Topic: The OFFICIAL Big N rumor thread *bring your own salt*

[TJ Spyke]

I guess I should have clarified and said the reports I have seen, one being the IGN Daily Fix. The point is moot though since we both agree that 4 controllers is not gonna happen.

[BlackNMild2k1]

EA Pushing for Origin to be the Wii U Exclusive Online System?
http://wiiugo.com/exclusive-ea-origin-to-be-a-key-element-of-nintendos-online-strategy/
Trying beat out Valve from getting on the Wii U?

We received a tip from an EA intern with some very interesting information pertaining to the Wii U’s online system. Our source, who wishes to remain anonymous, claims that her information comes from a network engineer whom she is friends with. As with all news from anonymous sources, it’s difficult to determine its authenticity. But what we received sounds plausible and even explains Peter Moore’s relentless excitement for the Wii U.

It’s no secret that EA are helping Nintendo develop the Wii U’s online service. It will allegedly offer voice- and video-chatting support, leaderboards, and detailed friend lists that tell you who’s online and what they’re playing. The service aims to offer greater flexibility to publishers than Xbox Live, and EA . From our source:

Many publishers are happy with Xbox Live’s features, but they aren’t happy with how strict Microsoft’s guidelines are.  Nintendo went with an open flexible approach with online because when Nintendo asked developers/publishers what they wanted in an online service, that was the number one thing they asked for.

But interestingly, EA are supposedly in talks with Nintendo to try and make Origin, their digital games distribution platform, a key element of Nintendo’s online strategy, too. EA would have the chance to bring Origin to the console space and win many new users while Nintendo see it “as an opportunity to rebuild relationships with Western gamers because they feel that only a massive western company such as EA nderstands what is needed to make an online service attractive to western gamers.�

According to our source, EA isn’t the only company looking into bringing its digital distribution platform to the Wii U – Valve, too, are interested in getting Steam onto it. But EA are “aggressively persuading Nintendo to go Origins exclusive with Wii U’s online so they can gain a competitive advantage over Steam.�

Personally I would love to see Steamworks be the base of Nintendo's online, but if they can work out a blend of the 2 under some Nintendo branding that has deals just like Steam but also with full EA & Valve support, then that is perfectly fine with me.

Edit: But i'm sure the "wild west" use your own service approach will work out fine too. Lots of  devs will probably just use Steam once they port over the PC version anyway. EA will be free to use Origin, Ubisoft will probably use theirs and everyone will be happy.

[Ceric]

"Wild West" Like the Gamecube?

[Ymeegod]

I kinda perfer EA's approach with Origin better than Steam.  Some of EA games allow multiple users to one account like Dead Space 2 and Crysis 2--meaing you'll be able to connect online to play co-op modes without having to purchase multiple copies in your own home.  Though BF3 was LIMITED to ONE.

As for as I know Steam limits all it games to ONE though you can install on multiple systems but you can only log in one system at a time.

BTW:  Some of Nintendo's handheld games also have "game" sharing which I support.  Hopefully MK7 has it as well.
 

[BlackNMild2k1]

But any system that Nintendo adopts its going to be customized. It will not just be a straight port of the PC version.
Nintendo will still need to maintain control of the system even if it's just a central hub with access portals to other company specific systems (which is what I meant by a wild west approach).

[BlackNMild2k1]

Is Silicon Knight working on Eternal Darkness 2?
http://kotaku.com/5855314/silicon-knights-cuts-half-of-staff-refocuses-on-one-of-its-most-requested-titles-for-the-next-generation

Just after recent lay-offs, this is what Silicon Knights had to say

"We are currently in discussions with other potential partners. The recent Ontario government funding is tied to future performance targets, spread out over the next 5 years, which we will meet."

Silicon Knights declined to say who the partner was, but said it wasn't Activision, who they worked with on their last game.

