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Surfer Girl Rumors – What's True, What's False, and What's Unconfirmed

D

DuckRacer

Member
http://softrockhallelujah.blogspot.com/2008/02/cry-tough.html
1) Despite few signs of the first game being near completion, Microsoft is so confident about Too Human that they gave Silicon Knights the greenlight to commence work on Two Human (not the real title) last fall. Microsoft expects Two Human to go into full production by fall. Apparently, Microsoft is crazy enough to believe Dyack will have this baby ready in 2010.
2) Dyack's scary baby with Sega named The Crucible: Evil Within or something, scheduled for birth next year, could not be anymore dissimilar to Too Human and is more akin to their perpetual gloom simulator.
3) Someone informs "a certain 80s rocker wants to approach Activision about hosting a Guitar Hero TV show, and has talked to a big name for help." All signs point to that certain 80s rocker being Bret Michaels and apparently this big name turned him down.
4) Iron Lore's new title, originally scheduled for release on computing machines in the first few months of 2009, has been dropped by THQ, leaving the Maynard-based studio to search for a new home. A neoteric informant describes it "Titan Quest meets God of War meets Oblivion" and calls it "fantastic."
Click to expand...
 
J

jet1911

Member
4) Iron Lore's new title, originally scheduled for release on computing machines in the first few months of 2009, has been dropped by THQ, leaving the Maynard-based studio to search for a new home. A neoteric informant describes it "Titan Quest meets God of War meets Oblivion" and calls it "fantastic."
Click to expand...

Want.
 
P

Prime Blue

Member
Quite a few sites have reported that Resident Evil 5 is going to be released in 2008 because of a comment SurferGirl made on his blog, but there've been some more developments recently.

Chris Kramer, Senior Director of Communication and Community for Capcom said on a blog that the year ahead of Capcom will be fantastic in that it includes Resident Evil 5, not necessarily that it's being released.

Christian Svensson also responded to the rumour and Kramer's comment:
Christian Svensson said:
I think what Chris was trying to explain was that you will see a lot more material on RE5 this year (and you will), not necessarily that it's coming out in 2008. As for when in 2008 you'll learn more? Logic would dictate it will be around our media events (we have one scheduled toward the end of the 1H of the year but I won't say exactly when) or other trade functions (e.g. E3, Liepzig, TGS).

As for Surfer Girl's predictions, I predict you're setting yourself up for great disappointment if you listen to her (I mean him).
Click to expand...

So, while not definitely a "debunked rumour", Svensson is very negative about a 2008 September/October release.
 
F

frankthurk

Member
The Nature Roy said:
No it doesn't. Not even close. And 'the personal feelings of employees' are exactly what the rumor referred to so they are the only things that matter.
Click to expand...

Ok, we should modify the rumor then for improved truthiness.

Someone at Insomniac Games may be feeling some level of resentment towards GG. I'm betting it's Rolf.
 
L

Lightning

Banned
Prime Blue said:
So, while not definitely a "debunked rumour", Svensson is very negative about a 2008 September/October release.
Click to expand...
That's because it just isn't happening. Surfer Girl is full of shit. He just guesses, gets hints here and there, but for the most part what he says he gets from the depths of his ass. The more info that comes out, the more exposed to being full of shit he is.

I mean, just look at Mass Effect... coming out late this year/early next year on the PC... Yeah right.
 
D

DuckRacer

Member
http://softrockhallelujah.blogspot.com/2008/02/strong.html
1) Namco is bringing Family Ski stateside under the name Wii Ski or We Ski. How marketing managed to pull out that one baffles me, it is the epitome of deft.
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2) Namco also has an American-developed Wii cheerleading title, in which one uses the balance board for clandestine dancing operations and the nunchuck/Wiimote combo as pom poms. Namco, I feel strongly that you need to give those deft folks in marketing a breather, so I will do their work here, Wii Cheer or We Cheer it is.
Click to expand...
3) The market of masses shalt not fret, the interesting and different new intellectual property that is Criterion's next game will appear on that waggly machine and that touching machine with two screens, amongst others, perhaps this year.
Click to expand...
4) The title Kyle Gray is toiling on over at Tiburon is not just good, is not just addictive and utterly intoxicating, it is a sublime experience that is the best DS game coming out this year. Maybe he'll say something about it next week, maybe Tuesday, maybe between 10 and 11 AM. Also, that other game that may be discussed during that time, something called World of Goo is shaping up to be pretty good, looking to be one of the year's best titles. It is nice to see two Kyles doing their work to help the reputation of Kyles everywhere after the harm done to the name by Kyle Sampson.
Click to expand...
5) The future for Iron Lore's next title is not too existent as they are in the throes of shutting down.
Click to expand...


