Here's the text from that early EGM report. Credit goes to Oddsville for posting this, although I believe MojoMan also posted it independently.
“Brace yourself, because it's a little... well, weird. Apparently, it involves a half-monkey, half-horse, centaurish main character who's got a psychic connection to (get redy for it...) his boat. Yes, I said boat. Your job is to transport some "things" down a river in said boat. The monkey-horse man and his talking thinking sentient boat have a gameplay relationship.....”
Hilariously, Xavier was the first person to respond to this. He said:
As for Paul O'Connor's designer diaries, simply search the Forums. I have a vivid memory of having posted the link for someone else before.