"The company is currently refocusing and returning to its roots, working on one of its most requested titles for the next generation,"

I can only think of maybe 2 titles that have been requested from SK at all and that would either be a sequel to Legacy of Kain or a sequel to Eternal Darkness. And since I'm pretty sure no one really cares if they ever finish that Too Human Trilogy or not, and most people have forgotten about LoK, then that leaves only ED2... right?

Besides Nintendo still has a stake in this company and I can't imagine anyone actually jumping at a chance to work with them considering the lackluster reception of their last few games. It's in Nintendo's best interest to see them succeed enough to dump the shares for a profit.

[Dasmos]

God, I hope this isn't true. I do not trust Silicon Knights to do Eternal Darkness justice. Even though I didn't like the first game (I only played it for the first time a couple of years ago), I could see what it was doing at the time was pretty special. The curred Silicon Knights would have no idea how to do something like that again.

[bustin98]

Didn't Iwata state that one of the things they have to come to grips with is realizing that they aren't experts in everything and have to ask for help from 3rd parties (paraphrased)? Having a 3rd party content delivery system like Origin would streamline a number of concerns, and free Nintendo from certain security issues and allow them to focus on other matters. I'm sure there will be limitations as Nintendo can't do anything without tying at least one hand of the consumer behind their backs, but it would be a step in the right direction.

As for SK, if they do anything for Nintendo, I hope it all passes by Nintendo's quality check all along the development cycle. SK needs a good game to stay alive.

[Mop it up]

I don't really care what kind of system it uses as long as it is still free to play online.

If Legacy of Kain has devoted fans, they're not going to stop requesting a new entry in the series no matter how long it has been. I wouldn't be surprised if it received more requests than for Eternal Darkness.

[ThePerm]

the thing about Eternal Darkness, is that i can get a lot better. Theres a couple of things that held the first one back that wouldn't hold this one back. The other thing that makes it worth wild is Eternal Darkness is some good stuff. Imagine if you were a coal miner and you struck some gold(im speaking critically not commercially), but then you went back over to the other spot where you were only getting coal.

[Chozo Ghost]

Remember how Nintendo didn't want to release the CD-ROM addon for the SNES because it would have given too much control over to Sony? Well, with that being the case I'm surprised Nintendo would even be considering letting EA use their proprietary Origin thing as the online infrastructure for the Wii U. Wouldn't this give too much control to EA? And also, how are the other 3rd parties going to feel about this? Won't companies like Activision and so on be pissed off that EA is getting this special preferential treatment?

[EasyCure]

Remember how Nintendo didn't want to release the CD-ROM addon for the SNES because it would have given too much control over to Sony? Well, with that being the case I'm surprised Nintendo would even be considering letting EA use their proprietary Origin thing as the online infrastructure for the Wii U. Wouldn't this give too much control to EA? And also, how are the other 3rd parties going to feel about this? Won't companies like Activision and so on be pissed off that EA is getting this special preferential treatment?

These were my thoughts exactly, but lately with Nintendo.. You can't really tell what they're going to do.

[BlackNMild2k1]

It didn't say Nintendo was considering it, it said that EA was "aggressively persuading" as in trying to get Nintendo to agree to it.

But Reggie already stated that Nintendo Online would be a more centralized hub where each Publisher has control over their own portal. EA just wants everyone to go through their portal if they want to be on Wii U. I highly doubt Nintendo would allow that as it goes directly against the plan they already have in place. It would also alienate certain publishers such as Valve, Activision & Ubisoft as they either already have their own system or they have a beef with EA.

Valve has Steamworks
Ubisoft has Ubiplay
Activision has major beef with EA

EA is already a major influence and help with the centralized online "hub" that Nintendo is developing, and I'm sure Nintendo is very grateful for the help, but there is no way I will believe that Nintendo will allow one of the competing publishers (EA) to control the entire digital distribution system on their platform.

[Oblivion]

Can you really trust what Reggie says though?

