Topic: Eternal Darkness 2 Marketing Tactic: Reasons

[Bill Aurion]

If it's a hoax then there's no point in talking with the people that could be involved with it, don't you think?  

[Perfect Cell]

Its funny, the question in the latest Mailbag was my question I just wanted to hear the official response from IGN....  I still think its legit and SK is gone, but i dont agree with Matt. He says Nintendo would simply wait till E3. Why? Wouldnt that be negative when they need a positive E3 Showing?  

[Rich]

I've said this before but ill say it again. Silicon Knights only title that Microsoft would look at, is Eternal Darkness and since that wasn't a financial hit and since SK has never had a huge hit and isn't well known outside of hardcore players I have used my knowlegde of MS to conclude that they most likely won't buy SK. I don't think that MS would be too keen on buying SK, especially after the disappointing title Rare made.  

[mouse_clicker]

Heh, at least no one can call me a blind Nintendo fanboy, since I'm directly contradicting something they're saying. Really, I can't fathom how some of you won't even consider it's fake, that you would go against all reason to believe the words of one man and nothing else. I'm not saying it IS a hoax, just that you shouldn't rule it out. I have a great analogy.

Remember that birthday thread Perm made for me a while back, where I said I was 16? Well, I lied- I'm actually 5. Despite the fact that you have absolutely *no* reason to believe me, and every reason *not* to believe me, going by your train of thought you *have* to because I said so. It's straight from the horse's mouth, so you have no choice but to ignore all logic and take what I say as cold hard fact, even though I haven't provided any supporting evidence.

You wouldn't believe, me, would you? So why should you take what IGN and PGC and Gamespot are saying as 100% truth, without even considering the alternative? I'm not saying I'm right and you're wrong, just that you should keep an open mind- there's no reason not to.  

[Bill Aurion]

Call me a blind fanboy if you wish, but it's pretty amazing how adept blind people are in their other senses...

[mouse_clicker]

Quote
Call me a blind fanboy if you wish, but it's pretty amazing how adept blind people are in their other senses...

Damn, Bill, don't make me choose which quote of yours I want in my signature- I'm too wishy washy.

[odifiend]

Bill, see that 'if' at the very beginning of your sentence.
Like many, I believe SK isn't really going anywhere; that they'll continue making GCN and its descendents, probably almost exclusively.  On paper their third party.  But it seems obvious that the break up is real.  
When you first read the comments from IGN or even Johnny, HOAX doesn't jump up and slap you in the face.  You guys have had to think about it- a hell of a lot to even get ground to stand on.  It sounds like denial to me.  Many of you are sticking your fingers in your ears.
-Hey, Nintendo says...
-Nope they're lying...
-But Dyack also says...
-INSANITY FX to the max!

[Bill Aurion]

But to get a definite answer you'd have to assume 1) that this is a hoax or 2) it's not...

Either way, you'd get the same answer from Nintendo...And you'd be nowhere because it doesn't prove one way or the other...That's why  I said, "If"

[mouse_clicker]

Odifiend: READ my analogy. I allow for the posibility for this being real- in fact, it's likely. You know what, though? I don't care at all, because it's a videogame company and I'm not, and haven't, lost any sleep just because one videogame company may not be entirely exclusive anymore. But you're being every bit as close minded as you claim anyone else is, because you're going against any reasoning you have to believe the word of one man.

Quote
But to get a definite answer you'd have to assume 1) that this is a hoax or 2) it's not...

Either way, you'd get the same answer from Nintendo...And you'd be nowhere because it doesn't prove one way or the other...That's why I said, "If"

That's exactly why you can't go balls to the wall and blindly believe Denis or Nintendo. Well said, Bill.

[odifiend]

Retort for Billy:  Duh, Truth Serum! or ask them that if they were the truth telling Nintendo, what would the lying Nintendo respond.

Look at Nintendo's track record for PR.  They either dodge the issue completely or they give you the facts, or a combination of both.  The only joking Nintendo PR speech I've read was the incredibly corny one for Mario Golf.  They're a business and they handle their news like their money.  As they should.  Look how much panic this announcement has instill on these forums alone.  If stock brokers are a fifth as dramatic as some of the people here, Nintendo's stock should be falling now or in the near future.  You know as an online opposer that Nintendo does no f*ck around with their money.  Why would they even chance that?  Remember when Iwata spoke about his philosophy on video games and Nintendo stock immediately fell?  I just don't think a Nintendo PR can afford to confirm a prank just for kicks.  That and they're not cool enough to.
Dyack's questionability, I'll give you cuz he likes to mess with people, but not Nintendo.

