Exact same thing going on here. Myself and 2 friends playing. First strange thing was that one of us was seeing different things than the other two of us were. Then about 5 minutes ago it just froze - exactly like you describe.
What the heck is going on over at ICO?!?
We never had problems like this before Diplomacy, but then again we haven't played in a while and are diving back in with Diplomacy.
C'mon ICO - its not like this is "new."