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The Future of Game Design
IGN has the beginnings of an interesting series up entitled The Future of Game Design. The first part of this series covers game design elements that we've seen in the past that the author would like to see show up more often in future games. From the article: "We need better art direction in our games. Not just more polygons or slicker textures, but games with a better sense of visual style. Off the top of my head, one of the first games that really showed a distinct sense of art direction and style in this generation of games was Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus. That game oozed with style, and even though it was simple and quick, it became one of my favorites because the main character, Sly, had real character." As we start to get into Uncanny Valley territory I hope more artists take the approach that Sly and WoW have.
You beat me to it. I love ICO. I'd wager it's one of the best games ever made. I've never had a game that got me so deeply involved in the story.
Sure, I've played things like Doom 3, Half-Life 2, Metal Gear Solid and the like. Sure they are impressive graphically and the action is sometimes intense. But I always felt I was on the outside looking in.
With ICO, I definitely felt as if I were there in person. Even though dragging that princess around was annoying sometimes, you actually began to feel an attachment to the character and even began to worry about her if you had to leave her by herself.
I can't wait for Wanda and the Colossus, the next game from the same team that made ICO.