Our team was always hesitant about believing that The Last Guardian would release in 2011. That’s because Team ICO is renowned for being unusually fastidious when crafting their games.

The PlayStation 2 classic Shadow of the Colossus took four years to make, and nearly six years later we’re still waiting for The Last Guardian.

Unfortunately it looks like we’ll have to wait until next year to get our hands on this highly anticipated PlayStation 3 exclusive. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) just confirmed that it has delayed the release of The Last Guardian to an as yet unspecified date.

The bad news doesn’t end there however. The ICO and Shadow of the Colossus Collection is also being delayed. If you were looking forward to trying out these HD re-mastered games on your PS3 then you’ll no doubt be disappointed by this revelation. I thought something was amiss a few weeks ago when the retailers’ advertised date for the release of this compilation came and went.

The Last Guardian Director/Game Designer, Fumito Ueda, had this to say about the delays:

“I announced at last year’s Tokyo Game Show that the release timing of The Last Guardian which is currently being developed would be holiday 2011. However, to provide more challenging and better quality of content to users and to fulfill First Party Studio’s obligations, I decided to postpone its release timing.

“All the members of my production team are working together at a fast pace to develop and release the game in First Party Studio quality. I sincerely apologize to all the customers who have been waiting for ‘The Last Guardian’ for so long, but I beg for your patience. I will also announce the new release timing at a later time.”

How do you view this unfortunate news? Do you think it’s ethical for studios like Team ICO to put a release date out there, before they’re certain that they can meet this obligation? Or should we, as consumers, protect ourselves from disappointment by taking such studio’s estimated release dates for their games with a pinch of salt?

We’ll bring you news of both games’ updated release dates as soon as they’re officially confirmed. Until then, feel free to browse through our previous coverage of Team ICO’s current projects.