Fumito Ueda

Alright, lets just compare Team Ico to Naughty Dog.

1. PS3 Exclusive developers, so only one hardware platform to get things working on.

2. They make single-player games, though Naughty Dog also added multi-player that was well-received for two titles.

3. Both studios' games have a certain focus on cinematic events and characters.

4. Set pieces that are jaw dropping in their immensity and playability.

5. Generally well-polished gameplay.

Naughty Dog can crank out three games in six years or so of work, all of them critically praised, and even start development of yet another title (though with a second team) for two whole years in secret. Ueda and Team Ico can't even put one game on shelves in the course of a very long gaming generation, then suddenly and suspiciously their leaders start leaving the company before any sort of release date is even announced for that single product.

I'm fine with an artist taking their sweet time to get things right, but after a while you start to wonder what the fuck they are up to when nothing gets announced and only bad news keeps piling up.

Skyrim

It would take far, far too long to explain why I love this game, and it wouldn't matter because my thoughts have been transcribed elsewhere, and with more intelligence. Suffice it to say that it's my favorite game of the generation, and serves as yet another coincidental example as to why Team Ico needs to get their shit together. Three games in a generation (Oblivion, Fallout 3, and Skyrim), all of them not only well-received, but of such massive scales that most other video games can't compare in that regard. Or maybe it's not that particular team screwing up, but Japanese development practices that don't seem to change and improve over time.

Bah, whatever. I'm mostly pissed because I really want to play The Last Guardian, but the longer it doesn't arrive and the more awesome games come out between now and whenever it does show up, the more that game has to live up to. At some point there's no way a lot people's best first impressions will be summed up as "well, at least it's not a complete mess."