After a long period of radio silence, a cacophony of new information on The Last Guardian has come crashing through the ether. The latest issue of the French magazine PSM3 features an extensive article on the game, including news straight from TLG mastermind Fumito Ueda.

Gamersmint has allegedly managed to secure an issue and translate the article, and has gone public with several of the newsworthy points made in the feature. Not every bullet point is revelatory, but given the starvation rations of TLG news we’ve been made to endure ever since the game failed to make an appearance at E3 2010, any new information is more than welcome.

Take a deep breath, try to remain calm, and take a look at all the juicy new Last Guardian news. Keep in mind, none of this has been verified by Sony. Yet.

Got that? Alright, it’s time to try to digest what we’ve just learned.

The Last Guardian certainly seemed more like Ico than Shadow of the Colossus from the outset, given the clearly central relationship of the boy and the creature, so it’s nice to have that point confirmed. I, for one, won’t miss the overly frequent (and frankly kind of sloppy) figting sequences that occasionally marred Ico, though I hope the news that the boy can’t directly attack guards doen’t mean that stealth is a primary element of TLG. With Ueda promising to carefully balance the game, it’ll probably turn out okay

As to the size of the game, it’s a bit disconcerting to have TLG compared to Ico rather than Shadow of the Colossus. Don’t get me wrong – bigger than Ico is good, as is less confined, but after the majestic expanse of Shadow, not to mention the Gran Turismo 5-esque development time afforded TLG (so far), players may be disappointed if the scale of the game is anything less than grand.

It’s always encouraging to hear about developers sharing technology, especially when a few of the likely suspects – Naughty Dog and Guerrilla Games – have delivered some of the most graphically stunning games ever seen. Of course, we expected TLG to be a big step up graphically (the videos of the game demonstrated as much), but again, it’s nice to have the point confirmed.

A couple of short takes: I’m unconcerned about the music, which I’m sure will be appropriate to the game. And of course Ueda didn’t reveal the identity of the Last Guardian. Did you expect him to?

Finally, there is also the thorny issue of the game’s release date. Good news for Japanese gamers, who can look forward to playing The Last Guardian later this year, but probably bad news for everyone else, who may have to wait until the following spring. This is certainly not what I wanted to hear, but rest assured that whenever TLG does finally hit North America, I’ll be first in line.

Ranters, what do you think of this new Last Guardian news? Were you surprised by any of it? Does it heighten you anticipation for the game?

The Last Guardian is currently in development for the PlayStation 3, with a release scheduled for holiday 2011.

Source: Gamersmint