The Last Guardian has been in development since 2007, and it was officially announced to the gaming public in 2009 during Sony’s E3 conference.
During said conference, Sony announced The Last Guardian would be releasing exclusively for the PS3 in 2011, though when the time came, Team Ico’s ambitious project was nowhere to be seen.
It’s become a bit of a running joke within the gaming community and every year patient fans share a prayer that it’ll finally get a proper showing at the annual E3 trade show with a solid release date attached.
Disappointment has never been so regular.
We’ve not seen hide-nor-hair from the Sony exclusive in years, though we’ve been assured by Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida that the game is still on track to release and that development couldn’t be better.
So, could this be the year? Could 2015 be the year that The Last Guardian is finally unveiled for real? Maybe, just maybe.
Now, I don’t want to get people too excited and I’d hate to be the one to deliver false information, so consider everything from here on in complete rumour.
A user on NeoGaf recently posted a teasing comment on an E3 thread, simply stating “great news for TLG (The Last Guardian) fans.”
As expected, NeoGaf responded how NeoGaf usually does: with skepticism, and lots of it.
It turns out the user has been registered on the site for quite a while but, up until now at least, he/she had remained a silent member. It’s a bold move to make such an outrageous claim in one’s first post on the site.
For those not in the know, NeoGaf is extremely selective with their members, and anybody claiming to have inside knowledge gets vetted by the site’s moderators – it’s the best way to stop the proverbial crap from spreading.
Now normally this kind of first post would result in a user being banned outright for stirring the pot. What’s odd is that this user, going by the name of Zoetis, hasn’t been banned by the site moderators.
The plot thickens. The user in question was asked outright by a fellow site member who they are and if The Last Guardian would be at this year’s E3 show.
As far as leaks go, it’s usually in the leakers best interest to remain anonymous, lest they be stung by the company they work for.
“Yes, and stop asking who i’m [sic] it’s the most dumb question,” said Zoetis, going on with “you people think I can just tell everything in this modern world where people get fired from left and right.”
So, the user has explicitly stated that The Last Guardian will be at this year’s E3, but hasn’t revealed his/her identity for fear of ending up down at the Job Centre Monday morning. Fair enough, but we’re still stocking up on salt.
Now, the next part is probably the most intriguing. An actual insider who has a decent track record, Kagari, asked if the user could send her a PM to reveal who they are.
Kagari seemingly got a reply as her addition of “Hmm. Okay then,” shortly afterwards was met with jubilation from the NeoGaf site users.
It’s also worth noting that Kagari, the lady who has been known to have good inside information in the past, also stated that there are “a lot of rumblings about the game showing up that I heard as well. But like anything, things can change – even super last minute. But I do think it’ll finally resurface this year. It’s been pushed back several times already.”
Again, it’s far from confirmation and it’s categorically being classified as a rumour around these parts.
Personally, I don’t know what to believe. I want to believe that fans will be rewarded for their patience by getting a full-on reveal at E3, but at the same time caution must be taken to avoid disappointment.
Still, the user in question not being outright banned, even after being vetted by the NeoGaf moderators (and they’re known for being extremely strict when it comes to this sort of thing,) has to mean something.
Now this may be reaching, but the name Zoetis may even be a bit of a clue, at least according to one NeoGaf user. Zoetis Inc is a a medical company that provides health care to animals. The Last Guardian is a story about a boy and a great big animal who, from what we saw during the initial reveal (and in the image above) is injured and goes on an adventure with the young boy. Coincidence? Maybe, but it’s worth thinking about. Then again, it does sound a bit tin-foil hats.
Going forward, it’s probably best to manage our expectations by hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. Hey, even if The Last Guardian isn’t shown at E3, it’s not the only trade show of the year and there’s a ton of other stuff to come this June.
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