The Last Guardian devs 'rebuilding' game, making 'slow progress'

At this point, we've seen more drama surrounding the development of The Last Guardian than we have actual gameplay footage. The next game from Team Ico has been plagued by extensive delays, and was purportedly "canceled" after game designer Fumito Ueda resigned from the company to work as a contractor. With no release date in sight, how is The Last Guardian shaping up?

According to Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida, the game is still "making progress," but adds that it is "slow progress."

"It's still a really important project and a vision we want to see realized," Yoshida told 1UP. "Fumito's vision is really causing a very difficult challenge for the developers, so there's some scrapping and rebuilding -- iteration in the process. That's why [it's taking so long]."

"There have been technical issues and the engineering team is reworking it," Yoshida told Game Informer. "It's playable, but not to the level of when we can say it’s coming."

With the game being overhauled, it seems increasingly likely that The Last Guardian might not even make 2012. Shacknews has always been doubtful of the game's release in 2012--hence its non-appearance on our most anticipated games list.

Speaking about Ueda's relationship with Sony, Yoshida offered this: "If this project goes well -- you know, fingers crossed -- we've worked with him for a long time so yeah I certainly hope we can maintain a relationship." Gamers everywhere are also hoping the game "goes well."