For a game that began development all the way back in 2007, getting delayed about a month or so before release shouldn't come as a big surprise. If anything, it makes sense. The Last Guardian for PlayStation 4 from the creator of Ico (2001) and Shadow of the Colossus (2005) re-emerged from development hell at E3 2015, much to the amazement and delight of PlayStation fans. After being missing in action for years, one more delay that pushes the release date from late October to December 7 ain't so bad.

Especially when that time will be used to iron out bugs and ensure a more polished version of the game. The announcement was made over at the official PlayStation Blog, by none other than Sony President of Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida.

The Last Guardian development team is fast-approaching major milestones in production and has made the tough decision to delay the release of The Last Guardian by a few weeks. The Last Guardian will launch on 7th December 2016, across Europe and 9th December 2016 across UK & Ireland.

Fumito Ueda, gen DESIGN and JAPAN Studio have a wonderful vision for The Last Guardian’s touching, emotional journey of friendship and trust, and we want to deliver the most polished experience possible for our fans who have supported us for so long.

A delay is a difficult decision, particularly with this game, but we have encountered more bugs than anticipated while in the final stages of development. To ensure that The Last Guardian delivers on the experience that the game’s creators have envisioned, we need to take the extra time to work on those issues.

Team Ico's majestic third game, The Last Guardian, has been looking full of nothing but fantastical promise since its unveiling in 2009. However with the promise of a great looking game, it has sadly been shrouded by silence on when exactly it would appear, with the last known update nearly one year ago confirming that it still existed.

While we continue to twiddle our thumbs hoping for an eventual release, freelance contributor and previous Sony Computer Entertainment Japan Studio employee Fumito Ueda has revealed via his website that the game is indeed still in development. Mentioning that the game is still controlled under his creative supervision, Ueda also stated that "details regarding THE LAST GUARDIAN's release is solely decided by Sony Computer Entertainment, not myself" revealing that an official announcement will be coming soon.

While it’s been a long time coming, THE LAST GUARDIAN remains under my creative supervision and is still in development by an incredibly talented team.

Moving forward, it is my intent to continue my involvement with THE LAST GUARDIAN project, as well as pursue new creative projects with a fresh perspective. As I rekindle my passions as a creator, I look forward to seeing where it will take me, and I deeply appreciate your support during this transition.

Hopefully with the mention of an announcement soon we might see something at Sony's upcoming February 20th conference, likely to be the reveal of the next-gen PlayStation 4. Either way, it is simply a waiting game in hope that one day we will see the release of The Last Guardian, but until then you can simply re-watch a video of the game from 2010 embedded below.

Team Ico's majestic third game, The Last Guardian, has been looking full of nothing but fantastical promise since its unveiling in 2009. It features a giant griffin-like creature, that also appears to be young, as well as a child, in stunningly crafted world of ancient ruins and overgrowth. It reeked of the same art-direction and narrative nuance of the studio's first two games, Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, but with a greater sense of design maturity and the PS3's horsepower to boot.

It dropped well and truly off the radar though, and was non-existent at last year's E3 and TGS, leaving us to believe something was amiss with the title, an idea that made us cry a little inside.

Now, thanks to an interview over at Wired, the game is back on the PS3 release agenda with Sony Worldwide Studios boss, Shuhei Yoshida, confirming that the game is still very much in development and that despite rumours to the contrary, the game's visionary director, Fumito Ueda, was still at its helm.

"First, let me set some facts straight. There was a rumour that Ueda had left the company, which we confirmed," he told Wird. "But it’s not like he left the making of The Last Guardian. He’s on top of the game and coming into the office. He could be the person who’s in the office for the longest time. The difference is that he used to be a regular employee. But now we have a contract to define his role. It’s a very special contribution and role that he plays and we agreed, let’s make it more official, more special. That’s the only difference."

He also confirmed that Sony has roped in members from various in-house teams in the US and Europe to help the ailing project get across the completion line.

"Well, you know, it’s not just Santa Monica," he revealed. "We have great tech people in Worldwide Studios. We have a central tech group in the US and the UK so we are giving them whatever help they need. Technically, we have the best engineers in the U.S. and Europe, so these teams are helping them, giving advice."

As far as a release window though, Yoshida was quick to assert they're not quite where the game needs to be, saying that "now it’s making progress, but still not to the level — it’s playable, but not to the point that we can talk about the timing of launch".

Either way, if we don't see something of the game at this year's E3, Gamescom or TGS, I might explode. Watch a video of the game from 2010 embbedded below.

Obviously at these trade events, there are countless games, some awesome, many not (it's the truth). But more often than not there's also a host of really, truly incredible games, and today we were lucky enough to check one of them out.

While our 'session' for The Last Guardian wasn't the normal, controlled and 'planned' type of thing we're used to at said events, we got plenty out of it and walked away from one of the most ardent and creatively driven titles feeling all warm and fuzzy inside - this is going to be one of the most memorable games to come from the mind of Fumito Ueda and will definitely give both Ico and Shadow of the Colossus a run for their money.

Click here for the full preview. Watch the new trailer embedded below, too.

Ahead of a big showing of The Last Guardian at this week's forthcoming Tokyo Game Show, news has come to light a HDified re-release for Team ICO's previous PS2 efforts, ICO and Shadow of the Colossus are PS3 bound, in similar fashion to the God of War Collection, which did the same thing with the first two God of War titles.

Apparently the collection is headed to North America and the UK as of writing this, and we've put in a query locally to Sony AU, but word on the street is March or April next year, so hopefully it coincides with The Last Guardian's release.

Stay tuned for more.