Topic: Silicon Knights and Nintendo break up

[mouse_clicker]

Quote
GameSpy: Then Silicon Knights are not going anywhere?

Denis: No, never. Ever. And frankly, to consider us anything else but a part of Nintendo is a huge mistake. Because it's not ever gonna happen. We've had other publishers call us up. And we say, "Calling us is calling Nintendo. What would you like to do?" And with Konami, that's exactly what we're looking for!

The partnership has got a long time to go, and it gives me a long time to learn Japanese! I've been trying for three years now. One of my goals is to have a conversation with Miyamoto and Iwata and talk about game design philosophy entirely in Japanese. It's worthwhile -- it's a beautiful language, and I love the culture. There's so much to be admired, there's so much to learn from it. Our game design philosophy is based around Miyamoto Musashi's The Book of Five Rings ... and we were working on that years before we met Nintendo!

Good find, pete. The interview was done close to a year ago, but Denis is extremely adamant that Silicon Knights and Nintendo will never split.

[Ian Sane]

That interview freaks me out.  What could possibly make Silicon Knights go from "the partnership has got a long time to go" to ending the partnership only a year later?  Something BIG must have happened.  I really want to find out the details now.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Psycho Mantis.

[manunited4eva22]

Perhaps Money Talks?

Oh well, not much to talk about until we find out whats going on...

Where is louie when you need the inside kitty?

[stinkypete]

I found another interesting piece there: http://jincman.typepad.com/sfp/2004/02/denis_dyack_int.html
It's supposed to be from EGM, but the site doesn't work right now so I can't confirm.

Anyways, Mr.Dyack clearly implies that there is no difference whatsoever between Silicon Knights and Nintendo, as he's refering to Nintendo as "we". I think that's pretty self explanatory...
Please note that this interview only dates back to a couple months ago.

Now, let's be pessimistic, and assume that it was done three, heck, four months ago. What could possibly happen in four months of business as usual, that led SK to pull a 180 and turn away (pun intended) from Nintendo? Let's not forget that the report from IGN came out of nowhere, without any warning of internal rumblings from anyone. The more I read, the less I believe in this break up.

[savanna03]

Quote
Originally posted by: akdaman1

Quote
Originally posted by: Bill

Quote
Originally posted by: akdaman1
If they expect us to base our Console purchase on thier already established series then there mistaken. Mario is good n all but would any of you base your purchase on just 1 or 2 games ?

How ironic...Who was the one saying that they weren't buying Ninty's next system because SK left?

You sorta dont understand what I said earlier.

I'm not a major fan of SK at all. But they had MAJOR potetiontal and its a sad loss. The reasons I might not buy GCNext is for a number of little reasons.

3rd parties just keep dropping off.
All exclusives can be found on another console.
1st party games are a dissapointment when compared to thier pedecessor.

Im afraid this stuff wont improve next generation.

Also I sorta see Metroid Prime as a killer App

yeah man... i sorta agree with you.  3rd parties situation isn't really change.  its true that CAPCOM, NAMCO, UBISOFT and EA are giving us games but not all of them.  i still see games from them that is only found on PS2 or XBOX but the bad thing is, those games showing up on other console is a killer app type game while GCN get the left overs.  RESIDENT EVIL 4 seems to be the only one that stands out.  but then we got a bunch of remakes, bad ports and games that would make little kids happy.

1st party games isn't really encouraging either.  im no graphic whore but it seems NINTENDO isn't even trying to make their games look pretty.  the sequals plays like thesame and the plot of their game is for kindergarten student.

games that i dont have problem with is MELEE, WIND WAKER, SUNSHINE and PRIME.  but the rest are just throw backs... nothing more but a quick buck.

NST has been disapointment with BLUE STORM and AVALANCHE... ill bet they just used the old N64 engine and optimize it for GCN.  their are no new play mechanic like what they did with MELEE... all i see is just thesame old same old.  (why cant we get rid of NST instead of SK... NST haven't done anything breath taking other than updating old games.  ex:  RIDGE RACER 64, BLUE STORM, AVALANCHE, CHRYSTALIS, BIONIC COMMANDO and etc.  i swear that they haven't even made an original game yet.)

KIRBY AIR RIDE suck, POKEMON CHANNEL suck, COLLESEUM looks like an N64 game... so does MARIO GOLF, PARTY and KART...  MARIO KART is the same old game except for character switching... thats it.

PIKMIN and ANIMAL FOREST are new... but the problem is that they didn't make the graphics be more appealing to the mainstream...  if they did, more copies would have been sold.

HAL LABRATORIES doesn't make games other than KIRBY and SMASH BROS franchise.  and their head guy just ditch them.  

nothing new with EAD.  probably just making another MARIO or ZELDA game that would upset the loyalist again.

INTELLIGENT SYSTEM and BROWNIE BROWN only makes game for gameboy.

RETRO STUDIO is the only company that has a bright future... but then again, they will probably be making METROID game for the rest of their career.

SILICON KNIGHT is the probably the only company with them that try to make an original game but they had to let them go.

arggghhhh... GCNEXT doesn't sound too hot either.

[Ian Sane]

"why cant we get rid of NST instead of SK... NST haven't done anything breath taking other than updating old games. ex: RIDGE RACER 64, BLUE STORM, AVALANCHE, CHRYSTALIS, BIONIC COMMANDO and etc. i swear that they haven't even made an original game yet."

I'll agree with you there.  Those guys have yet to impress me.  Even by cookie-cutter sequel standards Wave Race and 1080 were too similar to the originals.

I'll agree with the graphics issue but I'm not going to make a console decision based on that.  I'll admit that others might but I certainly don't consider that a worthwhile reason for not choosing the N5.