Also, I'll be adding sources/reasons for all the true and false rumors tomorrow or whenever. And possibly start researching some of the more obvious unconfirmed rumors and do other general cleanup (maybe).
 
A

adg1034

Member
5) The future for Iron Lore's next title is not too existent as they are in the throes of shutting down.
Click to expand...

That's bad. Very bad. Very, very, very bad. Titan Quest was great success- how, then, can THQ just dump this talented developer like it was late-90's Kuju?
 
L

Lightning

Banned
2) Namco also has an American-developed Wii cheerleading title, in which one uses the balance board for clandestine dancing operations and the nunchuck/Wiimote combo as pom poms. Namco, I feel strongly that you need to give those deft folks in marketing a breather, so I will do their work here, Wii Cheer or We Cheer it is.


I don't think the PS3/360 lineup will be able to compete against the pom pom game. :lol :lol :lol

WTF have you done Nintendo? :lol
 
D

DuckRacer

Member
Duck said:
Also, I'll be adding sources/reasons for all the true and false rumors tomorrow or whenever.
Click to expand...
Done.


Also, (s)he posted up some dirt on BioWare and EA for those who care.

http://softrockhallelujah.blogspot.com/2008/02/qol-watch-beware-of-bioware.html

I was just browsing the Gamewatch.org forums and noticed in the thread concerning BioWare, "Bioware Beware", the original poster removed their contributions to the thread (for the unfamiliar questioners, gamewatch.org is definitely a place that is devoid of hoaxes and I hope it stays that way despite me mentioning it).

Here's the thread starter (found via cache):

EA gets a lot of the grief for their employment history.

For anyone considering work at Bioware, beware of them as well.

They use seriously cult like tactics to keep their employees towing the company line, but don't be fooled. The second you don't tow that line you'll be walked out the doors.

They love out of country workers because they don't understand the Canadain labour laws. They continually fire people with out warning. This is illegal in Canada. You must warn people of performance problems and give them a certain amount of warnings before you are allowed to fire someone.

They are smarter about it than EA by offering food and free ice cream and other on site amenities, but it all adds up to a lot of extra hours with no extra pay.
This post has been removed by the author and replaced with the quite disconcerting words "big scarey company vs. li'l ol' me."

The second post:
BTW you could say my post is somewhat personal, but I've not worked for Bioware. I have several friends that do. Three have been walked out the door in the last year for refusing to work more than the 40 hours they are paid for and wanting to spend time with thier wives and kids.

The freinds I have remaining there are from out of country and feel as though they are somewhat trapped. They are unhappy but will only admit it behind very closed doors because they have it in their head they will get black listed or something.

I'm an outside observer. I get paid more than these poor kids, and I only work about 35 hours a week. I've always put MY life ahead of my employers, but work very hard and dedicated at my job. When I see what in my opinion amounts to cult like mind control over these young men who are enamoured by the legend of Ray and Greg, the founders of bioware, I'm almost sickened.

I used to think it would be cool to work in the gaming industry, and now I'm just happy as hell I'm not in it.

I will certainly be pointing them to this site as a resource and hope, that like any other entertainment industry, they get organized in some fashion. It's absolutely dehumanizing what this industry does to people.
[edit: Thanks to gamedev for salvaging the third post.]
Yes, these things were happening well ahead of the EA purchase of Bioware.

You are exactly accurate about the Cult of Personality thing. People think that Ray and Greg are looking out for them. Bioware Pandemic just sold for nearly a billion dollars. People are marked for assination for far smaller stakes. Can anyone really believe that the owners are in there saying... "ya know.. I can't accept your billion dollars unless I know the employees are really well taken care of". It defies logic.

I suspect it will just get worse.
Now people that have been forced to leave the company are also being told the the MUST sell their stocks back to the company.

