much as I love Ico, and I do sincerely hope they can recreate the magic.

  • RobertFoster #15 7 years ago

    E3 seems bloody loud doesn't it?

  • absolutezero #16 7 years ago

    Saying that I actually think they started out without a HUD at all, but after quite alot of play testing discovered that there was just too much information required. The only un-messy way they could impart that information was through a simple HUD.

    Saying that the completele lack of clutter in ICO is really something special, the beauty of the environment was un-hindered and the immersion into the world was complete.

    Shadow is a different beast though, its alot more action oriented and the design of the game has to reflect that. Im not that much convinced at this time that all the HUD is needed (especially that little circle thing, its quite distracting the way it flickers) but we'll see when the final game is released.

  • Ceatlan #17 7 years ago

    Any chance of getting this video from somewhere that doesn't require f'in torrent ?

  • ekko #18 7 years ago

    ICO and Zelda aren't completely different games, both are action adventures with a heavy puzzle element.

    They both focus on different areas (Zelda, exploring - ICO, puzzle solving) but they both share a similar game mechanic of running around and swinging a sword every so often.

    That's not to say one is better than the other, just what I think. I love them both. Please don't hurt me.

  • Kiigan #19 7 years ago

    Looks fab :)

  • darkmistx #20 7 years ago

    ^ Xbox fanboy alert!

  • Megapocalypse #21 7 years ago

    I really need to get a PS2.

  • bunglebonce #22 7 years ago

    Any chance of getting this video from somewhere that doesn't require f'in torrent ?

    Yeah, is there ever going to be a ftp download facility that was talked about at the time of the redevelopment of the site?

    I'm looking forward to this though, big much.
    Edited by bunglebonce at 08/06/05 @ 09:15

  • rauper Verified Managing Director, Eurogamer Network #23 7 years ago

    bunglebonce: yes, we've been promised it "any day now"

  • bunglebonce #24 7 years ago

    Sounds ace

  • mustardkid #25 7 years ago

    hah haaaa hah.

    whoever was playing colossus in the demo was rubbish.

    on screen promt to wave yr sword in the sunshine and follow where the beam focuses so yeh he holds up his sword then blatently goes in a completely different direction from the foucused sun-rays ...... doh!!! except at one point where he is going in the right direction then inexplicably veers off ... double doh!!!