I actually thought it looked a lot like a Hyena at first, but the claws and mini wing does make it look more like a baby griffin without a beak...

In my avatar, its head looks like that of a wolf, I think.

How about: it's a freaking new mix that Ueda came up with? Sheesh! It doesn't have to be anything that already exists even if it resembles something.

It's adorable and beyond incredibly well animated. Hopefully we'll see more of TRICO at E3.

Why are people so set on figuring out what type of creature it is. How about some specualation about the game play or possible stories (I for one am calling it, you raise the thing to an adult and in the end it turns on you- like a cute baby tiger that grows up and eats his master, or you raise it to an adult and in the end the kid dies and you play as it to get revenge)

The other very cat-like thing about it's head is the position of the eyes. Cats have a more binocular eye position compared to dogs. Though dogs eye position is primarily binocular, a cat's is more so because of its jumping and climbing activity, with the consequent need of finely tuned depth perception and ability to judge distance.

@ kungfuian: I don't know Ueda's style, but with a creature that endearing to the player what would make the game a stand out classic is if the game is a bitter-sweet tragedy. It can happen in many ways: The creature turns Cujo and the boy has to put it down (not something I would like to see, too much bitter, not enough sweet and the emotional bond between boy and creature is effectively broken); the creature is mortally wounded and the boy has to put it out of its misery (pretty heart rending if you've ever had personal experience with a pet); the creature dies while saving the boy, either Gandalf style or Boromir style (this would work well on an emotional level too).

A standard happy ending would be fine too, but it would not establish the game as a guaranteed hall of famer.

Premise of the game?The creature is being hunted down for one reason or another by the baddies and the boy is trying to help get it to safety. Perhaps trying to find its way back to its own kind.

Honestly, I don't want to speculate on what type of gameplay we're going to see. Not because I'm not excited to play it, but because I want to be surprised, awed by whatever they come up with.

We're so used to... RPGs, for example, that now even with the most genre bending examples we analyze them before they come out to see whether they're using the elements we want them to use for the combat system, the story, the art style.

One of the exciting things about Team Ico's inventive action/adventure games is that they surprise you with the way they're played. Not necessarily in a big way (colossus pun) -- but in all the little details that make playing the games so unique.

Does it really matter what the creature is? I skipped like 6 pages, and found this silly discussion. Did someone try to rag on the game because of the creature? All I saw was something that looked amazing, scary and loveable.

meh.