I don't know enough about it to say if it's legal or not, but it sure sounds fishy to me. Again I've recommended to people that they check with a lawyer first, but nobody wants any more hastle than they already have. Unfortuanetly it's this attitude that keeps the gaming industry from getting organized.

I would love to be able to say this sort of putrid intimidation is anomalous, but that would just be the utterest of untruths plaguing the industry. Maybe we should extract this ubiquitous haughtiness from the development process, I'm crazy enough to believe this can happen without the U-word.
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C

charlequin

Banned
Oh, good, we're back away from the eventually-verifiable factual rumors about videogames and back to the totally unverifiable and tabloidesque "internal turmoil" stuff.
 
B

besiktas1

Member
Ok I got a bit of info myself didn't know where else to post
Not a piss take, it's genuine, just didn't know where else to place and not really that exciting
:

Surreal Software Inc. (studio which brought you The Suffering and Drakan)is working on a open-world, non-franchise, non-sequel, console game project.

Basically an Open World, New IP.... Meh, just thought I'd say...
 
J

jet1911

Member
besiktas1 said:
Ok I got a bit of info myself didn't know where else to post
Not a piss take, it's genuine, just didn't know where else to place and not really that exciting
:

Surreal Software Inc. (studio which brought you The Suffering and Drakan)is working on a open-world, non-franchise, non-sequel, console game project.

Basically an Open World, New IP.... Meh, just thought I'd say...
Click to expand...

You mean This is Vegas? :p
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
charlequin said:
Oh, good, we're back away from the eventually-verifiable factual rumors about videogames and back to the totally unverifiable and tabloidesque "internal turmoil" stuff.
Click to expand...

To her credit; she did not post that. It was posted elsewhere and removed, replaced with a message indicating it had been complained about by powers on high, and she re-posted the cached version without necessarily confirming that one individual story.

In the mean time,

SurferGirl said:
4) The title Kyle Gray is toiling on over at Tiburon is not just good, is not just addictive and utterly intoxicating, it is a sublime experience that is the best DS game coming out this year. Maybe he'll say something about it next week, maybe Tuesday, maybe between 10 and 11 AM. Also, that other game that may be discussed during that time, something called World of Goo is shaping up to be pretty good, looking to be one of the year's best titles. It is nice to see two Kyles doing their work to help the reputation of Kyles everywhere after the harm done to the name by Kyle Sampson.
Click to expand...

While the quality of the game certainly can't be verified, the game WAS previewed today and it did look pretty nifty.
 
godhandiscen

godhandiscen

There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
Certain Affinity is not working on a pirates game, they are working on the 360 port of Left4Dead. The team is way too small to be working on another project at the same time. I would move that rumor to the false section.
 
W

wsippel

Banned
Stumpokapow said:
While the quality of the game certainly can't be verified, the game WAS previewed today and it did look pretty nifty.
Click to expand...
And Kyle Gabler, one of the World of Goo devs, was also presenting the game today at GDC. I believe the whole rumor can be moved to the "true" section.
 
K

Kittonwy

Banned
flarkminator said:
Good lord, I hope that's not true. Alas it most likely is.
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Edmonton housing might be less expensive compared to Cal but it's freezing cold over there and it's not exactly a true metropolitan city, I'm not sure if I'm a game developer I would ever choose Edmonton over Cal or even Redmond just to work at "Bioware". Is Bioware salary level competitive with the rest of the industry?
 
A

avatar299

Banned
Lightning said:
2) Namco also has an American-developed Wii cheerleading title, in which one uses the balance board for clandestine dancing operations and the nunchuck/Wiimote combo as pom poms. Namco, I feel strongly that you need to give those deft folks in marketing a breather, so I will do their work here, Wii Cheer or We Cheer it is.


I don't think the PS3/360 lineup will be able to compete against the pom pom game. :lol :lol :lol

WTF have you done Nintendo? :lol
Click to expand...
Idolmaster

Edit: Didn't Alex Ward shit on GC owners in his burnout rant? i don't think he likes the Wii, so i doubt that criterion rumour
 
M

MidnightScott

Banned
Thanks Duck for pointing me to this thread. Trying to read through all those rumors was an eyesore!

So some of the stuff she said is real. I wonder if surfergirl is really a person on the inside of the industry or just someone who can predict the future.