Edit: Sorry M_C, I started my other response a while ago and got distracted so your post wasn't up there.  I am not being close minded to deny what two companies incredibly relevant to the situation have stated.  In the much larger SK thread, I was right there when the joke about this being an insanity effect began.  It's preposterous in the original sense of the word to think that the joke would be the truth.  Therefore, while I hope against hope that this is a prank, it is so unlikely that I barely acknowledge it as a possibility.

[mouse_clicker]

Suit yourself- just don't rail on us for keeping our options open.

[Rich]

but the thing is odifiend, Nintendo has never officailly said anything about this so their stock hasn't gone down.

[ThePerm]

"i cannot say what was the true beggining, nor am i sure of its end(is it the relationships end). So, perhaps here is the best place to start.  I am reminded of ideas i first encountered in Sir James George Frasiers's "The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion". We are overhwhlemed by a very human need to weeve a web of meaning where there may be none(what we may be doing now). Since time immemorial ancient peoples have dressed up their lack of knoledge as Gods and Demons. I have discovered that sometimes that the fates of gods(Nintendo) and mortals(SK) are intertwine
and legends are born(Eternal darkness)."

from eternal darkness

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

"I am also dead."

from eternal darkness

[Mannypon]

Not including all the 333 theories (which as perm said could be just us creating somethin which might not really be there even though it is a little tough to smoothly swallow as just coincedence) there is too much going against the story.  All I know is that something is up and things dont seem right.  If they broke up, they shouldve announced it already and adjusted their sites accordingly.  They are running business sites not personal online sites where you can procrastinate on updating key information.  
If this is supposedlty true, I dont know what they are waitin for to announce it.  E3 is coming so its best to get all negative aspects out beforehand.  Also, why would denis come FIRST ( and so far only) online to drop this news where he knows sure well that all it would do is start a huge commotion and whatnot.  He also says he cant get into detail on the breakup, what could he be hiding?  There are alot of things that dont make sence here and I cant fully back up either side.  At this point its anyone's guess at what the truth really is behind all this.

[savanna03]

Quote
Originally posted by: Rich
but the thing is odifiend, Nintendo has never officailly said anything about this so their stock hasn't gone down.

EXACTLY... i already pointed this out, i guess no one read it.  why would a stock goes down when the company never officially say it??? the prank could still work especially if u pull it out from a site like IGNCUBE.com and not from NINTENDO.com.  no harm done and thats the difference.  the only way i could think of that NINTENDO would make it official in E3 if SK align with SONY or MICROSOFT and they just waited for them to drop the bomb by them.  beside if SK does became 3rd party, i think their relationship is kinda like CAMELOT anyways.
 

[PaLaDiN]

You can't sit there and laugh at people who believe this rumor, simply because SK is known for insanity effects.

It's like the boy who cried wolf, except the boy is SK and the wolf may or may not be an insanity effect.

[Mannypon]

I cant see SK signing exclusivly with sony or ms.  Even if they do break off from nintendo, I dont think they want to completely cut themselves off from nintendo, they like their big brother.   Also, I dont see whats so laughable about this topic as some of the site mods here and in IGN have mentioned.  There have been other rumors we've talked about that are way out there , beyond this.  At least this one has some smoke surrounding what could be or could not be the truth.

[KDR_11k]

Until the next game comes out, noone will know what is happening. Until then Nintendo and SK will be in a kind of intermediate state between together and divided. At least if I got Schrödinger right .

[anubis6789]

I personal think there is a 50/50 chance that this may be real or that it's some stunt to work up hype for ED2(or another SK project), but what if it is both? Maybe we have been thinking and going about this in the wrong way, perhaps the exclusivity agrement did expire, but they quickly inked out another one and just didn't tell any body about it because they want to announce it at E3 along with ED2.

Or maybe my sainity meters a little low, were is my liquid courage.

[almondblight]

Maybe it's not a hoax, but it's certainly not on the level.  Take this for example:

From the IGN announcement-

"An official announcement from Nintendo is expected in the coming weeks."

Why would we expect an announcement in the coming weeks when we usually get one when everything's official, and if everything wasn't official, Dyack and Nintendo wouldn't be talking about it.  So why does ign expect a press release so late?  Apparently, they don't know:

From the IGN mailbag-

"So why didn't Nintendo announce it officially? No idea."

So even though it is atypical to expect an announcement so late, IGN is expecting it, because, they have no idea.  And hey, planetgamecube seems to be in the same boat:

From the planetgamecube announcement-

"Planet GameCube will be following this story closely, although official details of the developer's future are not expected for some time"

Why not?  They either are pulling something out of nowhere or have information they're not spilling.  But isn't it amusing that both peices tell us not to expect anything official even though they have no reason as to why they would think nothing official would come?

