LOS ANGELES--The Last Guardian will ship "when it is absolutely ready," Sony senior vice president of product development Scott Rohde told GameSpot this afternoon. The executive explained that the long-in-development action game was not at E3 this year because developer Team Ico is focused on building the best game possible. The Last Guardian has been a long time coming.

　　"I will not give you a detailed update, but I will say one thing. It goes back in my mind to innovation and to gamers and to quality," he said. "That title is going to ship when it is absolutely ready."

　　Rohde went on to explain that Sony has no deadline whatsoever for The Last Guardian.

　　"And I think that's a really important thing to remember, that it would be very easy to ship a game when it's not quite ready because we need to meet a business plan," he said. "Gamers are first. And the experience that we provide is first. And that's why we're going to talk about that game when we're ready to talk about it."

　　The last official word Sony gave on The Last Guardian came in February, when Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida said development on the game has been "tough."

　　Formally announced at the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo, The Last Guardian tells a boy-and-his-dog tale, where the dog is a giant feathered, yet seemingly amiable, beast. Team Ico has not been forthcoming with specific plot details, but gameplay will involve the boy manipulating his companion to navigate a variety of environmental puzzles.