~Scott
 
D

DuckRacer

Member
More rumors!

http://softrockhallelujah.blogspot.com/2008/02/were-not-dating-jones-this-is-not-date.html
1) There was a Borat mobile game in the works, thankfully this was canceled long ago.
2) A sequel to 2007 GOTY Alvin and the Chipmunks is on its way. For the past month I have been praying for that there would be a follow-up, there will be one. Thus, the existence of a new Alvin and the Chimpmunks title is irrefutable evidence of Jesus being real. Sorry Atheism and Agnosticism.
3) As part of this year's Indiana Jones bonanza, those Lucases will "exploit the franchise's rich interactive legacy." Which is totally not misleading marketing speak [end sarcasm]. It might be worth mentioning the internally-developed Indy title, which has not had the most stable development, will not be out this year (as you may have seen mentioned by a story over at Eurogamer).
4) RedLime is not Road Rash nor is it [insert locale here] Strike (I am not so sure how you crazy kids came up with those ones), but I do see the correct answer amongst the guesses by commenters on a blog post about RedLime (do not bug me about it, you shall find out about it sooner than you expect outside of the blogosphere). Also, despite speculation to the contrary, The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena is still on track for release later this year with quite a bit of new content and is certain to please fans of Vin Diesel's acting. Unlike Escape from Butcher Bay, Assault on Dark Athena has never teetered towards the edge of cancellation (for those that do not know, the folks at Vivendi Universal Games were pretty set on pulling the plug on CoR:EfBB, but then they saw some light and decided just to scrap the PS2 port).
5) For the twenty-five or so people who have emailed inquiring about it, the new gig of Harvey Smith (one of the most underrated talents of the Austin scene) is game director of an unannounced title at Arkane Studios Austin.
Click to expand...

Also, I noticed the posts between this and this were deleted... thanks to whoever did it. :D
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
1 won't be verified, 4 is basically true by definition, and 3 is a mixed bag, but 2 and 5 will be proven true or false fairly soon.
 
D

DuckRacer

Member
Stumpokapow said:
1 won't be verified, 4 is basically true by definition, and 3 is a mixed bag, but 2 and 5 will be proven true or false fairly soon.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I already edited out #1 for the OP, I'll probably do the same for the Dark Athena and Indy stuff.

I kinda hoped for something more juicy after GDC, but oh well.

EDIT: I cleaned up the OPs a bit, substituting things like "coming next year" in '07 blog posts with "coming [in 2008]", trimming off some (but not all) unverifiable stuff, and classifying some previously unconfirmed rumors as true or false.
 
I

isamu

OMFG HOLY MOTHER OF MARY IN HEAVEN I CANT BELIEVE IT WTF WHERE ARE MY SEDATIVES AAAAHHH
Duck said:
2) Namco is working on a console 3D (as in the context above) Ridge Racer title.
Click to expand...

Where did you hear this? Source?
 
A

Ariexv

Member
kbear said:
Wow.. Bioware sounds like a sweatshop company. Disgusting stuff..
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Really suspicious of that considering Bioware has gotten the Top 100 places to work @ in Canada the last like 5 years, and Top 10 places to work @ this last year.
 
ManaByte

ManaByte

Gold Member
kbear said:
Wow.. Bioware sounds like a sweatshop company. Disgusting stuff..
Click to expand...

Actually sounds like most gaming companies. Gaming companies put on a rosy picture to the outside world, but what that guy describes could be ANY company out there. The threat of blacklisting and legal woes usually keeps people quiet.
 
I

isamu

OMFG HOLY MOTHER OF MARY IN HEAVEN I CANT BELIEVE IT WTF WHERE ARE MY SEDATIVES AAAAHHH
Tiduz said:
namco working on a new RR?

RR8 for PS3 PLEASE namco.
Click to expand...


Tiduz said:
namco working on a new RR?

RR8 for PS3 PLEASE namco.
Click to expand...

Tiduz said:
namco working on a new RR?

RR8 for PS3 PLEASE namco.
Click to expand...

Tiduz said:
namco working on a new RR?

RR8 for PS3 PLEASE namco.
Click to expand...

Tiduz said:
namco working on a new RR?

RR8 for PS3 PLEASE namco.
Click to expand...

Tiduz said:
namco working on a new RR?

RR8 for PS3 PLEASE namco.
Click to expand...

