Back in 2001, I had picked up a Jampack Summer demo disc. After checking out the demos available, I came across a game I hadn’t heard of before and it turned out to be the shining star of that demo disc. That game was ICO. The demo had me immediately smitten with the first title coming out of the new studio, Team ICO.

When ICO was finally released in September of 2001, it was a day one purchase. From that point on, I eagerly awaited their next title. When the first details of Shadow of Colossus was shown the gaming community was in a frenzy. And when it finally dropped in October of 2005 the game received rave reviews, and for good reason.

Ever since then PlayStation fans have been drooling for any bit of info they could get on Team ICO’s first leap into the next generation of PlayStation with the PS3. We have seen what they had done with the limited PlayStation 2 hardware, so having resources such as the cell, and blu-ray fans are expecting an even more impressive showing this time around.

Team ICO is led by famed game designer Fumito Ueda. Ueda, being scheduled to speak at this years GDC back in March, had fans awaiting some type of announcement. However nothing was shown. When Ueda was asked about the upcoming project, he had this to say…

The Japan studio bosses are here so I can’t say anything specific, but it might be something similar to what’s been done. … The essence of the game is rather close to ‘Ico.

– Fumito Ueda, Team ICO, GDC 2009

Up until now, the only image that has been released about Team ICO’s next game is a single image of a chain hanging down what appears to be a well. Today we help lift the curtain off of this project a bit and shed some light on what Fumito Ueda has been up to these past few years and as you will see, it is rather close to ICO.

This is very early footage the next game from Team ICO. As with most early footage you can expect graphical enhancements for the final product. Some of these elements, such as the main character, or scenarios you see here may not make the final cut.

Related: Team ICO’s Project Trico Screenshots