I think Nintendo's problem this gen is that they've been relying too much on their existing franchises and that results in games like Mario Golf or Mario Party 4 which have no practical reason to exist other than to make money.  Before it seemed that virtually every Nintendo game ever made had a purpose.  If the title wasn't essential it wasn't made.  Luckily this is something that can be corrected overnight.  Nintendo just has to recognize the problem and be more selective with which sequels get the green light.

[mouse_clicker]

Jesus! Make your own thread about Nintendo! This one is about Silicon Knights! This thread wouldn't have reached 280 posts if everyone didn't have to chip in their own half baked 2 cents!

[DrZoidberg]

don't forget Infernal Monkey and my special brand of making light of the situation, which is all the more hilarious when everyone else is over reacting (by far). perhaps i should have thrown some obnoxious over use of capslock into my posts aswell

oh hey, Dennis Dyack was on the forums last night, Mario Termin8 Infernal and I (was pointed out by Mario actually) all saw his name on the 'whos on' part, he didn't post before leaving however. Perhaps he was too disgusted at all the angsty drama doom posts going on hay

[mouse_clicker]

Haha, "angsty" is the best word yet I've heard to describe this whole ordeal. I've noticed Denis as being logged on a few times over the last few months- he visited IGN's boards yesterday, too, I think. Perhaps checking out how well his joke is going over?  

[Ian Sane]

"Perhaps checking out how well his joke is going over?"

Sources indicate that Denis also made up the E3 pamphlet.  It's all to promote their new game Simmegat0n: the first ever bogus internet rumours spreading game.

Source: My ass.  

[DrZoidberg]

sir, I'd like to buy your ass.

[mouse_clicker]

Quote
Source: My ass.

More reliable than IGN.

[Berny]

MC, that's EXACTLY where they get their stuff. Only not Ian's. The pull it out of someone else's.

[odifiend]

He was on the very first day the thread started, about the time I posted This Can't be Happening on Page 3.  I was trying to get him to reply to the joke but since the thread was so long at that point, he wasn't that far (if he is still reading these responses at all...hell I'm sick of reading some of this rubbish but I feel obligated to make sure that I'm posting a new idea)

[PaLaDiN]

That interview makes me think.

I guess there's still a chance all they're doing is porting MGS:TT over to other consoles to make some money, then resuming Nintendo support for the next generation with GCNext.

I mean, I can't explain the interview any other way... unless Ian is right and SK saw Nintendo committing harakiri in private.

In the end, I guess we just gotta wait and see exactly what this means. All sources so far are just stating that their exclusivity ended... I'd wait and see what non-exclusive games they're making before I panic.

[Syl]

I really dislike doing something like this, but i suggest anyone whos reading these forums should read this thread:
http://www.ocremix.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=35233
I've argued all these points and more in this thread, and it seems the people there, despite not being a nitnendo only forum, have more common sense than the sorry bunch thats left over here. =/

Its not the end of the world, hell, its not even the end of SK.  just wait till E3.

[ThePerm]

actually people about me saying halo was the only killer app and then someone replying gta3 was one too...id agree wityh that...so only two killer apps this gen. And when i say killer app i mean games that sell systems...not neccassarilly good games...though i like gta3...so anyways...

[yellowfellow]

Quote
GameSpy: Then Silicon Knights are not going anywhere?

Denis: No, never. Ever. And frankly, to consider us anything else but a part of Nintendo is a huge mistake. Because it's not ever gonna happen. We've had other publishers call us up. And we say, "Calling us is calling Nintendo. What would you like to do?" And with Konami, that's exactly what we're looking for!

The partnership has got a long time to go, and it gives me a long time to learn Japanese! I've been trying for three years now. One of my goals is to have a conversation with Miyamoto and Iwata and talk about game design philosophy entirely in Japanese. It's worthwhile -- it's a beautiful language, and I love the culture. There's so much to be admired, there's so much to learn from it. Our game design philosophy is based around Miyamoto Musashi's The Book of Five Rings ... and we were working on that years before we met Nintendo!

maybe he finally had the conversation and found it so underwhelming that he decided to find a new purpose...

IGN did say that differing philosophies may have lead to the breakup  

[PaLaDiN]

Whatever the real reason is, IGN pulled that differing philosophies crap out of their ass.

[Perfect Cell]

These qoutes and interviews leave me more puzzled than ever.  The differing philosofies while sounding weird, is eerily similar to one of the reasons why Rare left Nintendo.

[Uncle Rich AiAi]

Quote
Originally posted by: PaLaDiN
I guess there's still a chance all they're doing is porting MGS:TT over to other consoles to make some money, then resuming Nintendo support for the next generation with GCNext.

Doubt it.  I cannot see SK porting MGS: TTS to other consoles b/c Nintendo collaborated w/ Konami & SK.  Plus the end credits had "Special thanks: Shigeru Miyamoto."

[akdaman1]

If Denis is or was on please reply.

Tell us why this has happened or if its true ?

Will you still develop for GCN ? What about other consoles?

Please answer.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

OK, I do believe we've scared HIM away.

[odifiend]

The differing philosophies is not so off.  I think IGN may have exaggerated it but it is clear that Nintendo's game have become like the silent film makers of the industry.  I can excuse Link never having a voice, but most of Nintendo games don't have the voicing effort that Silicon Knights might put in their games.  They have universal shouting so they don't have to pay to have the game vocally localized for each region.  I guess that's how they continue to make a profit but after playing a game like MGS:TTS, I've realized how important sound can be to a game.  Replaying Eternal Darkness, again you notice how it is a big part of the game.  
Nintendo pretty much cheaps out on sound while SK places a lot of emphasis on atmosphere and sound which obviously costs more money (for only a small pay off on the GCN). Nintendo's and SK's bottomlines clash, probably not the reason for a break up but I'm just saying...