Ico Spawns Japanese Novel

Thanks to Tokyopia for pointing out the Japanese debut of a novel based on cult PlayStation 2 title ICO, as created by "Japan noir" author Miyuki Miyabe. There's discussion of the book's contents over on GameFAQs, with a reader explaining the plot as involving "the village Ico comes from, their rituals and beliefs, and the birth of Ico... [and then includes] the game part... then an epilogue about what happens to the two [after the game]", and noting "It sounds like [Miyabe] asked for permission to write the novel", as opposed to vice versa. The discussion also warns the book shouldn't be confused with an Italian-language non-fiction analysis of ICO from Ben Mottershead, due out in September.

Oh, No?

[FlipmodePlaya]

The summary says: 'unfortunately, neither of these titles have confirmed English-language versions yet.'

While the site for the Italian analytical book says: 'Italian releases only, English version of Ludologica coming soon. All the books are currently on sale at iBS.'

Perhaps that isn't confirmation, but for those who want it in English, I think you'll get it.

Re:Oh, No?

[simoniker]

Good point - I've removed that sentence from the summary, to avoid confusion.

Re:Oh, No?

[darniil]

Something like this was inevitable, considering how those few people who loved the game also tended to want to know more about it. I guess this means I can stop writing my ICO fanfic, as, from the sounds of this article, my fanfic and this novel will be covering the same topics.

About the Game

[mv2s]

I guess something should be said about the game, since it didn't get a lot of press when it was released in 2001: it's a unique action/adventure title for PS2 that got great reviews [gamerankings.com] (91% average), and was nominated for or won a bunch of awards [interactive.org], but didn't sell very well. It's still available [ebgames.com], though getting harder to find.

Penny Arcade

[sjohnson]

I believe Ico was also a favorite at Penny Arcade. They tend to have pretty good taste, IMO. Found three related comics in their archive:

here [penny-arcade.com]
here [penny-arcade.com]
and here [penny-arcade.com]

Buy it off E-bay

[mekkab]

Such a great game. Its quick though- you could finish it in a day if you wanted to. But really, you should just savor the experience.