http://nintendo-revolution.blogspot.com/2008/06/crossbeam-studios-dissected.html

Falafel Kid got to the bottom of all of it and he's going after Nibris next. Crossbeam was never as guilty as Nibris of propagating piles and piles of unwarranted press.

He gives some advice which I think most certainly applies to Nibris as well...

No start-up developer without any professional experience has ever or will ever publish a AAA title as its first game, regardless of the platform. A good friend of mine started his own development studio after he had worked for´Rare´ for many years, as had most of their team. Their first title, though, was nothing of the magnitude of what Crossbeam is aiming for. They ported the ´MTV music generator´ from one console to another. Nothing a creative mind would get excited about, but it filled their pockets with enough capital to subsequently move on to bigger and better projects.

You might want to do a minigame, something that you can actually get done, but something that shows off your talent. Consider Klei Entertainment who failed to pitch an ambitious console project but succeeded with a free webgame called ´Eets´.

As an alternative to a mini-game, do a mod. Teams like yours may never have pulled off AAA titles, but if you consider the history of the Half-Life modGunman Chronicles, the potential benefits of a great mod become clear. Again, be honest and do not overestimate your resources and abilities.

You simply have to admit that you are mindlessly aiming for the sky, thinking about a four-game series. You are not Yu Suzuki. And even he failed

I keep telling people that getting their hopes up for Sadness equates masochism, but it still seems like lots of people think that, despite the fact that the company has never made a game before, they can somehow achieve the ridiculously lofty goals they've set for the game.

I like their philosophy. Dream big and strive for it. Buck the trends, forget the haters, make your own path.

If you listen to these people telling how you have to do it, it'll never happen or it'll never be the title you envisioned to start with or you'll be a console generation or two away working for someone else's studio making their game, not yours.

If you try for your game the way you want it and fail....fine. But if you try it any other way, you'll never make your game as you want it anyway.

You won't get to make your game if you fail either.   May as well hold off on the one you really want to make until you actually can make it.  Paying the bills is important to most people so the gung-ho, give it everything approach will do more damage than good in the long run.

Most successful companies don't become successful by producing the greatest product right from the get-go at any rate.  Going against the common logic here will only end in backruptcy and shattered dreams.

Nothing in this article is about "doing it someone else's way".

It's about knowing your limitations and acting within them. Seriously, not every game has to be a colossal AAA blowout with 20 hours of gameplay, the most innovative controls ever and a storyline that rivals LOTR. There's absolutely no shame in starting small and working your way up.

Thinking your brand new dev house can make a AAA title is like taking a single karate lesson and then stepping into the ring with Bruce Lee. I don't care HOW much enthusiasm, passion or creativity you have: there are limits to your abilities and either you know these limits or they will destroy you like they destroyed Crossbeam.

And I just have to point out that...

"If you try for your game the way you want it and fail....fine. But if you try it any other way, you'll never make your game as you want it anyway."

...is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. I mean, apply this logic to other situations:

"I want to be an Olympic weight lifter, but I'm only 120 lbs., but I have passion, so I'm going to have 12 friends lift a piano over my head and drop it on me. If I die, fine, but I'd never be able to lift that piano any other way."

"I want to be a surgeon, but I haven't gone to medical school, but I have enthusiasm, so I'm going to dress up like a surgeon, sneak into an OR and perform a triple-bypass. If I'm caught and arrested, fine, but I wasn't going to get to perform that surgery any other way."

Can you perhaps see the fallacy in logic here? If you're REALLY passionate about making your game the best game it can be, you'll have the patience to build up your skills and resources before you try to make it.

The people who want it more will have the PATIENCE to do it properly, and that means starting with small, achievable goals and working your way to bigger goals, and then taking on goals which include 20 hour long epics like Sadness.

By trying to go all out right out of the gate, Nibris is not only destroying any chance Sadness has of being good but they're being greedy and impatient. Their current business plan isn't a "plan" at all: it's a "get rich quick" scheme and it's going to backfire and destroy any shreds of credibility they might have had before.