What happens when you find yourself in a beautiful world as a silent protagonist and a non-verbal story? You _might_ end up getting into a "games as art" discussion with a special guest Nick! We're talking about fans of the works of Team ICO (i.e. ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, The Last Guardian)!
Fortunately, we have [Nick Suttner](https://twitter.com/nsuttner), author of [the Boss Fight Books book on the subject](https://bossfightbooks.com/products/shadow-of-the-colossus-by-nick-suttner) to help us out!
## Episode Outline
### Fandom Facts
**History and Origins:**
> Team Ico was a Japanese video game development studio led by game designer Fumito Ueda. It was part of Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Studio's Product Development Department #1, and had developed the games _Ico_ and _Shadow of the Colossus_, both for the PlayStation 2. The team was also initially responsible for _The Last Guardian_ before Ueda's departure in 2011 and the formation of a new company taking over development in 2014. Their games are usually characterized by minimalist storytelling and gameplay, an atmospheric use of bloom and high dynamic range rendering (HDR) lighting, and use of fictional languages. Their products are frequently cited as examples of video games as an art form.
>
> — [Wikipedia - Team Ico](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_Ico)
**Search Data:**
Based on worldwide search data, it looks like [the biggest peaks of interest in the games has already passed](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=%2Fm%2F05zht0,%2Fm%2F0h53djf,%2Fm%2F06404g0). _Shadow of the Colossus_ is by far the most popular of the games and has had spikes in interest around October 2005 (its release date) and again in February 2018 (remake of the original). Interest in _The Last Guardian_ similarly spikes around its release date: December 2016.
The top ten countries, by search volume, are as follows for the different games:
- _Shadow of the Colossus_: Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Japan, Argentina, El Salvador, Canada, Uruguay, Mexico, Spain (United States is 11th)
- _The Last Guardian_: Chile, Brazil, Canada, United Kingdom, Spain, Norway, Puerto Rico, Portugal, United States, New Zealand
### Famous Last Words: [Last Episode](http://fanthropological.com/shrek)
**G:** Were fans thrilled to have the game featured in Adam Sandler's _Rain over me_?
**T:** What are the odds of any of the Team Ico characters showing up in the new Smash?
**Z:** Is there a fan-made concept album where each track represents one of the Colossi you fight in the game?
**Alicia:** Do you like games?
### Main Discussion
**Topics covered in this episode:** TBD
### Spotlight: [Nomad Colossus (Youtube)](https://www.youtube.com/user/Nomad0168/featured)
> _Shadow of the Colossus_ first came out in 2005. Since then, millions of people have played the beloved PS2 game, driven by its lonesome charm, moved by its mysterious ending. But one man never stopped playing, as a result, he's found stuff that the game's creators never intended anyone to see.
>
> The player in question is Michael Lambert, and he's been excavating Shadow of the Colossus for the last four years on his Nomad Colossus YouTube channel. He's used glitches, external software exploits, and excursions into the bowels of SOTC's game code to extensively map the hidden places, unused ideas and unheard music tucked away in the game's hidden corners. With the hours he's spent inside the game, it's entirely possible that Lambert—along with the secret hunters Dark0ssX, Pikol, WWWArea who mentored him—might know Shadow of the Colossus better than lead creator Fumito Ueda and the other men and women who created it.
> — [Kotaku - Meet the Hacker Who's Spent Six Years Inside Shadow Of The Colossus](https://kotaku.com/meet-the-hacker-whos-spent-four-years-inside-shadow-of-1685039483)
### Famous Last Words
Our chance (and yours, if you're watching on [twitch.tv/thenickscast](https://twitch.tv/thenickscast)) to have some (in)famous last words about next week's topic before we've done any prep work! Next week, we'll be talking about the fans and fandom of _Halo_!
**T:** How much of the fandom is non-competitive or curative?
**G:** Did the Halo series draw any inspiration from Starship Troopers?
**Z:**
Is the Halo franchise set up to keep going even though there are no new games on the horizon? Do fans move on after a certain age?
**Nick:** What's up with that talking plant?
[// Interiewed creative direector, shooter controls on console, highwire, VR]: #
[// "What if we had the same david and goliath feeling, but with rocker launchers"]: #
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## What is "Fanthropological"?
Every week, Fanthropological delivers over an hour of fandom-related "fanalysis" covering a different fandom every week and giving you hard data, history, special guests, and, of course, speculation!
We cover topics spanning the gamut of anime, manga, comics, video games, comics, movies, books, television, and, in general, geek culture.
## Credits
- _Ending_: [ReMix: Shadow of the Colossus "Trico Flies"](https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02832) by [Kevin Penkin](https://ocremix.org/artist/11490/kevin-penkin) from [http://ocremix.org](http://ocremix.org) used under [ocremix.org content policy](http://ocremix.org/info/Content_Policy#If_you.27re_using_our_content_elsewhere_.28.22Terms_of_Use.22.29...)
- All other music and sound for this week's episode were provided by Nick Green!