[Chiramii]

Oh man, If I could transfer my steam collection over to the Wii U... A man can dream, can't he?

[Ymeegod]

I wouldn't be surprised to see SK close within a year or so.   It recieved government funding for crying out loud and that xmen game sales were pretty awful.  Two, they laid off employees which I'm guessing voliates the government program.  Meaning they would have to pay the government back 4+ million back just to start a few program.

Unless Nintendo did buy them out but I can't see that happening since SK burnt that bridge themselves.

[Adrock]

Bringing in people to complete projects and laying them off once they're finished is a pretty standard industry practice. Think of how many people were brought in to complete Super Smash Bros. I doubt Silicon Knights would have laid off all of those people unless they were within their rights and capabilities to do so. And they made a shitty licensed game. WayForward Technologies does that all of the time. I imagine they take on those projects for the paycheck so they can help did projects that they actually care about.

[Chozo Ghost]

Isn't Silicon Knights the ones who were supposed to bring a game called Too Human to the N64 and then the Gamecube before finally releasing it as an xbox 360 exclusive?

[Ymeegod]

Adrock there's an difference, the government PAID them 4 million dollars to hire 65 people.  Not only didn't they hire 65 people (someone stated they hired 30-40) but then they laid them off within a year?  Most buyouts like this states the one recieving the money has to employ a certain amount of employees for a certain length of time (usually 5-10 years) and SK failed to due so.  Most likely SK is going have to file Chapter 7 or 11 because the G-Man coming and he wants his money.

[Adrock]

None of the articles I've read about this have suggested that Silicon Knights is in any kind of financial or legal trouble and honestly, that's the first thing I would have expected since that would get more clicks than a news story reporting layoffs. The gist I get is Silicon Knights is operating exactly as they always have, making a single game every 23 years.

Anyway, if SK is "returning to their roots" my guess would be Eternal Darkness considering how things went down with their departure from the Legacy of Kain series. Dyack and Silicon Knights never bad mouthed Nintendo. If Nintendo wants to appeal to core gamers with Wii U, they could do a lot worse than resurrecting Eternal Darkness with the original team at the helm. That should please many fans clamoring for a sequel though I have no idea where they could possibly take it plot wise without it seeming like they were cheating.

[Ceric]

Remake Eternal Darkness itself.

[Ymeegod]

"is in any kind of financial trouble"

LOL?  You don't qualify for a government handout if you're making money.  Also you're know your hurting when your publisher dumps you again, first MS and now Activision. 

As for the bad blood it has to deal with Too Human going to MS even though Nintendo already gave them years developing th game.  You don't want to hire someone who already burned you once do you? 

Maybe they are working with Konami on making MGS HD. 

[Ymeegod]

"Dyack and Silicon Knights never bad mouthed Nintendo"

He griped about poor sales and how poor Nintendo marketted his games.

[broodwars]

Maybe they are working with Konami on making MGS HD.

To be honest, I was surprised to not see Twin Snakes on the list of games in the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection that just released on PS3, since the original MGS was too old to port to HD.  Maybe Nintendo owns the publishing rights on that game?

As for Silicon Knights, I won't shed a tear for them if they close up shop.  In this industry, you don't spend as much money and take as much time as they do on projects, turn out mediocre to poor product, and expect to still be in business.  They've had some good ideas and concepts from time to time, but if another company like Nintendo or Konami has to prop them up to create anything approaching a worthwhile product (and even then, their work doesn't approach the quality of something like a Retro Studios game), they're not worth keeping.  A company with a longer history of quality product should buy out the IPs and the staff worth keeping, and get rid of the rest.

[Ymeegod]

Found out something, it's not going be Kain or Soul Reaver, Crystal Dynamics owns the IP.

And what's funny is how even the few that remained in SK are branching out to other developers looking for work.  This developer is pretty much dead as it gets.

8+ million on loans from various government program within the last 18 months and poor sales of Xmen = goodbye SK.