I'm still stunned that they've gotten this much hype based off of concept art and an idea, not to mention the fact that since they've announced Sadness, they've announced, what? 3 other games in the meantime? (one of which they were caught stealing concept art for, I might add).

Also, why aren't they making ROTR anymore? It would've been good development experience to start with.

The odds of Sadness being released are slim already, but the odds of it being any good are slimmer still. I can't think of a new developer who undertook a huge project right out of the gate and it turned out to be anything beyond mediocre.

I'll never understand why more devs don't see the wisdom in starting small and working their way up instead of bursting into the market with a whole PILE of promises which will be very, VERY difficult to fulfill for an established developer.

Seriously, 20 hours? 10 different endings? Moody atmospheric gameplay? Compelling storyline?

These are the kinds of things I still expect an established developer like Capcom or Square to fuck up, forget a tiny developer with zero track record.

Sadness sounds like a great game idea for when they have experience, not as a first effort. I'd like to play it too some day, but when it's made by an experienced and capable Nibris, not a green, unseasoned Nibris.

Lol.  I dont think anyone here made the claim that it were nor does that have any relevance to the issue. 

I told you already, it's the concept that has the hype train cruising along.   A psychological horror game in black and white with no on screen HUD.  It's not as if it's generic shooter number 13215.

Um, the game and their Wii Kit wouldn't fall under the category of rumors and speculation.  Why don't you just contact Golin Harris and ask them?

1. They didn't steal concept art, they were displaying fan art.  Love how this story has become so twisted.

2. They're outsourcing development so they can concentrate on Sadness.  Outsourcing development is common practive in the industry.  Look up Tose.  That will raise an eyebrow for you.

3. I know of dozens of developers who jumped out of the gates with a big hit.  So do you but I don't think you realize it.

4. Shoot for the stars and hit the moon.  If one project makes it, they look great.  If they shoot for the clouds and it fails, they don't get a second chance...period.

5.  I don't think you understand how things get fucked up during development at big publishers.  When you have too many cooks in the kitchen each with their own ideas and directions and then you have the publisher enforcing their own TRCs and ideas....you get a botched project.   When you have a small team with a good idea you actually have a far better chance of that original idea being implemented the way they envisioned it.

Case in point.  Mortal Kombat was a 4 man team with $50,000 to develop a game.  Mortal Kombat: Armegeddon was 500 plus team with millions of dollars in development.   

6. Big game projects take 2-3 years to develop.  For a small team, they either make Sadness now or never.

Or more recently, Dementium the Ward. 

lol. <---- I know i cant just say that so im gonna say this as well.

I just wanted to say I still believe in them, they've shown to me that there are very passionate about sadness, and I think this will be a game made with the allot of enthusiasm, they really love Nintendo and they really love what there trying to do. I really do not understand why everybody is bullying them, there just a small dev team and things are pretty hard as it is in the game development sector. I would love to have them make something really special, they've got my full support.

No HUD has been done before, even by survival horror games... Some of the Silent Hill games come to mind...

Black & white as a stylistic choice for an entire game hasn't been done before, but other games have toyed around with the idea of a limited color palette. Kingdom Hearts 2 had a whole section in monochrome, for instance. Heck, the upcoming Wii title Mad World has EVERYTHING be black & white except for the blood.

The upcoming game DeBlob uses colorizing a monochromatic landscape as a gameplay element, which I find a much more interesting concept than just making a survival horror game black & white to add atmosphere, yet Sadness has more hype... I just don't get why.

As far as outsourcing goes... Yes, companies outsource all the time, but small teams normally don't have the resources to outsource.

As far as Mortal Kombat vs. Mortal Kombat Armageddon goes... You can't really compare a simple 2d fighter designed for early 90's arcades with a 3d fighter made for 6th generation consoles. Required art assets for a 'big game' have increased substantially over the past decade and a half.

Survival Horror is a franchise more liked by the hardcore. That's why it has more hype.

I think the main reason for the hype around sadness is the very well made teaser trailer from 2006. It's just a teaser and it shows nothing of the game. But it is very well made. Also the music fits perfect. If nibris can make the game as good as this trailer ...

DeBlob's monochromatic presentation is a gameplay factor, not an atmospheric artistic one.

Are you sure small teams don't have the funds to outsource?   Are you just assuming or are you intimately familiar enough with many small developers to know their budgetary constraints and cost of outsourcing or revenue sharing opportunities?

You completely missed my point regrding the MK's.  The first title was low budget, small team (even for that day and age) but the focus and direction created something wonderful.   Now the big boys step in 2005 to work on MK:A and focus is lost, direction gets magnetized, and the end result bears little resemblence to the magic created by the little guys.

Lost Winds vs Lair.  If you want something more current.
Lost Winds = Small team with a focus.
Lair = Large team with a publisher enforcing demands.

You still haven't explained WHY Sadness gets the hype while deBlob doesn't? Experimenting with gameplay > experimenting with atmosphere, IMHO...

While no game has combined the elements in quite the same way Sadness is supposed to, pretty much any other game trying to push the boundaries is in the same boat, yet Sadness gets the hype.

Why not hype up BlastWorks? It's a side-scrolling shooter with elements borrowed from Katamari Damacy, a heavy emphasis on user-generated content and a unique minimalist graphics style. No one has combined THOSE elements together in quite that way before either. Heck, Tamuki fighters, the game that inspired BlastWorks, received pretty much NO hype and it was created by a lone man.

I didn't miss you're point... You were comparing apples to oranges. MK:A didn't fail because of it's team size. Many games have similar sized teams and turn out rather good. Many games with small teams fail. It's all about strong artistic vision and having leadership strong enough to enforce that vision. I've seen nothing from Nibris that leads me to believe that they have strong leadership....