Sony trots out The Last Guardian at E3, promises to release it in 2016

Sony opened its E3 press conference this evening with footage of Team Ico and Sony Japan's The Last Guardian, which is believed to have been in development since 2007.

"You don't know how long I have waited for this moment," said Sony's Shuhei Yoshida after taking the stage following what appeared to be fresh gameplay footage of The Last Guardian. He went on to say that the game would see release on PlayStation 4 in 2016, and developers may appreciate that Yoshida took a moment to publicly thank director Fumito Ueda, who stood up in the crowd and waved politely.

Ueda gave up his position as a full-time Sony employee in 2011 to become a contractor working on The Last Guardian. In the following year it came to light that the game's development was facing significant technical problems and number of Sony's Western studios were pitching in to help get it out the door.