Also, isn't this weird:

From the ign announcement:

"Dyack confirmed that Silicon Knights is now fully able to develop for competing consoles as well."

Although he can't confirm anything about the split:

From the planetgamecube announcement-

"The real cause of the split is still shrouded in secrecy, however. Dyack could not comment on whether Silicon Knights is now an indepenent developer or if the company has aligned itself with one of Nintendo's competitors, or even if Nintendo currently maintains the investment stake it made in Silicon Knights back in 2000.

" 'Right now, because of the proprietary nature of game development, we can't say much.' "

So he can drop rumors before anything is official and even say that they are free to develop on other platforms but they can't say whether or not they are independent because of "the proprietary nature of game development"?  Does that make sense?

Also, from the ign article-

"Nintendo has recently downplayed the role of technology in game creation and has been known to de-emphasize story, graphics and sound in favor of classic play mechanics."

Doesn't this sound a little tongue in cheek?  "De-emphasize story, graphics and sound" sounds like something somebody bashing Nintendo would say.  I doubt Dyack and Nintendo would come out and tell us, "Well, nintendo doesn't really want to emphasize story, sound, or graphics," and I doubt a Nintendo fansit would say that Nintendo is doing that outside of an editorial.

Not saying it is necessarilly a hoax, though I am saying if it isn't, thee big boys know something they;re not saying.

[Urkel]

I don't know what to make out of this. I'm about 50/50 on whether this is real or not.

None of this makes sense. For the past few years Dyack has been nothing but praises for Nintendo. He talks about just how great it was working with Nintendo and Miyamoto. Just two months ago he spoke as though SK and Nintendo were a singular entity. He reiterates on numerous occassions that they're never, EVER going anywhere else, and then... BAM! Third party.

When he spoke to Jonny, he assumed sales of MGS would be good. So if this is about not getting enough sales, he certainly didn't say it. I consider Dyack to be a pretty straight shooter. Why hasn't he just come right out and said anything about this? Why the split? Why now, when two months ago he said this would never happen? What could've possibly happened in the past two months to make him go from "NINTENDO FOREVER!!!" to "we may continue making games for Nintendo"?

I don't think it's entirely fair to sit back and laugh at those believing this is a hoax:

1. Because (and this is aimed at PGC staff) most of us assume you would've set us straight the moment this supposedly ridiculous theory got it's own thread. We respect you guys, and by not saying right away that the 3:33 thing was pure coincidence, that led to speculation that they were on to something and got plenty of people's hopes up. People go to your site to get accurate information, not to be laughed at. I dunno... I guess I just can't find much humor in this latest bit of news.

2. It's friggin' Silicon Knights! If it were any other company, I'd immediately dismiss these rumors. But they made a game where much of the premise revolved around the fact that you don't know what is real, and what is not. I certainly feel that way about this situation.

I think Bill said it best. If this is a joke, then Nintendo would have to be in on this, and Denis obviously would be too. No use in prying information from those two if that information is going to be false anyway.

The way I see it, this theory is pretty far fetched, but so is SK going third party. I don't know, but I'll believe it when I see an official press release from Nintendo.

I'm kind of leaning towards SK's departure as being the cold hard truth, mostly because sites like IGNcube and PGC are finally saying that these rumors are nonsense, instead of just letting people speculate so they can sit back and laugh at them, you rat bastards.

Oh, and want to know something really weird? PGC wasn't the only site that posted the news at 3:33. Gamerfeed did too. Mantorok is watching...

[slacker]

If this is a marketing ploy, its a great idea and the person who came up with this should be promoted.  It gets many people talking about it and the possible games.  They probably knew about the possible conclusion some people may get and knew that people would start talking about them and their games.  This is good publicity.  Anyways, I lean towards SK going 3rd party.  It makes more sense for them to develop and bring their games to the PS2, but not XBOX.  Let's face it, ED didn't light up the chart and MGS:TS didn't sell extremely well.  To bring in more profit for them, they had to sell their brand of games to a larger install base, such as PS2.  Anyways, I guess we all find out more at E3.

[SatansNemesis]

If it is a hoax, could they be working on some DS games that will be shown @ e3? cause they were talking about certain game stuff they couldn't talk about.

I personally believe that they are broken up, but its fun to speculate. Kinda like guessing what your getting for christmas when your parents are professional at hiding the gift in wrapping paper (mine liked to wrap games in old rags so i would think they were sweaters). So leave us speculators to our speculating!

[Mario]

Quote
Matt responds: Silicon Knights and Nintendo have ended their exclusive second-party relationship and the developer of Eternal Darkness will make games for other platforms.

So Silicon Knights are no longer second party, they are first party, and they are now developing for GBA/DS/N5 as well.