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Thanks to Insert Credit for its GDC 2004 in-depth feature, in which last week's Game Developer's Conference is alternatively analyzed, from basic impressions ("the GDC's show floor was even more low-key than last year, with few real surprises") through lectures on game criticism ("Certainly it was a bit dry, and filled with references to Foucault and Baudrillard... But it was an excellent discussion of the pitfalls and potential methodologies of extraditing oneself from the trenches of the 'technical review'"), through American Idol 'star' William Hung's appearance caterwauling to PS2 music game SingStar ("even if you have a record deal; even if you don't quite understand your fame; even if thousands of women profess to want to be your wife -- Mom is still Mom.")
My brother went to the GDC and he said Sony brought Hung out (with much fanfare) to demonstrate the dancing game Groove that works with the Eyetoy (the PS2 add-on camera.)
-- dR.fuZZo
Designers wanted to know: how did ICO become great? Perhaps there was a secret method or ingredient they could tap, to transform their rough creations into timeless masterpieces.
To the frustration of many, however, it seems that ICO was always great; from the beginning of its development process, to the end.
This is not the impression I got from 1up's coverage of the same lecture. The impression I got was that, from an aesthetic standpoint at least, Ico was a disaster narrowly averted.
For one, Ico used to be a PS1 game. Can you imagine Ico on the PS1, with its nasty 1994-era affine polygon rasterizer, and without the gorgeous lighting system that the PS2 enabled? Admittedly, "don't make PS1 games" isn't very helpful advice for today's designers, but considering the importance of aesthetics on Ico's impact, I would not have considered a PS1 version of Ico "great."
Also, consider the following elements, which 1up describes as having been part of Ico at some point in the past: Yorda with horns, pigtails, in a purple dress, and speaking a language you understand. Ico battling human soldiers, with a health-meter. Cut-scenes involving attack robots. (!?) Fumito Ueda and Kenji Kaido clearly made the right decision in removing these from the mix.
William Hung was performing to the upcoming "EyeToy Groove" game. Having attended, I can tell you it was a dancing game, he was just singing along with it for fun. "SingStar" actually detects your pitch, much like Harmonix Music's "Karaoke Revolution".