He described himself as a very inquisitive child saying "I enjoyed catching and keeping living things, such as fish or birds. Other than that, I liked both watching and making animation. Basically, I seemed to be interested in things that moved." At school, his favorite subjects included art, which still plays an active role in Ueda's life and could have wound up being his career. "If I was not in the games industry, I would want to become a classical artist. Though I regard not only games but also anything that expresses something - be it films, novels or manga - as forms of art."
His games have achieved popular cult status and are distinguished by a severe economy of plot and scenario, illustrated with overexposed, desaturated light and sparse dialogue. This approach, which he describes as "design by subtraction," lends his work an existential tone.
In February 2007, Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu reported that Ueda and his team were working on a new game for the Playstation 3. No details about the unnamed title were revealed.
The genesis of Ico
Among other tools, Ueda was an owner of the Commodore Amiga computers (A500 first then A4000). This is uncommon in Japan where this range of computers was not very popular. During these years he learned to use Newtek Lightwave, and eventually the first mock-ups and testbeds for Ico were created with Lightwave 3D.