Tiduz said:
namco working on a new RR?

RR8 for PS3 PLEASE namco.
Click to expand...

Ko-syne!
 
Z

ZeoVGM

Banned
2) An Animal Crossing MMO would not see release outside of Japan, NoA and NoE are obstinate in only wanting limited online functionality in the title.
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This is the most LOL thing ever.
 
L

Leon S. Kennedy

Member
EGM is rumoring a RE5 for 2008 just like surfer girl said earlier.

I just hope surfer girl isn't EGMs source. I would love to have it this year
 
V

VonGak!

Banned
Where's her list of things we were going to see at GDC (pre and post edit), I would be nice as a sign of how reliable she'll be at big events like E3.
 
S

Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew

Banned
Road Rash/Sebastian Bach redeemed?

machadarnes abatetron abatetru tetru tetron

1) The premiere name is licensed interactive entertainment, Brash Entertainment, exponentially progressed the medium yet again, RedTribe's Space Chimps title has taken the crown from Bullwinkle XBLA for the worst thing I have seen this year. It can aptly be described as an amalgamation of Capcom masterpiece Disney's Hide and Sneak and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: Interplanetary Mission. The dual screen take on Space Chimps, developed by WayForward, is far better but still not so great. On the bright side, WayForward's dual screen Where the Wild Things Are title is probably going to be better than the film, so will the other interactive versions (which, if I recall correctly, are being handled by Travelers' Tales).

2) In addition to Left 4 Dead, the collective of sixteen or so known as Certain Affinity is working on two unannounced titles, at least one documenting their previously mentioned fascination with lighthearted exploits of swashbuckling, names floating around are Plunder and Pirate's Booty.

3) As previously mentioned, the last crack at a new Road Rash was a PS360 affair over at the now-defunct Warrington studio. Despite no new plans currently existing for another Road Rash, the prospect is being contemplated.
Click to expand...
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
NextGenitals said:
O rly? Does that mean (console) exclusive?
Click to expand...

It means it was exclusive at that point...

... which is a big problem about trying to confirm or deny rumours. Pretty much any claim about release date or platform exclusivity or "it's not in development" can change on a dime even if the rumour itself was true when written.

I'd personally say the rumor counts as true even if the date or platform ends up wrong. If her 2008 release rumors slip to 2009, it's more likely at this point that the release date changed later than that she made the whole thing up and it just happened to come out the next year.
 
D

DuckRacer

Member
edit: didn't see this posted, please ignore.

actually, I'll be replying to some things so this won't be completely useless.

rod furlong said:
one of your falses is true
Click to expand...
Which one?

Also, thanks JDSN. :)
 
R

Rlan

Member
Uhh..

TOKYO — March 4, 2008 Capcom®, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, today showcased Resident Evil®: Zombie Massage Parlor for the Wii™ home video game system from Nintendo at Tokyo Massage Expo 2008. The game will include a two-player co-op mode and support for the Wii Balance Board™ for even more intense massage action. Resident Evil® is the highest selling Capcom series with more than 30 million games sold worldwide. Rated M for Mature by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB), Resident Evil: Zombie Massage Parlor will be available on April 13 at a suggested retail price of $49.95.

“Resident Evil has become one of the premier franchises in the games industry, with more than 30 million RE games sold around the world,” said Jack Symon, director, product marketing, Capcom Entertainment. “The innovative controller functionality of the Wii will allow us to design innovative, original game play never before seen in a Resident Evil game. With Zombie Massage Parlor, we’re adapting Resident Evil to the innovations of the Wii.”

Resident Evil: Zombie Massage Parlor is a brand new game in the Resident Evil franchise, with familiar locales from the entire series, created specifically for the unique characteristics of the Wii console. This action/massage hybrid reveals the back story behind the fall of the Umbrella Corporation by exploring massage parlors from Resident Evil 0, 1, 2 and 3 as well as new never-before-seen massage parlors, such as Umbrella’s stronghold. Resident Evil: Zombie Massage Parlor combines first-person massaging with interactive pathways, multiple methods and new approaches to create an entirely new Resident Evil experience that could only be delivered on the Wii.

On a related non-jest note, I played Rocketmen: Axis of Evil ages ago and found it to be quite fun.
Click to expand...

Under "Joke" in the title :)
 
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