Video Interview: Wanda and Colossus

Exclusive sit-down with SCEI's Fumito Ueda and Kenji Kaido for a quizzing on the spiritual successor to Ico.

With years of reminders from every corner of gaming media that Ico for PS2 is the critic's all time favourite, you'd hope its spiritual successor will have a much cosier time at retail.

And naturally, sales performance is one issue that prized Sony Computer Entertainment talent, Fumito Ueda and Kenji Kaido, address in Kikizo's latest video interview.

Fumito Ueda, Product Manager, SCEI PDD#1

Wanda and Colossus, tentatively known as Ico 2 in the west, is already shaping up to be a spectacular videogame. You can get a taste of what's in store in our fecent first-hand impressions of the game here, but now we get up close and personal.

Kenji Kaido, Producer, SCEI PDD#1

Ueda-san and Kaido-san, the game's Product Manager and Producer respectively, are without question the brains behind both Ico and Wanda and Colossus, and discuss with us some the ideas and processes that have gone into the making of Ico 2. Expect to learn all about:

•   The team working behind Wanda and Colossus
•   Sales of Ico and sales hopes for W&C
•   Why did Ico have difficulty selling?
•   What makes the relationships in these games so important?
•   What is the nature of the relationship in W&C?
•   Organic collision deformation - what is it?
•   How exactly organic collision deformation enhances gameplay
•   More about the giant monsters and their behaviour
•   How does a large dev team focus on quite personal ideas?
•   Who does most of the emotion come from?
•   And is it possible to take emotions any further in games?

You can expect the usual video goodness you get from interviews around here - including clips of the game - this time in an altogether more digestable ten minute package.

Ueda-san and Kaido-san both seem focussed on bettering their own acclaimed best with Wanda and Colossus. And despite Kaido-san recovering from a heavy night of karaoke before our interview, which we promised we'd not post photos of, these chaps make for a lovely interview too.

This has every chance of being one of the best PS2 games ever made - so learn more now and get downloading.

Adam Doree
Interview conducted by Adam Doree and Alex Wollenschlaeger